Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Charles McIntyre; Gary Smith

byboth the students and the instructional staff. The contents of this paper describe: 1) the overallconceptual plan of the CCL, 2) the proposed use of the CCL (use analysis), 3) the equipmentand technologies for the CCL, 4) the phased construction schedule, and 5) a summary of thework completed.IntroductionTraditional classrooms (i.e., fixed seating and small desks/work area) are usually configured forlecture-based instruction and are limited in their functionality for group work. The Division ofConstruction Management and Engineering (CME) at North Dakota State University (NDSU) hasdeveloped a reconfigurable multi-use classroom / laboratory that is the primary meeting spacefor most CME courses. The Department of Civil Engineering and

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Karen C. Chou; W. James Wilde; Saeed Moaveni

An Unique Approach to Civil Engineering Design Experience Karen C. Chou1, W. James Wilde2, and Saeed Moaveni3 Department of Mechanical & Civil Engineering Minnesota State University, Mankato, MNAbstractThe ABET required major design experience is fulfilled through a 2-semester course sequencefor a total of 3 credit hours. The goal of the major design experience is to emulate the practiceof planning and designing of a civil engineering project in a way that is similar to a typicalengineering office setting. To achieve this goal, we have involved students from the freshman tothe senior level classes, faculty, and the engineering community. In addition, we have

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Frank Peters; John Jackman; Sarah Ryan; Sigurdur Olafsson

promotecollaborative and active learning [2,3,6].Other less obvious challenges in the traditional curriculum can also be addressed effectivelyusing IT. For example, the traditional industrial engineering curriculum encompasses what mayseem like loosely connected courses that address different elements of manufacturing andservice enterprises. A common computer-based environment can be used to integrate thesecourses. Such an environment can also be used to encourage the development of specificlearning skills. For example, when assigning homework and exams it may be difficult to ensurethat students plan how to learn a given task, monitor their comprehension of the task, andevaluate the progress that they are making towards completing the task. Such

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Craig L. Just; P. Barry Butler

Executive SummaryThe Colleges of Engineering at The University of Iowa and Iowa State University, the IowaSection of Water for People, the Universidad Technólogica de Xicotepec de Juárez, and RotaryInternational, have agreed to work together through the International Engineering ServiceProgram (IESP) to provide an educational and service internship experience for students thatemphasizes environmentally and economically sustainable engineering projects. The programinvolves substantial interaction between university-level students, faculty mentors at therespective universities, the Iowa Section of Water for People and members of RotaryInternational in the USA and Xicotepec, Mexico. Together, the team has begun to develop andexecute a long-term plan

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Marlee A. Walton

Engineering (ASCE) created a Task Committee on AcademicPrerequisites for Professional Practice (TCAP3) to develop a plan that includes futurerequirements for licensure and the practice of civil engineering at the professional level.One step taken by TCAP3 in carrying out its charge was to form the Body of Knowledge(BOK) Curricula Committee. This constituent committee was, in turn, charged withdefining the BOK (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) and developing a plan to provide theBOK required to enter the practice of civil engineering at the professional level in the21rst century. This plan will be used to measure an aspiring civil engineers preparationfor licensure and practice of civil engineering at the professional level. The charge to theBOK

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Rebecca E. Burnett

communicating to learn. ß Expert-like behaviors. Students should be developing expert-like behaviors related to communication: attitudes, actions, and performance. Assessment should consider the quantity and quality of students’ expert-like behaviors in communication. ß Rhetorical focus. A well-established body of research indicates that workplace experts attend to rhetorical elements when they plan, draft, and revise; non-experts focus largely on content and may virtually ignore rhetorical elements. Assessment should consider these widely accepted rhetorical elements that typically include content, context, purpose, audience, organization, visuals, document design, usability

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Julia Apple-Smith; Dave Holger; Shannon Miner

IMPACT team visits: - The number of students participating in an international experience is up 90% since receiving IMPACT funds in fall 2000; nearly doubling student participation. - Five new 6-week summer programs have been developed, with more in the planning process. This is in comparison to having one summer program available to Chemical Engr. students since 1990. - New research collaborations have been initiated in: o Civil Engineering - Construction Engineering o VRAC - Materials Science & Engineering o Industrial & Mfg. Systems Engineering - Chemical

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Fahmida Masoom; Abulkhair Masoom

