Marty Jacobson

Georgia Institute of Technology | marty@gatech.edu

Getting Past YouTube: Responsive Tutorials Drive Better Skill Building

About the speaker

Marty Jacobson

Biomedical Engineering @ Georgia Tech & Emory Univ.

Background in Industrial Design and product

development, teaches Medical Device Development,

Design for Manufacturing, coaches Capstone teams

and entrepreneurial startups, runs BME Design Shop.

Full-time teacher.

Photo: MCJ

Overview

Is this talk for you?

Do you teach skills,

complex processes,

or software?

Purpose of this talk

A PROVEN APPROACH TO ONLINE SKILL BUILDINGCurrently running this process successfully with my third cohort of students:

Intro to Biomedical Engineering Design, BME Capstone, Design & Programming for CNC, Fusion360 DFM

Purpose of this talk

A PROVEN APPROACH TO ONLINE SKILL BUILDINGCurrently running this process successfully with my third cohort of students:

Intro to Biomedical Engineering Design, BME Capstone, Design & Programming for CNC, Fusion360 DFM

GROUNDED IN THEORY AND PRINCIPLESUnderstand the background so you can effectively apply to your own subject matter

Purpose of this talk

A PROVEN APPROACH TO ONLINE SKILL BUILDINGCurrently running this process successfully with my third cohort of students:

Intro to Biomedical Engineering Design, BME Capstone, Design & Programming for CNC, Fusion360 DFM

GROUNDED IN THEORY AND PRINCIPLESUnderstand the background so you can effectively apply to your own subject matter

PRACTICAL TIPS, TRICKS, AND EXAMPLESLearn from my experiments and mistakes!

May 1st, 2020 through August 1st, 2020

Participated during

lockdown

250STUDENTS

10,000HOURS

200+BASIC

CERTIFICATIONS

120+PRO

CERTIFICATIONS

Invested by students

(Most with no grade or

financial incentive)

User/Associate level

certifications earned

Professional level

certifications earned

Intro, Challenge, Reveal

The Intro – Challenge – Reveal System

INTRO

This is not a tutorial

Lecture as little as possible

One distinct idea

The Intro – Challenge – Reveal System

INTRO CHALLENGE

This is not a tutorial

Lecture as little as possible

One distinct idea

This is not a test

Play – expect failure

Self-directed learning

The Intro – Challenge – Reveal System

INTRO CHALLENGE REVEAL

This is not a tutorial

Lecture as little as possible

One distinct idea

This is not a test

Play – expect failure

Self-directed learning

Make connections

Expert-level application

Non-obvious solution

Examples

Take a minute…

• Something you currently teach for which the

following are true?

o Lots of introduction required

o Requires connections to prerequisites or topics

earlier in the course

o A high degree of variability in the level of

mastery students attain

Principles & Theory

The Problem with Lectures

• Tutorials or lectures of > 6 min do not hold student’s attention

o Attention spans are shrinking (see references in handouts)

The Problem with Lectures

• Tutorials or lectures of > 6 min do not hold student’s attention

o Attention spans are shrinking

• In-person lectures should incorporate active learning

o But it’s even more important for remote/asynchronous teaching

The Problem with Lectures

• Tutorials or lectures of > 6 min do not hold student’s attention

o Attention spans are shrinking

• In-person lectures should incorporate active learning

o But it’s even more important for remote/asynchronous teaching

• Watching a task being performed gives students a false confidence in their ability to perform the task

(Kardas M, O’Brien E, Easier Said than Done, Psychological Science, 2018)

The Problem with Lectures

• Tutorials or lectures of > 6 min do not hold student’s attention

o Attention spans are shrinking

• In-person lectures should incorporate active learning

o But it’s even more important for remote/asynchronous teaching

• Watching a task being performed gives students a false confidence in their ability to perform the task

(Kardas M, O’Brien E, Easier Said than Done, Psychological Science, 2018)

• Follow-Along Tutorials

o Give a false sense of competence, not fully engaged active learning

Advantages of Short Tutorials

• Pre-Production Advantage (1 hour live demo + Q&A = 3-5 minute rehearsed and edited demo)

• Easier navigation of course material

• Students may re-watch videos or skip past concepts they are comfortable with

• Students may skip past concepts they are comfortable with

• Teachers may refer students to targeted content when needed

• Shorter videos are easier to create and maintain as software changes

Dunning-Kruger Effect

• The Dunning-Kruger Effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

• Four Stages of Competence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stages_of_competence

• Students are faced with a deadly cocktail of false confidence, and the natural lack of confidence which

comes with initial exposure to reality.

• While we don’t want to put them in a situation that crushes their confidence, we do want to get them

to confront the complexity of the situation early. By not building their confidence falsely, a much more

gradual and encouraging skill development progression is the result.

• When in person, we can talk to them, see their stress in their body language, and encourage them

through the process. But in a remote, asynchronous setting, students will likely get frustrated unless

there is some mechanism which mimics the accessibility of an instructor.

User:Sciencia58 / CC0https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dunning-Kruger-Effect-en.png

User:Sciencia58 / CC0https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dunning-Kruger-Effect-en.png

Conscious Incompetence

Unconscious Incompetence

Conscious Competence

Unconscious Competence

User:Sciencia58 / CC0https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dunning-Kruger-Effect-en.png

“It won’t work”

“I think I can”

“I’m starting to feel more comfortable”

“No sweat”

Cognitive Complexity

• Bloom’s Taxonomy

o Knowledge (Remember)

o Comprehension (Understand)

o Application

o Analysis (Differentiate)

o Evaluation (Judge/Defend)

o Synthesis (Create)

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_taxonomy

Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching/ CC https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/

Trauma-Aware Teaching

Stress and trauma redirect our brains toward survival mode and away from executive functions.

