, 2024Embracing a Fail-Forward Mindset: Enhancing Engineering Innovation through Reflective Failure Journaling 1. IntroductionIn the evolving landscape of engineering education, the imperative to nurture innovation andresilience among budding engineers has never been more critical [1]. As global challengesbecome more complex and multifaceted, engineering educators are called upon to devisepedagogical strategies that not only impart technical knowledge but also foster the soft skillsnecessary for students to thrive in unpredictable environments. This study introduces aninnovative educational approach employed in the "Innovation Through Making" course atWorcester Polytechnic Institute, designed to cultivate a 'fail-forward learn-fast
mindset. To achieve thisobjective during the first offering, this course utilized active learning techniques, personalreflection, and the development of an individualized career-impact roadmap by each student. Inorder to work in conjunction with programming available from existing career centers andacademic advising, this interdisciplinary course placed an emphasis on personal reflection andthe roles of innovation and technology commercialization in creating societal impact. This paperdescribes the logistics of developing and implementing this 1-credit hour course and providesdetails of the assignments used to assess student learning. This course can serve as an example toother institutions who seek to more fully empower their students to
into the students' experiences, helping to explain the quantitativefindings in greater depth. For instance, while the quantitative data might show a high level ofsatisfaction with the course's focus on entrepreneurial skills, the qualitative data providedstories and examples from students about how micro-moments and the multiphase projectfacilitated their understanding of real-world application of these skills. 3.4 Data CollectionData was collected through a combination of open-ended questions and Likert scale questions.Students were asked to reflect on their perceptions regarding the integration of entrepreneurialskills into their ET education and its potential impact on their future careers. This approachaimed to gauge the initial
maps and reflections will be used to assess student’sgrowth in EM connectedness. A description of each institution’s partnership development andimplementation is presented in this paper. We anticipate key results will include: 1) students’positive perception through engaged learning, 2) student growth in EM connectedness, 3)students’ increased appreciation of multiculturalism, 4) all modalities support growth in student’sEM and multiculturalism competencies, and 5) in-person international travel componentsdemonstrate a larger increase in multiculturalism competencies due to cultural immersion. Theteam is finalizing plans for these experiences in fall 2023 and will implement the experiencesand collect data in spring 2024
pathway toexplore and pressure test new ideas and ventures, understand systems, network and practicallybuild and foster resilient organizations and communities. Fellows receive stipends, training,mentoring and opportunities to field test their ideas and ventures over their entire college career.Fellowship outcomes are assessed through coded analysis of student reflections and applying theEntreComp entrepreneurial competency framework. This paper suggests that the fellowshipeffectively helps students develop and field test creative vision, cultivate greater self-awarenessand intrinsic motivation, take thoughtful risks, overcome challenges, and nurture teams andcollaborative environments while birthing impactful new ventures and bolstering their
competenciesacross a spectrum of engineering disciplines including mechanical, electrical, civil, chemical,and computer engineering. Such a holistic educational approach is intended to arm students withthe analytical and problem-solving prowess essential for the engineers of tomorrow [7-8].Building on a preceding work-in-progress study focused on results from the pilot course offering,this paper dives into two offerings of the course over a two-year period, focusing on competencygains assessed through Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) instrument. The analysishopes to uncover advancements in competencies that are pivotal within both engineering andentrepreneurial mindset realms.This study reflects our findings from the initial two iterations of the
at the Civil andEnvironmental Engineering and Construction Management Department at a University in theUnited States. The study was a four-week assignment integrated into two senior-level courses: 1.the capstone project course in two semesters, 2. the pre-construction management course in onesemester. This study uses participatory action research (PAR) as a data collection instrument.PAR is a qualitative approach in which researchers work collaboratively with the participantsubject population to collect data, reflect and take action. Photovoice, commonly linked to PAR,is used to collect and explore qualitative data, give a unique depth of understanding to theresearch questions identified, and offer new insights and perspectives toward
of studentresponses and prompting the AI to summarize the the responses. After a few passes, similargroupings were combined, and we asked the AI to identify specific quotes that reflected thistheme.Only students 18 years and older participated. All procedures were approved by our IRB, and allparticipants completed a Statement of Informed Consent form before taking each of the surveys.Thirty-three to 40 students participated in each of the PHY120 surveys and 33 to 38 participatedin the EGR360 surveys.We also surveyed two additional populations at the mid-term and end of term. A parallel group offirst-year students not enrolled in PHY120, but taking a Calculus course instead (non-PHY120),and a group of four second-year students participating
