Mechanical and civil engineering students learnfundamental engineering concepts through acourse in statics. Statics problems usually require the student to draw planar truss and other free-body dia-grams (FBDs). In civil and mechanical... more
Mechanical and civil engineering students learnfundamental engineering concepts through acourse in statics. Statics problems usually require the student to draw planar truss and other free-body dia-grams (FBDs). In civil and mechanical engineering, visual and spatial thoughts are essential for the correct absorption of funda-mental concepts. By relying on visual aids as opposed to only using the verbal channel of acquiring knowledge, the cog-nitive load becomes lighter and learning becomes more effective (Sweller 1994). Furthermore, learners should active-ly engage in the process in order to reach the highest levels of comprehension. The task of freehand sketching encour-ages and demands that learners are actively constructing their knowledge. In the civil and mechanical engineering domain, sketched planar truss and other free-body dia-grams are particularly helpful to the understanding of statics concepts. This type of “forced active processing” ensures attention to visual informat...
Drawing is a common form of communication and a means of artistic expression. Many of us believe that the ability to draw accurate representations of objects is a skill that either comes naturally or is the result of hours of study or... more
Drawing is a common form of communication and a means of artistic expression. Many of us believe that the ability to draw accurate representations of objects is a skill that either comes naturally or is the result of hours of study or practice or both. As a result many people become intimidated when confronted with the task of drawing. Many books and websites have been developed to teach people step-by-step skills to draw various objects, but they lack the live feedback of a human examiner. We designed EyeSeeYou, a sketch recognition system that teaches users to draw eyes using a simple drawing technique. The system automatically evaluates the freehand drawn sketch of an eye at various stages during creation. We conducted frequent evaluations of the system in order to take an iterative development approach based on user feedback. Our system balances the flexibility of free-hand drawing with step-by-step instructions and realtime assessment. It also provides rigorous feedback to crea...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Introductory engineering courses within large universities often have annual enrollments which can reach up to a thousand students. It is very challenging to achieve differentiated instruction in classrooms with class sizes and student... more
Introductory engineering courses within large universities often have annual enrollments which can reach up to a thousand students. It is very challenging to achieve differentiated instruction in classrooms with class sizes and student diversity of such great magnitude. Professors can only assess whether students have mastered a concept by using multiple choice questions, while detailed homework assignments, such as planar truss diagrams, are rarely assigned because professors and teaching assistants would be too overburdened with grading to return assignments with valuable feedback in a timely manner. In this paper, we introduce Mechanix, a sketch-based deployed tutoring system for engineering students enrolled in statics courses. Our system not only allows students to enter planar truss and free body diagrams into the system just as they would with pencil and paper, but our system checks the student's work against a hand-drawn answer entered by the instructor, and then returns...
Research Interests:
Introductory engineering courses within large universities often have annual enrollments which can reach up to a thousand students. It is very challenging to achieve differentiated instruction in classrooms with class sizes and student... more
Introductory engineering courses within large universities often have annual enrollments which can reach up to a thousand students. It is very challenging to achieve differentiated instruction in classrooms with class sizes and student diversity of such great magnitude. Professors can only assess whether students have mastered a concept by using multiple choice questions, while detailed homework assignments, such as planar truss diagrams, are rarely assigned because professors and teaching assistants would be too ...