Conference Session

Liberal Education Poster Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Smitesh Bakrania, Rowan University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

identifies the ability to communicate effectively as a key student outcome for anaccredited engineering program.1 The requirement includes the ability to orally communicateinformation specifically as a technical presentation. To meet this criterion programs typicallyutilize a public speaking course as part of their curriculum. This is followed by opportunities forthe students to apply their acquired skills usually in the form of senior project presentations orcourse project talks.At Rowan University, engineering undergraduates as part of their engineering clinic series areexposed to good public speaking practices in their sophomore years. Nevertheless, the studentsfail to deliver compelling presentations during the junior and senior engineering

Conference Session

Liberal Education Revisited: Five Historical Perspectives

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Heywood, Trinity College, Dublin

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

intention they were seen as a means of raising the status of the Colleges ofAdvanced Technology. There was also a debate about who should teach them and wherethey should be taught. As with any innovation of this kind not only are student attitudesto them important but so are those of the faculty who teach mainstream subjects. Takingtogether the research undertaken at the time suggests that liberal studies were somewhatmore successful than they might have been.The system of third level education in England and Wales circa 1955 [1]In the British Isles there are five different education systems that are separately managed.In addition to the republic of Ireland there are four systems in the United Kingdom (UK)viz England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and

Conference Session

Liberal Education Revisited: Five Historical Perspectives

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Heywood, Trinity College, Dublin

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

equivalent education. In this paper it includes qualifications that correspond to atechnology degree in the United States (Higher National Certificates and Diplomas). All othercourses are defined as third level. The higher education level embraced a university sector(private) and a public sector funded primarily by Local Education Authorities (LEA‟s). It is withdevelopments in higher education in the public sector that this paper is concerned.At that time the education system in England and Wales was highly selective. A simplifiedmodel of the system is shown in exhibit 1. After primary school the student was directed to oneof three types of school. The majority of children went to secondary modern schools as therewere only a relatively small number

Conference Session

Communication: From Pecha Kucha to Bullets

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sandra Soto-Caban, Muskingum University; Emre Selvi, Muskingum University; Ferdinand Avila-Medina, Ohio State University, Newark

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

spent 3 hours. The minimum time spent preparing the slideshow was 3 hours. After years of having presentations in different courses and levels, we noticed that this is an improvement. Before, students worked in their presentations the minimum amount of time possible. Many times, they were still working on their presentations while their classmates were presenting. The PK style forced them to choose their pictures and information carefully, helping them in the research process.• 5 out of 15 students rehearsed for 1 hour, 5 students rehearsed for two hours, 3 for 3 hours, Page 22.831.3 1 for 4 hours, and 1 student

Conference Session

Communication: From Pecha Kucha to Bullets

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kenneth R. Leitch, West Texas A&M University; Rhonda B Dittfurth, West Texas A&M University; Freddie J Davis P.E., West Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

Page 22.834.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Improving Engineering Students’ Perception of Technical Communication SkillsAbstractThe ABET 2000 Criterion 3g states that engineering programs must educate students with “an ability tocommunicate effectively.1” Surveys of engineering graduates and current students at West Texas A&M University(WTAMU) indicate that there is a desire on behalf of the students to experience more technical communicationopportunities within engineering coursework.Traditionally, written and oral communication instruction has been conducted in a formal setting within the requiredthree course sequence of ENGL 1301

Conference Session

Communication: From Pecha Kucha to Bullets

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Craig W. Somerton, Michigan State University; Craig J. Gunn, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

in heat conduction. The course met three times a week for 50 minutes and covered thestandard topics in heat conduction: physical nature of heat conduction and thermal conductivity;derivation of the heat conduction equation; one-dimensional, steady heat conduction; compositewalls and fins; two-dimensional; steady heat conduction; separation of variables method;transient heat conduction; Laplace transform methods; Green’s function; and numerical method.The course goals were stated as:1. To understand the physical nature of heat conduction and thermal conductivity2. To formulate a mathematical model for a heat conduction problem3. To solve the mathematical representation of heat conduction problems4. To calculate the performance of the

