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Feedback is a key element in the development of students' understanding and evolution in their learning process. Students receive feedback in so many forms including peer feedback, instructor feedback and external feedback from employers or other industries. For this feedback to be valuable, students need to appreciate it, act on it, and consider it as part of the learning process. The literature shows that there is a discrepancy between instructors' objectives for feedback and students' perception of the effectiveness of feedback to improve learning. Mostly, students tend to focus on grades rather than reflect on the feedback and take actions to improve their learning. Even when instructors give detailed personalized comments in students' delivered work, the students may not reflect and take actions unless the reflection is part of the grading process. This paper conducts a review of the types of feedback students receive in their undergraduate studies in five different programs: architectural engineering, civil engineering, engineering technology management, environmental engineering, and geological engineering. In addition, a survey is administered to students to understand feedback techniques used in engineering undergraduate programs. In the survey, students reflect on the types of feedback they received, and indicate which types of feedback they believe are most effective in their learning development. The survey also evaluates how the perception of effectiveness of the type of feedback is influenced by demographic factors. This paper discusses the first stage of the research project. The next stage includes developing an information session for students that is informed by the survey results and the literature. The information session aims to provide students an understanding of how to utilize different types of feedback. Students will then be interviewed a year later to determine if their perception and use of feedback has changed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equity has been newly introduced as an outcome that needs to be addressed and assessed in undergraduate engineering programs in North America. In Canada, the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board has been emphasizing that equity and ethics be embedded in the curriculum through their accreditation visits. This required several programs within our institution to work on methods that can be included to make students more aware of equity issues and assess their understanding on the above subjects. This paper discusses how courses were changed to include equity as part of the curriculum. Equity discussions were focused through the introduction of universal design as applied in building design-making students experience first-hand what the implications of design choices are on a diverse (age, physical / cognitive ability, race, gender) user group. Three different first year engineering groups were assessed in their knowledge of equity. Group 1 was the group that were prompted with a presentation in class about the different aspects of requirements for building design to address mobility issues followed by an audio recording prompting the students to do a tour on campus and experience first-hand these effects. The second group has done a campus tour without the audio and have been exposed to only the presentation in class. The third group is the control group who has only done the campus tour with no prompts and did not have the presentation. All three groups were assessed later in their knowledge of equity issues in building designs. This paper will share these findings and the details of what the students were exposed to in the three different groups. It also discusses recommendations for future changes that could be done to better include equity discussions and assessments in the curriculum. The paper also states how this could be modified for any undergraduate program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In its fifth year, the Architectural Engineering Design Days challenge at the University of Waterloo (UW) returned to a fully in-person format in 2022. The event has evolved after being online in 2020 and hybrid online/in-person in 2021. For the first time last year, instructors have integrated a second phase of the design challenge into a studio course. The two-phased version of the challenge has provided an opportunity for the authors to study the student work developed before instruction, and the influence of design critiques and feedback on the results of the second phase. The Design Days challenge for 2022 was for students in groups of 4 to design a piece of outdoor furniture for a given site on campus. Student teams were tasked with building a full-scale working mock-up of their design using limited supplies. At the end of a 48-hour design sprint early in the term, student teams presented their mock-ups to panels of professors and industry guests to receive feedback. One month later, the project was reintroduced to the same groups of students, but this time integrated into a design studio course. As part of the introduction to the second phase of the design challenge, the instructor presented a lecture on universal design. Students received two weeks of design development time, and two sessions of instructor and TA (Teaching Assistants) feedback to advance their design during the second phase. The final products of the second phase included updates to the original concepts in terms of design and construction, but also considerations of diversity in user experience. In this paper, the authors review the improvements made to the Design Days Challenge as it returns to an all in-person event. Also included is an overview of the perceived advances in project results from phase 1 to phase 2 from the course instructors. Most importantly, the results of a student survey will share the students' reflections on the