Karen Ray Costa for OLC Ideate Trauma-Aware Online Teaching

SAFETY Environments are welcoming and individuals are respected

CHOICEIndividual has choice and control

COLLABORATION Making decisions with the individual and sharing power

TRUSTWORTHINESS Task clarity, consistency, and interpersonal boundaries

EMPOWERMENT Individuals feel validated and affirmed

- Karen Ray Costa for OLC Ideate Trauma-Aware Online Teaching

Causal vs. Effectual Reasoning

Adapted from Source: Society for Effectual Actionhttps://www.effectuation.org/?page_id=207

Causal vs. Effectual Reasoning

Adapted from Source: Society for Effectual Actionhttps://www.effectuation.org/?page_id=207

Some Conclusions & Assumptions

• Remote instruction is here to stay

o Supplement your in-person instruction with this model, or even employ it in an in-person, hybrid, or

fully remote model

o “Lecture for 10 hours, then test the students” does not work in a remote or hybrid model

• Bias self-lead experimentation by the student and active learning over excessive instruction

• Establish an expectation that failure is part of learning, and reward learning through failure

• Dispel the expectation that there is one right answer

• Hold the student to a high standard of mastery

• Create a situation where the student is faced with a tough challenge, but has ready access to help at

any stage of the process

• Break up instruction into easily navigable chunks

The System

Introduction

▪ The Introduction: As Little As Possible

o3-7 minutes introducing the basics

oDon’t try to explain everything – just the most salient and characteristic details

oThis is not a tutorial, this is an excuse to get them started on an activity

oDo NOT show "thought process" or "working through problems" - it should be “infallible”

oDon't over-complicate or combine concepts in intro

Challenge

• The Challenge: As Complex As You Like

o Not a test – failure is expected and rewarded

o High cognitive complexity - "there's no one right answer“

o Set the bar for access to the solution as high as you like

o Give solutions after any “reasonable attempt”

o Resubmit for full credit after implementing suggestions found in the solution

Reveal

▪ The Reveal: The Clean Path to Success

oRepeatable set of steps with an "optimal path" to completing the assignment

o“But you didn’t teach us how to do that” – the reveal should be a clear “Aha” moment

oLook for common stress points students encounter in my courses, then design

specific activities

oExplain how the initial concepts relate to the expert approach

oBeyond what students are expected to solve

oShow multiple ways of solving the problem

Example: Fusion360 Intro Assignments

• Intro: Follow-Along Pill bottle

o Demonstrate:

▪ Primitives

▪ Shell

▪ Extrude

▪ Fillet

▪ basics of Boolean operations

▪ sketching and dimensions

▪ Project

▪ Press-Pull

o Challenge: Syringe w/ parameters and design criteria

• Challenge: Syringe w/ parameters and design criteria

o Work with parametric relationships, see how they break

o Design to engineering criteria

o Use Booleans to solve modeling challenges (volume)

o Apply simple sketches to create complex geometry

o Make a multi-part assembly that fits together perfectly

and updates parametrically based on equations

o Read engineering drawings

Example: Revolve Assignments

• Intro: Basics of revolved solids

o Sketch region

o Axis of revolution

o Off-axis revolved regions

o Revolves as part of a Boolean process

• Challenge 1: Snorkle

o Partial revolved solid

• Challenge 2: Yolk

o Intersection between rectilinear and revolved solids

o Full round tangency w/ 3 arcs

• Challenge 3: Daisy Cylinders

o Complex drawings

o Connecting elements between separate drawings

o Non-obvious assembly method

o Non-shelled region of consistent wall thickness

o Critical sequence of operations

o Parts with Minor Variations

o Sketch Offset

Example: Chamfer

• Intro: Basics of Chamfer

o Chamfer edges

o Picking multiple edges

o Order of operations

• Challenge: One-Edge Chamfer Part

o “Iron Chef” limited ingredient challenge:

▪ Constrain tools to limit their options and keep

them from overcomplicating the assignment

o Constraints and specific mass & surface area targets

o Reading drawings

Scoping & Scoring

• Choose a topic

o Outline salient details

• Devise a challenge

o Outline the learning objectives of the challenge

• Document and Beta-Test

• Set Scores to Reveal

• Set Scores to Proceed

Tips and Tricks

Tips and Tricks

▪ Some tips and tricks

oGrade automatically and give feedback automatically

oAssign the same question multiple times but at different levels of detail. This helps

them troubleshoot their submissions in real-time and encourages experimentation

oUse the LMS quiz feedback mechanism to automatically give follow-up videos or text

instruction which addresses common mistakes, or at least gives them a hint towards

the solution

oAdd some questions which are very challenging, but set the scoring and progression

prerequisites so students don’t get stuck

oMonitor & respond to submissions

oStudents submit original files to verify originality and make it easier to give feedback

Additional Thoughts

• Contract Grading

• Give full credit for a module after completion regardless of individual item scores

• Examples of curricula & example assignments

• 2310 Fusion

• 3801 CNC

Contract Grading

• Students choose which modules to work on

• Students know what their final grade is based on module completion

• Provide many modules of varying degrees of complexity

• Provide modules to suit various learning styles

• Provide due date flexibility

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