Conference Session

Entrepreneurship Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Daniel Raviv, Florida Atlantic University

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

enhancement. It involves a unique combination of scholarship,academic support (tutoring, personal and academic guidance, oversight and counseling) andprofessional development. The interpersonal relationship that develops as a result of the additionaloversight provided to these students helps create a feeling of belonging avoiding the sense ofanonymity experienced by many students in large academic settings. The professionaldevelopment component provides a student centered active learning environment in whichparticipation and involvement are key. It also includes an internship experience and variousworkshops. The workshops address the so-called “soft skills” and other relevant issues nottypically part of an IT or engineering curriculum. These

Conference Session

Challenges of CE Education in a Global World

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Hanson, California Polytechnic State University; Senro Kuraoka, Nippon Koei Co., Ltd.

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

Polytechnic State University. The main broad benefit of themethod was directly including soft skills in the curriculum. Specific benefits of videoconferencing included: exposure to global perspectives, interaction with a senior practitioner inthe classroom, enhanced connection between laboratory experiments and real projects, andaddition of new topics in the laboratory course. Specific benefits of video production included:enhanced learning using unconventional learning styles, increased expectations for teamwork,increased accountability for grading work submitted by a team, and increased attention toexperimental detail. Drawbacks of the method included large time commitment and a significantlearning curve associated with video editing. Simple

Conference Session

Applications of Engineering Economy

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Benjamin Kelley, Baylor University; Robert Doty, Baylor University; Bill booth, Baylor University; Cynthia Fry, Baylor University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Economy

engineering economy coursesinclude group problem solving activities,18 using only spreadsheets to solve assignments,19assessing accreditation “soft skills” outcomes,20 and introducing contemporary global issues.21IntroductionDuring most of the last decade Baylor’s ECS programs have responded to the desire for studentsto be globally savvy by developing abroad experiences with an ECS focus.11, 22 This experiencematured into one that includes a partnership with the business school. Because of the high costof this program, both in terms faculty and staff resources and student-program charges, it is notfeasible to offer it for a majority of the students. This fact though, does not negate the desire thatall ECS graduates be equipped with discipline

Conference Session

Trends in Mechanical Engineering

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Aleksandra Vinogradov, Montana State University; Carolyn Plumb, Montana State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

engaged U.S. workforce ofscientists, engineers, technologists, and well-prepared citizens.” 1-4 As an important measurerequired to meet these challenges, new engineering accreditation criteria, initially known asEngineering Criteria 2000 (EC 2000), have emphasized the necessity of combining the traditionalrequirements of rigorous technical preparation, or so-called “hard” skills, and the development ofprofessional or “soft” skills, including such attributes as communication, ethics, critical thinking,and innovation.5The EC 2000 ABET criteria, now part of the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC)criteria, have created many new expectations in terms of enhancing, revising, and remodelingengineering programs. In response to new requirements

Conference Session

IFEES: The Globalization of Engineering Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lueny Morell, Hewlett-Packard; Claudio Borri, Universita' di Firenze; Sarah Rajala, Mississippi State University; Bruno Laporte, World Bank; Maria M. Larrondo Petrie; Seeram Ramakrishna, National University of Singapore; Xavier Fouger, Dassault Systemes; Jose Carlos Quadrado; Adriana Garboan, Politechnica University of Bucharest; Duncan Fraser, University of Cape Town; Hans Hoyer, American Society for Engineering Education

Tagged Divisions

ASEE Global Programs

importantly, performance in the marketplace is driven by the quality, skills, and flexibilityof labor and management. In addition to traditional “hard” skills and ICT competencies, theknowledge based economies require a new set of “soft” skills, such as spirit of enquiry,adaptability, problem solving, communications skills, self learning, and knowledge discovery,cultural sensitivity, social empathy, and motivation for work. Countries need to developteaching and learning environments that nurture inquiry, adaptability, problem-solving, andcommunication skills. But mastery of these skills is quite low in many countries.The talent shortage is expected to get far more severe in the coming decade. About 80 percent ofthe fastest-growing jobs of the future

