Technology Enabled Active Learning in Electrical Engineering

Educational technology supports meaningful learning and enables the presentation of spatial and dynamic images, which portray relationships among complex concepts. The Technology-Enabled Active Learning (TEAL) involves media-rich software for simulation and visualization in freshman Electrical Engineering carried out in a specially redesigned classroom to facilitate group interaction. These technology-based learning materials are especially useful in safety procedures in transformers in electrical engineering to help students conceptualize phenomena and processes. This study analyses the effects of the unique learning environment of the TEAL on students' cognitive and affective outcomes. As part of the project, we developed pre-test and post-tests consisting of conceptual questions from standardized tests, as well as questions designed to assess the effect of visualizations and experiments. It consisted of a small and a large-scale experimental group and a control group. TEAL students improved their conceptual understanding of the subject matter to a significantly higher extent than their control group peers. Most of the students in the small-scale experiment noted that they would recommend the TEAL course to fellow students, indicating the benefits of interactivity, visualization, and hands-on experiments,which the technology helped enable also about teaching learning process for building student's confidence is discussed. In the large-scale implementation students expressed both positive and negative attitudes in the course survey and feedback is also mentioned.