The Evolution of Student Interaction with an Infinitely Explorable Online Learning System

In this paper, we will present an analysis of the manner in which students interact with the free body diagram tool in an infinitely explorable online learning system. The Sigma Grading System (SGS), www.sigma-gs.com/SGS, provides students engineering problems in statics, fluids, mechanics of materials, and physics which can be infinitely explored. Traditional online systems use a hint based system. If a student has trouble, such systems let them ask for a hint and proceed. Instead, SGS provides the ability for the student to test intermediate steps. If a student cannot determine the value of the sin of an angle, they can first check if the angle they are using is correct. In this way, a student is free to test any and all possible intermediate steps in a problem. We will show how students evolve to take advantage of this promoting creative thinking and less reliance on formulaic learning. Specifically, as students gain confidence, they take advantage of the free body diagramming tool to explore systems. This analysis is made possible due to the fact that SGS maintains a log of student entries for each problem. The analysis also gives insight into the way students approach problems.