Conference Session

Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma in Manufacturing Education 2

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Arlie Hall, University of Kentucky; Lawrence Holloway, University of Kentucky

Tagged Divisions

Manufacturing

have been taught regularly since that time.In 2003, under a grant from Ford Motor Company, some of the courses were moved into asummer “boot-camp” format. This allows the students to take two courses simultaneouslyduring a 4 week intensive summer session. Since no other courses are taken during each session,students are available for involvement throughout the day. This allows multiple plant visits,extensive factory simulation exercises, and team projects. Students indicate that the experienceis very intense but worthwhile. Employers indicate a strong demand for the students,appreciating the students’ mixture of theory and application, and the mixture of both technicalknowledge and soft-skills knowledge (organizational theory, leadership, and

Conference Session

Approaches to Active Learning

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mark Yim, University of Pennsylvania; Katherine Kuchenbecker, University of Pennsylvania; Paulo Arratia, University of Pennsylvania; Vijay Kumar, University of Pennsylvania; John Bassani, University of Pennsylvania; Jonathan Fiene, University of Pennsylvania; Jennifer Lukes, University of Pennsylvania

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

. They also rely onstudent input to help design and improve the curriculum every year. This paper describes theapproach we have taken at the University of Pennsylvania, which integrates selected teaching Page 13.81.3techniques into a cohesive mechanical engineering curriculum aimed at facilitating our students’development into competent, motivated, independent engineers.ProgressionFull curriculum integration has several advantages over labs that are simply tied to individualcourses. The most obvious benefit is the potential for projects to apply integrated concepts thatcross many courses. At the same time, soft skills such as teamwork

Conference Session

Programming for Engineering Students II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amy Craig, North Carolina State University; Lisa Bullard, North Carolina State University; Jeff Joines, North Carolina State University; Tom Miller, North Carolina State University; Carolyn Miller, North Carolina State University; Dianne Raubenheimer; George Rouskas, North Carolina State University; Larry Silverberg, North Carolina State University; Eric Wiebe, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

participants were asked to organize thepost-its on their respective chalkboards to capture common or emerging themes. Some prevalentthemes are shown in Table 1: Table 1: Select Workshop Notes New hires After first year on job Next few years Specific applications Technological tools Architecture & (domain knowledge) technology skills Problem solving skills Systems knowledge Soft skills (global (critical thinking) issues) Communication skills Self motivated innovation Accountability Knowledge of a Understanding business

Conference Session

Teams and Teamwork in Design I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Keith Sheppard, Stevens Institute of Technology; Peter Dominick, Stevens Institute of Technology; Edward Blicharz, Stevens Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

design or design-relatedcourse every semester9 with the four courses in the freshman and sophomore years (EngineeringDesign 1 thru 4) being of particular importance to the early development of various “soft skill”threads, including teaming. These first four design courses are core engineering curriculumcourses; later design courses in the sequence are disciplinary, culminating in the two-semester Page 13.399.3capstone design project. In the first four courses the students are assigned by the instructor toteams rather than allowed to choose their team-mates. This produces diversity of interests andskills and as such is reflective of the reality

Conference Session

Professional Skills and the Workplace

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Trevelyan, University of Western Australia

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

, theseaccounts are not necessarily widely read by engineering academics. Sheppard and hercolleagues concluded that engineering practice consists of problem solving, specializedknowledge and integration of process and knowledge. However, our own research suggeststhat these are significant components of a much greater whole which is difficult, at first, toperceive. Engineers do solve problems, but they also do many other things as well. (Eventhe engineers whom we have interviewed and studied find it difficult to understand theprocess in which they spend their working lives.)Our own research has revealed significant weaknesses in the contemporary understanding ofengineering practice. For example, while learning soft skills such as communication has