Conference Session

Improving the Teaching Skills of Graduate Students

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Susan Montgomery, University of Michigan

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

these panels.Use of student journalsAn important element in teaching is the opportunity to reflect on the teaching experience.Participants are given an opportunity for reflection through required journals at various points inthe class. The five required journal assignments are: Journal 1 - Reflection on outstanding college professors - Name four adjectives that you feel define an outstanding college professor. Thinking back to outstanding college professors you've encountered in the past, cite at least one specific example of actions that exemplify each of the four adjectives. Journal 2 – Learning theories - Choose the learning theory/model (Felder Soloman, Myers

Conference Session

Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Linda Anthony, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Marjory Palius, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Carolyn Maher, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Prabhas Moghe, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

beneficial for guests in attendance (transient members of the community;see below), as well as for review of video data from IRIFs.Instructions that are given to the presenting students for their ~25-30 minute PowerPoint ™presentations reflect our design of the IRIF as an activity system for a cross-disciplinarycommunity. First, students are to include both (i) a description of the context/motivation for thework and explanation of key terminology or concepts that may be unfamiliar to attendees whowork in other disciplinary areas and (ii) presentation in reasonable detail of a research “nugget,”e.g. a recent accomplishment/milestone, nascent hypothesis, newly proposed protocol, etc. (i.e.subject matter that might also be presented within a meeting of

Conference Session

Mentoring Graduate Students

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tershia Pinder-Grover, University of Michigan; Sarah Root, University of Arkansas; Emine Cagin, University of Michigan

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

these mentoring relationships can be extraordinarily productive, they also can behighly variable in quality because of the individualized nature of the experience.A different approach is to incorporate senior graduate students as a resource for mentoring lessexperienced graduate students, especially in relation to teaching practices. Some peer-mentoringprograms arrange graduate students into pairs, where the pair can establish a long-term, one-on-one mentor-mentee relationship. Bollis-Pecci and Walker point out that this kind of pairingbenefits not only the mentee, but also the mentor in the form of opportunities for reflection, aswell as original perspectives and ideas coming from the less experienced GSI.8Centralized mentoring programs

Conference Session

Mentoring Graduate Students

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ram Mohan, North Carolina A&T State University; Vinaya Kelkar, North Carolina A&T State University; Ajit Kelkar, North Carolina A&T State University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

challenging, the positive outcome of such interdisciplinary education is that thegraduates are able to technically understand and communicate effectively across disciplines incomplex problem areas where such interdisciplinary interactions are not only critical, but arerequired in the current market place and global economy. This is reflected in the careerplacement of graduates in areas that generally would not have been possible based solely on theirundergraduate field.IntroductionThe new paradigm in graduate studies is interdisciplinary programs that meet the technical needsof the current practices in the field and industry. Modeling and simulation built uponcomputational science and engineering has now become the third key solution methodology

Conference Session

Improving the Teaching Skills of Graduate Students

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Maura Borrego, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

the semester. To varying degrees, these weekly meetings also serveas peer mentoring and community building activities among the teaching teams assigned to eachcourse. There is little communication between graduate students assigned to different courses,even among Graduate Teaching Fellows. Written, qualitative faculty evaluations were veryuseful to workshop leaders, while quantitative student evaluations using a standardized formwere not reflective of the responsibilities of workshop leaders. Recommendations includeexpanding the faculty teaching mentor role, redesigning the student feedback form, and addingsocial activities across course assignments.I. IntroductionThose holding academic faculty positions within a college or university are

Conference Session

Professional Graduate Education & Industry

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Thomas Stanford, University of South Carolina; Roger Olson, Rolls-Royce Corporation; Donald Keating, University of South Carolina; Randall Holmes, Caterpillar Inc.

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

Urgency of Engineering Education Reform, Plenary Address, Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference, 2002.5. Keating, D. A., and E. M. Deloatch, Don’t Overlook Industry, PRISM, November, 2007.6. Schon, D. A., The Reflective Practitioner, Basic Books, Inc., New York, 1983.7. Schon, D. A., Educating the Reflective Practitioner, Jossey-Bass, New York, 1987.8. Conrad, C.F., Haworth, J.G., Millar, S.B., A Silent Success: Master’s Education in the United States, The National Study By the Council of Graduate Schools, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.9. Maxwell, J. C. Developing the Leaders Around You, Nelson Business Books, Nashville, 1995.10. Labor Statistics from USDOL http://www.bls.gov/oes

