Making students become intrinsically motivated to participate in daily class activities is an open challenge that has been addressed in different ways. In this article, we evaluate the impact of an educational innovation project, named TrivialCV, in terms of student motivation, engagement, and learning outcomes. We analyze the impact of two types…

The automated water filtration design challenge integrates computer programming and basic electronics concepts through the SIMILAR systems engineering design process. The SIMILAR systems design process is to state the problem, investigate alternatives, model the system, integrate the system, launch the system, assess performance, and reevaluate…

Contribution: A model of tiered in-lab, compulsory lab programming sessions suitable for use in flipped learning environments. This article also addresses the scarcity of research that explores the effects of in-class activity organization. Background: When facing a subject they perceive as dry or difficult, some students may feel discouraged from…

Background and Context: Flipped classrooms are becoming more widely adopted across engineering higher education contexts. In degree programs where enrollment is increasing and undergraduate curricula are packed with content, pedagogies that allow more time for actively participate in classroom activities are being highly sought after to aid in…

This dissertation is a mixed-methods ethnographic study of students in the introductory class in the Engineering & Computer Science (ECS) department at University of California, Davis (UC Davis). I collected audio-recorded natural speech and questionnaire data from students attending this course during two academic quarters, Fall 2016 and…

There is a battlefield where no quarter is given, no mercy shown, but not a single drop of blood is spilled. It is an arena that witnesses the bringing together of high-tech design and manufacture with the outpouring of brute force, under the remotely accessed command of some of today's brightest students. This is the world of battling robots, or…

In this University of Hong Kong ESP assignment, an approach to the teaching of English for Special Purposes (ESP) that addresses: (1) the role of language in the target discipline; (2) the socialization of the learner into the disciplinary culture; and (3) the role of the discipline in ESP instruction is presented, and illustrated. In the project…