Conference Session

They're Not "Soft" Skills!

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eckehard Doerry, Northern Arizona University; James Dean Palmer, Northern Arizona University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

AC 2011-221: IMPROVING EFFICACY OF PEER-EVALUATION IN TEAMPROJECT SCENARIOSEckehard Doerry, Northern Arizona University Eck Doerry is an associate professor of Computer Science at Northern Arizona University. His research interests fall within the broad area on ”Groupware support for Online Groups”, with active research in portal-based tools to support distributed scientific communities, groupware tools to support small, dis- tributed engineering design teams, and distance education tools and environments. He has been a long- time advocate of realistic, interdisciplinary team design projects as a key element in engineering educa- tion, and has been managing advanced project teams in the Design4Practice program at

Conference Session

Fostering Student Learning

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christel Heylen, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium; Herman Buelens, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium; Jos Vander Sloten, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

Engineering in August 2010 from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. She is a member of LESEC (Leuven Engineering and Science Education Center).Herman Buelens, K.U.Leuven Herman Buelens is head of the Centre for Educational Development at the University of Leuven (Bel- gium).Jos Vander Sloten, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Page 22.1150.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Perceived learning effect and guidance in project based engineering education C. Heylen1, H. Buelens2 and J. Vander Sloten3 1

Conference Session

Digital Technologies and Learning

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Debra Gilbuena, Oregon State University; Ben Uriel Sherrett, Oregon State University; Milo Koretsky, Oregon State University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

of the most important tools used by faculty to help studentsclose the gap between actual and desired performance. Additionally authentic, situatedenvironments are believed to benefit student learning. Studies of feedback in situated projectsare uncommon and needed. This study proposes the use of episodes as a discourse analysisframework to investigate feedback in an industrially situated virtual laboratory project. Whileepisodes have been used in other disciplines, they present a new framework for engineeringeducation research.This paper focuses on a case study of feedback provided to four teams of students as part of anopen-ended senior project. The 12 students are drawn from two cohorts in their final year of theirundergraduate studies in

Conference Session

SPECIAL SESSION: Educational Methods and Tools to Encourage Conceptual Learning I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Donald P. Visco Jr., University of Akron

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering, Educational Research and Methods

from many disciplines within engineering and cover alllevels of students, such as Freshman projects where students are involved in the design process2 orin working with modules3, to multidisciplinary design projects4 and many implementations inbetween.Within the field of chemical engineering, Arce (among other faculty) recently has had studentsdesign and build modules (he called them experimental prototypes) to demonstrate chemicalengineering concepts, such as flow meters, though they varied greatly in size.5 Minerick, on theother hand, has used faculty-designed and built modules that do fit on a desktop (called a Desktop Page 22.1330.2Module

Conference Session

Modeling and Problem-Solving

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Morris M. Girgis, Central State University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 An Active Learning Environment for Enriching Mathematical, Conceptual and Problem-Solving CompetenciesAbstractClass projects involving problem-solving case studies are an effective way to develop andimplement an active learning environment. A term class project was initiated as part of aStrength of Materials course. The project included the creation of a laboratory setup and session,lecture sessions, tests, problem-solving case studies, presentations, and reports. Active learningprojects that engage students in structured course activities benefit students more than traditionallecture-based approach because students learn to construct their own version of knowledge

Conference Session

Knowing Ourselves: Research on Engineering Education Researchers

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Junaid A. Siddiqui, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Robin S. Adams, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Lorraine N. Fleming, Howard University; Alison A. Dingwall, Howard University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

Engineering Education5.The National Science Foundation funded program, Expanding and Sustaining Research Capacityin Engineering and Technology Education: Building on Successful Programs for Faculty andGraduate Students, aligns with both these needs of expanding and sustaining research capacity inengineering education. This project builds on prior experiences of successful capacity-buildingprojects including the Rigorous Research in Engineering Education program6, the Institute forScholarship in Engineering Education7, and Bootstrapping in Computer Science Education Page 22.1288.2Research8. The project consists of several programs that collectively

Conference Session

Research on Engineering Design Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Leslie Reed, Purdue University; Michael J. Dyrenfurth, Purdue University, College of Technology, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