student who may not otherwiseview themselves as an engineer—a curious person, an entrepreneur, a person with great ideasthat society needs, or a part of the university’s ecosystem—may be able to demonstrate theirpotential to themselves and to their community through their lived experiences viastory. Providing time for students to develop and tell their stories is a powerful way to validatethe vast experiences students bring with them to college. Likewise, faculty want to know theirstudents, and students want to know themselves. Our own work with story in this context wasinspired by the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) on Stories project starting in2020 and reflects our interest in instilling an entrepreneurial mindset in our
. The self-assessment form can be found in Appendix A. In general, very few students are aware of ABETor of its student outcomes [11]. By having the students participate in the self-assessment processand reflect on their experiences, each student is able to identify outcomes which have not beenachieved and develop a plan to achieve all ABET outcomes prior to graduation. This proactiveself-assessment prompts students to identify weak points in their education and has the potentialto shape better student outcomes, filling all the ABET student outcomes and preparing studentsto be well-rounded engineers.[12]. The two senior semesters of IBL allow the students to directtheir learning and create their own learning experiences to address these
using active andcollaborative learning pedagogical approaches. For the course project, the first-year studentswere required to design a 65,000 ft2 community park on a brownfield site in Charleston, SC, witha $5,000,00 budget for site cleanup and redevelopment. A few assessments were implemented,including weekly summary reports, poster creation, presentations, peer evaluation on teamwork,reflection assignment, and a survey. This paper discusses the redesign of the course through thebackward design approach, the implementation of project-based learning, and the assessment ofactivities. Additionally, it provides insights into its implementations in other institutions.BackgroundEML has emerged as a relevant educational approach fostering an
& Viable Business Models, Multicultural, and Social Consciousness. This e-portfolio includes but is not limited to undergraduate research, projects, and high-impact experiences that can be leveraged to pursue future academic and professional careers. ombining e-portfolios with an interdisciplinary approach to education scenarios allows us toCperform the analysis of our cohort's growth in varied ways. Previous cohorts were tasked with the performance of a pre-and post-program survey as well as a traditional reflection essay[2]. Extrapolating on that idea and the engineers' inherent drive for innovation, in this 2023 cohort we elevated the research design by adding concept maps to assess student
their artistic processes and described how they make new work using thisprocess. During the second segment, which lasted 45-60 minutes, the students attending theworkshop experimented with one or more of the artistic processes introduced by the artist togenerate concepts or create artifacts. During the third and last segment, which lasted about 15minutes, the workshop participants presented and shared their work with the rest of the workshopparticipants. Upon the conclusion of the workshops, participants were invited to respond to asurvey to reflect on their experiences of the workshops. They were also asked whether theywould want to participate in a follow-up interview to probe deeper into their responses to thereflection prompts.To date, four
attractive to underrepresented groups in engineering.The purpose of this paper is to describe the course and assess its effectiveness both in terms ofimplementation and in terms of student learning. Specifically, this paper will: (1) describe thecourse objectives, course topics, and course assignments, (2) describe what has worked well andidentify areas for improvement, (3) provide recommendations for other faculty interested inimplementing a similar course or incorporating these themes into already-existing courses, and(4) summarize students’ perceptions of and learning within the course. To evaluate studentlearning and feedback on the course, a final reflection assignment, as well as comments withinteaching evaluation surveys, both completed by
to create something unique or interesting, and whileexecution was not always perfect, the attempts were rewarded for showing effort beyond theassignment requirements. Evaluating the concept and inspiration behind the design aimed toassess how contemplative students were during the assignment. The engineering team alsosought to recognize participants who invested more time into the assignment than others, as thisoften reflected in the quality of the drawing. The rubric categories were chosen based on theengineering team’s past experiences having their artistic work graded by art professionals andlooking at how their previous teachers assessed overall creativity and perceived effort in theirwork. Each category was rated as a 0, 1, or 2. After
determine the benefits of concept mapping. Weber et al. [7] 2022 Engineering Engineering undergraduates The students were given a concept indicated that the mapping module and post activity is beneficial activity survey within their to their ability to Statics course meant to reflect on their enhance career value mindset and technical creation
Engineering and co-founder of the Integrative Learning Portfolio Lab in Career Education at Stanford University. She earned her undergraduate degree from UCLA and her PhD in Communication with a minor in Psychology from Stanford. Her scholarship is focused on engineering and entrepreneurship education, portfolio pedagogy, reflective practices, non-degree credentials, and reimagining how learners represent themselves through their professional online presence.Prof. George Toye Ph.D., P.E., is adjunct professor in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. While engaged in teaching project based engineering design thinking and innovations at the graduate level, he also contributes to research in engineering education
