This project is developing a new digital electronics course that relies on the active participation of learners at each stage of the learning process and involves web-based preview material and warm-up assignments followed by interactive classroom teaching and learning. This instructional approach, referred to as Preview, Exercise, Teaching and Learning (PETL), is a variation of the just-in-time-teaching (JiTT) methodology, and it is enhancing student learning because they take an active part in the learning process. Before a topic is presented in class, students briefly preview the new materials delivered through web-based multimedia, and then respond electronically to carefully constructed warm-up exercises, which are due before class. The interactive classroom session, built around students' responses to warm-up exercises, replaces the traditional lecture format. Project materials and results are being posted on the course website, presented at engineering education conferences and in academic journals, and through the JiTT website. Evaluation efforts, which are being guided by experts from the University's teaching and learning center, are using surveys, special tests, interviews, and focus groups to monitor the project's progress. Broader impacts include the dissemination of the instructional materials, the building of connections among faculty members who teach digital electronics, and an improvement in retention of students who find the traditional lecture ineffective.
