This paper presents a case study of students’
views and preferences towards a Blended Learning
(BL) course in Mechanics of Materials. The BL
approach was introduced with the aim to enhance
student’s active participation in and outside classroom,
as well as to allow the students to acquire knowledge
and skills by exploring their individual learning styles.
In this approach, the professor videotaped classes and
asked the students to watch them prior to the face-to-
face sessions. In the face-to-face sessions, the students
discussed the concepts introduced in the videos within
their work teams and typically used physical models
(i.e. physical copies of objects or phenomena) to
enhance and facilitate understanding. In this paper, the
authors presents the results of a survey responded by 98
out of 104 participants. The questionnaire was designed
to measure the students’ views and preferences towards
BL. This study concludes that the majority of students
have a good perception towards BL. They consider the
class time is used in a more effective and efficient way,
compared to traditional engineering lecture
approaches. On the other hand, they think that by
using the BL methodology, they have to work extra time
inside and outside the classroom and see this as a
negative aspect.
Keywords : Blended Learning, Mechanics of Materials, Physical Models, Perceptions, Attitudes.