-Corps site program experience could be enhanced or modified based onperformance and perceptions of participants?” To answer it, we continued with the qualitativeportion of the study.QualitativeThe I-Corps Site training program has received overwhelming support and positive feedback foryears since its inception. Through coordination with the program director and availableresources, we can conclude that participant evaluations of the program are positive and mixed,and there are four challenges, or room for improvement, that participants reflected on after theprogram: (1) participant variation, (2) I-Corps’ role in entrepreneurship-innovation learningprocesses, (3) mentorship, and (4) time constraints. The following paragraphs providedescriptions
The students will be able to compile and 6. The students will know different methods edit a video to summarize the project of effective communication takeaways 7. The students will value the importance of The students will be able to use team teamwork creation and evaluation software 8. The students will value the applications of The students will be able to reflect on the Biomedical Engineering to solving real-life roles and responsibilities of an engineer problems in the workplaceEvidence of Student LearningThis study was
skills, such as innovation, creativity, and project management.Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Collaborative Competencies, Pedagogical Model, TechnicalCareers, Ecuador.INTRODUCTIONThe dynamic global entrepreneurship landscape has undergone a significant transformation,playing a crucial role in economic development through collaboration with entrepreneurialprocesses [1]. The literature emphasizes that entrepreneurship goes beyond the simple creation ofcompanies, being an intrinsic attitude of human beings reflected in their ability to take risks,identify opportunities, and adapt to fluctuations in the labor market [2–6]. In this context, thedemand for entrepreneurial education has been increasing, highlighting its importance in creatingan
Dr. Najmus Saqib is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Marian University. He has been teaching in his field since 2017. Saqib is passionate about student learning. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado School of Mines, focusing on ”Optical Diagnostics of Lithium-Sulfur and Lithium-Ion Battery Electrolytes using Attenuated Total Reflection Infrared Spectroscopy”. At Mines Saqib was a member of the MODES Lab, led by Dr. Jason M. Porter. His work on Li-S batteries was the first of its kind to use quantitative infrared spectroscopy for operando polysulfide measurements. He has also applied operando spectroscopy to improve the understanding of electrolyte decomposition mechanisms
students in STEM majors [5]. Active learning experiences are broadlydefined as activities that students do to further knowledge and understanding of a topic and canbe anything from brief pauses during lectures to allow for reflection to semester-long off-siteprojects. Active learning can be particularly beneficial for the most challenging aspects of acourse, such as the analysis of frames and machines in a statics and dynamics course for whichstudents must apply their knowledge of several previous topics to systems with complexstructures and multi-force member(s). Additionally, entrepreneurial mindset learning (EML) has been incorporated intoengineering programs. Through EML, student learn how engineering principles combinedcuriosity and a
studies. Then, wewill delve into the discussion section, where we will interpret the results within the context ofexisting literature and theory. This section will also explore the practical implications of ourfindings for educational institutions. Finally, we will conclude by offering a reflective summaryof the significance of the study and its contributions to entrepreneurial education research.MethodologySurveyA Cronbach's Alpha of 0.890 was attained during the survey validation process for theEntrepreneurial Competencies dimension and 0.876 for the Entrepreneurial Intention dimension.Table 1 shows the corresponding Cronbach´s Alpha reliability analysis by dimensions.Descriptive statistics were used in sample characterization for data analysis
projects. The end of both design projects reserved one day to focus on EMand asked them to reflect on questions they had about engineering, to create a concept map as agroup about EM, and to identify the value they had created for stakeholders in their projects. In2021-2022, this was the first introduction to EM for both projects and was designed as areflection. In 2022-2023, it was the first introduction to EM for the robot project, but theresearch-based project had heavily focused on EM and value creation throughout the semester.Student workload across the design projects was reduced in 2022-2023 compared to the yearprior. For example, students were given additional time to brainstorm their designs and createthem, reducing the overall number of
participants noted that engineering faculty do not havethat knowledge and said, “if you’re gonna teach and assess these things (professional skills)you’re reaching a lot more into social sciences.”LimitationsThis research's findings cannot be generalized to any engineering programs at differentuniversities. Nonetheless, the research process of engaging with faculty can offer valuableinsights into areas for enhancement and collaboration and raise awareness of curricularinitiatives.The study solely reflects faculty perspectives, given their role as gatekeepers determiningsyllabus content and classroom focus. However, it's crucial to incorporate industry and studentperspectives into discussions on professional skill development. Integrating these