Retention of engineering undergraduates, in particular during the sophomore and junior years, is a major national concern. Active learning classroom techniques, Blended online and in-class materials, and Collaborative learning environments have each shown some promise of improving engineering student outcomes. However, these promising tools are seldom deployed together and rarely utilized in core disciplinary classes. This research program will rigorously study the Purdue Mechanics Freeform Classroom (Freeform), an Active-Blended-Collaborative (ABC) structure that has experienced anecdotal success for the last six years. The research team will collect data from multiple sources to understand the student and instructor experience, the importance of disciplinary content and institutional setting, and the juxtaposition of Freeform with students' and instructors' other courses. The project will explore Freeform at Purdue West Lafayette and two other diverse campuses: Purdue University Calumet and Trine University, which serve underrepresented populations that are disproportionately affected by stopout. This study will generate useful outcomes for other interested program adopters, including online course templates and video creation strategies, student study guides, and faculty orientation workshops.
Empirical studies indicate that Active, Blended, and Collaborative learning structures (ABC) each enhance achievement and retention in undergraduate STEM. To date, these tools have not been combined, nor have they been widely deployed in disciplinary core classes in the middle two years that are major sources of underperformance. This research program will study Purdue's Mechanics Freeform Classroom (Freeform), a pedagogical framework that fully merges ABC tools in sophomore year Dynamics and has experienced success in improving pass rates. The project's goals are to better understand (a) the student experience in using ABC tools and classroom structures, (b) mediating individual characteristics of the faculty, discipline, and institution, and (c) the way Freeform operates in the context of students' and instructors' other courses. Using an iterative process of research and implementation, the project team is testing Freeform in its most mature implementation (Dynamics), as well as in other mechanical engineering courses at Purdue and at partner institutions: Trine University and Purdue University- Calumet. The team will collect a rich array of qualitative and quantitative data from both faculty and students, including attitudinal, cognitive, and behavioral metrics. This will provide valuable and novel insight into how to implement ABC environments in diverse disciplines and institutions over a sustained time period.
