AC 2011-331: ANALYSIS OF REFLECTIVE MEMOSMark W. Steiner, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Mark W. Steiner is Director of the O.T. Swanson Multidisciplinary Design Laboratory in the School of En- gineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and Clinical Professor in the Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering department. Mark graduated from Rensselaer with a B.S. in mechanical engi- neering in 1978 and a Ph.D. in 1987. He has been a member of the Rensselaer faculty since May 1999. Mark worked at GE Corporate from 1987 to 1991, consulting and introducing world-class productivity practices throughout GE operations. In 1991 he joined GE Appliances and led product line structuring efforts resulting in
theirtwo-semester capstone design course. As a follow-up, six students, each representing a differentproject team, were interviewed about their experiences in the transfer activities and theirthoughts about transfer in general. The authors independently analyzed the transfer map, writtenassignments, and interview transcriptions to identify patterns and themes related to transfer.Results from the activity deliverables and interviews suggest that the transfer activities providean effective student experience to promote reflection about transfer, document a list of students'main perceived takeaways from their capstone experiences, and, as such, offer data to capstonefaculty to improve capstone education. Next steps include implementing a modified
’ perceptions of these notebooks.Types of engineering notebooksA brief review of the literature reveals that engineering notebooks can take many formsand be used for many purposes. For example, Tillema and Smith (2000)24 identified threedistinct types: 1. A dossier is a notebook or portfolio that is completed at the end of a project or course to “collect mandated documentation on performance. In this case, the portfolio construction is not necessarily based on a learning orientation” (p. 194)24. 2. A learning portfolio is a living document used to evaluate learning over the course of the project or semester. 3. A reflective portfolio is also a living document, in which the author records his or her
andacademic practices outside the classroom while also mediating interpersonal interaction insidethe classroom. In addition, portfolios document student work, help students reflect upon theirown creative process, and make this process visible to other students and the instructor.My backstory: what does an academic add to practice?This story starts with a novel teaching model that I developed for collaborating with industryprofessionals in the classroom, what I call Industry Fellows. Industry Fellows involves a collegeprofessor and a practicing professional who plan and teach a course together so as to exploitwhat each does best. During winter 2009, I collaborated with Adam Barker, a User ExperienceDesigner at Google, to teach a course at the
development, this research project will have implications forhigh school curriculum development, learning, and teaching methodologies.Design problems in these previous studies are ill-structured and open-ended. These kinds ofproblems have many potential solution paths stemming from an ambiguous identification of aneed. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has prepared a series ofstudies including a focus on educating engineers 14. Sheppard’s research identified reflectivejudgment as an appropriate framework for understanding the cognitive development of designthinking. “As individuals develop mature reflective judgment, their epistemological assumptionsand their ability to evaluate knowledge claims and evidence and to justify their
recognize theneed to advance certain abilities, take responsibility for personal development, engagepurposefully to achieve desired development, and reflectively assess and validate theeffectiveness of these achievements for meeting present and long-term needs.Learning Context and TheoriesLearning professional skills in the context of capstone design courses or similar team-basedproject experiences can be described by a mix of cognitive, constructivist, and motivationalmodels 25. In the semi-authentic professional communities of project teams with realstakeholders, social interactions will shape student learning 20, 23, 25. Interdependence andaccountability to teammates also produce learning through negotiation and by modeling ofbehaviors
Page 22.429.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Design Education for the World of Near Tomorrow: Empowering Students to Learn How to Learn1. IntroductionThe world of technology is becoming increasingly complex and dynamic. The skills that wereconsidered valuable yesterday are becoming the commodities of today and tomorrow [1,2].Looking back at the past 20 years of engineering design and realizing how much the world haschanged it becomes apparent that this change needs to be better reflected in the way engineeringdesigners are educated [3-6]. Complex social networks, consisting of millions of individuals,have formed over the Internet through emerging Web 2.0
pedagogical approaches which nurture these capacities.Traditional engineering curricula fail to adequately address the active, iterative, and process-oriented nature of design found in the ABET definition. The use of cornerstone and capstoneprojects does not sufficiently foster the transfer or application of technical knowledge or providerepeated, meaningful opportunities to practice the behaviors associated with design.Research on how students learn engineering design most effectively call for repeatedopportunities to engage in hands-on, open-ended problems. For example, Prince (2004) suggeststhat design and other engineering subjects are best learnt through hands-on, active pedagogy, e.g.project-based learning.6 Impromptu design exercises reflect
. Further investigation indicated that many FYEstudents could identify the superficial features from the problem statement, but they werenot able to identify the implicit logical steps or deep structure of the problem.Our current data provided the baseline of how FYE students abstract and interpretinformation from a design goal to generate a specific problem statement. We areinterested in treatments to improve students‟ ability to recognize critical features of agiven context and encourage taking multiple perspectives to identify alternative solutions.We are combining the use of graphical representational tools as organizational tools tosupport teams collaboration and we encourage opportunities to reflect and refine theirdesign process. This
