Designing Structured Courses for ChemE Student Success

When it comes to teaching chemical engineering courses, business as usual doesn’t cut it any longer. Evidence-based course design strategies can improve student outcomes, thus increasing their career readiness.

Consider your favorite chemical engineering course that you took as an undergraduate student. Think about what made it your favorite — the professor, the subject matter, or the applications and design processes — and what you remember about how the course was designed — such as the problem sets, textbooks, or in-class activities.

My favorite undergraduate chemical engineering course was fluid mechanics, taught by the super-talented Dr. Andrew Zydney, as I could apply my math and differential equation training to solving difficult yet satisfying chemical engineering problems. I fondly remember Dr. Zydney giving us in-class time to work through problems while he guided us on overcoming common hurdles. At the same time, he also taught us how to apply fluid mechanics to novel, real-world applications, such as using the Bernoulli equation to model the pressure drop across the human heart.

However, I no longer have any of my problem sets, exams, and course materials, as I (along with many of my classmates) ceremonially trashed them in a way of saying “let’s move on!” Little did I know that twenty years later, I would be a chemical engineering teaching professor wanting to review my old materials. While I no longer have these documents, I have my current materials, which are derived from the evidence-based course design model called high structure course design.

This article discusses the importance of using modern, evidence-based course design to effectively teach chemical engineering students and foster better engagement, learning, and career preparation...