High impact activities to improve student learning

Wei Zhan; Jyhwen Wang; Manoj Vanajakumari

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Conference: 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Publication Date: June 23, 2013
Start Date: June 23, 2013
End Date: June 26, 2013
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Product Development and Manufacturing
Tagged Division: Engineering Technology
Page Count: 14
Page Numbers: 23.661.1 - 23.661.14
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--19675
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/19675
Download Count: 690

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Paper Authors

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Wei Zhan Texas A&M University orcid.org/0000-0002-9956-1910

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Dr. Wei Zhan is an Associate Professor of Electronics Engineering Technology at Texas A&M University. Dr. Zhan earned his D.Sc. in Systems Science from Washington University in St. Louis in 1991. From 1991 to 1995, he worked at University of California, San Diego and Wayne State University. From 1995 to 2006, he worked in the automotive industry as a system engineer. In 2006 he joined the Electronics Engineering Technology faculty at Texas A&M. His research activities include control system theory and applications to industry, system engineering, robust design, modeling, simulation, quality control, and optimization.

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Jyhwen Wang Texas A&M University orcid.org/0000-0001-9016-0566

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Manoj Vanajakumari Texas A&M University

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Abstract

High impact activities to improve student learningAbstractEngineering students in different majors spend most of their time taking courses within their owndepartment in addition to common body of knowledge (CBK) courses such as Math, Physics,and Chemistry. Students have a chance to work on real-world projects through capstone or seniordesign courses, during their senior year. However, some students make the decision to transferout of the engineering school before getting a chance to work on these real-world projects. Basedon feedback from the industry, even students who graduate with engineering degree need moreexperience with real-world product development.With the support of the College of Engineering and the university, the Department of _____ at____ University established the Institute for Innovative Product Development (I2PD) in 2012.The main objective of the institute is to provide engineering students at all levels withopportunities to learn product development in a real-world setting.This article discusses the details of the activities organized by I2PD and how they impact studentlearning. The Department of _____ has three programs: Electronics System EngineeringTechnology, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Technology, and IndustrialDistribution. The first goal of I2PD is to encourage multi-disciplinary education. Facultymembers from each program gave guest lectures in other programs. Students realized thatmodern day products in the market are becoming more complex and hi-tech, resulting in the needto work together with engineers from other disciplines in order to develop marketable products.Engineering students also realized that the success of a product relies largely on marketing, sales,and other business aspects. I2PD is creating a certificate in product development. Students whosuccessfully complete three courses in Logistics/Supply Chain, Product Development Process,and Product Design and Solid Modeling will receive a certificate in product development.Additionally, undergraduate students from the Department of ____ and other departments withinthe College of Engineering at ____ University are recruited to form teams that develop newproducts. The student teams, with the help of faculty members, generate ideas for new products,conduct market analysis, design and manufacture the products, sell the products, and providetechnical support to the customers. Through the product development process, I2PD provides thestudents with entrepreneurial experiences. Because the teams are multidisciplinary and memberscan range from freshmen to senior level students, they facilitate rich interactions betweenstudents with different technical skills and education experience levels. This type of teamcomposition is expected to increase the interest of freshmen engineering students in productdevelopment and improve the overall retention rate of engineering students.

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Zhan, W., & Wang, J., & Vanajakumari, M. (2013, June), High impact activities to improve student learning Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--19675

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -                                                                     High impact activities to improve student learningAbstractEngineering students in different majors spend most of their time taking courses within their owndepartment in addition to common body of knowledge (CBK) courses such as Math, Physics,and Chemistry. Students have a chance to work on real-world projects through capstone or seniordesign courses, during their senior year. However, some students make the decision to transferout of the engineering school before getting a chance to work on these real-world projects. Basedon feedback from the industry, even students who graduate with engineering degree need moreexperience with real-world product development.With the support of the College of Engineering and the university, the Department of _____ at____ University established the Institute for Innovative Product Development (I2PD) in 2012.The main objective of the institute is to provide engineering students at all levels withopportunities to learn product development in a real-world setting.This article discusses the details of the activities organized by I2PD and how they impact studentlearning. The Department of _____ has three programs: Electronics System EngineeringTechnology, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Technology, and IndustrialDistribution. The first goal of I2PD is to encourage multi-disciplinary education. Facultymembers from each program gave guest lectures in other programs. Students realized thatmodern day products in the market are becoming more complex and hi-tech, resulting in the needto work together with engineers from other disciplines in order to develop marketable products.Engineering students also realized that the success of a product relies largely on marketing, sales,and other business aspects. I2PD is creating a certificate in product development. Students whosuccessfully complete three courses in Logistics/Supply Chain, Product Development Process,and Product Design and Solid Modeling will receive a certificate in product development.Additionally, undergraduate students from the Department of ____ and other departments withinthe College of Engineering at ____ University are recruited to form teams that develop newproducts. The student teams, with the help of faculty members, generate ideas for new products,conduct market analysis, design and manufacture the products, sell the products, and providetechnical support to the customers. Through the product development process, I2PD provides thestudents with entrepreneurial experiences. Because the teams are multidisciplinary and memberscan range from freshmen to senior level students, they facilitate rich interactions betweenstudents with different technical skills and education experience levels. This type of teamcomposition is expected to increase the interest of freshmen engineering students in productdevelopment and improve the overall retention rate of engineering students.
AU  - Wei Zhan
AU  - Jyhwen Wang
AU  - Manoj Vanajakumari
CY  - Atlanta, Georgia
DA  - 2013/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - High impact activities to improve student learning
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/19675
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--19675
ER  -