Blended learning environment to develop personas and themes in engineering students using mathematical oriented activities

Abstract

There is not only an emergent need to implement innovative pedagogies but also to understand in more depth what actually happens in engineering classrooms and how to accelerate the rate at which research on students provides influence on teaching practices. The growing trend in higher education based on previous studies, highlighted the potential of blended learning in supporting mathematical thinking among fresh engineering students. This research is designed to develop and implement a blended learning environment using a well-practiced problem solving strategy integrated with selected MIT-BLOSSOMS modules and investigated its implications by developing student personas and emergent themes of engineering students. The study starts by knowing the students, their current knowledge state and what they have already experienced relating to mathematical thinking and learning. A web-based, artificially intelligent Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces (ALEKS) system is used to know the students’ current knowledge state. Classroom observations and focus groups were used to investigate the emergent themes whereas written activity responses were analyzed to show the activation of mathematical thinking processes in conceptual embodiment and operational symbolism. Findings highlight the emergent themes of met-befores, met-afters, implications of blended learning and challenges whilst problem solving. The results show that blended learning can support “horizontal mathematization” during problem solving activities by manipulating students’ conflicting met-befores, increasing their diligence during problem solving and improving student-teacher relationship. The student personas are developed as a potential pedagogical tool to communicate the vital research findings to the Community of Practice (CoP) and have the potential to develop empathy among engineering educators. This research is transferable and replicable to tertiary as well as secondary education by modifying the blending options on the spectra of time, space, technologies, pedagogy, format, courses, participants and complexity of the problem solving activities accordingly.