AC 2011-1383: AN ASSESSMENT OF CREATIVE CAPABILITIES IN TECH-NOLOGICAL DESIGNLeslie Reed, Purdue University Ms. Reed is the founder and CEO of Reed Environmental, Inc., a comprehensive safety, industrial hygiene and environmental consulting firm founded in 1989. She is presently working on a PhD in Technology from Purdue University.Michael J. Dyrenfurth, Purdue University, College of Technology, West Lafayette Michael Dyrenfurth is professor in the Department of Industrial Technology at Purdue University. He is co-PI of the DETECT and Atlantis Concurrent MS degree projects. Active in international aspects of the profession, he teaches and researches in the areas of technological innovation, technological literacy

Conference Session

Fostering Student Learning

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alexandra Emelina Coso, Georgia Institute of Technology; Reid Bailey, University of Virginia

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

. Page 22.1447.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 The Effect of Previous Team Experiences on Students’ Perceptions of Interdisciplinary Engineering ProblemsAbstractWith a growing number of interdisciplinary engineering programs and courses, researchers arebeginning to characterize interdisciplinary learning objectives, student development in theseprograms and courses, and the dynamics of interdisciplinary engineering teamwork. Focusing onstudents at the very beginning of the major coursework, this study examined second-yearstudents‟ perceptions of interdisciplinary engineering project teams. In addition, the studyattempted to define the conditions which give rise

Conference Session

Research on Engineering Design Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ann F. McKenna, Arizona State University, Polytechnic campus; Gül E. Okudan Kremer, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Carolyn Plumb, Montana State University; Hyun Kyoung Ro, Penn State University; Alexander Yin, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

design settings. Her published work appears in journals such as Journal of Mechanical Design, Journal of Engineering Design, Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Journal of Engineering Education, European Journal of En- gineering Education and Technovation. She is a member of IIE, ASME, and ASEE. She is also a National Research Council-US AFRL Summer Faculty Fellow for the Human Effectiveness Directorate (2002- 2004), an invited participant of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Frontiers in Engineering Education Symposium (2009), and a Fulbright Scholar to Ireland (2010).Carolyn Plumb, Montana State University Carolyn Plumb is the Director of Educational Innovation and Strategic Projects at Montana State

Conference Session

Fostering Student Learning

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephen Snyder, Taylor University; Rachel Tomasik; Bethany Smith, Taylor University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

AC 2011-867: PROBLEM BASED LEARNING USING HARP INSTRUC-TIONDr. Stephen Snyder, Taylor University Professor of Psychology Fellow of the Center of Teaching Excellence Director of the Social Science Research Training ProgramRachel TomasikBethany Smith, Taylor University Page 22.1178.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Problem-Based Learning Using HARP InstructionAbstract A project-based model of teaching was used for the New Height’s High AltitudeResearch Platform (HARP) program in 29 science classrooms that contained 849 students. Thiseducational model assumes

Conference Session

Knowing Ourselves: Research on Engineering Education Researchers

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephanie M. Gillespie, University of Miami; Ann F. McKenna, Arizona State University, Polytechnic campus; Russell Pimmel, National Science Foundation

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, andMathematics (TUES). The name change was made to emphasize interest in projects that have thepotential to transform undergraduate education in STEM fields. Therefore, we were interested inhow, prior to the name change, the community conceived of what is necessary to makeeducational improvements and how investigators operationalized this through their project’sproposed activities.We selected Phase/Type 1 engineering CCLI proposals, analyzing all funded proposals in 2005and 2009, and selected a random sample of non-funded proposals for comparison purposes. Thepercentage of proposals analyzed each year was consistent and represents approximately 30% ofsubmissions received that

Conference Session

They're Not "Soft" Skills!

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Susan M. Lord, University of San Diego; Candice Stefanou, Bucknell University; Michael J. Prince, Bucknell University; John Chen, California Polytechnic State University; Jonathan D. Stolk, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

Engineering project investigating persistence of women in engineering undergraduate programs. Dr. Lord’s industrial experience includes AT&T Bell Laboratories, General Motors Laboratories, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and SPAWAR Systems Center. She served as the President of the IEEE Education Society in 2009 and 2010.Candice Stefanou, Bucknell University Candice is an Associate Professor of Education at Bucknell University. Her teaching interests are in applied measurement and assessment and educational psychology. Her research interests are in motivation and classroom environments.Dr. Michael J. Prince, Bucknell UniversityJohn Chen, California Polytechnic State University John Chen is an Associate Professor

