Collection

2002 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Traci Kelly

To: ASEE 2002 North Midwest Section Annual ConferenceFrom: Dr. Traci Kelly: Technical Communication, Engineering ProfessionalDevelopment. University of Wisconsin-Madison An EPICS Journey: Combining Service Learning and MultiDisciplinary Engineering ProjectsAbstract: For the past two years, UW-Madison has been involved in EPICS (Engineering Projects in Community Service), a for-creditacademic design program housed in the College of Engineering. One focus of the larger EPICS program has been on InformationSystems, which houses 30-60 students a semester. Student teams work with local non-profits to develop websites, active server pages,and database solutions for identified agency problems. Teams are

Collection

2002 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Laura Grossenbacher

foundational assumptions of their opposing team. Their examination of the ethical positions involved in thesecontroversies ultimately led several of the students to change their minds about such issues as whether the U.S.should continue to develop a National Missile Defense System, or whether Embryonic Stem Cell research should bemore widely funded by the federal government. My paper explores the difficulties and triumphs of assignmentssuch as these that challenge students to examine their own assumptions. I make recommendations about the furtherintegration of ethics in engineering curricula, which may happen only if there are new and financially feasibleopportunities in ethics training for interested faculty and instructors. About five years

Collection

2002 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Vojin Nikolic

traditional, orsegmented, design process as opposed to the modern, concurrent design are discussed.The students are prepared to execute a complete design cycle following the concurrentdesign methodology. Engineering Graphics and Communications. The following topics are discussed:Sketching, Orthographic Projection, Section views, Dimensioning, Tolerancing,Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GDT), and Engineering Presentations.Numerous practical examples are presented. The students are required to complete asignificant number of assignments in these areas. Use of AutoCAD LT software. The students are introduced to the basictechniques of generating engineering drawings using the AutoCAD LT software package.Having on mind that all

Collection

2002 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Steven B. Zwickel

HOW DO YOU DEVELOP AN OUTREACH PROGRAM?Background: Engineering Outreach at UWÐMadison The K-12 Engineering Outreach Program has been in existence since 1988. It was created as part of the NSF-funded Engineering Research Center for Plasma-Aided Manufacturing. The first outreach program was based on a kit of materials that explained the states of matter and how plasma is used in manufacturing. In 1995, Steven Zwickel, an instructor in Engineering Professional Development, became Outreach Coordinator and the program came under the auspices of the College of Engineering. In addition to the demonstration of plasma, we added new

Collection

2002 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Beverly J. Davis

to take care of others may become elementary schoolteachers and nurses while boys who play with building blocks may become engineers.”Over time, most computer camps have been designed with boys in mind and most boysare encouraged to tinker with computers. In fact, in 1994, over 75% of the degreesawarded in library science, home economics, health sciences, public affairs, andeducation were awarded to women while over 70% of degrees earned in engineering,military technologies and computer and information sciences were awarded to men (11).K-12 programs designed to interest girls in technology programs should be aware of thesubtleties girls face in the classroom and at home; girls aren’t necessarily discouragedfrom pursuing science and

Collection

2002 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Philip J. Parker; Christina Curras; Michael R. Penn

Enhancing Teaching (and Learning?) with On-Line Courseware Philip J. Parker, Christina Curras, and Michael R. Penn Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Wisconsin-Platteville1 IntroductionIn this paper, we discuss our use of “Blackboard,” an on-line courseware that we haveimplemented in several of our courses. The purpose of this paper is to provide the reader withideas for implementation. We specifically address how the various tools in Blackboard impactteaching and learning, and note the time commitments involved.2 BackgroundThe University of Wisconsin-Platteville (UWP) has one of the largest undergraduate

Collection

2002 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Mani Mina

Teaching Technology to Web-affected Computer-game-influenced Students in the Early 21st Century: Hopes and Despairs Mani Mina Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 50011 mmina@iastate.eduThis paper reviews many of the observed characteristics and study habits of first-yearstudents in Iowa State University's electrical engineering program. Based on students'behavior in studying and problem solving, dominate characteristics are identified,strengths and weaknesses are reviewed, and critical symptoms