Conference Session

Rethinking PowerPoint and Other Acts of Communication

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christine G. Nicometo, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Traci M. Nathans-Kelly, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

– Page 22.875.5informed our instruction on the design of technical presentation slides to our specificstudent set. Figure 1a shows a typical example of the “traditional” slide design thatresults in cognitive overload slides; this is the slide design that most of our students useon a regular basis. Figure 1b shows the topic once transformed by the slide designtechniques we model and teach.Figure 1 (1a on right, 1b on left): Cognitive overload transformed into content-appropriate slide design.We teach students to move away from fragmented, textually focused slide design, as shown in (a). Instead,we encourage them to think more completely about crafting the message using sentence headers, visualevidence, and notes to align their slide design with

Conference Session

Integration of Liberal Education into Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Donald Arthur Brown, Penn State University ; Mary Lynn Brannon, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

which these issues arise in environmentalcontroversies 1, 3. This program seeks to, in one class, expose students to these ethicalissues in courses that are primarily focused on environmental or sustainability science,economics, policy, or environmental engineering. The course is a Science, Technologyand Society (STS) undergraduate course with a variety of majors, 20% of which areengineering students. There is a fair representation of males and females in the class..The program is not designed to make students fully competent evaluators of ethicalquestions for this would require much more than one class. The pedagogical goal of theprogram is believed to be extraordinarily important in one respect although quite modestin another respect. The

Conference Session

Integration of Liberal Education into Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tom A. Eppes, University of Hartford; Ivana Milanovic, University of Hartford; Frederick Sweitzer, University of Hartford

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

accrediting body, New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC),now requires assessment of general education outcomes, and further mandates thatundergraduates demonstrate competence in written and oral communication; the ability forscientific and quantitative reasoning, critical analysis and logical thinking; and the capability forcontinuing learning, including information literacy.1 As a university, we aspire to promote andintegrate excellence in liberal and professional education. We have, therefore, undertaken aproject to identify a series of core undergraduate learning outcomes, to be addressed andassessed both in general education and in the majors. These outcomes will help our studentsdevelop the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind

Conference Session

Liberal Education Revisited: Five Historical Perspectives

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Geselowitz, IEEE History Center; John Vardalas, IEEE

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

environment where wehave been able to work with both Schools to create two courses that serve both their needs;making social studies and humanities students aware of the role of technology in the story ofhumanity, and providing engineering students with a course that truly responds to the ABET2000 requirement of presenting the process of engineering in a cultural context.The authors of this paper have therefore set themselves four short-term goals: 1. To conduct some sort of broader survey of the current state of affairs to confirm their suspicions that most ABET-accredited institutions are not requiring their students to be exposed to the social context and, specifically, the social history of technology; 2. to consider the practical

Conference Session

Why Industry Says that our Engineering Students Cannot Write

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Susan Conrad, Portland State University; Timothy James Pfeiffer P.E., Foundation Engineering, Inc.

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society, Mechanical Engineering

on the following questions:1) In what ways, if any, do practitioners’ sentence structures and use of active vs passive voice reflect concerns of engineering practice? In other words, do the practitioners just use standard English that could be used in any formal written communication, or are aspects of engineering practice integrated into the grammar of their texts?2) To what extent and in what ways do students’ sentence structures and use of active vs passive voice differ from the practitioners’? To what extent do differences demonstrate neglect for concerns that are important in engineering practice?We answer these questions with an analysis of reports and technical memoranda (tech memos)written by civil engineering practitioners

Conference Session

Rethinking PowerPoint and Other Acts of Communication

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elena Poltavtchenko, Northern Arizona University; John Tingerthal, Northern Arizona University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

building 1. Project-directed writing assistance: a. 50-minute writing workshop before the first draft b. Review of Draft 1 and marginal feedback provided online c. 30-minute writing feedback and critique meeting of Draft 1 d. Review of writing of both Drafts 1 and 2 using the rubric 2. Student questionnaire to gain additional insights about the helpfulness of writing assistanceThe ultimate goal of the study is to identify (a) whether project-directed writing assistance helpsCM students improve their writing in areas that are typically problematic for them and (b) towhat extent such intervention is effective so that such student writers can be provided withtargeted writing instruction

