Conference Session

Revitalizing Cooperative Education and Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Craig Gunn, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative & Experiential Education

life of theyoung engineer. We must now investigate the ways in which co-op helps to influence thecommunication needs of the working world. Students usually spend three rotations learning aboutthe environment of their employers. They discover what actually working in engineering is allabout. But they also begin to understand the communication activities that will cause them tosucceed or falter in their careers. Not only must we study what it is that engineers do when they areout on co-op. We must reinforce those activities when they return to campus. This paper willinvestigate the communication needs of co-op engineers and the effect that our increased concernwith their perfection can have on the careers of the young engineer.IntroductionWhen

Conference Session

Revitalizing Cooperative Education and Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Stwalley, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative & Experiential Education

host organizations have recently beeninquiring about the possibility of these types of experiences, and the potential of this programseems to have captured the present students’ interests, particularly those in leadership roles oncampus already. We intend to use a separate employer accreditation procedure for this program,and we anticipate that our initial leadership Co-Ops will be engineers and technologists thatultimately intend to pursue administrative and managerial careers. A single continuous year long experience, the Concentrated Cooperative Education Page 11.391.7Program (C2), is expected to benefit smaller departments and

Conference Session

Revitalizing Cooperative Education and Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Debbie Gulick, Georgia Institute of Technology; Debbie Pearson, Georgia Institute of Technology; Gayle Elliott, University of Cincinnati; Jennifer Oliver, IAESTE United States; Karl Zimmer, General Cable

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative & Experiential Education

universities, work abroad programs can be facilitated through the Officeof International Education, Career Services, Division of Professional Practice, ModernLanguages, and/or through individual faculty members. The variety of departments involved hascreated a challenge for employers, students, and faculty to find the most effective way tocoordinate such an effort. Due to the variety of options for international opportunities forstudents, the need was identified to hire an international practicum coordinator at Georgia Techto coordinate all international work opportunities on campus. Through the creation of acentralized work abroad program, Georgia Tech has overcome one of the largest obstacles for asuccessful work abroad program. After a centralized

Conference Session

Using Cooperative Education to Validate ABET Criteria

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Griffin, Texas A&M University; David McMahon, Texas A&M University; Martha Marberry, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative & Experiential Education

. For many years, the Cooperative Education program within the Career Center hascollected data on both the student’s evaluation of the company and the co-op program and theemployer’s evaluation of the student. These data will be reviewed and discussed in terms of ourABET analysis. Recently, the Co-op Program has developed an additional form that theemployer is asked to fill out which tracks the ABET a through k criteria. The results for thesesurveys will be presented and discussed. Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University had their most recent ABET visit infall of 2005. The results of the surveys were successfully used as external evaluations forstudents’ in the program.IntroductionTexas A&M University has a Co-operative