Exploring the impact of peer-generated screencast tutorials on computer-aided design education

Abstract

This paper presents the design strategies of an engineering education research project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and discusses the preliminary findings. Study participants were the students who enrolled in the "Mechanical Engineering Drawing" course and learned about computer-aided design (CAD). We grouped students into two sections as control section versus experimental section. Control group students received a traditional and teacher-centered instruction. The screencast tutorials were provided to them by their instructors. In the experimental section, students designed their own screencast tutorials. They shared the tutorials with one another on the Internet. They reviewed and commented each other's tutorials. This activity was student-centered. We captured students' attitudes towards engineering and their life-long learning skills before and after the semester, and their CAD knowledge at the end of the semester. This is the first implementation of the research project and our preliminary findings are discussed in this paper.