AC 2012-5469: INTERDISCIPLINARY PEDAGOGY FOR PERVASIVE COM-PUTING DESIGN PROCESSES: AN EVALUATIVE ANALYSISDr. Lisa D. McNair, Virginia Tech Lisa McNair is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech where she serves as Assistant Department Head for Graduate Education and co-directs the Virginia Tech Engi- neering Communication Center. Her research includes interdisciplinary collaboration, communication studies, identity theory, and reflective practice. Projects supported by the National Science Foundation include: interdisciplinary pedagogy for pervasive computing design, writing across the curriculum in stat- ics courses, and a CAREER award to explore the use of e-portfolios
interviews were conducted to gain additional information regarding their problemsolving experience. To study the role of socio-political context in shaping engineering identity,this study is guided by the following research question: What Discourses shape students’problem solving practices and identities as engineers?MethodsTheoretical perspective guiding this researchThe methodology and data analysis were guided by a constructivist theoretical perspective. Itwas our intention to study engineering students’ individual meaning making processes and howstudents describe their existing and emerging identities as engineers. We viewed individuals asactive agents gaining knowledge about their social context through their reflections andexperiences with
. Page 25.343.2IntroductionDesign based Technology Education is designed to provide students with greater levels ofautonomy, increased problem solving skills and creativity combined with the opportunity tocritically reflect on their own learning3. The importance of Design based TechnologyEducation lies in its educational goals4. These goals are designed to equip students with a setof transferable skills, which will enable them to adapt to the technological and societal needsof the future. The goals of technology education must however look past the need to preparestudents for a particular profession, and look to develop students who are technologicallyliterate1. In the Irish context, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA)state
’ metacognitive skills in learning andcreative problem solving in their engineering education. This will help students to enhance theiracademic performance and pursue engineering studies as their career goals. The outcomes fromthe prior implementation are outlined through students’ responses and reflections on theirlearning experience. It is expected that the presented scaffolding could have positive impact onstudents’ self-efficacy and higher-order skill development, and further experimental research isneeded to validate this conclusion. Page 25.575.2
class, learn from others during the peer review process, andimprove grammar and comprehension skills in the target language (Spanish).The project was deemed successful based on student and instructor feedback. Section 6“Findings and Discussions” provides reflections of Spanish 351 students and faculty member,who participated in the translation project. Page 25.182.85.2 Challenges: Fall 2010 Spanish 351 ¡Vamos! Translation ProjectAlthough the above mentioned translation project was successful, it also lay bare inherentchallenges of such collaborations. For example, synchronizing schedules between the twoprojects (class project and developing
in significance testing because many test statistics follow this distribution when the null hypothesis is true6. The Chi Square test of equality of proportions was used as the data was collected from multiple independent populations and the hypothesis to be tested was that the distribution of some variable is the same in all populations. Students were categorized into the dimensions of active/reflective, sensing/intuitive, visual/verbal, and sequential/global. Therefore, a 2x2 contingency table Chi Square test was preferred since it would provide meaningful results for the current data set. Statistical analysis was performed for each dimension of learning style to test the following three hypotheses:1. Students from the
environment for developing analytical, systematic and logical thinking. Authors suchas Cash and colleagues4 and Johnson26 propose that to diagnose is an important skill fortroubleshooting. Jonassen and Hung33 explain the process of diagnosis by identifying the fault orproblem that is preventing the system to work: The diagnose of a fault in a system is the analysispart of the troubleshooting process, where the person has to compile the information gathered inprevious steps, to draw a conclusion and in order to make the next action. The diagnosis is thefinal stage of feedback, because the reflection on the information the system gives to thetroubleshooter is used to go a step further.Using feedbackPermanent feedback is an equally important element for
cognitive, behavioral,and attitudinal domains of global competency.10Overview of Service-LearningService-learning is the intentional integration of service experiences into academic courses toenhance the learning of the core content and to give students broader learning opportunitiesabout themselves and society at large. Service-learning has been defined “a credit-bearingeducational experience in which students participate in an organized service activity that meetsidentified community needs and reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain furtherunderstanding of the course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced
required performance to succeed in engineering. The reasonsresulting their failing or dropping out of engineering may include: (1) lack of motivation andinterest in learning engineering; (2) lack of good learning habits, strategies and efforts in theirstudies; and (3) lack of connection with other students and faculty members for seeking support.This paper presents a new instructional framework that integrates SRL process model into courseinstruction. The integrative instruction is to simulate four phases of SRL in series of self-directedfeedback cycles, and to prompt application of learning strategies and self-reflection at thedifferent phases of learning and problem-solving process. This is implemented throughintegrating self-assessment
relevant to their interests.13 Each of these successes enhances learners’perceptions of self-competence, content self-efficacy, and motivation to learn more.Educational research has expanded the concept of scaffolding to encompass “surface” and“deep” learning as part of instructional design and development.14, 15 A consistent finding amongthe research studies is that higher quantity and quality of learning outcomes are related to thepresence of deeper supports for learning and instruction.16 When the instructional methodincludes self-directed learning, group discussion and reflection to promote and/or challenge idea,students were more likely to adopt a deep approach to learning, to take responsibility fordetermining their learning goals, and to
movements and light (vision) data collection. Studentshaving trouble with NXT programming would generally not be able to progress toLabVIEW programming. NASA uses graphical programming (LabView) for control anddata collection in critical missions. A special exercise has been implemented to mimicthe NASA Mars Pathfinder operating principles. The exercise aims to teach theprinciples of robotic vision and data communication. The goal is to illustrate thegraphical programming control of vision via reflectivity measurement and datacommunication to third party computing environment such as Excel.Lego NXT block programming is used to measure reflectivity changes as a function ofelapsed time. Vision requires reflectivity measurements. The program reads
and cracks a low power (2mW) Helium-Neon(HeNe) laser source has been used. Due to relatively high wavelength of the red photons irradiated from the HeNelaser source, the incident laser beam possesses a very high level of reflectivity and negligible penetration.The experiments listed in this paper explore unique optical methods using a line laser. The advantage for using thistype of laser is that it generates low energy red photons having about two to three electron-volt energy andpossessing perfect reflectivity. The low energy photons have negligible low penetration. The paper explains amethodology for non-contact measurement of radius of curvature on the finished surface of manufactured parts. Inaddition, a hybrid approach consisting of
, they were asked to identify anything that can affect the health and wellbeing of thesummer camp students. Upon completion, they presented this HHM to the chief risk manager forthe summer camp. In the second HHM exercise, students were given a magazine articlediscussing the consequences of the 2010 oil spill catastrophe in the Gulf15. Students were brokeninto two competing groups and each group was asked to construct a separate HHM thatillustrates the factors associated with deep water drilling risks. The two groups compared theirindividual HHMs, discussed the differences and integrated their insights into a single,comprehensive HHM. Upon reflecting on the resulting model, students were asked to identifysome conflicting stakeholder needs and
organization oftheir major fields and learning to think like practitioners in those fields, undergraduates shouldalso learn from a properly constructed major program of study “the necessarily partial vision” ofthe field and critically reflect on “the successes and limitations of any particular approach toknowledge” (p. 535).Interdisciplinary Evaluation. Despite the increase in the number of interdisciplinary programs oncollege and university campuses36, some have argued that methods and criteria to evaluate theeffectiveness of these programs are lacking or weak4,37. In order to “perform” interdisciplinaritysuccessfully, students and faculty need to be able to evaluate the effectiveness ofinterdisciplinary work. The seeds of interdisciplinary
ethical principle, teachingethical reasoning skills appropriate for sustainability is problematic. While the classic approachin professional ethics education makes intensive use of behavioral codes and retrospective casestudies, these approaches are limited in their ability to prepare students for the unfamiliar andforward-looking problems of sustainability. Moreover, the classic read-discuss-writepedagogical strategies typical of the humanities emphasize abstraction and reflection at theexpense of two modes of learning more familiar to many professionals (e.g., engineers andphysical scientists): experimentation and experience. This paper describes the results of a novelexperiential approach to ethics education that employs non-cooperative game