Conference Session

Understanding Students and Faculty

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Shane A. Brown, Washington State University; Nadia Frye, Washington State University; Devlin B. Montfort, Washington State University; Paul M. Smith, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

innovators are attempting to transformengineering education is through implementation of interdisciplinary capstone design courses.Interdisciplinary capstone design courses provide students from different fields with theopportunity to work directly with other design students and professionals to develop a real world,authentic project. Studies have shown that engineering departments across the nation areattempting to implement interdisciplinary capstone design courses into their curriculum1.The Interdisciplinary Design Experience (IDeX) is an interdisciplinary academic programdeveloped to provide real world experience with innovative sustainable design projects toengineering, architecture and construction management undergraduate and Masters

Conference Session

Learning Outside the Classroom

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adam R. Carberry, Arizona State University; Christopher W. Swan, Tufts University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering with additional affiliations with the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service and the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach at Tufts University. Dr. Swan has also served as chair of Tufts CEE depart- ment (2002-2007) and as an officer in the Environmental Engineering division of ASEE (2001-2005). Dr. Swan’s current interests lie in the areas of waste reuse, and service-based educational efforts in the engineering curriculum. Synergies of these efforts progressed to research on engineering education and training utilizing project-based learning and service-based pedagogies specifically their potential impacts on student learning and how these

Conference Session

Modeling and Problem-Solving

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Keith B. Fisher, Montana State University; Kevin R. Cook, Montana State University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

1. Before beginning an analysis on the bottle position, review what is known about aerodynamic drag on the bottle. The aerodynamic drag equation found in introductory fluid mechanics texts for flow (2-D) around a circular cylinder is: (4) where: CD is the coefficient of drag AP is the projected area ρ is the fluid density V0 is the free stream velocity This equation has been widely applied to flows perpendicular to the axis of cylindrical objects (pipes, tubes, wires, etc.). The coefficient of drag is found from empirical charts based upon the Reynolds number for a circular cross section: , (5) where: D is diameter, and μ is

Conference Session

Special Session: Moving Towards the Intended, Explicit, and Authentic: Addressing Critical Misalignments in Engineering Learning within Secondary and University Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kevin Anderson, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Sandra Shaw Courter, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Mitchell J. Nathan, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Amy C. Prevost, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Christine G. Nicometo, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Traci M. Nathans-Kelly, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Thomas Dean McGlamery, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Amy K. Atwood, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods, K-12 & Pre-College Engineering, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

Educational Experiences with Ways of Knowing Engineering (AWAKEN): How People Learn” project. She is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Engineering Professional Development and Wendt Commons: Teaching and Learning Services. Her area of research is engineering education including assessment of student learning. She taught technical communication courses to undergraduate engineering students and currently consults with faculty and teaching assistants. She earned her Ph.D. in educational administration at UW-Madison.Mitchell J. Nathan, University of Wisconsin-Madison Mitchell J. Nathan, BSEE, PhD, is professor of Educational Psychology, with affiliate appointments in Curriculum & Instruction and Psychology at the

Conference Session

Research on Engineering Design Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lora Oehlberg, University of California, Berkeley; Alice Merner Agogino, University of California, Berkeley

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

AC 2011-2310: UNDERGRADUATE CONCEPTIONS OF THE ENGINEER-ING DESIGN PROCESS: ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF A HUMAN-CENTEREDDESIGN COURSELora Oehlberg, University of California, Berkeley Lora Oehlberg is a doctoral student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Cal- ifornia at Berkeley, and a member of the Berkeley Institute of Design. She received a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley (2008) and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineer- ing from Stanford University (2006). Her doctoral research is on how designers use personal design information tools during collaborative new product development projects. Her background includes both corporate product design and

Conference Session

Engineering Education Research in K-12

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Karen A. High, Oklahoma State University; Melanie C. Page, Oklahoma State University; Julie Thomas, Oklahoma State University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods, K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

profes- sionals. Dr. High is a trainer for Project Lead the Way pre-Engineering. Additionally, she works with middle school teachers and students on engineering projects.Melanie C Page, Oklahoma State University Melanie C. Page received her Ph.D. in Quantitative Psychology from Arizona State University in 1998. She is currently a professor in the Department of Psyhcology and Director of the OSU Institute for Cre- ativity and Innovation (ICI) in the School of Entrepreneurship. Her research interests are mainly in pre- vention/intervention research; She is currently involved in several projects. One major project is looking at decreasing childhood overweight through family and peer interventions (FiSH project) with

