Conference Session

Approaches to Learning Outcomes Assessment in Liberal Education

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Zhiwei Guan, University of Washington; Jennifer Turns, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

the importanceof the course topics and provided him confidence in his knowledge by forcing him tothink about the course and the connections between the course knowledge andprofessional discipline.The various impacts we found in this study confirm and provide further empirical supportfor findings reported in the literature. For example, we found that portfolio creation couldhelp students have a better understanding of what they learned as in Jalkio 1, take fullownership for their portfolios as in Williams 2002 2, help students enhance their learningas in Christy 1998 3, see the major advantages in keeping a record of achievement as inKnott 20044, feel positive about the value of portfolios for increased awareness ofeducational attainment as in

Conference Session

Liberal Education Division Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Daniel Walsh, California Polytechnic State University; Stacey Breitenbach, California Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

nature.1 It demands graduates that are integrative as well asanalytical. Academia must develop programs that are capable of producing graduates who areadept at functional thinking as well as analytical thinking, alumni as capable of integrating andconnecting parts as they are at reductionism. Engineering education must provide exposures thatextend a students desire to develop order into an ability to orchestrate chaos, experience whichpush students beyond a need to create certainty to enable them to develop a tolerance for and anunderstanding of risk and an attendant ability to embrace ambiguity. It requires engineers topractice problem forming as well as solving. It must stress engineering design and the ability torealize products. To be

Conference Session

Liberal Education Division Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Meyer, Clarkson University; Dick Pratt, Clarkson University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

and engineering. Prior to EC20001, it met the ABET criteriafor course content in the humanities and social sciences.With the introduction of the ABET Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC2000)1 the emphasis oncurricular evaluation shifted from a prescription of topical content to assessment of studentlearning outcomes. As part of EC2000, engineering curricula were required to demonstrate Page 12.1399.2outcomes that went beyond those that might be expected from the traditional distribution ofcourses in the arts and sciences alone. As a way of fulfilling this requirement, we proposed thatgraduation requirements should be based on outcomes, rather than a

Conference Session

Redefining the Boundaries of Engineering and Liberal Education: Contributions to the Year of Dialogue

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Grimson, Dublin Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

and their relevance to EngineeringHistorically the five main branches are generally agreed to be Epistemology, Metaphysics,Ethics, Logic, and Aesthetics. The contention is that by careful reflection on what constitutesengineering from the perspective of each of the above five branches, something definitiveemerges about ‘engineering’: in effect the branches are the ‘microscopes/telescopes’ that areused to examine and observe the subject.Table 1 summarizes the five branches of philosophy, and provides a simple description of eachbranch, and gives some examples of the categories within each division. It is admitted that the‘question’ that each branch attempts to address has shifted over the centuries but the definitionsgiven in the Table are

Conference Session

Writing and Communication II: Practical Perspectives on Teaching and Assessment

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Luke Niiler; David Beams

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

writing samples gathered inportfolios). It employs several assessment strategies (quantitative analyses of student writingsamples, quantitative analyses of written surveys, and qualitative analyses of interviewtranscripts).BackgroundThe EWI began in 2004 with the our shared sense of frustration over the quality of studentwriting skills in engineering coursework. Unprofessional language, poor grammar and spelling,badly-formatted tables, figures, and graphs, and data reported without any sense of context:these and many other problems were endemic in the UT-Tyler engineering program. Weattempted to address these concerns with the publication of a style guide,1 yet the changesbrought about by that tool were cosmetic, at best. The first year of this

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary and Liberal Education

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Martello, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering; Jonathan Stolk, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

aspects of the Paul Revere integrated courseblock have been designed to provide students with self-directed interdisciplinary projectexperiences (Figure 1). Historical and materials science content is tightly synchronized, andstudents are given primary responsibility for the planning and management of projects and theguiding of classroom discussions. Projects culminate in physical deliverables and written reportsor posters that are co-evaluated by the faculty team.Project Theme and Materials Science Goals and Objectives History of Technology Goals and Objectives Allotted Time • Develop basic laboratory and experimental design skills + Contextual Analysis of the Common

Conference Session

Approaches to Learning Outcomes Assessment in Liberal Education

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lorraine Fleming, Howard University; Kami Carey, Howard University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

to severalobservations about student engineers who were reflective and integrative. We assert thatthese observations when present in an engineer enhance the social consciousness of thework that is done. The assertions are: 1. The integrative engineer is aware that the ability to incorporate previous knowledge is a crucial component in engineering design. 2. The integrative engineer understands and practices the incorporation of human interest factors when designing projects. 3. The integrative engineer is self-evaluative throughout the project design. 4. The integrative engineer can readily adapt language to varied audiences. The assertions are accompanied by examples