provides stimulus for pedagogical improvement.IntroductionStudent assessment is both a necessary and a required part of any college curriculum.1,2Typically the student has little input or control over the format or content of assessments such ashomework assignments, quizzes and tests: Self-assessments, on the other hand, give a student theopportunity and power to evaluate his or her own performance. These evaluations can take theform of reflective essays, confidence ratings of conceptual understanding, and responses to open-ended questions. Self-assessment has been defined as “the evaluation or judgment of ‘the worth’of one’s performance and the identification of one’s strengths and weaknesses with a view toimproving one’s learning outcomes.”3
estimated and actual time andprovide a brief narrative as to what worked well and what they would change in the next phase.This reflection document is submitted along with work products associated with the phase.At the conclusion of a project, groups meet in class to identify the top three process improvementitems from their individual reflection documents. As a class we consolidate the group lists into aclass-wide list, and target a subset of these for tracking during the next project. Many of thesuggested improvements are what one might expect – start the project sooner, don’tprocrastinate, read the project description, don’t be afraid to ask for help, and so on. Thereflection session also provided the opportunity for students to share scripts
of Jarvis’s model are reflected inour proposed model for LTS programs. However, a learning model alone is not sufficient forfully coming to grips with designing or operationalizing (i.e. implementing) an LTS program.A model which comes from the LTS literature, and therefore was formulated more specificallyfor this pedagogy is Butin’s four models for community engagement.6 Butin’s models actuallydescribe four goals commonly associated with community service learning: technical, cultural,political, and anti-foundational. These models reflect the differences in learning goals identifiedby faculty who use service learning: • Technical; LTS is used primarily to increase content knowledge and retention of knowledge. • Cultural: LTS
meaning of the world and gain knowledge; identitydevelopment refers to a process of securing and trusting an internal compass; and relationshipdevelopment refers to maintaining one’s internal compass, while engaging in maturerelationships. In order to support student development toward self-authorship, educators first Page 25.1215.2must be aware of the importance of student this construct.More specifically, one strategy that has been shown to both challenge and support studentdevelopment is reflection—making meaning of past experiences. Reflective activities thatencourage and challenge students to engage with difficult and often murky areas have
Perry’s theorywill be discussed and summarized based on a synthesis of current literatures. Justifications aboutthe methodology of applying Perry’s theory among the Chinese Engineering doctoral students inU.S. institutions will be presented.Conceptualization of Personal EpistemologyIn Kitchener’s discussion about cognitive processing and dealing with ill-structured problems, heproposed a three-level model including Cognition, Metacognition, and Epistemic Cognition7. Atthe first level, Cognition refers to an individual’s ability to read, memorize, compute, etc.Metacognition has to do with the monitoring of the first level processes; Epistemic Cognition isrelated with reflections on “the limits of knowledge”, “the certainty of knowledge”, and
theunknown. I use the term ‘unknown’ to describe my situation at the start of my graduate studies.I was driven to make the most of my experience, but I did not know what I was looking for orwhat my path would look like. I present this autoethnography as an account of my experience inthe cultural phenomenon of navigating the unknown: searching to make the most out of mygraduate experience in a field that was unfamiliar to me.I define this work as autoethnography because I use myself as the primary data source, recallingmy memories and using my documented personal reflections, to explore how the culturalphenomenon of navigating the unknown has shaped who I am. As Chang1 states,“autoethnography is not about focusing on self alone, but about searching
especially helpful for being successful in the position you are in?It is expected that this panel will be informative and insightful and provide a tremendousopportunity to ask our current academic leaders to reflect on their experiences and provideinsights to the future leaders of the academic profession. The panel will also highlight women inleadership roles in academia and address the specific concerns that women face. The panelistsalso discuss the various strategies that they employed in moving up through the academic ladderto leadership positions at their institutions and the challenges they faced. It is hoped that thepanel will serve as a suitable catalyst for women in academia to consider leadership opportunitiesas they become available
