Work-in-Progress: Polytechnic Perceptions of the Engineering Classroom Experience

Devin Berg; Anne Schmitz

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Miscellaneous Mechanics
Page Count: 11
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--40536
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/40536
Download Count: 293

Paper Authors

biography

Devin Berg University of Wisconsin - Stout

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Associate Professor, Robert F. Cervenka School of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Stout

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biography

Anne Schmitz University of Wisconsin - Stout

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I received my Mechanical Engineering undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During my schooling, I explored many opportunities to apply my engineering degree. I was involved with the Formula One Racecar Team, did a semester long co-op working on fume hoods, did a summer internship at Kimberly Clark designing a HVAC system, and did another summer internship at General Electric designing anesthesia equipment. As a senior, I got involved in research doing finite element analyses of a prosthetic foot. This immediately got me hooked on applying engineering to medical applications.

I obtained my Biomedical Engineering PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My work focused on computational biomechanics. More specifically, developing musculoskeletal models of the body to simulate movement and see how surgery and soft tissue injury affects movement. During my graduate work, I was also a teaching assistant for Introduction to Biomechanics where I developed a love for teaching. I then did postdoctoral research at the University of Kentucky where I experimentally measured movements (e.g running form), which provides data that can be used to validate the models I build. At Gannon University, I built computational models with a focus on the knee to optimize surgical techniques (e.g. ACL reconstruction) to restore normal function after injury. At UW-Stout, my research area is on 3D printing techniques. Specifically I am working on the reliability of the 3D printing process to create functional parts. When I'm not doing research, I enjoy going swimming, camping with my kids in Scouts, and playing my violin.

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Abstract

In this paper, we examine student perceptions of different delivery modalities used in two sections of a course in machine component design. This is an undergraduate course required for mechanical engineering and engineering technology students. The goal of this study is to investigate how an instructor’s chosen pedagogy relates to a student’s perception of a course, within the context of a polytechnic institution. Students in two sections of the course, taught by two different instructors, were surveyed using both qualitative and quantitative questions to compare between two pedagogical approaches. One approach utilized open-ended problem solving and another focused more on structured lecture and laboratory activities. The results suggest that student perceptions of the polytechnic nature of a class did not significantly differ between the two pedagogical approaches. Students found each class to be representative of a polytechnic nature because hands-on, physical labs were utilized. It did not matter if the lab activities were open-ended or structured. This aligned with the students’ definition of what polytechnic education means: “hands-on”.

Citation
Format

Berg, D., & Schmitz, A. (2022, August), Work-in-Progress: Polytechnic Perceptions of the Engineering Classroom Experience Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40536