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This paper presents an attempt to enhance the learning opportunities for undergraduate mechanical engineering students. We introduce a variety of interactive activities in a major elective course to encourage students' engagement in the learning process, enable a better understanding of the course material, and promote critical thinking. To investigate the impact of these activities on learning, feedback was obtained directly from students via surveys, online discussions, and face-to-face meetings. Overall, students valued the teaching approach based on active learning. On completion of the course, the program outcomes were successfully achieved as per the students' perceptions and direct measures calculated by the instructor from the different assessment tools. Group problem solving and out-of-class projects were the most beneficial activities to their learning. Some students raised some concerns related to time management and unclear roles in the group. Suggestions were also given to the instructor to improve further the learning process. The students requested mainly to have more time when solving illustrative problems in the class and add an experimental component to the course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the use of lecture capture in Engineering classes to provide students with the opportunity to enhance their understanding of the course content. Students were asked to provide feedback on what they perceive the benefits and the drawbacks of lecture capture to be. The results show that the students consider lecture capture an effective tool to help them succeed in the course. The videos are available to them 24 hours a day, seven days a week thus allowing students to bridge the gap between what they have understood in the formal class setting and what they are able to better understand after reviewing the videos in a more informal, relaxed environment. In addition, most of the students indicated that the availability of the videos did not encourage them to skip or miss any classes. The main drawback was associated with technical difficulties which resulted in some wasted time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]