Design and development of online applied thermo-fluid science courses

Abstract

Online teaching and learning has become a popular pedagogy for educators and students due to the flexibility and accessibility of course materials. Many educators revised and redesigned their courses and the methods of teaching to convey their courses online. Course management systems such as Blackboard, Moodle, and many others are widely adopted by universities and colleges to provide a platform for educators to offer their courses in online settings. In addition, textbook publishers have started to develop and offer teaching resources such as; lecture slides, question banks, quizzes, and exams to assist online teaching. Although platforms and resources are available to support online teaching, designing, developing, and teaching online courses in engineering technology fields remain a challenge due to the applied nature of the courses and the compatibility of the teaching resources. This paper will discuss the design and development of online undergraduate level Applied Fluid Mechanics and Applied Thermodynamics courses in the Mechanical Engineering Technology Department at Farmingdale State College. It also sets the groundwork to measure the effectiveness of the online setting for these courses. Assessments of both courses in online and in-class settings will be conducted in the near future after the authors have taught their courses in both settings for at least one time.