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Table 1 Learning resources in the Freeform environment (Evenhouse et al., 2020)

From: Engineering student experience and self-direction in implementations of blended learning: a cross-institutional analysis

Resource

Contribution to the Freeform environment

Lecturebook

The lecturebook acts as the Freeform equivalent of a textbook. It contains ample white space so that students may take notes or write-out solutions alongside the text itself. The text includes equations, derivations, example problems, and conceptual questions

Instructor Office Hours

The instructor’s office hours are a predetermined set of times each week during which students ask questions about the course, its content, or their assessments

TA Help Room*

The Teaching Assistant (TA) help room, similar to instructor office hours, allows students to request help from course TAs at a predetermined location during a set schedule each week

Online Solution Videos**

Freeform maintains an online library of videos which provide step-by-step solutions to lecture example problems (contained in the lecturebook) and completed homework problems

Demonstration Videos**

Students were employed to create live-action videos for the Freeform environment which demonstrate real-world applications and embodiments of fundamental dynamics concepts. The videos are maintained online under the name Visualizing Mechanics

Discussion Forums**

Each class in the learning environment has a designated forum for online discussion and collaboration pertaining to homework assignments and exams

Peer Collaboration

Students were encouraged to collaborate with their peers from dynamics both inside and outside the classroom. Although this resource is not provided to students directly, it is facilitated throughout the course and remains an essential part of the Freeform environment

  1. *The TA Help Room is a dedicated space on PUWL’s campus where students can find tutorial help during its daily operating hours. Other institutions employing the Freeform environment may not have TA Help Rooms of their own
  2. **The Online Solution Videos, Demonstration Videos, and Discussion Forums are all made available through the Freeform course blog, along with homework assignments and general course information