(429h) Learning Tools in an Interactive Textbook for Material and Energy Balances

Since textbooks are experiencing a 21^st century makeover, chemical engineering textbooks should follow other larger markets, like freshman chemistry and physics, to create student-centered and interactive tools. One textbook has recently been released by zyBooks that provides an interactive, web-based experience for material and energy balances. While studentâ??s response to the new textbook will be covered in a talk, the rationale of different features of the book will be explored. First, question sets with learning questions are scaffolded from easier to more difficult as well as explain why each answer is correct or incorrect. Animations turn figures into interactive constructions of new concepts (e.g., phase diagrams), operating principals of common equipment (e.g., a distillation column), and developing useful equations (e.g., the energy balance for a steady state system with negligible kinetic and potential energy). Finally, students receive feedback in real time as they read/participate in each section. Feedback is also provided to the instructor to verify that the reading was fully completed, partially completed, or incomplete.