Development and Evaluation of an Interactive Instructional Package for Teaching Engineering Graphics Skills

Abstract

Exposure to modern pedagogical approaches and methods with appropriate instructional media can enhance the development of high-level critical thinking and technical skills. This study examined the development of an interactive instructional software package for teaching engineering graphics and evaluated its relative effectiveness on second-year undergraduate engineering students' academic achievement, skill transfer, and retention. In this study, the quasi-experimental, pre-test, post-test, control group design was employed. 45 research participants were sampled, employing two-stage stratified sampling technique, which comprises the simple random sampling to assign students into three groups from the study population and systematic sampling with k = 3 to select 15 students from each group to a control group and experimental groups A and B. The control group was exposed to conventional classroom instruction (CI), group A to computer-aided instruction (CAI); and group B to conventional and computer-aided instructions (CCAIs). A computer-aided learning package on engineering graphics was developed using the Camtasia software package, which served as the treatment instrument. The pre-test and post-test data used for analysis stemmed from a validated Engineering Graphics Achievement Test instrument. Analysis of covariance and Sidak post hoc test statistical analysis of the groups' performance provided the results on the comparative effects of the treatment conditions. Findings indicated significant differences between the academic achievement, skill transfer, and retention of students, exposed to CCAIs, and CI or CAI strategies. When used together, a significant improvement in students' academic achievement, transfer, and retention of engineering graphics skills occurred than either the CI or CAI strategy used alone.