Conference Session

Liberal Education Division Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carole Goodson, University of Houston; Susan Miertschin, University of Houston; Barbara Stewart, University of Houston; Luces Faulkenberry, University of Houston; Curtis Johnson, University of Houston

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

devices thatgo into creating and operating technological artifacts as well as the artifacts themselves.”1 Thereport documents that people today eagerly participate in new technologies through their role asconsumer; however, they often have less of the hands-on experience which led prior generationsto a certain level of intuition about how the technology worked. Today we have many individualswho can use various technologies in fairly sophisticated ways, but they do not know enough totinker, alter or repair. They also do not know enough about the technologies to think criticallyabout them in the context of their impact on society and culture. The report calls for educators toembrace this problem and take action to develop greater levels of

Conference Session

Writing and Communication II: Practical Perspectives on Teaching and Assessment

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kathleen Jernquist, U.S. Coast Guard Academy; David Godfrey, U.S. Coast Guard Academy; Todd Taylor, U.S. Coast Guard Academy

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

to interpretation. By sharp contrast, readers in engineering fields expectstraightforward information concisely and unemotionally expressed in passive verbs and clearsentences. While concepts such as audience and purpose guide writers’ choices about form, styleand diction within a discipline, the terms for responding to writing and its processes remain thesame.1 For example, while writers learn in their expository writing classes to vary diction, theyneed to learn in engineering writing to repeat technical terms, as technical terms have few or nosynonyms. In electrical engineering “power” and “authority” are not the same thing, no matterwhat the thesaurus says. Adjusting to opposing disciplinary expectations is especiallytroublesome for

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary and Liberal Education

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bradley Rogers, Arizona State University; Dale Palmgren, Arizona State University; Dennis Giever, Indiana University of Pennsylvania; Mary Lynn Garcia, Sandia National Laboratories

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

methodology, for the specific case of physical security, is illustrated in figure 1 below: Page 12.1259.3 Figure 1. The Sandia Methodology for Physical Security3Figure 1 outlines a systems engineering approach to physical security. The determination ofobjective phase serves to define the problem. The design phase develops a proposed solution tothe problem based on the objectives. Finally, the system evaluation phase seeks to determine ifthe proposed solution meets the original objectives. In all phases, an overall systems viewpointis critical – the system will be developed to respond to an input (an attack) and work to produce

Conference Session

Approaches to Learning Outcomes Assessment in Liberal Education

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kyle Oliver, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Traci Nathans-Kelly; Sandra Courter, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Laura Grossenbacher, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

department’s technicalcommunication faculty, the course combined assigned readings, an in-class and an onlinediscussion, and an end-of-semester writing assignment to help students achieve the followinglearning outcomes: • Outcome 1: Articulate connections among engineering, ethics, community, history, social change, and politics by actively listening and participating in a small discussion setting • Outcome 2: Recognize and work with the role of uncertainty in engineering and its relationship to social and ethical dimensions • Outcome 3: Analyze and assess the social and ethical impact of technology on society by critically thinking about the readings and discussion topics • Outcome 4: Communicate effectively by

Conference Session

Liberal Education Division Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joanne Lax, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

instruct these students in the use of appropriately worded emailcorrespondence as many of them seek internships and full-time employment in North Americaafter graduation.References1. M Abdullah. (2003, Dec.). The impact of electronic communication on writing. ED477614. [Online]. Available: http://www.eric.ed.gov.2. D. Carpenter. (2006, Dec.). “Business schools increase efforts toward written communication,” in Lafayette Journal and Courier, D3.3. N. Baron, “Why email looks like speech,” presented at Language, the Media, and International Communication, Oxford, U.K., March 29-April 1, 2001.4. Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, “Criteria for accrediting engineering programs.” [Online] Available: http://www.abet.org5. J

Conference Session

Redefining the Boundaries of Engineering and Liberal Education: Contributions to the Year of Dialogue

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Erin Cech, University of California-San Diego; Kara Boettcher, Montana State University; Heidi Sherick, Montana State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

in the vertical hierarchies of their organizationsand thus cannot be used to make any claims about increased gender inequality over the lastdecade. The retention of women engineering graduates in technical fields remains less then theretention of men, maintaining the under-representation of women in the technical fields. Moreimportantly, the narrowing trend is evident even for women engineers, who have historicallytaken up non-technical careers at a higher rate than men. Table 1: Percent of Respondents Employed in Non-Technical Jobs 1993 1997 2003 Total Population of Engineering Graduates 42.0% 40.1% 33.3% Women only Engineering Graduates

