Interactive Video Enhanced Tutorials: A Tool for Promoting Self-Paced Learning and Engagement for Future Engineers

Learning in the present times has required not only advanced technology but the use of technology that aids in promoting learning that is both engaging and self-paced with a balanced mix of tempo and experience. This Research to Practice Work-in-Progress study involves interactive video enhanced tutorials (IVETs) that were developed as part of an ongoing NSF funded project to promote problem-solving in physics. IVETs are short, web-based activities taking students 10–15 minutes to complete. In this WIP paper, the researchers focus on a cross-section of the work that is part of the ongoing study and report impact of teaching problem-solving in the context of three groups namely, IVET group, video-only group, and no treatment group. The students are all engineering majors enrolled in a first-semester calculus-based physics course. Impact was also analyzed in relation to student demographics, with subgroups including women and underrepresented minorities. This research study employs quantitative (demographic, follow-up problem) and qualitative data (student artifacts), along with mixed methods analysis to report the emerging results. IVETs are an innovative genus of teaching-learning tools that are expected to meet the needs and challenges of the current learning environment to engage students, while focusing on the development of core discipline-specific skills, and extend the learning of engineering and science students through deliberate problem-solving practice. Additionally, IVETs are a tool that can have useful implications in transforming learning in other STEM disciplines through multidisciplinary convergence via integration to retain undergraduates in engineering and other disciplines of STEM.