Development, Deployment, and Assessment of Activity-Based Transportation Courses

This project developed four new activity‐based transportation courses including “Traffic Signal Systems Operations and Design”, “Understanding and Communicating Transportation Data”, “Introduction to Freight Transportation”, and “Rural Highway Design and Safety”. The courses are learner‐centered in which activities completed by students form the basis for their learning. The courses were offered fourteen times to a total of 195 students. Activity books that included 142 activities were developed for the four courses. The books and all supporting materials are available on the project web site. A number of assessments and evaluations were conducted to determine how effective the courses and materials were in meeting project objectives. The active learning style was a challenge for many students, as they were required to be prepared for class and to do “active” work during class. In general, there was an acceptance of the value of the active learning environments and how they positively contributed to student learning.