- About
- Events
- Support
- Project Archive
- Amundsen Fellowship Program
- Disrupting Colonialism through Teaching Program
- Exploring Well-being in Learning Environments Program
- Inquiring into Your Multilingual Classroom Projects
- New Ways of Teaching, New Ways of Learning
- Teaching and Learning Development Grant Program
- Scholarship of Teaching + Learning Projects
- Programs
- SoTL 101: Introduction to SoTL and Teaching + Learning Inquiry
- SoTL 102: Formulating an Inquiry Project
- SoTL Thoughts
- Coffee + Conversation
- Tools for Inquiry: Conducting Inquiry Using CES
- Amundsen Fellowship Program
- Decolonial Teaching + Learning Seminar Series
- Decolonizing and Indigenizing Curricula
- Disrupting Colonialism through Teaching Program
- Exploring Well-being in Learning Environments: An Integrated Seminar Series + Grants Program
- Inquiring into Your Multilingual Classroom: An Integrated Seminar Series + Grants Program
- New Ways of Teaching, New Ways of Learning: Supporting Learning in Online Environments
- Teaching and Learning Development Grant Program
- Conferences
- Cfp: 2027 B.C. Open Education Summit [Deadline: October 18, 2026]
- 2026 SoTL Symposium Conference [October 22-24, 2026]
- B.C. Academic Integrity Day [October 23, 2026]
- Digital Learning Forum [Deadline: October 27, 2026]
- 2026 ISSOTL Conference [October 28-31, 2026]
- OnlineEd 2026 Conference [November 4, 2026]
- 2026 STLHE Virtual Conference [November 13, 2026]
- Cfp: International Journal for Students as Partners [Deadline: November 15, 2026]
- Call for chapters - Making up time: Towards a pedagogy of living and resisting the economization of time [Deadline: November 30, 2026]
- For Research Personnel
- News + Stories
Building Core Energy Literacy Skills for Students of SEE 110 Using WeBWorK Problem Sets
Grant program: Teaching and Learning Development Grant Program
Grant recipient: Taco Niet, School of Sustainable Energy Engineering
Project team: Trevor Barnes, research assistant
Timeframe: May 2021 to March 2022
Funding: $5,000
Course addressed: SEE 110 – Energy, Environment and Society
Final report: View Taco Niet's final report (PDF)
Description: For this project, I would like to find out if having students practice to competency on energy conversion and electrical energy concepts using the WeBWorK online homework platform can help set them up for success. Students coming into SEE 110 come from various educational backgrounds and have a variety of skills when it comes to basic energy literacy. Although all students have taken Physics 12, their recollection and ability to apply energy concepts, especially related to electrical energy, could often be improved. For example, some understand the concept of a kWh vs. a kW, while others struggle with this concept. Unfortunately, a lack of basic understanding can often snowball, and impact students as they proceed through the course and through their program.
Using the WeBWorK online homework platform allows for generation of random variables for student questions, for multi-part questions to be created, and for students to repeatedly attempt problems until they are successful. I want to see if having random question numbers enhances discussion amongst students about the concepts, rather than just the numbers/mechanics of solving a question. In addition, I hope that giving students multiple, competency-based assessment activities will reduce their stress and help them learn.
Questions addressed:
- Are students better able to complete more advanced energy assignments later in the course?
- Do the problems build competence?
- Do students feel empowered and less stressed when they have completed the WeBWorK problems?
- Do the random numbers in each question enhance student discussions?
Knowledge sharing: I intend to make the problems I create for this project open source and freely available for any other faculty at SFU, or elsewhere, to use. I plan to organize a discussion of the project at Faculty meetings, and to present findings at the Faculty of Applied Sciences’ The Teaching Talks. Finally, I believe that any program where energy literacy would be useful might benefit from this type of problem set.
Keywords: Energy Literacy, Energy System, Open-Source, STEM, Education, WeBWork