Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Michael Lee; Charles Sampson; Ingrid St. Omer

the interest of potential employers. Thepsychological effects of the media and changes in affirmative action and equal opportunityprograms were reflected in their choice of words and phrases. When I got there, it was so amazing to me to see thousands of young black people who is interested in engineering. I became happy inside because I have never been expose to that type of environment before. Every time I saw a group of black people in one area, there was trouble. Everyone there was on one accord and about taking care of business. So, now I know there are some civilized black people. Well before I begin I would just like to say that I really enjoyed myself and it felt really good to be around so many smart, clean

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Hai-Shuan Lam; Kurt C. Gramoll

. However, one problem with thechalkboard is the smeared chalk when erasing. This is easily solved however, by using a wetsponge instead of a regular eraser, for cleaning the board. This eliminated the thin chalk film andgreatly increased the contrast. The disadvantage of using the wet sponge is the board takes about30 - 45 seconds to dry. Substituting the chalkboard with a whiteboard solves that problem, butbecause of its smooth surface, whiteboard reflects a glare on its surface. The glare regions do notview well on video and some writing becomes unreadable.Another major concern is how far should the camcorder be positioned. Most camcorders comewith digital zoom feature. However, some digital zooms will simply dither the image to give afalse

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

James Devault

CommentsThere is ample evidence that the mobile robotics course works. Anonymous comments onstudent course evaluations, conclusions drawn in final reports, and personal communicationsfrom past and present students indicate this to be an important and valuable experience. Thefollowing student comments reflect the nature of the experience from the student’s perspective."This class is one of the few where you get hands-on experience, to apply what you havelearned, and a chance to utilize your own ideas. It is easily the class I have learned the mostfrom in college" [Student course evaluation, 1997]."...every problem yielded a new thing learned. I feel lucky to have had the experience. The

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Stephanie Cauble; Ann D. Christy; Marybeth Lima

experiences, and their reflections and opinions regardingwomen in engineering, and to make recommendations to better integrate women into allengineering disciplines.II. Materials & MethodsA 47-item survey was designed to evaluate the demographics, academic history, workand family issues, career issues and perceptions of female professors inBiological/Agricultural (and related) Engineering (BAE). A list of 67 North Americanschools with BAE departments was determined from the 1996-1997 ASAE roster.Female professors were identified from this list by phone calls to the department and byinformation provided by schools’ websites. The survey was sent out by email to 60candidates. Although the number of women surveyed is small, it represents the

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Rama K. Vedachalam; George L. Engel

EvaluationWhile it is always difficult to assess the effectiveness of a course,the performance of the studentsin the class was encouraging. This was reflected by the final grade distribution: A 9 B 11 C 1 D 0 E 0 I 0 Average grade: 3.3 / 4.0Moreover, each semester, students are provided with course evaluation forms which theycomplete in class, collect, and then return to the department’s secretary. As part of the courseevaluation, students are asked to evaluate the course and the instructor in very specific ways. Asummary of the responses to two of the questions is provided below.• Was this course interesting and

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Laura J. Genik; Craig W. Somerton

were power system analysis, refrigeration systems, psychrometrics,combustion, heat exchangers, and numerical heat conduction. Though this list of topics mayseem to be a hodgepodge, it is somewhat reflective of the eclectic nature of engineering.Through the use of a theme problem for the course, three computer mini-design projects wereconducted. The use of the theme problem provided continuity to the course and demonstratedthe engineering relationships of these eclectic topics.The theme problem chosen was the analysis of a land based gas turbine power system. The threemini-design projects assigned focused on power system analysis, heat exchanger design, andnumerical heat conduction. For the first project, students were provided with computer

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Francois Michaud; Mario Lucas; Gerard Lachiver; Andre' Clavet; Jean-Marie Dirand; Noel Boutin; Philippe Mabilleau; Jacques Descoteaux

Figure 1. ROBUS (RObot Université de Sherbrooke)To accomplish these goals, we decided to develop an autonomous mobile robot that could beeasily expanded and used in various activities of both curricula, that could adequately reflect thechallenges in electrical and computer projects, and that could be supported by good developmenttools and documentation. This paper describes the mobile robot developed and named ROBUS,shown in Figure 1, and explains how it is used in various activities. After having described thecharacteristics of ROBUS in Section II, Section III explains how it is used to introduce electricaland computer engineering to teams of first-year undergraduate students in a project calledINGÉNIUS. Section IV describes how ROBUS is used

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Magaly Moreno; Mary E. Besterfield-Sacre; Larry J. Shuman; Cynthia Atman

Belief that one is innovative; has good mechanical and 1 – does not strongly hold this belief technical attributes. 5 – strongly holds this belief Page 4.133.3ii The clustering of the attitude measures has been statistically updated to reflect instrument use across many institu-tions; thus, deriving a true cross-institutional instrument.The post-questionnaire is then given at either the end of the freshman year or during the lastweek of first semester, depending on the institution. The post-questionnaire includes 20

