Collection

2005 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Stephanie G. Adams; Jeffrey W. Rieske

my new interests in graduateeducation. Hearing about their course work and projects, I became excited and desired to gainsimilar experiences, and the best way to do so would be through graduate school. From this experience I also came to realize that research skills are an invaluable part ofnot just a graduate education, but everyday life also. For example, no one would purchase a newcar without first researching such things as government crash test ratings, independent reviewsfrom such experts as Consumer Reports, and even review forums on the internet from everydaypeople who posses experience with the product. This summer, I learned the same is true ofresearching. You have to ensure that the sources you use are creditable either

Collection

2005 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Larry N. Bland

. The listincludes research projects and publications. At JBU, we have a motto of “Head, Heart and Hand.” The Head represents theintellectual development of the student. An ABET response is consistent with the universityand parental needs. In our niche market, the Heart is our desire to assist in the spiritualdevelopment of each of our students. The Hand is providing application and practice that isdirectly transferable into a career. These three elements provide our response to the“foundational” issue. Functional. The functionality of an education is defined as the ability for a student toobtain employment after graduation. This translates itself three areas: 1) the market demand forpeople with an engineering education, 2) the

Collection

2005 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

F. Edwards; T. Daniel; W. Hale; A. Hanson; E. Richardson

Achievement and Demographic Characteristics of Home School Students in 1998, http://www.hslda.org/docs/study/rudner1999/ Rudner0.asp. 5. Ray, B., (1997). Home Education Across the United States, National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), http://www.hslda.org/docs/ . Salem, OR. 6. Cross, K. P. (1981). Adults as Learners. Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers, San Francisco, CA. 7. Knowles, M. (1975). Self-directed learning: A guide for learners and teachers. Associated Press, New York, NY. 8. Piskurich, G.M. (1993). Self-Directed Learning: A practical Guide to Design, Development, and Implementation. Jossey-Bass Inc

Collection

2005 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Stephen B. Taylor; Darin W. Nutter; James A. Davis; Joseph J. Rencis

courses that do not focus specifically on anyone engineering discipline. Instead, faculty from all engineering programs instruct the freshmenfor a part, or all, of the semester in their respective disciplines 10. This gives the freshmen abroad foundation of academic and practical information on which they base their decision aboutwhat specific profession to pursue. This is a valuable concept in regard to freshman retention inthat it allows the freshmen to make an informed decision about which career fits them the best. Proceedings of the 2005 Midwest Section conference of the American Society for Engineering Education 4 There are

Collection

2005 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Thomas R. Marrero; Andrew K. Beckett

of student experiences within aFIG and its impact on both persistence and academic achievement, questions still remainregarding persistence of various subgroups of students. Given the high attrition rate and declinein enrollment of engineering students, the researchers are particularly interested in the impact ofengineering-focused FIGs on academic success, retention, and graduation of students initiallyinterested in the field of study.This concern with freshmen interest groups (FIGs) for engineering students complements themore general concern of how to increase the quality of undergraduate education and studentretention. In the late eighties, Chickering and Gamson neatly outlined “seven principles of goodpractice in undergraduate education

Collection

2005 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Larry N. Bland

attributes: [16] communitypartners, large, vertically-integrated teams, long-term student participation, variable credit hours,multi-disciplinary teams, and start-to-finish design experience. The program embeds servicelearning into design projects. Teams are established and projects are negotiated with a non-profitcommunity partner. Each team is vertically-integrated with freshmen, sophomore, junior andsenior members and will function for several years. As a project is completed, new projects willbe defined with the partner. As students graduate, team member will matriculate and newmembers are added each year to fill needs. Students may sign up for 1 or 2 credit hours persemester. Projects go through the phases of: establishing a partnership