UK Centre for Materials Education
Working with you to enhance the student experience
Working with you to enhance the student experience
The aim of this project was to create a spreadsheet to accompany the SteelMatter software developed by MATTER. One of the simulations focussed on the composition and manufacture of steel, where the steel making process could be controlled and altered to produce appropriate outputs. In the course of testing the SteelMatter software on students it was observed that students were not capable of doing the required calculations. 2 hours of the simulation would require at least an hour of calculations if done from scratch, and it was felt that it was more important for the students to see the effects of the simulation than to spend time doing the calculations. The PI had built a simple spreadsheet to speed up the calculation procedure, and a Teaching Development Grant was given to develop this simple spreadsheet into a more user-friendly format.
A post-doctoral researcher was employed to refine the spreadsheet and make it more user-friendly. On completion, this was road tested on students from a range of modules and courses, so as to determine whether the spreadsheet catered to audiences with various levels of understanding and knowledge.
This spreadsheet was a tool which was totally linked to the SteelUniversity software, making use of information and images from the simulation, and was not something that could stand in isolation. The PI was involved in the development phase of this tool, and it was planned to be road tested and evaluated at other centres by a staff of MATTER, but the project was not taken forward because of staff changes.
