Collection

2010 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Steve Zilora

school students to write researchpapers even though relatively few of them will ultimately become researchers. The reason is thatthey need to be able to conduct and write about their research in order to be successful in collegeregardless of their major. Similarly, 21st century college students need to be able to collect,analyze, and present information in order to be successful in college regardless of their major.This paper describes an informatics course suitable for upper level high school students. Thecourse introduces students to skills that will allow them to work comfortably and effectively withdigital information during their college studies. Successful completion of such a course wouldempower college-bound students and help them

Collection

2010 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Junichi Kanai; Jeff P. Morris; Mark Anderson

, and information search, in their projects. Ourgoal was to introduce skills and the extended features of these tools in various courses to makestudents more productive. These skills were originally introduced in capstone design courses.Some skills are now introduced in a sophomore level engineering design course and a freshmancourse. This paper introduces the issues and our approaches.1. IntroductionThe current generation of college students, who were born in 1990’s, grew up with personalcomputers, the Internet, and other digital “gadgets”. They use text messages, IM (instantmessage), e-mail, and cell phones to communicate with their peers every day. They also sharetheir lives by posting messages and uploading digital photos to social

Collection

2010 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Salah Badjou

typically from 3 to 5. Much ofthe work involves testing and prototype development in the labs and therefore requires thestudents’ presence on campus. On the other hand, a substantial amount of work does not requireactual physical meetings. This includes reports writing (proposal, 2 progress reports, weeklymemos, and a final report), sharing research work and other communication. The author hasbeen teaching this course for the last 4 years. End-of-semester assessment from carefullydesigned surveys consistently indicated student difficulties managing their time. This is partlydue to demanding coursework, and work outside. Typically, students try to use the week ofSpring Break to “catch up.” However, many of them are then off campus. As a

Collection

2010 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Vijay Kanabar; Virginia Greiman; Jim Cormier

be provided for those elements of the course that are qualitative in nature such as theDiscussion Assignments. Other elements such as multiple choices, True False questioning methods aregraded on a points earned basis and this does not require any rubric.In the Figure 6 we illustrate the initial discussion grading rubric. Note there is a rebuttal grading rubric aswell which is similar but uses different submission length and frequency. After repeated use by severalfaculty members we can conclude that due to the rubric student communication is cognitively deep,embedded with peer references, and indicative of a student oriented environment. Moreover, studentswere using high level cognitive skills such as inferencing and judgment as well as