accessibility for research, shorter length questionnaire andthe ability to benchmark against prior work. Having fewer questions was particularly important,as we needed to translate the survey into the Korean language to administer in Korea. Page 22.31.2The Kolb model is based on the idea that “knowledge is created through the transformation ofexperience”17,18, and is built on two axes. The vertical axis represents how one thinks aboutthings, while the horizontal axis represents how one acts on things. The end of each axiscorresponds to a cognitive or behavioral extreme: Concrete Experience versus AbstractConceptualization, and Reflective Observation
among expert andwork separately 12. Also, Klein believed that “engineering do not engage in critical reflection ofproblem choice, the epistemology of the disciplines being used, or the logic of disciplinary Page 22.1114.2structures” 13.There is a need to further explore the possible learning models, designed learningprocess, and observable outcomes in the cross-disciplinary engineering design context with theultimate goal of being able to facilitate cross-disciplinary learning. In this paper, we ask aresearch question of: How can students’ cross-disciplinary practice be observed and described?This question is one of the many essential
strategies, monitoring and fix-upstrategies, and criteria). From the analysis, the findings suggest that the level of understanding ofthe task was clearly reflected in students‟ plans with particular emphasis on getting a goodoverview of the design task at the early stage of the project. Students were found to be lacking inthe areas of planning the methods used and anticipating the time required to solve the design taskat the early stage of the project. Overall, students excelled in monitoring and regulating thedesign process and task management, although lower scores were found on several activities,such as seeking alternative approaches to investigating the problem, design solution, timeplanning, and the effective use of resources and materials
differ from experts not only by the amount ofknowledge, but in how the knowledge is organized and utilized. This development includeshelping students progress in their epistemological assumptions, described by King and Kitcheneras being three primary phases:13 ● Pre-reflective thinking: do not acknowledge or perceive that knowledge is uncertain. Do not understand that some real problems have no absolutely correct answer. ● Quasi-reflective thinking: recognize that some problems are ill structured and that some issues are problematic. Do not understand how evidence leads to conclusions - have difficulty drawing reasoned conclusions ● Reflective thinking - knowledge must be actively constructed and understood in relation to
in service in the community and reflect ontheir involvement in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content and of thediscipline and its relationship to social needs and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility8. Thepedagogy of service-learning is has four key characteristics: service to underserved communities;academic content; reciprocal partnerships with the community, university and students; andreflection or metacognitive activities that enhance student learning of course content, thecommunity and themselves9.When design is taught through service-learning, it moves to a human-centered approach.Students must understand the users, stakeholders and the issues impacting the need and potentialsolutions to develop an
appreciate the EDP and the thinking framework it provides, we use aninnovative approach in Day 1 of Week 1 by giving the teachers a design challenge before wediscuss the EDP with them. We asked teachers to design a 3-legged chair that is stable and safeand that can carry the maximum amount of weight. We divide the teachers into teams of 3.After they finish and test their designs, we ask them to reflect on their experience and use theirreflection to discuss the EDP and its value. Such experience and discussion help them in theirdesign activities of Day 4 and 5. Figure 1 shows some teacher activities during the designchallenge. Page 22.824.5
proficiency in the engineering designprocess, however, portfolio assessment offers a promising alternative.While there is no single definition of an assessment portfolio, among features that manyportfolio-based programs, both past and ongoing, have in common is their understanding that aportfolio is “a purposeful collection of student work that exhibits to the students (and/or others)the student’s efforts, progress, or achievement in given area(s). The collection must includestudent participation in selection of portfolio content; the criteria for selection; the criteria forjudging merit; and evidence of student self-reflection.” 28 Archbald and Newmann 29, andPaulson, Paulson, and Meyer 30 were among the first proponents of the idea that students
other engineers will work through the first four stages of design as stated by Ullman [13] (product discovery, project planning, product definition, and conceptual design) in detail throughout the remainder of the semester. Aspects of the design process which have been stressed in this course should be reflected in your design team's methodology and approach to the problem. To culminate the course, a final report will be turned in to the instructor and a presentation will be made to the class regarding your design process and final design."The above project statement reflects the primary learning goals of the course, where the projectis intended to be the culmination of the course requirements. In addition to the above
without considering the statements. In some questions,wording was changed for the Dalhousie survey to reflect slight context or content differences.Questions that referred to particular software, for example, were modified to be more relevant tothe Dalhousie program. An example of the statements is shown in Table 1 for the “Teamworkskills” category. The first column of the table indicates the question number. Statements wereinterspersed with those from other assessment categories. The statements were skill-specific, and Page 22.350.6require students to identify their strengths in definite areas, rather than general expressions ofcapability.For
an effective solution. Effective teamsshould also be organized enough to produce this design solution in sufficient time to test anddocument the results of their design. Page 22.242.3Assessing the effectiveness of capstone design projects is a complex undertaking. Many schoolshave turned to the use of design journals or notebooks to require students to document theprogress of their design and to reflect on the design process10,11. Other schools, includingNortheastern, have used a combination of faculty, industrial sponsors, and professional peerevaluations to provide a number of views of the quality of the projects12. Student self