modifications they made to their projects based on the receipt of feedback and course instruction during phase 2 of the Design Days challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pandemic caught the world by surprise. Instructors at all levels had to quickly learn and adopt new tools for online course delivery. The adoption of new tools that could capture the unique features of design courses, which are primarily project based and open-ended, and require in class discussions, feedback and teamwork represented a major challenge in an online environment. It was not clear how the online environment would affect the perception of instructors and the performance of the students. The primary purpose of this paper was to investigate potential relationships between the perception of instructors of the impact of the course delivery on the student learning, namely the final course grades and student performance against expectations. The instructors' perceptions, collected in an anonymous survey, was examined, and compared to the performance of the students. Based on the observations, it appears that the effect of online teaching was course specific where some impact of the students' performance was observed. In this context, the potential benefits of an online delivery mode of design content require further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each year, second-year University of Waterloo Civil Engineering students participate in a bridge design project referred to as CivE Design Days. This two-day event was created to enhance student learning by promoting a friendly, mildly competitive, and student-led environment where second-year course concepts are applied to a comprehensive design activity. The project is split into four stages: preliminary design, bridge construction, bridge testing, and project reflection. The preliminary stage required students to apply their knowledge in highway design to propose a preliminary road between two locations which must cross a wide river. Students must draw from their mechanics courses to propose a bridge design that will support the traffic crossing the river. In the bridge construction and testing stages, students must demonstrate communication skills as they work together to build a scaled bridge model. After testing, students are asked to reflect on their designs and identify areas of improvement. Historically, all stages of the project were completed by in-person student teams, working in a design shop. In 2020, obstacles arose due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which made gathering students for inperson events impossible. As a result, an online version of the CivE Design Days was developed with the primary goal being to achieve the same learning objectives in the online environment. In 2021, subsequent changes were made and a hybrid version of the design project was introduced, with in-person and remote participants working together and in parallel to accomplish project objectives. This paper discusses challenges encountered and methods used to manage them through the transition of the project activities from in-person to remote, and then subsequently to a hybrid format. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to provide insight on the impact of course assignments on a students' "engineering identity," a term that aims to capture one's sense of being an "engineering person" and belonging to the field of engineering. Past research has shown that a strong engineering identity and sense of belonging are important factors for students to persevere and thrive in engineering, both academically and professionally. Research suggests that underrepresented groups, such as women and racialized students, may feel less of a sense of belonging and identity within engineering. By understanding how first-year engineering instructors can build science identity among women and racialized students through the introduction of a community-based learning project, coursework and the curriculum can be structured in such a manner that supports the students' sense of belonging and connection to the field of engineering. In the community-based learning course project, first-year University of Waterloo architectural, civil, environmental, and geological engineering students were required to teach mechanics concepts to Grade 7 and 8 students, while focusing on how engineers benefit society through these concepts. By encouraging students to make this connection, students should be more inclined to further pursue engineering once they realize the importance of it to society. At the end of the project, students were asked to reflect on their experiences using reflection reports and focus group discussions. The results illustrate a significant increase of interest, sense of belonging and confidence in their competent abilities from the engineering students, especially among females and racialized students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benefits of peer-assessments have been recognized for quite some time. Research has shown that the impact of peer-evaluations on students' learning experience, is one that is positive and focuses on building critical thinking and metacognitive skills. This research aims to provide insight on the opportunities and effects of integrating peer-assessments in a University of Waterloo first-year engineering course's model as the primary assessment method. To explore this, Kritik, a third-party platform that focuses on peer-learning through peerassessment, was used as part of a solid mechanics course offered to first year engineering students at the University of Waterloo. In this course, first-year engineering students were required to complete various hands-on lab activities, and a final project as a group. Once submitting their initial work on the platform, they were then required to individually assess their peers' work, and then individually reflect on the grades that they received. The grade they received for their group work, the quality of their peer evaluations, and the feedback they provided on the grades they received from their peers were all factors of their final individual grade for each assessment. This encouraged students to evaluate each other's work in a genuine manner--increasing the viability of their evaluations. The results show an increase in understanding of course concepts, less stress on the teaching team due to reduced grading, and an increase in opportunity for the students to fully experience what the course offers in a realistic time frame--an opportunity that is scarce due to the length of academic terms and the sheer amount of course content to be taught. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the evolution of a first-year engineering mechanics course, Solid Mechanics I, over the two iterations that it has been flipped. It discusses the teaching strategies that have and haven't worked when delivering the course in both an online and hybrid approach. These include recommended durations for lecture videos, types of assessments, grade distributions, etc. Flipping the classroom was a result of the forced transition online due to Covid-19. To best support the students in the unprecedented times, the instructor opted to combine components from both asynchronous and synchronous teaching styles. Asynchronous lecture videos were accompanied by synchronous class time where the instructor clarified concepts, demonstrated real-life applications, solved higher-level problems, and implemented group activities. A combination of these active learning strategies was the key to structuring the course to keep the students engaged despite being online for all, or part, of the term as delivered in Fall 2020 and Fall 2021, respectively. In the Fall 2020 iteration, the course was delivered fully online to roughly 325 students in civil, environmental, geological, and architectural engineering. Since then, the course had been improved and adjusted in response to the students' feedback collected from an end-of-term survey. Approximately 270 students were enrolled in the course in the subsequent Fall 2021 term which took a hybrid approach as Covid-19 restrictions began to lighten. With students being able to learn in-person again, the course had shifted to emphasize student-to-student and student-toinstructor interactions. Feedback became immediate, allowing for the course to be molded to the students' satisfaction as the term progressed. Changes between the two years have been documented in the paper along with recommendations for future adaptations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of hands-on activities has been proven in the past to be an effective pedagogical strategy. Many of the concepts taught in engineering undergraduate courses are counter intuitive and, especially in a time when students interact less intensively with real world applications, exposure to models are essential for learning. Recognizing this need, a first year mechanics course at the University of Waterloo has already implemented the use of seven hands-on activities. However, time limitations resulted in students participating in only two out of the seven activities. Each group of students experienced two different activities from the rest of the class, in other words not all of the students in the class experienced the same activities. Instructional videos were developed to provide students with an alternative way to understand each of the models and their related concepts. The videos are also used as a teaching approach to show students how mechanics concepts are applied. Learning takes place through a combination of observational learning, experiential learning, activity preparedness, and reflective learning. Upon completion of two out of the seven activities, the students were shown one of the videos during class and guided to the rest of the video series to watch on their own. Students were able to gain greater perspective on the activities they participated in. For those activities they were unable to interact with, they had the opportunity to learn about the same concepts through an alternative but comparable experience. Thus, all students were able to utilize a unique resource to improve their understanding of the material in ways that could not be achieved during lectures or tutorials. The study of the videos' overall success was carried out primarily by means of a comprehensive subjective survey sent to students after they watched the videos. The survey asked for their overall thoughts, how they found the video quality, about the ways in which the videos improved their learning, and for them to rate their knowledge on a series of key concepts covered by the videos. View counts for each of the videos over the period of study were also examined to gain an understanding of student participation. Positive results found for both measures demonstrate the effectiveness of the various techniques incorporated into the videos and their success as an additional learning tool in a first year mechanics course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the implementation of an event for first year students of a new engineering program to build teamwork skills and introduce the iterative design process. The university of the author group has recently implemented a new Architectural Engineering (AE) program, which is believed to be the first program of its kind in Canada to integrate core engineering education with open ended design studio courses throughout the program's entirety. An event called AE Design Days was held during the first two days of classes for the incoming AE students. Much like the program itself, the event sought to combine engineering and architectural pedagogy in a synergistic fashion. In groups of four, students were tasked with designing, building, and testing a furniture piece. The projects were evaluated by core course