Abstract—First year students especially with migration background and language deficiencies rate material science in mechanical engineering as one of the fundamental courses with high work load and necessity of language skills due to the descriptive nature of the course. Therefore a blended learning course structure using based on inverted classroom teaching scenarios was established. Heart of the self-study period are visualizing peer-to-peer lecture films supported by micro-lectures along with various online teaching materials. Although students with migration background generally scored lower in tests due to the lack of language skills improved learning outcomes are demonstrated in high quality class discussions and in overall understanding. This paper introduces the learning structure and graded activities, evaluates the course and compares results of native German-speaking students to those of students with migration background.

Index Terms—Portfolio, diversity, blended learning, inverted classroom, lecture films, material science.

Anja Pfennig is with HTW Berlin, University of Applied Sciences, Wilhelminenhofstraße 75A, 12459 Berlin, Germany (email: anja.pfennig@htw-berlin.de).

Cite: Anja Pfennig, "Improving Learning Outcome for GSL (German as a Second Language) Students in a Blended Learning Cumulative Assessment Material Science Course," International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 93-100, 2021.

Copyright © 2021 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).