An Enhanced Hybrid Model for Teaching Mechanics of Structures Courses

Abstract

Abstract In this paper we show results on how a proposed enhanced model for the teaching of Applied Mechanics Courses, particularly Mechanics of Structures courses, facilitates the motivation of students and lecturers resulting in an overall improvement of student satisfaction and their grades. The use and design of new spaces for teaching of such engineering courses that make use of collaborative activities and the solution of specific challenges are also presented. The enhanced model presented in this paper includes the use of new technologies in teaching, namely offline video repositories, new facilities for the teaching that are no longer the classic lecture room and the combination of traditional techniques such as tutorials. The paper also shows how they are incorporated into the proposed teaching model resulting in an hybrid model. The model is applied to a number of courses at the undergraduate level taken by second-year Architecture and Civil Engineering students. The results show that all the factors mentioned above are well received by students and improve the overall satisfaction that students show for the selected courses and above all, the improvement in the passing rates for the courses. The conclusions and results presented in this paper could help in the design of new courses and spaces for teaching of courses that are considered difficult by students, such as Applied Mechanics Courses.