Mechanix: A Sketch-Based Educational Interface

At the university level, high enrollment numbers in classes can be overwhelming for professors and teaching assistants to manage. Grading assignments and tests for hundreds of students is time consuming and has led towards a push for software-based learning in large university classes. Unfortunately, traditional quantitative question-and-answer mechanisms are often not sufficient for STEM courses, where there is a focus on problem-solving techniques over finding the "right" answers. Working through problems by hand can be important in memory retention, so in order for software learning systems to be effective in STEM courses, they should be able to intelligently understand students' sketches. Mechanix is a sketch-based system that allows students to step through problems designed by their instructors with personalized feedback and optimized interface controls. Optimizations like color-coding, menu bar simplification, and tool consolidation are recent improvements in Mechanix that further the aim to engage and motivate students in learning.