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# <!-- Title --> | |
# Brief Summary | |
------------- | |
In this talk I discuss the role of Jupyter in student-centered learning in new | |
modes of post-COVID teaching. The Jupyter community embodies and enables the | |
goals of student-centered learning. The Jupyter code is built by a cooperative | |
community of programmers around the world. The educational applications include | |
problem-based approaches, project-based inquiry, and building community. I use | |
Jupyter notebooks to build resources for mechanical engineering students. | |
I deployed these notebooks on a Jupyterhub server and distributed examples in | |
Github. Students were able to focus on problem-solving and engineering design | |
methodology in a free open-source software environment. There are three main | |
strengths of Jupyter in the classroom: it is built for experimentation and is | |
versatile, the Jupyter community builds resources and documentation together, | |
and it provides a great way to build problem-based and project-based learning | |
activities in hybrid-blended and distance learning courses. The benefits of | |
building a Jupyter community in the classroom is that students are given the | |
chance to experiment and build models, they are brought into the Jupyter | |
community of free open-source software developers, and they experience an | |
overall student-centered learning environment. | |
Outline | |
-------- | |
# Overview | |
* Student-centered learning is the preferred method of teaching | |
* Student-centered learning includes projects, problems, asking questions, etc. | |
* Main goal is to develop method of thinking and solution | |
* Jupyter enables new ways to create student-centered learning: | |
* Its open and versatile, I can use JupyterHub, send raw code, print out pdfs, etc. | |
* Open resources available e.g. Barba and Clementi's awesome [Engineers Code](https://github.com/engineersCode/EngComp.git) | |
* The community is built upon communication and learning | |
* [Dewey](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/852/852-h/852-h.htm) claimed | |
learning is building community through communication | |
* Its everything I want in a learning resource | |
# Engineers need student-centered learning to succeed | |
## Recognizing Engineering students' experience | |
* Both PBL and PjBL have shown to be effective in | |
higher education\cite{carlile1998,morrison2004}. Students | |
search, solve, create, and share approaches\cite{awang2008} using math models | |
and measurements. | |
* 11-out-of-26 engineering majors tinkered with projects as children. Kruz and | |
* 10-out-of-26 engineering majors want a job. Kruz and | |
* The most important ABET | |
outcomes ranked by practicing engineers, employers, and recent graduates are | |
1-problem solving and 2-communication\cite{passow2017,evans1993}. | |
## Compare Kant transcendentalism vs with Dewey's Pragmatism | |
* Kant: Nature has fundamental laws that we strive to learn, but are ignorant of | |
true meaning due to physical abilities | |
* Kant: would consider a string theory ultimate knowledge as preferred to | |
best-fit approximations from experience | |
* Dewey: Method of thinking and solution is the most important part of knowledge | |
Definition of thinking: | |
Thinking is the accurate and deliberate instituting of connections between what | |
is done and its consequences | |
* Dewey: learning needs to be associated with a "genuine experience" e.g. | |
writing code, making figures, writing a report, describing an observed | |
phenomena | |
* Dewey's preference for thought over knowledge is directly in line with the | |
engineering design process | |
* Engineers build with the tools in hand and approximate models to make better | |
connections and control consequences | |
## Compare teacher-centered learning vs student-centered learning | |
* Assume knowledge exists and students need to _gain_ it: | |
* Teacher-centered learning | |
* lecture | |
* give assignments | |
* criticize and evaluate | |
* Community develops in an adversarial way: students-vs-teacher or not at all | |
* Assume the _thinking process_ is more important than the actual knowledge: | |
* Student-centered learning | |
* Project-based/Problem-based assignments | |
* encourage collaboration | |
* Work involves experimentation and tinkering | |
* most importantly _thinking_ | |
## How does Jupyter fit into student-centered learning? | |
* "Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is, not a | |
preparation for life; education is life itself." - John Dewey | |
* [Chomsky on | |
Dewey](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZFuOZ0yTNM) if we teach students using a Dewey, student-centered approach it | |
would lead to an industrialist democracy | |
* People would be motivated to question, learn, and grow continually | |
* Leading to open innovations in a democratic | |
* Jupyter and Python are free open source software built by an industrialist | |
democratic$^{+}$ group | |
* What better way to build student-centered materials than with a community that | |
exemplifies the final goal of our student community?! | |
$^{+}$ Democratic in the sense that anyone can join the community and | |
contribute, but of course there are leaders in certain FOSS developments | |
# My journey of design with Jupyter in Education | |
* Reflecting upon journey of design | |
* I recognized a need and began experimenting | |
* Became overwhelmed by information and found help | |
* Built my JupyterHub server and Github course materials | |
* Now I needed to quantify student engagement, success, etc. | |
* The materials lower the threshold to get students coding, so I can | |
focus on their engineering design process | |
# Building the journey of design into my [Computational Mechanics](https://github.uconn.edu/pages/rcc02007/Computational_Mechanics/) | |
## Example for Linear Algebra | |
* Students want to apply Linear Algebra to Engineering solutions | |
* Familiar engineering situations and models are put transformed into matrices | |
in Numpy | |
* Students must interpret and seek help on deciphering these new approaches in | |
three interactive Jupyter notebooks with short answers and medium HW problems | |
* The final solution is often in the form of an array of data. What does | |
it mean? | |
* Students must print out data, plot values, and try new ways to get their model | |
* Finally, students are given a finite element analysis project (just the | |
solution) | |
* They apply their knowledge and create a GitHub repository with a solution | |
## How did Jupyter ~~enable~~ enhance this experience | |
* Spring 2020 course | |
* Hybrid class met in computer lab Tue/Thu for 30-min Jan-Mar | |
* Students worked together on examples and homework problems | |
* Myself and TA fielded debugging questions | |
* COVID-19 quarantine in Mar ended lab sessions: convert to distance | |
* Class logged into conference and chatted on Hangouts | |
* We used GitHub issue tracker for questions, debugging, and communication | |
# Conclusions | |
* Engineers need student-centered learning to experience engineering design | |
* Jupyter enables new ways to create student-centered learning: | |
* Its open and versatile | |
* Open resources allow change and distribution | |
* I used open source tools to build a mini open source community in the classroom | |
* Its everything I want in a learning resource | |
Affiliation | |
---------- | |
Department of Mechanical Engineering | |
University of Connecticut | |
Storrs, CT 06269 | |
Past Experience | |
-------------- | |
JupyterCon Pop-up Boston. [Flipping the Classroom with Jupyter](https://youtu.be/SZPTpx0VbIs) | |
Requests | |
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