Conference Session

Ethical Perspectives on the Grand Challenges of Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Donna M Riley, Smith College

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

means by which we might strive Table 1. NAE’s Grand Challenges18to meet such challenges? Make solar energy economical Provide energy from fusionAs this paper examines these four broad areas, it Develop carbon sequestration methodsproduces a set of questions for further exploration in Manage the nitrogen cycleboth engineering ethics and engineering studies. The Provide access to clean waterpaper closes with a sketch of a classroom Restore and improve urban infrastructureimplementation that guides students in asking similar Advance health informaticsquestions of the Grand Challenges as they explore

Conference Session

Myths About Gender and Race

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peggy Layne, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society, Minorities in Engineering, Women in Engineering

Committee. Page 22.1456.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Myths of Race and Gender: The Engineering “Pipeline” Metaphor and the Careers of Female Deans of EngineeringIntroductionWho does engineering is important, since engineers are key contributors to the design oftechnologies that shape our world.1 While women have made significant gains in their proportionof degrees earned and their representation in the professoriate in the past 30 years, they remainsignificantly underrepresented in engineering.2 In 2009, women earned just 17.8% of the 74,387bachelor’s degrees awarded in

Conference Session

Integration of Liberal Education into Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kacey Beddoes, Virginia Tech; Maura J. Borrego, Virginia Tech; Brent K Jesiek, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

been underexplored within engineeringeducation.IntroductionThe importance of interdisciplinary teamwork is widely recognized.1-4 Some engineeringeducation research on interdisciplinary teamwork has begun to focus on student and facultybeliefs about interdisciplinary work, competencies, learning outcomes, and assessment, but themajority of engineering education publications are limited to course and program descriptions.4-6Further, there are few, if any, studies of the day-to-day practices of interdisciplinary teams inengineering education settings and the objects they create and use in those practices. In Scienceand Technology Studies (STS) and Engineering Studies, on the other hand, observations ofscientists’ and engineers’ work practices

Conference Session

Ethical Perspectives on the Grand Challenges of Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dean Nieusma, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Xiaofeng Tang, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

for Engineering Education, 2011 Teaching the Unbalanced Equation: Technical Opportunities and Social Barriers in the NAE Grand Challenges and BeyondIntroductionThe National Academy of Engineering (NAE) released its report Grand Challenges forEngineering in 2008, describing 14 major engineering challenges that must be overcome to makethe world “a more sustainable, safe, healthy, and joyous—in other words, better—place.” 1 Thechallenges identified encompass areas as diverse as energy, environment, infrastructure, health,security, learning, and research, but in each case the emphasis is on “engineering” dimensions ofthe larger problem domain and, in particular, on the technologies

Conference Session

Making Students Aware of Their World: Five Perspectives

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Linda M. Head, Rowan University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

; Music began as a collaboration that developed amongengineering faculty and technicians who have a love of and interest in music as well as a stronginterest in engineering education. During a semester long, one-credit course at RowanUniversity that introduced students to consulting and entrepreneurship, the faculty developed amodule that used music to encourage student participation and teamwork. The popularity of thistechnique led faculty to explore the interest level and backgrounds of the first year students inmusic. For the incoming 2009 class the results are shown in Table 1. Table 1: Survey of Engineering Freshmen, Fall 2009 First Year Engineering Students Who: Play an

Conference Session

Communication: From Pecha Kucha to Bullets

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Micah Hale, University of Arkansas; Richard A. Coffman, University of Arkansas

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

’ overall grade.The Project - ArticleAs previously stated, each graduate student and pair of undergraduates was required to submit a“State of the Art” paper on a concrete durability related topic. There were only two projectrequirements. These included a bibliography of at least 20 journal articles and adhering to thejournal’s style guide.The second day of class, the students were distributed a handout that outlined the project. Five“State of the Art” articles that had been published in peer-reviewed journals were alsoprovided.1-6 For the undergraduates and for some of the graduate students, this was their firstintroduction to “State of the Art” articles. The entire second class period was spent discussingthe structure or outline of the articles

