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The problem of this study was to determine the relationships between a number of mental factors, reading factors, aptitudes, situational factors, and training achievement in four Air Force civil engineering technical courses, and to determine which combination of factors was most reliable for forecasting training achievement in each of the courses.

Fundamental engineering courses are important to the undergraduate engineering student experience but have been associated with challenging educational environments. Several factors influence the educational environment, although learning experiences are primarily the outcome of interactions between instructors and students. To initiate change, it is important to understand teaching and learning experiences in fundamental engineering courses from the perspectives of the key players in these environments: instructors and students. To accomplish the goal of understanding teaching and learning experiences, I conducted studies that examined instructors' and students' perspectives on their experiences and the educational environments, using qualitative research methodology. Through these studies, this dissertation: 1) examined instructors' beliefs and self-described behaviors, guided by motivation theory and focusing on the role of instructors as socializers in the learning process; 2) considered interacting fundamental engineering courses as a foundational curriculum within engineering curricula to describe the educational environment in these courses from instructors' perspectives; and 3) examined student perceptions of their learning experiences and the educational environments in fundamental engineering courses using responses to open-ended items in end-of-semester student evaluations of teaching surveys. Data indicate that participants strive to integrate strategies that promote effective learning despite challenges posed by course environments, although expected gains from these behaviors may not always be maximized. Students and instructors may benefit from a student-focused, collaborative and holistic course planning process that considers interacting fundamental courses as a foundational curriculum within engineering curricula, and that engages instructors as equal partners in the planning process. Student feedback may be infused into the course planning process by productively and meaningfully utilizing students' responses to end-of-semester student evaluations of teaching surveys. Overall, the results of this dissertation highlight the importance of institutional support, collaboration, and integrating student feedback in the quest for facilitating effective educational environments and positive learning experiences in engineering. / Doctor of Philosophy / Introductory engineering courses are important to engineering students’ college experience but have been associated challenging learning environments. Several factors influence the learning environment, although learning experiences are primarily the outcome of interactions between instructors and students. To initiate change, it is important to understand teaching and learning experiences in introductory engineering courses from the points of view of the key players in these environments: instructors and students. To accomplish the goal of understanding teaching and learning experiences, I conducted qualitative studies that examined instructors’ and students’ points of view on their experiences and the learning environments. Through these studies, this dissertation: 1) examined instructors’ beliefs and self-described behaviors, guided by motivation theory and focusing on the role of instructors as socializers in the learning process; 2) considered interacting introductory engineering courses as a foundational curriculum within engineering curricula to describe the learning environment in these courses from instructors’ points of view; and 3) examined student perceptions of their learning experiences and environments in introductory engineering courses using responses to open-ended items in end-of-semester student evaluations of teaching surveys. Results show that participants strive to integrate strategies that promote effective learning despite challenges posed by learning environments, although the expected benefits from these strategies may not always be realized. Students and instructors may benefit from a student-focused, collaborative and holistic course planning process that considers interacting introductory engineering courses as a foundational curriculum within engineering curricula, and that involves v instructors as equal partners in the planning process. Student feedback may be included in the course planning process by productively and meaningfully using students’ responses to end-of-semester student evaluations of teaching surveys. Overall, the results of this dissertation highlight the importance of institutional support, collaboration, and integrating student feedback in the quest for facilitating effective learning environments and positive learning experiences in engineering.

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:57:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Eliane Alves de Oliveira.pdf: 5276695 bytes, checksum: 3ae0043a45ace509116acacd60a2301b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-12-19 / This research had the target to check into teaching strategies that could favour students to learn about Ordinary Differential Equations and their applications inEngineering graduation courses. The study directed to the elaboration of a didactic engineering and was centered in the casting definition of these engineering components, having graphic, algebraic and numerical approaches which involved problem situations by means of the use of computational resources. The Theory of Didactical Situations, by Guy Brosseau and the Didactical Engineering, by Michèle Artigue compose the main theoretical-methodological inputs of the research. Sixteen students of the second year of Environmental Engineering and Production Engineering graduation courses of a higher graduation institution voluntarily joined the experiment. The GeoGebra Software was utilized for that. The data collection was made by using the following instruments: activities guide, initial and final knowledge tests and field diary. The results indicated that the software use favored the activities accomplishment and revealed the importance and productivity of arguments in pairs. The obtained data analysis enabled us to assert that the didactical engineering characteristics developed in this workfavouredthe construction of concepts of Ordinary Differential Equations by the students, attending the research aims / Esta pesquisa teve por objetivo investigar estratégias de ensino com vistas a favorecer a aprendizagem deestudantes acerca de Equações Diferenciais Ordinárias e suas aplicações em cursos de graduação em Engenharia. O estudo direcionou-se para a elaboração deuma engenharia didática, e centrou-se na definição do elenco de componentes dessa engenharia, tendo por alvo abordagens gráfica, algébrica e numérica, que envolvessem situações-problema, por meio da utilização de recursos computacionais.ATeoriadas Situações Didáticas de Guy Brousseau e a Engenharia Didática segundo Michèle Artigue compõem os aportesteórico-metodológicos principais da pesquisa. Dezesseis alunos do segundo ano de graduação em Engenharia Ambiental e Engenharia de Produção de uma Instituição de Ensino Superior participaram voluntariamente do experimento. Foi utilizado o software GeoGebra. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio dos seguintes instrumentos:guias de atividades, teste inicial e final de conhecimentos e diário de campo. Os resultados indicaram que o uso do software favoreceua realização das atividades e revelaram a importância e a produtividade das discussões em dupla. A análise dos dados obtidos possibilitou afirmar que as características da engenharia didática desenvolvida no trabalho favorecerama construção de conceitos de Equações Diferenciais Ordinárias pelos alunos, atendendo os objetivos da pesquisa

Tutoring is one of the most effective instruction methods. Computer as an Intelligent Tutor is an area of research since many decades. Technology advancement in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can be used in developing Web – based Intelligent Tutoring System (WITS), which provides individualized tutoring at the same time to large number of students geographically distributed. Intelligent Tutoring System requires knowledge representation of expert, student and instructional strategy. While web technology promises many attractive features to build web based ITS, it would still be a challenge to represent knowledge objects that are scalable, reusable and platform independent. It is required to derive generalized knowledge representation framework which can be used in developing WITS for many courses. This research work proposes an instruction System Design (ISD) model based framework in development of WITS for Control Systems. ADDIE model is selected in development of WITS. Front end analysis is conducted to identify the learning goals of a course. Proposed research work presents a Bloom - Vincenti framework for preparing learning objectives for engineering courses. Problem Based Learning (PBL) is selected as instruction strategy. Then it presents an ontology based knowledge representation framework for expert module, tutoring module, and student module. Ontology for expert module is proposed on the course structure, instruction system, instruction material ontology, and Bloom – Vincenti Taxonomy. Ontology for student module is also proposed on course structure and Bloom – Vincenti Taxonomy. Tutoring module consists of ontology about the facts of the instruction material and rule base based on the categories of engineering knowledge (Vincenti) and cognitive skill (Bloom’s Taxonomy). Proposed way of knowledge representation supports scalability, and reusability. Prototype Web – based Intelligent Tutoring System for first level course on Control Systems is developed. JAVA technology used in development of Web – based Intelligent Tutoring System (WITS), makes WITS platform independent. Web – based Intelligent Tutoring System for Control Systems is deployed at laboratory level and its efficacy is tested for first two modules of a course.