The study of soils is fundamental to a civil engineer's education, and examining how soil behaves under various conditions in the laboratory is paramount to a sound understanding of geotechnical engineering. Measuring soil behaviour is, however, a tedious process and, almost universally, students find practical classes uninspiring, tedious and unfocussed. A singular issue, of course, is that dirt just isn't a very enthralling topic. Observing the 'behaviour' of something that doesn't seem to actually do anything has little appeal for most people, much less students. Fine-grained soils such as clays and silts, for example, can take hours and days to react to having water poured on them. Yet observing, measuring and understanding how the percolation of water through these soils influences their strength and stability is absolutely vital for civil construction. Anyone who lives in a house on expanding and shrinking clay soils would understand this, when watching the cracks around door lintels shrink or spread with wet and dry spells.

Our Solution

In order to optimise the amount of time spent in the laboratory and to enhance student engagement, This project proposed to adopt a framework incorporating three components, which are detailed below. The components include an Pre-laboratory interactive learning module (ILM), the laboratory session itself and a post-laboratory ILM. The proposed framework suggests the use of e-learning tools in the pre- and post-laboratory ILMs and a streamlined laboratory experience. The three components of the framework are explained more fully in the following sections.

Pre-laboratory interactive learning module:

The first component is intended to introduce the students to the laboratory class so that the subsequent laboratory session can be more focussed, engaging and streamlined. The introductory module is developed using Articulate Studio '13 and includes a list of the desired learning outcomes, the real-world context and applications which the experiment is relevant to, the background theoretical framework applicable to the experiment, embedded assumptions and the equipment and procedures that are used in the laboratory component. The module is multimedia rich and incorporate video footage and narration. Importantly, the students' understanding of the concepts included in the module will be formatively assessed by means of quizzes embedded in the Articulate module. Articulate Engage is used to develop these quizzes. It is not intended that the quizzes will be used for formal assessment, rather, to facilitate the students' understanding. Consistent with one of the main aims of e-learning, the introductory module is deployed to the universities' learning management system (LMS), such as Blackboard, to enable students to access the material online, at a time to suit their convenience and at their own pace.

Streamlined laboratory component

Traditional geotechnical engineering practical classes, at least until recently, have involved students working in groups, sometimes as large as 8 or more, on a particular experiment, usually in a 2 or 3 hour session. The suggested framework proposes a more streamlined laboratory class which is more focussed, requires less technical support, both in terms of preparatory work and supervision during the sessions themselves, less student contact time, and less demand on scarce equipment and laboratory resources.

Post-laboratory interactive learning module

Similar to the Introductory Module, the Post-laboratory Module will be developed using Articulate and will include content on compiling and understanding the data obtained in the laboratory, performing the necessary analyses in order to quantify the relevant soil properties, a comparison of these properties with other soil types, treatment of experimental errors, and the requirements of the report and guidance on report writing. In order to 'close the learning loop', the students will reflect on the learning objectives introduced in the first component and whether these have been achieved in the practical class. If the students' learning has been suboptimal, they will be asked to provide feedback on how the experiment and its resources might be improved. This will provide a valuable ongoing resource for continued improvement.

Computer assisted learning (CAL) objects

An important feature of this post-laboratory module is the inclusion of computer assisted learning (CAL) objects. Using these, in a virtual laboratory context, students will explore the influence of varying a number of parameters associated with the experiment in order to appreciate their influence on the soil properties under examination. For example, in the oedometer test, the soil type, permeability, coefficient of consolidation and drainage characteristics (i.e. one- and two-way drainage) can be varied to examine their influence on the time of consolidation and settlement. As a consequence of the incorporation of CAL, technical resources and repetition in the laboratory are minimised. The CATIGE (Computer Aided Teaching in Geotechnical Engineering) is a series of computer programs specifically written to assist with the teaching of elementary geotechnical engineering principles to university students at undergraduate level and it will be used for this purpose.

 

For more information about this project can be found here:

Jaksa, M.B., Airey, D.W., Kodikara, J.K., Shahin, M.A. and Yuen, S.T.S. (2012).  Reinventing Geotechnical Engineering Laboratory Classes.  Proc. of Shaking the Foundations of Geo-engineering Education Conference, McCabe, Pantazidou & Phillips (eds), Taylor & Francis, Galway, Ireland, July 4–6, pp. 137–142.

 

Categories

Soil Behavior Modeling, Laboratory Testing