Persistence 90.2% 86.7% 66.9% 69.1%6-Year Graduation Rate 75.7% 67.7% 47.1% 42.6%The COE’s recruitment program was developed to more appropriately reflect the attitudes andgoals of a more diverse student body. It was designed to increase options for personalizedcommunications with prospective students by adding social media, student ambassadors, andproviding increased access to faculty, staff, and current students. Print- and web-based mediawere completely revised to reflect a broader range of student perspectives. We created a newliving/learning community for engineering students and we created
primarily assessment of the design report. There appears to be a variety ofapproaches to developing the capstone student’s ability to craft a quality statement of the projectproblem. There are few specifics that are not quite as clear as to what should or should not beincluded in the problem statement and what is found reflects the preferred design process orprogrammatic requirements. To some extent, it appears that capstone instructors/coordinatorstake refuge in the approach that what is a thorough problem statement depends on the projectitself. This paper describes findings from a qualitative exploration of problem statements andproblem statement assessments and evaluations directed at determining what characteristics arevalued in developing a
) include: Passion for Customers, Trust and Respect forIndividuals, We Effectively Collaborate, Meaningful Innovation, Uncompromising Integrity. 5This broad ranging description of success reflects an understanding of the process of innovationthat extends well beyond the initial work of invention. Additional examples of engineers turned“product managers” are plentiful, including Bob Galvin of Motorola, Bill Gates of Microsoft andmost recently Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google. However, workplace success for the “engineer-and-business manager” is far fromassured. The work of product management involves many skills not always taught within astandard engineering curriculum. Learning beyond post-secondary education is often a ”sink orswim
25.1175.2describe the spring-mass system and the LC oscillator. The third is at the philosophical level,such as the phase transition phenomena in different systems. Our emphasis in this paper is at themathematical level, but the implication can be reflected at the phenomenological level.II. Kinematics vs. ElectrostaticsIn electrostatics there are three closely related variables: charge density, electric field andpotential. In many applications one needs to deal with its one-dimensional solution, such as in apn junction in semiconductor devices. Under such a circumstance, the divergence and gradientoperators can be converted to the simple derivative. In this way, the mathematical formulas arerather close to the kinematic equations relating acceleration
is the importance of teaching ethics and promoting ethical reflection in a way that is both accessible and substantive. This is a challenge that Richard is keenly interested in. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degree in philosophy. He placed an emphasis on ethics, both theoretical and applied, in his studies. Page 25.584.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2012 Ethical Issues Awareness for Engineers in PracticeAs a discipline, engineering ethics is a relatively young one. Younger still is the question of howto teach engineering ethics. Like other applied
instructor stated that the reflective processabout the students’ own professional identity was one of the most essential tasks in theirprofessional development. It directly addresses the “tell me about yourself” or “why should I hireyou” type of questions. In this activity, the students take 3-5 minutes to reflect on three to five ormore points that they would like their audiences to remember about them after their interaction.The audiences can be interviewers, potential employers at a career fair, or professionals withwhom they network in venues like conferences. After the reflection, the students paired withanother student and shared their skills, then came together for a large group discussion. Studentsshared among the class skills or abilities
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has prepared a series ofstudies including a focus on educating engineers 19. 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 claims andbeliefs change” 19.King and Kitchener have identified seven stages of reflective thinking organized into threeclusters: pre- reflective thinking, quasi- reflective thinking, and reflective thinking 20. Results ofa ten-year longitudinal study of reflective judgment suggested that juniors in high school have acognitive
improving students’ ability to recognize and resolve those types of ethical dilemmas that arise in the engineering workplace.In using MEAs as a learning tool - we have focused on two additional activities:• Assessing the effectiveness of MEAs in various dimensions including improving conceptual learning and problem solving: We have developed a series of assessment instruments to bet- ter understand and measure the educational benefits of using MEAs. Specifically, we are tri- angulating across three assessment instruments, which we created for this project: (1) pre- and post- concept inventories (or knowledge tests) to assess gain in conceptual understand- ing, (2) an online reflection tool to assess process, and (3) a grading