Conference Session

Why Industry Says that our Engineering Students Cannot Write

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeffrey A. Donnell, Georgia Institute of Technology; Betsy M. Aller, Western Michigan University; Michael Alley, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; April A. Kedrowicz, University of Utah

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society, Mechanical Engineering

still needs to be learnedabout the specific deficiencies in communication skills of entry-level engineers. One step thatcould be taken is for engineering departments to conduct longitudinal studies about how welltheir instruction on writing and oral communication prepares students for later classes, forinternships and co-ops, and for employment. Departments at different institutions shouldconsider adopting a core of common survey questions so that survey results can be compared.Another recommendation is that when incorporating writing into a course, engineeringdepartments should consider the following two questions: 1. What communication skills do we want students to acquire? 2. How can technical assignments be designed to help students

Conference Session

Communication: From Pecha Kucha to Bullets

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kathryn A. Neeley, University of Virginia; Michael Alley, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

PowerPoint and, implicitly or explicitly, eitherforeshadowed the success of PowerPoint or attempted to deflect criticism of it. These accountshave much to recommend them, including proximity to the events of interest, but by their naturelack objectivity and comprehensiveness. This paper begins the process of transforming thathistory into a more coherent and credible form.Our method in constructing this history, therefore, has focused on four categories of documentsthat qualify as primary sources: (1) the history of the word ―bullet‖ as documented in the OxfordEnglish Dictionary (OED), (2) the proposals in which the product we know as PowerPoint wasfirst described, (3) communication textbooks and handbooks, and (4) NASA reports in whichbullets are

Conference Session

Myths About Gender and Race

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amy E. Slaton, Drexel University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society, Minorities in Engineering, Women in Engineering

attempts to correct minority underrepresentation in the engineering disciplines,educational researchers, cognitive psychologists, and scholars in related fields have since the1980s developed many studies centered on the notion of student self-efficacy. 1-6 These studiesseek to measure the degree to which under-represented minority or otherwise marginalizedstudents experience a sense of self-confidence or feeling that they are able to counter "barrierconditions." Those conditions might include discrimination or other challenging social andintellectual situations encountered in college. While such studies are certainly preferable to adenial of differences between minority and majority experiences, they intentionally or otherwisesupport the notion

Conference Session

Ethical Perspectives on the Grand Challenges of Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amy E. Slaton, Drexel University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

with the humanistic and democratic potential of engineering.IntroductionThe Grand Challenges lately developed by the National Academy of Engineering with theirexcited inducements for twenty-first century engineers to "Reengineer the Human Brain," "Make Page 22.1104.2Solar Energy Affordable," "Restore and Improve Urban Infrastructure," "Enhance VirtualReality," and undertake ten other tasks, enter a long historical tradition of such epically scaledto-do lists.1 As early as the 1850s, as the first formal organizations of American engineers tookshape, the individuals involved sought to project long-term goals and professional guidelines fortheir

Conference Session

Ethical Perspectives on the Grand Challenges of Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joseph R. Herkert, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

Conference Session

Integration of Liberal Education into Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George D. Ricco, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

summaryof modern versus classic philosophy. How to Expand this Construct Further A few, other concepts need to be outlined: treatment of the self from Karl Jaspers; andthe strict notion of identity from Sonnemann. Jaspers’ work as outlined by Schrag(36) presents adivide akin to Sartre’s Being and Nothingness or as Schrag and others have put it, immanenceand transcendence (Figure 1). Immanence describes the realm of empirical existence. Thehuman being who navigates the world as is participates in immanence. The immanent that liesbeyond the grasp of the human being’s immediate proximity but can possibly be accessed by himor her is the world. When human beings project their perceptions of the immanent, they in turncreate the transcendent

