CEE Seminar Speaker Dr. Matthew Liberatore

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Title: Do engineering students read textbooks? Learning analytics when using an interactive textbook

Abstract: Current university students are digital natives and have generally grown up in a phone-based world. Thus, we are developing educational strategies at the interface of technology and education that place students in the center of the learning process. Here, interactive textbooks are one technology that has potential to energize the formation of engineers and engage different types of learners.

An interactive, web-native textbook for a material and energy balances course (the first course in most chemical engineering curricula) engages students in activities that support the learning of engineering concepts and problem-solving techniques. By using animations and interactive learning questions, the static and wordy content common for engineering textbooks is avoided. Also, auto-graded, randomized homework problems help minimize the use of static solutions manual posted online or outsourcing to generative artificial intelligence tools. Students and faculty receive feedback in real time and accumulate reading and homework scores. Big Data generated by students using the book can test hypotheses and lead to new insights related to engagement and learning. Seven years of student reading participation will be presented to prove or disprove the hypothesis that engineering students read the textbook. Additional hypotheses based on the tenets of deliberate practice leverage the completion and attempts on auto-graded problems. Overall, we hope our studies inspire more faculty to examine the impact of interactive textbooks and other new technologies on engineering education.