resultcounterproductive since the students will be overloaded with information. Another extreme willbe to teach them only one or few methods; although this avoids an overload, the authors haveobserved that most instructors do this, teaching just a couple of preferred methods. The premiseof this research work is that there is a lack of guidance when it comes to design methodselection. This situation is also reflected in the professional world where it is well known thatdesigners will stick to just a couple of methods in each category for the most of their professionallife. This is understandable because (1) the designer is familiar with the method, and (2) there isnot a clear guide to help decide which other methods to use. A test-bed for an expert system toguide
components of main independent items item number component name item number component name 1 Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp 2 reflector of lamp 3 light guide panel 4 reflective sheet 5 reflecting surface of light guide panel 6 dot pattern 7 dot-density 8 emitting surface of light guide panel After transforming constitutive components into the functionality terminology in the Page 22.1101.9Table 2, we construct an optical
process that allows thestudent to identify individual preferred project selections. The process also includes the ability tocapture individual student academic and career interests as well as the expertise that may beoffered towards the project and team.Typical class size is between 68 and 110 senior ME students resulting in 14 to 22 projects andteams each year. The Capstone projects include Industry Partnered, Research Partnered, StudentCompetitions, and Independently created projects. The Capstone projects reflect the technicalexpertise of the department and faculty including solid mechanics, structures, materials,dynamics, systems and control, robotics, fluid mechanics, thermal sciences, computationalscience, and nanotechnology. Projects are
semi-structured interview is a widely used method. The semi-structuredmethod offers high flexibility and interaction with the students while providing a consistentframework for interviews. The objectives of this preliminary study were to investigate students'activities that reflect their metacognition, and to suggest what preparation should be undertakenduring a semi-structured interview.Engineering graphics (MAE 1200) students (n=4) in the College of Engineering, at Utah StateUniversity (USU), participated in this preliminary study. Butler and Cartier's Self-RegulatedLearning model was used to frame interview questions. Two graduate students in the Departmentof Engineering and Technology Education (ETE) conducted interview sessions to assess
project (2 students); Project in senior level elective (2 students) Elect. Egr. 1st Semester Masters Project elective 3 Comp. Sci. Junior level project elective 3 Business Project in two senior level courses (Market Analysis, 10 Business management) Civil Egr. Project in junior level structures course 2 Architecture Final Masters Project 1The broad variety of curricular integration solutions was not intended and reflects the greatdifficulty we encountered in working to find acceptable ways to
education as following prescriptive steps that lead toward known conclusions andconsequently teach to this approach. The current implementation of science education frequently involves teaching inquiry asthe complex interactions between exploring and testing ideas, feedback and analysis from thecommunity, and the benefits and outcomes of research.6 The work of Herried is reflective of theattempts to align the processes of science taught in K-12 to the processes taken by professionalscientists as they engage in scientific inquiry. However, the wide variety of ways that inquiry ispresented in K-12 educational materials7 and the perception of inquiry as synonymous withdoing “good science”8 may prompt teachers to think that engaging students in
,particularly in North America, continuing to reflect the recommendations made in the 1955Grinter Report.[12] Based on this five decade old report, engineering schools chose to focus on ascientifically oriented curriculum that emphasizes the basic sciences, mathematics, chemistry andphysics through a core set of six engineering sciences, ignoring concurrent calls to includeprofessional and social responsibilities in the curriculum. As May and Strong[10] point out, “Fivedecades after this report was published, how many engineering schools can truly claim that theirprograms have evolved in terms of core content and methods of instruction in order to maintainpace with modern professional engineering practice?”The Accreditation Board for Engineering and
of closed-ended fundamental of engineering type problems, to the starting of the execution of student designed deeper learning activities. Learning activities during these phases include “learning conversations” (daily scheduled 2 hour faculty led or student led active learning workshops), one on one faculty conversations, workshops by external experts such as practicing engineers, peer group learning, self guided research and learning, problem solving sessions, and reflection. Figure 2. Approximate time on task for learning activities vs. project execution during semester. • Upon reaching the completion of the personal model development, students stand for an oral exam where high levels of
the authors and do not necessarily reflect the viewsof the National Science Foundation. Page 22.1595.10
design vs. teaching how to do design in a largefirst year class is not a trivial transition, nor can it be done without some scaffolding. Thegoals of enhancing student learning and improving engagement are positively reflected instudent feedback. Student feedback also suggests an intellectual curiosity to exploremore of the system modelling. In addition, the goal of closing the design loop has beenmet with positive feedback.As an initial offering the course instructor wanted to expose first year students to thetools that would be used in an iterative design process. This exposure required someconsideration as the complexity of some topics and some tools can quickly turn thelearning experience into an exercise in frustration.The authors are
and creativity that the engineers don't always have to consider.” “It was nice working with the industrial designers because they put an artistic spin on theproduct. They also worked to make the housing ergonomic which is something I would not havebeen able to do.”Then there are the quotes from industrial designers, reflecting on their experience working withengineers:“It is great to work with engineers! They know how to make things work, they know thedimensions and materials well, and they can make cool video and analysis.”“Being the first time I've worked with a group of engineers, I think it was successful and a hugelearning experience.”“I found it really useful working on this project with industrial design and engineering