Conference Session

Why Industry Says that our Engineering Students Cannot Write

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kathryn Mobrand, University of Washington; Jennifer A Turns, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society, Mechanical Engineering

engineering education and technical and professional communication,4 the role ofcommunication in the work life of engineers is becoming more complex and far reaching. Weneed to help our students prepare for the challenges associated with this expanded role.The exploratory study reported here investigates students’ conceptions of the communication ofengineers by analyzing the content of portfolios created by five undergraduates in a studiosetting. Responses to selected survey items were also analyzed. We found that each of thestudents discussed or otherwise acknowledged (1) the situated nature of communication, (2) theways in which communication can be empowering, and (3) the importance of familiarity with abroad range of communication activities for

Conference Session

Myths About Gender and Race

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Deborah Kilgore, University of Washington; Sheri Sheppard, Stanford University; Cynthia J. Atman, University of Washington; Debbie Chachra, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society, Minorities in Engineering, Women in Engineering

makes a difference, but is there a difference in motivation? Some findings from the Academic Pathways StudyIntroduction Despite years of research and intervention, women continue to be underrepresented inengineering [1]. In 2008, women comprised 18.4% of all recipients of an engineering degree [2],continuing an historical trend spanning the last 30 years, during which women’s share ofengineering degrees has remained stable or even declined. One of the goals of the AcademicPathways Study (APS) of which the present analysis is a part, was to contribute to the ongoingdialogue about underrepresentation in engineering, on both explanatory and remedial topics. Thepresent study discusses some APS

Conference Session

Integration of Liberal Education into Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Vassilios Tzouanas, University of Houston, Downtown; Lea Campbell, University of Houston, Downtown

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

groomed for management and leadership positions.A 2006 nation-wide survey sponsored by the American Association of Colleges and Universitiesfound that 76% of participating employers would like colleges to place more emphasis onteamwork skills. (1) Anecdotal evidence from the authors‟ experience as well as discussions withcolleagues from other institutions indicates that despite the inclusion of team projects in the Page 22.1504.2curriculum, students still struggle with the interpersonal dynamics of teamwork. The authorshypothesize that teaming skills are competencies that faculty often assume have been learnedelsewhere when in fact, students may

Conference Session

Liberal Education Revisited: Five Historical Perspectives

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Keith E. Hedges, Drury University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

sink beneath the surface and he is free . . .” wrote Jacques-Yves Cousteau.[1] Hebypassed the gravity constraints and co-developed the first aqualung device. Cousteau redefinedthe problem. He charted a new frontier as his solution made the invisible visible. This is ametaphor for educators continually confronted with the weight of prescriptive curricula in needof alternative innovation.Two trends were found after investigating the top eleven undergraduate engineering programsranked by the U.S. News and World Report. The curricula are very doctrinaire and the coursedescriptions are indicative of synchronous engagements between the instructor and the learner.Conversely, none of the eleven schools appear to dedicate a course that has a

Conference Session

Making Students Aware of Their World: Five Perspectives

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

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

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

ofnegative emotions at the beginning of projects and positive emotions later in the project suggestsa need for more scaffolding of projects and activities at the beginning of the time period and lesslater in the project or activity.IntroductionRecently there has been an increase in the amount of research exploring emotions in education.[1]Furthermore, there have been recent developments in neuroscience that point to the critical roleof emotion in learning and decision-making.[2-5] We have often considered emotion as a by-product of learning, but recent developments demonstrate that emotion is an integral part oflearning.[6]There has been some discussion within engineering education concerning how intellectualdevelopment is influenced by a student's

Conference Session

Ethical Perspectives on the Grand Challenges of Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George D. Catalano, State University of New York, Binghamton

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

AC 2011-2825: UNLOCKING THE HEART OF ENGINEERING GRANDCHALLENGES: LISTENING TO THE QUIET VOICESGeorge D. Catalano, State University of New York, Binghamton Page 22.1582.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011
 Unlocking the Heart of Engineering Grand Challenges: Listening to the Quiet VoicesI. IntroductionThe National Academy of Engineering listed a series of Grand Challenges for Engineeringduring this past year.1 The challenges ranged from making solar energy economical to providingaccess to clean water to re-engineering the brain to list just a few. Surely, it may be difficult