Conference Session

K-12 Students and Teachers

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tirupalavanam G. Ganesh, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

Experiences for Students and Teachers project, Learning through Engineering Design and Practice (2007-2011), a National Science Foundation Award# 0737616 from the Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings. This project is aimed at designing, implementing, and systematically studying the impact of a middle-school engineering education program. Page 22.208.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Analyzing Subject-Produced Drawings: The use of the Draw-an-Engineer Assessment in ContextIntroductionIn this paper, an example of

Conference Session

SPECIAL SESSION: Educational Methods and Tools to Encourage Conceptual Learning I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nancy K. Lape, Harvey Mudd College

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering, Educational Research and Methods

“implicit models made explicit”and begin to construct their own learning. While Hmelo and Guzdial’s work was focusedon software, this concept can clearly be applied universally.The aim of the approach presented in this paper is to maintain PBL’s advantages intraining students to address ill-defined real-world problems while providing sufficientscaffolding (in a manner similar to Hmelo and Guzdial’s glass-box scaffolding) toaddress cognitive architecture concerns raised by Kirschner et al. and Sweller et al. 1, 2.Tiered Scaffolding ApproachThe six-tiered approach shown in Figure 1 below was used to prepare students for PBL(here in the form of challenge problems and Thermodynamics Inquiry Projects) bymoving them up the levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy 10

Conference Session

Research on Engineering Design Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carla B. Zoltowski, Purdue University, West Lafayette; William C. Oakes, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Monica E Cardella, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

, decisions on meaning ultimately cannot be taken away from those who are affected by a design, it stakeholders.” (p. 230)3. “They render design proposals empirically testable, at least in principle. Because a projected future cannot yet be observed, they provide arguments, demonstrations, if not tests for the projected reality of a design.” (p. 230)Utilizing human-centered design processes have been shown to increase productivity, improvequality, reduce errors, reduce training and support costs, improve people's acceptance of newproducts, enhance companies' reputations, increase user satisfaction and reduce developmentcosts8,9.A critical part of design thinking and human-centered design is understanding the peopleaffected by the design

Conference Session

Understanding Our Students

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joachim Walther, University of Georgia; Nicki Wendy Sochacka, University of Georgia; Nadia N. Kellam, University of Georgia

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

‟ recollection on this general level are exhausted, a more specific manifestationof the emotional indicator could be useful, such as: “Thinking back to your project team meetings, was there a particular time when you felt overwhelmed by the design task?”In both cases, the triggers would need to be developed from the context and the teacher‟sexperience of the course to target aspects that were likely to have constituted a significantlearning moment. The pathways indicated by the arrows in Figure 1 illustrate furtherexplorations of the space with resulting triggers on various levels of specificity. As describedabove, the triggers can be used in any of the existing formats for structured reflection, rangingfrom on-line portfolios to in-person

Conference Session

Educational Research and Methods Potpourri I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lisa M. Abrams, Ohio State University; Robert J. Gustafson, Ohio State University; Sharnnia Artis, Ohio State University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

. Page 22.693.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011Extending Information on Time Effective Student Interactions to Engineering FacultyAbstractThe College of Engineering at The Ohio State University is one of ten initial institutionscurrently collaborating in an NSF funded Extension Services project entitled ENGAGE(Engaging Students in Engineering) (www.EngageEngineering.org). The main thrusts of theENGAGE Project are to encourage the implementation of research-proven techniques that havebeen shown to improve retention of undergraduates in engineering programs. One of the threethrusts is to introduce faculty to techniques for student interactions which are both effective

Conference Session

Learning Outside the Classroom

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lisa Massi, University of Central Florida; Michael Georgiopoulos, University of Central Florida; Cynthia Y. Young, University of Central Florida; Cherie Geiger, University of Central Florida; Patrice Lancey, University of Central Florida; Divya Bhati, University of Central Florida

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

the College of Optics and Photonics. She holds a B.A. in Mathematics Education from the University of North Carolina, M.S. in Mathematical Science from the University of Central Florida, and M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Washington, Seattle, WA. In 1997 she joined the faculty at UCF where she conducts research in the area of atmospheric effects on laser propagation. She has worked on laser satellite communication projects and laser radar projects for the Boeing Company, the US Navy, and the US Air Force. In 2001 Dr. Young was the recipient of the Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research for a project entitled ”Turbulence Effects on Lidar

