Resumen de Female and minority students benefit from use of multimedia case studies
Justin Bond, Yichun Wang, Chetan S. Sankar, P. K. Raju, Qiang Li
Students need to acquire professional skills before entering the workforce in order to achieve career success and this is particularlyimportant for female students and minorities. This article draws upon engineering education literature and student learning theoriesto understand the interconnected relationships among student characteristics (gender and race), instructional methodologies andgains in Higher-Order Cognitive Skills (HOCS) and the achievement of learning outcomes using the 4-P model of student learning.The model was tested for students enrolled in an undergraduate introduction to engineering course at a southeastern U.S.university and a historically black college and university (HBCU) for five semesters, where students participated in experimental(multi-media case studies) and control (round table discussions) sections. Both female and minority students achieved betterlearning outcomes, particularly in grade performance, after working on multimedia case studies. All students perceived improvement in HOCS and learning outcomes in a multimedia case study learning environment. These results support the use ofmultimedia case studies in classrooms to increase students’ engagement in learning and exposure to real-world experiences, therebybuilding their professional skills. The widespread adoption and implementation of multimedia case studies is also likely toencourage more female and minority students to pursue careers in engineering.