instructors and teaching assistants against the following criteria: identifying and proposing a solution for a problem specific to the given site, choosing an appropriate match between design, material, and construction technique, and efficiently resisting service loads. The final task of the event was a simultaneous slideshow presentation and load test where students explained their group's design rationale, tested their designs with estimated service loads, and subsequently continued load testing to failure. Both a 'people's choice' winner and overall winner were identified, with no grade being assigned to the students. According to the student survey conducted after the event, 90% of the participants felt that AE Design Days was a positive experience and wish to have a similar event in future academic terms. The paper will discuss details of the AE Design Days event and its effects on the students through the analysis of the survey questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The underrepresentation of female faculty in science, technology, engineering and mathematics departments is well documented. In computer science and engineering particularly, the dearth of female faculty is even more pronounced. Diversity of faculty in these disciplines is important because it has direct implications for the diversity and quality of future engineering and computer science workforce. Diversity and inclusion are very important parts of campus climate. Therefore, it is critical for universities to have a welcoming climate in order to retain female faculty and foster an environment where they can thrive. This preliminary study examines diversity issues related to female faculty of color with a focus on professional concerns that are unique to this group of female faculty in computer science and engineering. This paper examines current literature and data to identify key factors that affect workplace climate for this group of faculty. Furthermore, this paper identifies gaps in existing studies and will inform the development of a study on the experiences of female faculty of color in computer science and engineering related to workplace climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students being engaged in lectures plays a big role in their learning process. Students come to lectures sometimes tired, bored, or just have lots of things going on in their mind, either personal, or course/program related, etc. As such it is important to set their mind clear to be ready to digest the new material they are going to learn in the course. It is also important to excite them enough to come to early morning classes and keep their attention to stay in the late afternoon classes while staying focused. This paper discusses the use of different methods to increase engagement, attention and attendance in class and the students' reflection on these methods. Some of these engagement pieces are directly course related and some are just general engagement information. Two instructors used these methods in second and third year engineering courses. The engagement pieces included: mini-games at the beginning of the lecture, unrelated anecdotes in the middle of the lecture, and semi-related special information pieces. All of these are being part of mechanics courses taught in civil, mechanical and mechatronics engineering programs. Examples of these mini-games include: centroid-balance games, where student participate in groups reinforcing their group dynamics, or "guess the unit games" where students participate individually using Kahoot! website. The instructors also used anecdotes such as the etymology of Greek letters and the effect of climate change. In the other attempts, instructors showed short videos of special mechanisms/machines to emphasize a broader application of the topic that they are learning. The students were enthusiastic about these engagement pieces (EP) and they mentioned the positive effect it had on their learning. They were looking forward for these EPs, and were asking that they should be used in other courses as well. The use of these EPs also improved instructors' course evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In second year civil engineering, students participate in a horizontally integrated bridge design project to increase their exposure to engineering application and prepare for their fourthyear design project. To compliment this project, a two-day event called CivE Days was implemented. This event freed students from classes and deadlines and allowed them to completely immerse themselves in a simulated bridge design project. The set-up of the event is split into four stages: preliminary design, bridge construction, bridge testing and project reflection. Learning takes place through a combination of experiential learning, group work, reflective learning, and learning from failure. All of these pedagogical approaches promote a deeper level of learning for students and enhance knowledge retention in upper years. The event was not graded to allow students to experiment and learn in a stressfree environment. This provided a positive atmosphere where design creativity was encouraged without fear of failure. The effectiveness of the CivE Days initiative was evaluated through the final bridge project testing results, final bridge project report marks, and surveys submitted at the end of the CivE Days event. The bridge project grades and testing results for students who participated in CivE Days was compared to the bridge project grades and testing results for a control class who did not have the opportunity to participate in the CivE Days event. It was found that student grades and performance improved, indicating a better understanding of the bridge design project and how the information from the different courses are integrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Evidence-based practice paper describes a learning process developed and used