Education faculty grant to focus on student engagement

Muhsin Menekse, Assistant Professor, Science Education

College of Education faculty received a $1.4 million grant by the Institute of Education Sciences through the U.S. Department of Education to design and develop the CourseMIRROR mobile learning system.

The system combines mobile learning technologies with natural language processing to create a continuous cycle of student reflection and then instructor feedback. The cycle aims to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes in large lecture courses.

Muhsin Menekse, an assistant professor in engineering and science education, is the principal investigator of the project.

He said most introductory STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) classes are taught in large lecture-based scenarios that result in a passive response by students.

Menekse said the research will examine and address the passive response problem by exploring the reflection and feedback cycle on students’ learning outcomes and the use of different learning strategies in large lecture STEM courses.

The grant is for four years. Menekse, also an assistant professor in the School of Engineering Education, is joined by Ala Samarapungavan, professor of educational psychology, and Diane Litman, a professor of computer science at the University of Pittsburgh.