Conference Session

Professional Graduate Education & Industry

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Norman Egbert, Rolls-Royce Corporation; Donald Keating, University of South Carolina; Eugene DeLoatch, Morgan State University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

modern practice of engineering for technology development & innovation‘has itself changed substantially’ from that portrayed by linear research-driven paradigm ofengineering practice of 1945 U.S. science policy (See Appendix A). 6 Yet, with notableexceptions, the mainstream of U.S. engineering graduate education has not reflected this change.As outcomes of investigating the need for reform of engineering graduate education forcompetitiveness in the UK and in the US, the UK Parnaby Committee and the US NationalCollaborative Task Force have basically reached similar conclusions from essentially twoparallel efforts and from two different national perspectives: UK Parnaby Report Although the UK government had already begun to

Conference Session

Graduate Student Experiences

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elizabeth Van Ruitenbeek, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

in such a class.The Gradate Teacher Certificate (GTC)8 program is administered by the Center for TeachingExcellence. Participating students must teach for at least two semesters, receive feedbackmultiple times on their teaching, and then reflect on that feedback. They must also participate inteaching development workshops and programs. This program focuses on using practicalteaching experiences to improve an individual’s teaching ability. However, this program makes Page 13.674.4no efforts to foster community among graduate students interested in teaching.After evaluating existing campus resources, an ASEE student chapter can have maximal

Conference Session

Methods & Techniques in Graduate Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joy Colwell, Purdue University Calumet

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

(neither parent attended college). Minority students comprise about 30% of thetotal body and female students comprise 57% of the student body. Most of the students arecommuters, with a small but increasing percentage of residential students. 1In Lake County, where the campus is located, only about 16% of the population over age 25 hasa four-year degree or higher, compared to a rate of 19.4% for the state overall, based on 2000census data. The county ranks twenty-first in the state in post-secondary education, even thoughit is the second most populous county in Indiana. While the total enrollment is 9,300, graduateenrollment for the campus for 2007-08 is 1021, with 835 part time graduate students, and 186full time students. This is reflective of

Conference Session

Professional Graduate Education & Industry

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Donald Keating, University of South Carolina; Thomas Stanford, University of South Carolina; Joseph Rencis; Eugene DeLoatch, Morgan State University; Mohammad Noori, North Carolina State University; Edward Sullivan, California Polytechnic State University; David Woodall, Oregon Institute of Technology; Norman Egbert, Rolls-Royce Corporation; David Quick, Rolls-Royce Corporation; Albert McHenry; Roger Olson, Rolls-Royce Corporation; Samuel Truesdale, Rolls-Royce Corporation; Timothy Lindquist, Arizona State University; Harvey Palmer, Rochester Institute of Technology; Joseph Tidwell, Arizona State University Polytechnic; Mark Smith, Rochester Institute of Technology; Duane Dunlap, Purdue University; Mark Schuver, Purdue University; Edmund Segner, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Stephen Tricamo, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Barry Farbrother, University of New Haven; Ken Burbank, Western Carolina University; Carla Purdy, University of Cincinnati; Randall Holmes, Caterpillar Inc.

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

industrynor does it reflect the modern practice of engineering and the engineering method forthe deliberate generation, development, and innovation of new, improved, and breakthrough technology[See Appendix A, B].One size graduate education doesn’t fit all.Excellence in basic research and excellence in engineering practice for world-class technologydevelopment & innovation are two very different pursuits with different purposes and methods; requiringtwo different types of education at the graduate level.The National Collaborative is focusing on two primary questions: First, can an effective system of professionally-oriented engineering graduate education be created in the United States for further developing the nation’s engineering

Conference Session

Mentoring Graduate Students

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jan Rinehart, Rice University; Sherry Woods, University of Texas at Austin; Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Rice University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

3 2Total 25 6 43 25 5 44 67 9 23 8Where Do We Go From Here?To encourage faculty committees to search “actively” versus “passively” for candidates, searchcommittees must explore underlying assumptions about the search process itself. Passive searchcommittees reflect the attitude of: “We are a top university. The best candidates will naturallyapply.” On the other hand, active search committees understand the challenges in recruiting thebest candidates, especially women and minorities. They approach searches with the assumptionthat: “The best candidates are highly recruited. We must seek them out.” Figure 2 displays thissearch continuum.Figure 2: Search Committee

Conference Session

Methods & Techniques in Graduate Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rebecca Brent, Education Designs Inc.; Richard Felder, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

) ‡ Average agreement with the statement “The session helped me perform my role as a TA,” with 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, and 5 = strongly agree We are gratified by how positive these ratings are—particularly the post-semester ratings,which reflect the students’ evaluations of the value of the workshops in light of their actualexperience as TAs. At the same time, we recognize the limits of self-assessment for evaluation ofthe effectiveness of training programs, and one might wish for student ratings of the TAs’performance with which to triangulate the self-assessments. Unfortunately, the engineeringdepartments at this university do not collect such data except in the very rare cases whenteaching