1 How Well Are We Doing? Focusing on Program Assessment Fahmida Masoom, Lecturer Abulkhair Masoom, Professor General Engineering University of Wisconsin-Platteville masoom@uwplatt.eduAbstractThe very first step in planning for an accreditation visit by ABET or other agencies usuallyinvolves deciding on assessment methods that can be readily included in the self-study reports.For a non-degree-granting department such as the General Engineering Department at theUniversity of Wisconsin-Platteville, where do

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Alec B. Scranton

students tointegrate their course with their off-campus jobs or other activities. In addition, a coursespecifically designed for the Internet can be more engaging and interactive than printededucational materials. Indeed, the features offered in a multimedia computing setting can beused to create a highly effective learning environment through well-designed audio-visualcontent. A well-designed Internet course can provide an added level of communication of thescientific concepts through carefully planned audio-visual content (including voice, simulations,animations, pictures, and video) that can be continuously updated and improved. Finally, anInternet course allows each student to control the pace of the course to suit his or her uniquestyle of

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Robert Bruce Kelsey

theperformance [Varela]. When faced with an ethical decision, we project ourselves into a courseof action based on our values, our vision of what our actions will produce, and most importantlyfor our purposes here, our knowledge of the means to achieve our desired ends. For the mostpart, software practitioners in the industry today don’t know the means to the end. They learnedthe programming and modeling languages. They can recite the PMI project phases. But theydon’t know how to manage software development or how to improve the development process.They don’t know how to proactively plan for, or how to mitigate, negative consequences, eventhough that is perhaps the most critical skill required in software development!So I whole-heartedly agree with

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Peter J. Sudbeck; Amy D. Schlechte; Thomas W. Ligouri; Pat N. White; Larry F. Hanneman

fulfillcurrent or future job/role responsibilities more effectively.Key Actions: o Collaboratively establishes development goals o Collaboratively establishes development plans o Creates a learning environment o Monitors progressThe award winning student organization, Engineers’ Week (E-Week), is responsible fordeveloping and delivering a week-long collection of activities that include the largest, indoorengineering career fair in the United States, a high school Senior Visitation program servingover 400 students and parents, and a collection of intramural sporting, social and communityoutreach activities. The core leadership team of E-Week, E-Week Central Committee, iscomposed of approximately fifteen students that

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Beckry Abdel-Magid; Yunsheng Xu

engineering programs with different number of credits andvarious degrees of emphasis on research and problem solving skills. In thecomposite materials engineering program at Winona State University (WSU), theengineering seminar is a one-credit required course in the upper level junior orsenior years. The objective of the course is to develop research and lifelonglearning skills. The course is designed to enable students to engage inindependent research on a topic pertinent to engineering.Students are given the syllabus of the course at least one semester before thecourse begins, and are introduced to the basic elements of research whichinclude planning, strategy, and development of ideas. Many students prepareand work on their topics during the

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Waddah Akili

as a base for future college courses.Within the Humanities& Social Studies’ block of the curriculum, courses are a few with noelectives. Course content in most cases is extremely limited in scope. Courses in this categorydon’t usually appeal to students planning to get into applied science and/or engineering. Theauthor is of the opinion that this category of compulsory coursework needs reform. Widerselection of courses, allowing for broader views, and more appropriate delivery methods wouldmake this block more appealing to students.Teaching Staff: Teachers in the Region are either nationals, or thus civil servants for life, orcontracted individuals drawn from Arab countries for a specified duration. Marked differences interms of: rights

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Malcolm Sears; Lawrence J. Genalo

, but not in another. Theprime example here is math ability. Mathematics is essential for most, if not allengineering courses and careers. The level of math required for those engineeringcourses is also typically at the calculus stage or higher. However, although English skillsare necessary, it is not as essential in the majority of engineering courses offered atIowa State University.On the contrary, there are not many elementary education courses which requirestudents to have as vast a math foundation as engineers. Whereas Calculus I and II arerequired by the basic engineering program, no calculus is required by the elementaryeducation program. However, the elementary education program does require studentsto be able to write lesson plans, and

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Richard Valentine; Keri Hornbuckle; James Stoner; Julie Jessop

the overall structure of the course and addresses problemsof continuity of content and purpose. The faculty had to arrive at a reasonably similar vision andphilosophy about the nature of the course (i.e., they had to buy into it) before any of the detailscould be worked out. Although the first year required a nine-month planning period when theentire teaching team met weekly, this course was designed to be essentially "self-actuating".That is, the facultymembers assigned to teach this course are able to do so with minimalcommunication and coordination among themselves.Figure 1. 10-step Engineering Design ProcessTable 1. Common Elements of Engineering Problem Solving1. Design Paradigm/Creative Problem Solving/Generic Engineering2. Information

