Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade in Research

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Laura Genik, Wayne State University; Craig Somerton, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

11.1213.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 Teaching Labs: The Challenges and Practical Considerations for New FacultyIntroductionIt is very common for untenured engineering faculty to be assigned the responsibility forteaching and managing a teaching laboratory in their program. At undergraduate institutions thisis due to the relatively low numbers of faculty in departments, the faculty replacement process,and the desire for the program to update their laboratories. Similar reasons exist atgraduate/research intuitions, but, in addition, we might add the unwillingness of senior faculty tocarry out this task as a reason for the assignment of a new faculty member to this task. Thepurpose

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade for Teaching II

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Malicky, University of San Diego; Ming Huang, University of San Diego; Susan Lord, University of San Diego

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

from the student’s point of view. Instruction should thus include additional material to enhance student motivation. Subject-based learning is much more amenable to achieving subject-based course objectives while it can be difficult to achieve professional objectives such as teamwork and communication that are required by ABET 2000. • Cookbook laboratories: The traditional laboratory format, the organizing principle for a cookbook lab is set of clearly defined steps that closely guide the student through an experimental procedure. The student follows these steps, often without significant initiative or forethought, and achieves a successful result. This results in a relatively smooth-running

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade in Research

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jason Keith, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

students (and often with your doctoral students as well) youwill have to write one or more of the papers yourself, after the student has defended theirwork. Make sure that you get electronic copies of their thesis and all computer codes,laboratory notebooks, etc. so you can write the paper. Your grad students tend to answeremail more rapidly before they have graduated!If you have an excellent undergraduate student in your classes, recruit them for summerresearch in your group. Once you see that they can do just as good of a job in the lab as inyour course, recruit them for graduate school at your institution.Tip #6: Learn To Network – One of the best ways to develop a national reputation is toget to know as many people in your discipline and field

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade for Teaching II

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Saravanan Swaminathan, Tennessee Technological University; Barath Baburao, Tennessee Technological University; Donald Visco, Tennessee Technological University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

through the stimulation and motivationof students [1]. Accordingly, it makes sense that those selected to teach undergraduatestudents should be trained properly for this function. Unfortunately, while mostcandidates applying for openings have little teaching experience, the institutions that arelooking to hire prospective faculty expect their candidates to be “teaching ready”[2].Adding to this problem is that the teaching experience that graduate students receive isquite different across the nation. For example, some graduate students are just used tograde homework and examinations, while others run homework recitations and a thirdgroup handles the laboratory. All of these experiences are quite unique and, at somelevel, a newly-hired faculty

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade in Research

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adrienne Minerick, Mississippi State University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

research lab and get aresearch group started. Keeping abreast of the literature sometimes falls by the wayside in-between preparing for classes, ordering equipment, teaching laboratory procedures to students,grading, scholarly writing, writing proposals, etc. As many of us know, familiarity with currentliterature is crucial to conducting sound research. While the new faculty member may haveperiodic cramming sessions with the literature prior to submitting a proposal or other scholarlywriting, their researchers in the lab can overlook this important component of conducting soundresearch.Regular, organized meetings focused only on reading and discussing articles in the literature canhelp overcome this literature lethargy, strengthen the education of

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade in Research

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peter Schuster, California Polytechnic State University; Charles Birdsong, California Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

packages, so very limited facilities are available to start a research program. As a result,the start-up costs of the research may be higher than at research institutions. For many newfaculty, there is no existing research group to join, so the faculty member starts from scratch. Inaddition to these external challenges, often the PUI is not set up to support the faculty inobtaining external research funds, as this may be a relatively new activity there.Locating facilities for research is difficult at a PUI. Faculty must find a way to useundergraduate teaching laboratories for their research, or need to locate funds to outfit a new lab. Page

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade for Teaching II

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Zhiwei Guan, University of Washington; Steve Lappenbusch, University of Washington; Jennifer Turns, University of Washington; Jessica Yellin, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

2006-1858: PORTFOLIOS IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION: WHAT DO THEYPROMISE AND HOW CAN THEY BE USED?Zhiwei Guan, University of Washington ZHIWEI GUAN is a doctoral student in the University of Washington’s Technical Communication department and a member of the Laboratory for User-Centered Engineering Education (LUCEE).Steve Lappenbusch, University of Washington STEVE LAPPENBUSCH is a doctoral student in the University of Washington’s Technical Communication department and a member of the Laboratory for User-Centered Engineering Education (LUCEE).Jennifer Turns, University of Washington JENNIFER TURNS is an assistant professor of Technical Communication at the University of Washington

