FIU Ready to Pivot to Online When Needed

Series of educational videos helps professor flip the classroom and changes students style of learning

Dr. David Garber has a vision for how technology can enhance learning and had already started putting lectures and other work online for asynchronous learning (the videos and lectures students can watch on their own time) when he received a grant from the PCI Foundation. So he was in a unique position of being prepared when the call came to pivot to remote learning at Florida International University (FIU). He launched his PCI Studio in January 2020, so 2020/2021 was the first full year for the Precast Studio.

For his new course “Precast Concrete Design” (CGN 4930/5930) he created 576 pages of types notes and 817 slides with the help several different people from industry and academia. He also developed weekly assignments, two projects, and a unique final exam structure was used to assess student learning. The course was offered for the first time as a cross-listed (both undergraduate and graduate students) course in Fall 2020. Students completed a fully precast building design and precast bridge design for two class projects.

He modified and refined the notes of “Prestressed Concrete Design” (CES 4711/5715) to be better suited for a hybrid course setting and created 46 v