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Michael Robinson

overheadtransparency that could be used in the presentation of their solution to the class. At the end ofthe period, a single student was chosen randomly to present the solution developed by his or hergroup. This pattern of individual reflection and cooperative group problem solving followed byrandom student presentations was followed in the cooperative exercises throughout the unit.The cooperative groups were chosen to be heterogeneous groupings of two or three studentswhose membership remained fixed throughout the unit. The instructor has chosen themembership in the groups in the cooperative classes in two ways. In the first class to use thecooperative strategies, group membership was chosen primarily to provide each group withnearly equal capabilities in

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Glennelle Halpin; Gerald Halpin; L. D. Benefield; William Walker; S. MacGuire

goals of the IPEC program is for the students to have a stronger comprehension ofmath, physics, and basic engineering concepts. Inasmuch as the program is designed for mutualreinforcement of the concepts being taught in these different domains, the goal was to increasestudent understanding within the various domains which might be reflected in grades. Significantvariation between the groups (F = 8.7947, p = .0002) was found when examining the cumulativeGPAs as of the end of the freshman year. The mean cumulative GPAs were 2.76, 3.07, and 2.20for the comparison group, the persisting IPEC students, and the switching IPEC studentsrespectively. These results suggest several things. One is that the students who left IPEC earlycontinued to experience

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

W. F. Walker; S. MacGuire; L. D. Benefield; Glennelle Halpin; Gerald Halpin

goals of the IPEC program is for the students to have a stronger comprehension ofmath, physics, and basic engineering concepts. Inasmuch as the program is designed for mutualreinforcement of the concepts being taught in these different domains, the goal was to increasestudent understanding within the various domains which might be reflected in grades. Significantvariation between the groups (F = 8.7947, p = .0002) was found when examining the cumulativeGPAs as of the end of the freshman year. The mean cumulative GPAs were 2.76, 3.07, and 2.20for the comparison group, the persisting IPEC students, and the switching IPEC studentsrespectively. These results suggest several things. One is that the students who left IPEC earlycontinued to experience

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Charyl Delaney; Alejandro Scalise; Larry J. Shuman; Harvey Wolfe

programs, as well as supporting therevision of our two freshman engineering courses.The freshman attrition model is currently being updated to reflect changes in the program, as wellas students who leave after their freshman year. In addition, models to predict students who leavein poor standing are also being developed. With funding to conduct a cross-institutional study,we plan to build prediction models for other schools seek to develop attrition models, and thusidentify factors that contribute most to attrition at the freshman level.At the Department LevelWe believe the next step is to address attrition at the upper levels. At the freshman level, we sawhow effective active learning can be in the classroom. In using this format, we are more

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Martin Bowe; Daniel Jensen

-47, 1996.11. Felder, R. M., Silverman, L. K., “Learning and Teaching Styles in Engineering Education,” Engineering Education, pp. 674-681, Apr., 1988.12. Felder, R. M., “Matters of Style,” ASEE Prism, pp.18-23, Dec., 1996.13. Fleming, N. D., Mills, C., “Not Another Inventory, Rather a Catalyst for Reflection,” To Improve the Academy, Vol. 11, pp. 137-149, 1992.14. Flori, R. E

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Francesco Costanzo; Gary L. Gray

as problems on an in-class exam. Having said that the overallgrade is structured to reflect the proportion of time spent dealing with team activities, it mustalso be said that this grade breakdown presents some potentially serious shortcomings. First, itshould be noted that it is possible for a student to get 100% on all of the exams and, at the sametime, to fail the course if no team related credit is earned. This basic observation, whether or notaccompanied by considerations concerning the experimental nature of Interactive Dynamics, is atodds with how the traditional sections of Engineering Dynamics are managed. Hence, it is possi-ble that some students, especially if very bright and independent, might complain that their over-all grade

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Anthony J. Muscat

. Page 4.435.8IV. AssessmentCourse surveys completed at the end of the spring 1998 semester in thermodynamics and bothmid-term and at the end of the fall 1998 semester in chemical reactor design have been used togauge the effectiveness of class discussions and to obtain student feedback. All of the results todate have been collected from the same group of students. An overwhelming majority of students(95%) responded that they saw value in being asked questions in class. The following quotes aretaken from their written comments. “Gives you time to stop taking notes and reflect on what is being said and to see if you really understand the material.” “I don't like being under pressure at all. Having classmates watch and listen for

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Graciano Dieck; Artemio Aguilar; Sergio Malacon; Manuel E. Macias

closely his personal progress, self-evaluation and co-evaluation. He must participate in group discussion through the technologicalplatform and his contributions to assignments and class discussions must reflect his self-studyactivities.What is the technological platform?The technological platform is a computer program that facilitates the development of aredesigned course using administrative tools for instructor and students. The program uses a setof data bases that maintain documents pertaining the course and facilitates the group formation,team work, class discussion results, submission of simulation assignments, cooperative learning,project reporting, profile ID information posting, assessment processing and virtual officedevelopment

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Thomas G. Stanford; Donald Keating

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Nancy White

. Because law is a reflection of the ethical and moral climateof a jurisdiction, it will change as that climate changes. New legislation is passed. Decisions in older Page 4.451.5cases may be overturned or modified. However, the parties in those old cases cannot now return tocourt and get the decisions in their particular case changed – only the law has changed, not theircase. In actual practice it is unlikely the parties even know their case has been overturned or the lawapplicable to their case has changed. Many years or decades may have elapsed.4. The River of Case LawWith all of these different courts making and interpreting the law, how do