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Session # 1630

The Gateway Coalition Web Repository: Focusing on Digital Resources to Manage Systemic Education Innovation Eli Fromm, Drexel University Jack McGourty, Columbia University

I. Introduction

A major thrust of the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Education Coalition’s effort has focused on the production, packaging, and dissemination of educational innovations. The Gateway Coalition, along with the other Coalitions, has developed many new curricula materials, explored new teaching methodologies, used the newest technologies for undergraduate education, instituted professional development activities, and institutionalized assessment and continuous improvement in all partner schools as well as actively disseminated these innovations to institutions external to the Coalitions [1]. These developments have served as the elements around which systemic change at individual institutions can be planned and implemented. An unexpected consequence of this intense focus on external dissemination is the facilitation of the Coalition’s own change and innovation processes.

This paper explores how the goal of establishing a digital repository greatly facilitated the final stages of the innovation process throughout the Gateway Coalition. Based on the structural definition of the repository and the standards that were established for learning resources, each Gateway Institution was able to better define their product outcomes, monitor the progress towards these goals, and support the measurement of selected outcomes. The authors will discuss how each development phase of the repository coincided with various stages of the overall innovation process. The overall collection process will be described and the strategic value of creating a digital resource will be highlighted.

II. Background

The Gateway Engineering Education Coalition Web Repository (See Figure 1.) evolving at Drexel University, the leadership center of the Coalition, is a result of the extensive product realization efforts of seven major engineering institutions including Columbia University, The Cooper Union, Drexel University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Ohio State University, Polytechnic University, and University of South Carolina.

For ten years, spanning two award periods, the Coalition has been developing and applying educational innovations for both lower and upper division programs. Based on Drexel’s initial E4 integrated freshman design curriculum, the Coalition institutions individually and collectively have spearheaded a number of innovations in such areas as engineering design, concurrent engineering, and such emerging technology areas as biotechnology and earth engineering systems.

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Fromm, E., & McGourty, J. (2003, June), The Gateway Coalition Web Repository: Focusing On Digital Resources To Manage Systemic Education Innovation Paper presented at 2003 Annual Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. 10.18260/1-2--11486