in several STEM courses. Learning is a process unique to each individual and can be accomplished by watching, reading, doing, experiencing, repetition and even teaching. Learning according to [1] is a two-step process where the first step is to receive information and the second is to process. This study is an active learning method that combines these two steps in a repetitive process that encourages engagement and collaboration in the classroom. Memory related research has identified and confirmed the power of repetition on the recall ability. Repetition has a profound impact on the event related brain potential eliciting a longer recall period and has been reported to speed up the learning process [2,3,4]. In addition, paired learning combined with paired testing has been proven to enhance learning more than it would in paired learning combined with individual testing [5]. This paper discusses a pedagogy that combines the above mentioned theories. This pedagogy aims to maximize learning in within a short time frame. Students learn while creating questions and answers to these questions, preparing for the quiz, taking the quiz and finally grading the quiz. The students work with a partner or in a group throughout the process of the quiz. The paper also discusses the modifications done to accommodate for the change in a classroom size. It also gives the feedback gathered from the students while implementing this pedagogy in a small and a large classroom setting and what improvements have been done in addressing students' concerns. 93% of the students - found the process of creating the questions for the quiz to be helpful in reviewing the material learned in the class and the process of taking the quiz to be helpful in learning the material; 93% of the students indicated that they learned from their classmates; and 13% of the students preferred lecture only class. The project is a result of an international collaboration with professors from two different universities across three different disciplines in STEM including Civil Engineering, Computer Science and, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Slight variations of the method was employed based on the specific nature of the class. The project consists of the students working in groups to create questions and answers related to a topic briefly described in class. The questions and answers are presented in an online forum monitored by the class instructor for all the students to see. The students are then quizzed on questions from the pool asked by them online. The project was implemented in a range of class sizes from 20 students to 120 students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the use of physical models as teaching tools in mechanics. These tools were used to introduce engineering theory as part of first and second year civil engineering mechanics courses. The model kits were designed to cover: arches, Gothic cathedrals, suspension bridges, tanks and culverts, dams and retaining walls, point equilibrium, rigid body equilibrium, and beam statics. They were designed in a way to allow the students to feel forces and experience them targeting a deeper learning rather than surface comprehension of mechanics concepts. The beam activity is discussed here, as an example of how the activities work. Students were given the opportunity to work with simply supported beams. The kits were comprised of two pin supports, a wooden beam, two scales, three wooden blocks intended to represent uniformly distributed loads, and a custom made torque tool. The goal of the activity was to provide the students with a sense of how forces act in a mechanically stable structure before being introduced to the mathematical rigor. From the activity, the students are expected to develop an intuition for how reactions are produced, the effect of uniformly distributed loads and their equivalent point loads, and the concept of moments (how they are produced, direct application and its independence of position). The activities were designed to challenge the students' intuition, target misconceptions and engage them more in critical thinking. To assess the value gained by utilizing these models, the students were presented with questionnaires prior to participation in the activities. The questions are designed to gauge the students' understanding of core concepts with respect to their intuition, rather than mathematical rigor. An example of such a question from the Gothic Cathedral activity is: "Give an example of how assembly sequencing is important in building construction". The same questions were also presented to the students after participation in the activities to assess their gained knowledge. This paper demonstrates the validity of inductive learning. In contrast to standard education, where students are presented with the theory first, the students are encouraged to make the connections between core concepts on their own via experimentation. Following this, the students are presented with the theory, with the expectation that they are able to understand the principles intuitively as they are presented with the relevant equations. Although all the students experienced the hands-on mechanics activities in their first year, the theory was not explained until subsequent courses. The theory explained to the students builds from the intuition developed from these activities, reinforcing what they have learned. The goal of inductive learning is to guide the students away from memorization, where they are limited to only solving problems they have already seen, and shift towards a critical thinking framework, where they can abstract what they have learned to more complex problems. Students expressed appreciation of these models. Some of the comments were: "It was nice to feel where the tension was". "I learned how to apply it to real life rather than memorizing it for an exam". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]