Interactive and parametrized exercises in engineering education at Aalto University

The Finnish technical universities aim to increase student intake by 30% while undergoing cost-saving measures. To achieve this, Aalto University implemented interactive and parametrized exercises in the Foundations of Solid Mechanics bachelor level 5 ECTS course. The course consists of weekly exercises that tackle common mechanics problems, including stress and strain and extracting stress components. Based on student feedback, lecture diaries, and comparison of exercise and exam performance, two main problems were identified: copying and lack of motivation.
To address the copying problem, a quarter of the exercises were rewritten into parametrized problems that were dependent on student numbers and automatically checkable. Half of these problems were included in midexams to reduce copying and improve students' ability to solve problems independently. To address the lack of motivation, open-ended problems with multiple correct solutions were designed, along with a semi-structured FEM solver interface constructed using Comsol Server. Students were instructed to solve each problem using simplified controls, such as sliders. Feedback was collected, and similar problems were included in midexams to evaluate the effect on learning outcomes.
Both methods were found to be effective in improving engineering education. The parametrized problems reduced copying and improved students' ability to solve problems independently, as evidenced by exercise and exam scores. The open-ended problems with simplified FEM solver interfaces addressed the lack of motivation by providing students with real-life problems and allowing them to solve complex problems with multiple correct solutions. The feedback collected from students supported the effectiveness of both methods. Overall, these methods provide a model for improving engineering education that could be adapted and implemented by other universities facing similar challenges.