Course blogs and challenging exercises for deeper learning

Abstract

This report is concerned with the development of a course blog for courses in Applied Mathematics and Automatic Control. In particular, the possible use of a course blog in conjunction with challenging exercises –designed to motivate the students and increase the depth opt their learning process– is investigated. Based on the author’s teaching experience in two recent Ph.D. courses, opportunities and challenges for extending and exporting the method to larger-scale (last years) undergraduate classes are discussed. A survey conducted among the Ph.D. students of these courses is reported. The focus of the analysis is on the impact on the students’ learning outcome.