Session: 09-08-01: Distance/Online Engineering Education, Models and Enabling Technologies

Paper Number: 114307

114307 - Teaching Engineering Courses in the Digital Transformation Era 

In this paper we present a teaching model for Engineering couses, particularly courses of Applied Mechanics such as Statics and Strength of Materials for the new generation of Engineering Programs. During the last three years many universities and educators worldwide had to quickly adapt to a set of teaching techniques that in some cases were new to the instructors or professors, such as online teaching. After the online terms that in some countries lasted for two full years, students and their professors returned to campuses. It is clear that some lessons learned during the online terms were positive ones and students keep on demanding new models that could make them profit from those positive lessons and, at the same time, help them use their time in a better manner. On the other hand, some univesities invested heavily in equipment for hybrid teaching installing follow up cameras, audio systems and better screens in-lieu of projectors in the classrooms. The use of digital media has become widely accepted by both, faculty members and students and  most lectures are now recorded and students are used to have such material available on the same day of the class session. 

In this paper we present the students perceptions of what the new generation of Engineering courses should have in order to be attractive to students, help them develop some digital transformation competencies and, mainly, help them perform their best in courses that could be difficult, such as the Applied Mechanics courses. A total of 350 students were surveyed in the last four years, even prior to the pandemic to get their perceptions and their ideas on what an ideal Engineering course should contain. In our university we had to teach in an online format for full two years and the use of different didactic techniques such as flipped learning and the implementation of video repositories in years before the pandemic arrived, made the transition a smooth one in our case. A survey was designed and students answered it in different years as our model evolved. The current model presented in this paper is a hybrid teaching model for Engineering couses that is suitable for both, fully on-campus teaching and also, for hybrid courses. Among the results in the students' perceptions is the fact that our students are now more aware of the impact on the environment that conmutting to campus has, at least in their own personal experience. Other results show that students consider that universities should take those afore-mentioned positive lessons and implement them in the design of new courses taking into account the era in which we are living, with particular focus on Digital Transformation Competencies.

We present this model as a successfully implemented model in our university and we think that Engineering educators worldwide can benefit from our experience and the recommendations our students provided.

Presenting Author: Miguel X. Rodriguez-Paz Tecnologico de Monterrey

Presenting Author Biography: Prof. Rodríguez-Paz got his B.Sc. In Civil Engineering from Tecnologico de Oaxaca in 1993. He studied a M.Sc. In Structural Engineering at Tecnologico de Monterrey and got his Ph.D. in Computational Mechanics from the University of Wales at Swansea in 2003 where he did research on Numerical Methods for Fluid Dynamics as a post-doc Research Officer. In August 2004 he joined Tecnologico de Monterrey at its Puebla Campus. He is a full professor of Applied Mechanics since 2009. His research topics include Engineering Education, Structural Dynamics and Applied Mechanics. He has been a member of the National System of Researchers (SNI) in the Mexican Council of Science and Technology. He has held several position within the School of Engineering, including Head of School and his current post as head of the regional department of Sustainable Technologies and Civil Engineering for the Southern Region of Tecnologico de Monterrey, including seven campuses. His research interests include Computational Mechanics and Engineering Education. Prof. Rodriguez-Paz is a member of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He is the author of more than 60 Scopus indexed papers. He enjoys teaching Engineering in a fun way. Since 2010 he is an Academic Youtuber with over 47,000 subscribers worldwide.

Authors:

Miguel X. Rodriguez-Paz Tecnologico de Monterrey
Jorge A. Gonzalez-Mendivil Tecnologico de Monterrey
Israel Zamora-Hernandez Tecnologico de Monterrey