Augmented Guidance Practical Learning for Engineering Students

We will improve the breadth and depth of practical skills of our students within the existing time constraints of our program. Practical skills take time to develop, in part because many basic questions arise when students first start to use equipment and this slows the learning process. We will provide a faster, scalable way to answer basic questions and show techniques using searchable streaming video explanations to common questions on tool set-up, operation and prototyping. This will let many students work simultaneously but at their own pace while a supervising instructor focuses on more complex questions and monitors safety.

This project is the start of a longer term process for improving and expanding student learning of practical skills. We anticipate increases in the number of students using the shop and reporting positive experiences. We are also using this to build in-house capability to expand the video library in future.