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade for Teaching I

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Loendorf, Eastern Washington University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

publication, submitting grant proposals, participating in professional societies,and working on departmental and university committees.Teaching is considered the primary activity for faculty members and carries the highest weight(65%) toward the tenure decision. As a result a great deal of effort is channeled each year intoevery aspect related to teaching courses. Lectures are updated to improve class discussions andunderstanding; laboratory exercises are restructured to provide the right emphasis; homeworkassignments are refreshed; and projects are rejuvenated to increase the application of the subjectmatter. All of this effort is aimed at increasing the students’ comprehension of the material beingstudied. Regrettably this process creates a

Conference Session

Faculty Development: Tenure & Promotion

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Garrick Louis, University of Virginia

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

include plans to useexperiments or case studies from your research in your lesson plans, as well as the use ofinterested students from your courses as undergraduate research assistants. NSFencourages the use of undergraduates in research, and offers supplemental funding to theCAREER grant to support this activity through the Research Experiences forUndergraduates (REU) program.8 NSF also encourages visits to foreign researchfacilities, and collaboration with foreign institutions in research and educationalactivities. In addition, partnerships with industry, national laboratories, and K-12 schoolsare considered good examples of activities that can integrate research and education. Asyou think about integrating research and education, it can be

Conference Session

Women & New Faculty Development

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elizabeth DeBartolo, Rochester Institute of Technology; Cory Hoffman, Rochester Institute of Technology; Melissa Zaczek, Rochester Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

and faculty.Student Viewpoint #2: Cory HoffmanI began working for Dr. DeBartolo as a Materials Science grader during my third year inengineering at RIT. My interest in opportunities with the Materials Science course came afterhaving a student instructor for the laboratory portion of the course the previous year. While myreal ambition was to instruct the lab, it was still required that I familiarize myself with the coursework and content as a grader before attempting lab instruction.Grading for the course certainly serves as a refresher for the material content and helps inidentifying quality student work over submissions made with less effort. Performing this workas well as assisting in exam grading led to a student-professor working

Conference Session

Faculty Development: Tenure & Promotion

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrew Rose, University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

also emphasize teaching excellence over grantmoney and research accomplishments. Each position has its own characteristics that may beviewed as either advantages or disadvantages by different people. Tenure track positions inengineering technology3-7 and at predominantly undergraduate teaching institutions8-10 provideother options for those not interested in traditional tenure-track positions at research universities.Visiting positions,11-12 adjunct13-15 and laboratory instructor positions also provide alternatives totenure-track positions at various institutions.Most graduate students looking for academic positions have come through a traditionalengineering science program and have attended a research university as part of their education.In

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade in Research

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Matt Eliot, University of Washington; Roxane Neal, University of Washington; Jennifer Turns, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

Yellin forserving as internal advisors as part of the Laboratory for User-Centered Engineering Education atthe University of Washington.We would also like to thank the many people who developed the web sites, articles, research,guides, and other teaching-related resources that we have linked to on our web site. Our sitecould not exist without their expertise and hard work.References 1. De Jong, M. and Van Der Geest, T. (2000). Characterizing web heuristics. Technical Communication, 47(3), pp. 311-326. 2. Van Duyn, D.K., Landay, J.A., and Hong, J.I. (2003). Making the most of web design patterns. In The Design of Sites: Patterns, principles, and process for crafting a customer-centered web experience. Addison-Wesley

Conference Session

Effective & Efficient Teaching Skills

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

June Marshall, St. Joseph's College; John Marshall, University of Southern Maine

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

,and a few nothing at all. Page 11.514.2What is a better idea? Try learning. Learning is something students do. It requirescompelling problems and well-designed laboratories, studios, workshops, and playingspaces. It demands strenuous efforts and experts to intercede with stories, admonitions,or principles when students fail, as they must, if they are to learn. Most of the learningthat results in the expertise of the practicing scientist, engineer, or poet is accomplishedthrough hands and minds on a task. Just think of the contrast between the activities ofapprentices in a workshop and the passivity of pupils in a lecture hall.If we refocus our

Conference Session

Faculty Development Toolkit

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Jordan, Baylor University; Bill Elmore, Mississippi State University; Walter Bradley, Baylor University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

in the state of Louisiana.Bill Elmore, Mississippi State University BILL ELMORE, Ph.D., P.E., is Associate Professor and Hunter Henry Chair, Mississippi State University. His teaching areas include the integrated freshman engineering and courses throughout the chemical engineering curriculum including unit operations laboratories and reactor design. His current research activities include engineering educational reform, enzyme-based catalytic reactions in micro-scale reactor systems, and bioengineering applied to renewable fuels and chemicals.Walter Bradley, Baylor University WALTER BRADLEY is a Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Baylor University. He has a B.S