Conference Session

Approaches to Learning Outcomes Assessment in Liberal Education

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steve Lappenbusch, University of Washington; Jennifer Turns, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

, institutional, discourse, and natural.IntroductionA subtle activity for emerging engineers is the formation and integration of their identities asengineers. Not only must their content knowledge cohere into expertise, they must understandthemselves to be the kind of person who can and should possess that expertise. They must thinkof themselves as engineers. In recognition of this, identity is emerging as a promising lens forengineering education research. For example, the issue of identity is one of three threads in anongoing multi-institutional NSF-funded study of the engineering student learning experience 1 23 . Researchers in engineering education are drawn to issues of identity because of thehypothesized link between identity development and

Conference Session

Ethical Responsibilities of Engineers in the World of Corporate Business

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Donna Riley, Smith College

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

literature that may be adapted for work in developing communities? Through aseries of case studies, we explore models for engineering development projects and studentparticipation in them. Potential pitfalls are examined, and the implications for globaldevelopment efforts within engineering education are discussed. Page 12.1240.2IntroductionThere has been an explosion of interest in global development engineering within engineeringeducation in recent years. ABET’s criterion 3 requires that students obtain “the broad educationnecessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic,environmental, and societal context.”1 The interpretation of this phrase varies widely withinengineering

Conference Session

Writing and Communication I: Innovative Models for Curriculum and Assessment

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marie Paretti, Virginia Tech; Lisa McNair, Virginia Tech; Diana George, Virginia Tech; kelly belanger, Virginia Tech; Lisa Norris, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

students’ abilities to cross disciplinary boundaries successfully. To begin addressing thesegaps, we have established a partnership between Engineering Education and the First-YearWriting Program. Together, we have developed an experimental pilot course of first yearcomposition that explicitly connects the ABET professional skills to the WPA outcomes first toestablish a metacognitive framework for learning communication skills and second todemonstrate that curricular choices in the humanities not only promise a “liberal education,” butalso provide valuable tools for developing the ability to think like a 21st century engineer.Specifically, the goals of this course were to: 1) help students develop a rhetorical framework forcommunication practices

Conference Session

Liberal Education Division Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gregory Tonkay, Lehigh University; E. Zimmers, Lehigh University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

many more students with an opportunity for leadership training.Leadership Honors ProgramThe Information and Systems Engineering Leadership Program (ISELP)1 was an honors programdeveloped for students in the Information and Systems Engineering degree program. Themotivation for the program came from alumni in leadership positions advocating that a formalleadership program would provide theory and practice in leadership and better prepare studentsfor leadership roles in their careers. ISELP was developed at the same time as the I&SE degreewith the intention of attracting highly qualified students to the university and providing themwith a broader education than the typical engineering student. ISELP began in 2002 and ispresently being phased

Conference Session

Writing and Communication I: Innovative Models for Curriculum and Assessment

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

April Kedrowicz, University of Utah

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

Intensive Capstone Experience and Incremental IntegrationIntroductionWith the advent of ABET’s EC 2000, much focus has been placed on equipping engineeringstudents with the necessary professional skills to be effective in the workplace.1-3 As such,research highlights various approaches to teaching students how to communicate (write, speak,and work in teams) effectively.4-5 One primary method through which to facilitatecommunication skill development includes an emphasis on integrating communication into anintroductory and/or capstone engineering course. 6-8 While this approach to teaching technicalcommunication to engineering students does in fact meet the objectives of EC 2000,concentrating the development of

Conference Session

Liberal Education Division Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tom Moran, Rochester Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

,noting that the single “A” grade was in English, and sarcastically suggesting that his son mightbetter pursue “literary engineering” rather than the real thing.1 Hickam finished his engineeringstudies and enjoyed a successful engineering career but he is best known for his “literaryengineering”, in particular a narrative of the rocket launching campaign he and his friends, all thesons of West Virginia coal miners, embarked upon in the shadow of Sputnik, a story brought tothe screen as the popular movie October Sky.Hickam is not alone. Engineering has provided a starting place for a surprising number of quitesuccessful creative writers, including poets, short story writers and novelists. These writer-engineers have won awards, gathered smash