Conference Session

Digital Technologies and Learning

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Hergenrader, University of Southern California, Information Sciences Institute; Joanna Drummond, University of Pittsburgh; Jihie Kim, University of Southern California

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

. Kim received a Ph.D. from the USC, and a master’s and a bachelor’s degrees from the Seoul National University. Her current interests include pedagogical discourse analysis, human-computer interaction, social network assistance, and assessment of student collaborative online activities. She leads synergistic work among machine learning experts, educational psychologists, NLP researchers, and STEM instructors. She is the PI of five NSF projects including the CCLI/PedDiscourse, CCLI/PedWiki and NSDL/SocRecomm projects under the EHR Directorate and CreativeIT/PedGames and IIS/PedWorkflow projects under the CISE Directorate. Under the retired PedDiscourse effort, her team designed, deployed and evaluated software

Conference Session

Professional Identity

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Katherine M. Morley; Alice L. Pawley, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Shawn S. Jordan, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Robin Adams, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

from McGill University, and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering with a Ph.D. minor in Women’s Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is Co-PI and Research Director of Purdue University’s ADVANCE program, and PI on the Assessing Sustainability Knowledge project. She runs the Research in Feminist Engineering (RIFE) group, whose projects are described at the group’s website, http://feministengineering.org/. She is interested in creating new models for thinking about gender and race in the context of engineering education. She was recently awarded a CAREER grant for the project, ”Learning from Small Numbers: Using personal narratives by underrepresented undergraduate students to

Conference Session

Learning From Experts

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Indira Nair, Carnegie Mellon University; Eden Fisher, Carnegie Mellon University; Mustafa A. Biviji, Carnegie Mellon University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

worked in education at high school and university levels. Mustafa Biviji holds a BS in Electronics from Bombay University and a MS in Engineering & Technology Innovation Management from Carnegie Mellon. Mr. Biviji’s current position involves innovations in alternative energy.Dr. Eden FisherMr. Mustafa A. Biviji Mustafa A. Biviji holds a BE in Electronics Engineering from Mumbai University and a MS in Engineer- ing & Technology Innovation Management from Carnegie Mellon. Mr. Biviji’s current position involves working on projects in field of future electric grids and alternative energy. Page 22.1100.1

Conference Session

Assessment Instruments

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Julie Martin Trenor, Clemson University; Matthew K. Miller, Clemson University; Kyle G. Gipson, Clemson University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

literature for designing a complete cognitivevalidity evaluation of an instrument, particularly for instruments that measure self-report items.We aim to describe a particular use of VRMs (specifically, think-aloud sessions) in this paper asan example of its potential utility for other researchers in engineering education by presenting anapplication of this model to our specific engineering education research project (details of whichare given later in this paper). It is a primary goal of the current study to construct a model thatengineering education researchers (and other relevant fields) can use to establish a case for thecognitive validity of their survey instruments, giving confidence that participants will have theintended interpretations of

Conference Session

Persistence and Retention II: Curricular Issues

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George D. Ricco, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Matthew W. Ohland, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

manner. Furthermore, students not only enjoy flexibility in their early curriculabut also enjoy through their later semesters where specialization courses dominate thecurriculum. The aim of this research is to provide a new metric for describing the flexibility ofengineering majors and further the discussion into how student progression through a major willrequire significant, future work.Introduction and BackgroundThe work of the MIDFIELD group has been widely disseminated and can be found on theMIDFIELD website.[1] Previously, the project has focused extensively on important engineeringeducation issues such as: the persistence of students in engineering disciplines; the success ofwomen in engineering using quantitative and qualitative

Conference Session

Educational Research and Methods Potpourri II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephen R. Hoffmann, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Alice L. Pawley, Purdue University; Ranjani L. Rao, Purdue University; Monica E. Cardella, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Matthew W. Ohland, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

assistant professor in the School of Engineering Education and an affiliate faculty member in the Women’s Studies Program and Division of Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue University. She has a B.Eng. in Chemical Engineering from McGill University, and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering with a Ph.D. minor in Women’s Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is Co-PI and Research Director of Purdue University’s ADVANCE program, and PI on the Assessing Sustainability Knowledge project. She runs the Research in Feminist Engineering (RIFE) group, whose projects are described at the group’s website, http://feministengineering.org/. She is interested in creating new models