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Steven Mickelson; Tom Brumm; Anthony Ellertson

. Student retention rates havesoared; longitudinal data shows that first-year students persist into the sophomore and junioryears. Students who have participated in the ABE LC report that the LC has enhanced theiracademic experience and success. There is tangible evidence of improvement in students’writing and communication skills through the link to the first-year composition courses.We have not achieved the objective of increasing the number of female and minority students.While the number of females in the ABE Department have increased over the last three years, ithas not been dramatic. The number of minority students has not changed during the same timeperiod. Focused efforts to address this objective are planned for the future.Bibliography1

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Fernando Rios-Gutierrez; Marian S. Stachowicz

students had fifteen weeks to do all the work, from the definition of the project to thedevelopment and completion of the project. To achieve the goals, the activities were planned asfollows. During the first three weeks, an intensive review covering the topics of the 68HC12microcontroller, principles of intelligent toys, sensors, and fuzzy set theory was given. Duringthis time the students also learned the use of the Fuzzy Logic Package. In the weeks four andfive the groups were formed, and the groups started to define the objectives of their projects.For the definition of the projects, the instructors gave several suggestions for possible projects,but it was strongly recommended that each group developed ideas of its own. Also severalpapers

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Charles McIntyre; Prajesh Kondaskar; Gary Smith

. Fromthe periodic meetings held with the students during the 2002 Fall Semester and after reviewingthe interim PDA reports submitted by students, it was observed that out of the four basiclearning strategies employed (A through D) that the Peer to Peer learning strategy was the mosthelpful.References[1] "Getting Started m100 Handheld Series" Palm Inc., Santa Clara, CA, 2000.[2] http://www.palm.com and http://www.palm.net Table 1. Palm Functions vs. Student Use Function Student Use Date Book (use to plan & schedule events) 11 Address Book (store contact information) 12

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Vojin Nikolic

early in the fall semester. The student teams, consisting offour to five students each, evaluate and rank the projects according to their interests andfuture career plans. Typically, there have been enough of these projects (the companiesoften present several projects each) so that all major areas of mechanical engineering arecovered. The faculty member coordinating the course in consultation with othermechanical engineering faculty members who will serve as faculty advisers to the teamsmake final decisions on assigning specific projects. Every effort is made to best pair theteams and the projects, and typically every team gets their first or second choice. Once assigned a specific problem, a student design team develops the strategy

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Nancy J. Schneider; Gary W. Fischer

involveconstructing a dam. The client agreed to pay $10,000 to develop the design, but was told thatthere would be no change to the construction part of the project. Later, Bob discovered that heneeded to obtain a special permit and, months later, found out that the design would have tomeet rather extensive criteria in order to be approved. Implementation of the criteria wouldresult in design changes with a dam much larger than was initially envisioned. Bob received aterse e-mail from the client saying they had yet to see any plans and were concerned aboutmeeting the construction schedule in time for the expected snowmelt. Bob finally shared the e-mail with the new manager, who had not yet been told about any of the details. By now theproject was over budget

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Emmanuel Ugo Enemuoh

research experience. His teaching interests lie in manufacturing processes, materialscience, statistical quality control and non-destructive evaluation methods. His research interestincludes machining of composite materials, non-destructive evaluation, and structural healthmonitoring techniques. Lecture • Processing Techniques • Modeling of Processing Techniques • Design of Experiments Lab/Project • Plan and Execution of Experiments • Data Acquisition/Signal Processing • Analysis of Data

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

B. L. Steward; T. J. Brumm; S. K. Mickelson

represent an either/or situation. Learners are along a continuumbetween “opposite” ends of the spectrum. The learning style determined by the Felder-Silverman model denote learning preferences – individuals can indeed learn in situations thatdon’t match their learning style, but it may take some adjustment on their part.Focus groups can be effective in obtaining specific summative data about student learningstyles and preferences. A focus group is "a carefully planned discussion designed to obtainperceptions on a defined area of interest in a permissive, non-threatening environment”(Krueger and Casey, 2000). Christopher (2000) reported on the use of student focus groups asone evaluation component of a university-level course. She found the open and