Fluid Mechanics & Water Resources Engineering
Fluid Mechanics & Water Resources Engineering
CE 2061 - Fluid Mechanics (3)
An introduction to fluid properties and mechanics of incompressible fluids and the machines that add energy to, or remove energy from a pressurized system. During the course the topics of conservation of Mass, Energy and Momentum in pressurized systems along with an examination of centrifugal pumps, their mechanics, and their performance characteristics will be developed. (3 units, lecture/discussion)
Prerequisite(s): C- or better in ME 214, ETT 210, CE 2041, ARO 2041, or ETM 2101.
Course Learning Objectives:
The overall purpose of this course is to introduce fluid properties and mechanics along with the typical performance criteria for new pressurized distribution systems. Upon completion of this course you will be able to:
- Analyze the properties of incompressible fluids
- Analyze hydrostatic forces on submerged objects
- Size water storage tank based upon water demand criteria
- Assess performance of pipelines or a network of pipes based stated criteria
- Select an appropriate pump based upon system hydraulics analysis and interpretation of manufacturer’s data.
Student population:
CE 2061 is required for all Civil Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Manufacturing Engineering Majors. Most of the students taking this class are juniors (majority) with some sophomores and students with senior status. The required pre-requisites are CE 2041 – Static Analysis which requires one semester of calculus-based physics and two semesters of calculus.
Key challenges faced and how resolved:
The initial challenge was to get buy-in from colleagues to use the eBook and cancel the other required text. Some resisted because it didn’t contain the theoretical information that many fluids textbooks contain. Also, the textbook did not come with powerpoint presentation like many books do these days. They would have to create their own powerpoint presentation to use it.
Another challenge related to how students use and interact with the videos and practice problems that I created. I wanted it to be helpful for students and I learned that some students didn’t watch the videos all the way through. Even thought every video is less than 10 minutes and the average time is 6 min, students would get in a hurry and scrub to the end and take a screenshot as their notes. Based upon this I encouraged them to take screenshots for their notes, but I also added in hints to what I say in the video in the introductions that I started to write. This helped guide students to take additional notes on top of the video screenshots.
Student access:
The eBook is shared with students in the learning management system as a word document and a .pdf file format.
Cost Savings:
The previous textbook cost: $110. About 60% of the student actually purchased the book. Since adopting the OER text in 2018, we’ve taught 1175 students, which has saved $77,550 or $25,580 per year
OER/Low Cost Adoption Process
Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option.
As a college student I remember feeling like the cost of a textbook was a hidden fee to go to college. Each semester was a challenge to pay for classes then the requirement to purchase textbooks was too much. By the time I started teaching, the cost of a new engineering textbook topped $250 and I had had enough. My colleagues and I adopted a custom textbook from J. Wiley that was a $110 and it included sections of three texts to cover three required courses in the program. This was too expensive for many students and I quickly learned how many of them found illegal copies of the textbook online and were sharing. I did not like being part of a system that encourage students to steal in order to stay in school. I tried to ask the publisher to drop the price of the custom book down to below $50 and they could not. I began accelerating my work on my eBook.
How did you find and select the open textbook for this course?
I created it, over the course of a few years. I started by making videos at first (2013 – 2015) and then decided that the videos needed short introductions to introduce them to students. I completed the first draft in 2016.
What did you change as part of the OER adoption?
As I developed the videos that led me to flip the course and allowed me to spend time in class doing group work. The addition of the eBook also led to revising the learning outcomes and shifting those from a a traditional engineering mechanics course to being a project-based engineering course where each chapter was a new lesson capped by a specific project.
Teaching and Learning Impact
The main impact is being more engaged with the students in the class. The creation of the OER led to flipping the classroom, and that led to having more interactive class meetings. Converting the course to be project-based also helped with student engagement as well.
Overall grades are similar – they have improved but the grades of all students in all classes have improved over the past three years so I can’t take credit there. The DFW rate has decreased for this course over the past 3 years but that may also be because of the overall improvement in the students being admitted to our program.
Sharing Best Practices:
The sustainability of open education relies on sharing with others. Please give suggestions for faculty who are just getting started with OER. List anything you wish that you had known earlier.
- Take the long view – Don’t try to build the OER in one semester or one summer. Do it when you have time and take note of your work level. This should not be a burden that breaks you.
- Build it one piece at a time – In my case I started with creating videos and practice problems that focused on the questions that I kept hearing in my office hours. After tackling these questions (where I was repeating myself), I moved onto the other topics and publishing the content in pieces.
How do you plan to share this OER experience with other faculty, staff, etc. who develop curriculum and teach?
I build the eBook into the LMS Course shell. The eBook is available as a stand-alone download and additionally, references to specific sections of the ebook are embedded throughout the course shell and the practice problems are also built into the LMS as quizzes throughout the course.
Kenneth Lamb
Cal Poly Pomona
https://www.cpp.edu/faculty/kwlamb/index.shtml
