Conference Session

Communication Across the Divisions I

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lori Breslow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Christina Kay White, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Daniel E. Hastings, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

and faculty place oncommunication skills, the students’ perceptions of themselves as communicators, how thoseskills are developed within the wider curriculum, how proficient the students are upongraduation, and how these capabilities can be strengthened through improved pedagogicalmethods. Throughout the study, we use five different data collection techniques: (1) aninventory of the types and frequency of communication instruction and assignments through acontent analysis of syllabi; (2) two online student surveys, one administered at the beginning ofthe students’ undergraduate career and one given before graduation, to measure self-efficacy forcommunication; (3) a faculty survey to gauge the value instructors place on communication, aswell

Conference Session

Pedagogies of Making and Design

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christopher Lombardo, Harvard University; Daniela Faas, Harvard University; Avinash Uttamchandani, Harvard University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

electrical and mechanical engineering majors. Each ofthese courses has a final team project, with varying degrees of open-endedness, in lieu of atraditional exam. Design competencies were measured in these courses, both pre- and post-experience, using self-reported surveys as well as instructor assessment of ABET learningoutcomes. The post-experience surveys as well as final project rubrics were used to measurechanges in design competencies as well as changes in self-efficacy. There was a correlationbetween the changes of self-efficacy and ABET outcomes at the end of the courses for bothmajor-specific and general education courses. Students in the general education course scoredlower in final self-efficacy compared to their peers in the major

Conference Session

Writing and Communication I

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nancy B. Barr, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

ensure they receiveeffective instruction when resources, especially time, were limited? The answer was to betterutilize an existing resource – the GTAs who assessed student work.Evolution of GTAs and Writing in EngineeringIn the last fifty years, the literature on GTA training has evolved from non-existent to discipline-specific, with the need for such training undisputed but the content of the training of moreinterest lately [5-9]. In addition, GTA self-efficacy, which involves “beliefs in one’s capabilitiesto organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments” [10], hasalso been the subject of research [11-12]. Additional research has been done in training GTAs toteach writing in composition courses [13-15] and

Conference Session

Communication Across the Divisions I

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jessie Stickgold-Sarah, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Rebecca Thorndike-Breeze, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

,” showeda drop of 1.75 (P value < 0.00001 using an unranked T-test), from an initial 6.36 to a final 4.61.Interestingly, the place of these scores almost exactly reverses Q2, going from the highest initialscore to the lowest final score. We have not seen previous studies on this drop in self-efficacy ata time of increasing knowledge in the literatures of writing or communication. We understandthis shift as a clear indicator of a transition stage between novice and expert, and as a step inprofessionalization.We also saw a small increase (+ 0.35, P value 0.0193 using an unranked T-test) in Q8, “Iunderstand how to reflect on the communication choices I make in light of context, purpose, andaudience.” These terms were used consistently in workshops

Conference Session

Writing and Communication I

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephanie Pulford, Auburn University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

. Pintrich, P. R. A Motivational Science Perspective on the Role of Student Motivation in Learning and Teaching Contexts. J. Educ. Psychol. 95, 667–686 (2003).18. Hagemeier, N. E. & Murawski, M. M. An instrument to assess subjective task value beliefs regarding the decision to pursue postgraduate training. Am. J. Pharm. Educ. 78, (2014).19. Artino, A. R. & McCoach, D. B. Development and Initial Validation of the Online Learning Value and Self- Efficacy Scale. J. Educ. Comput. Res. 38, 279–303 (2008).20. Garcia, T. & Pintrich, P. R. Assessing students’ motivation and learning strategies in the classroom context: The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. Altern. Assess. Achiev. Learn. Process. prior

Conference Session

Communication as Performance

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Caitlin Donahue Wylie, University of Virginia; Kathryn A. Neeley, University of Virginia

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

beliefs that guide behavior” (Guthrieand Wigfield, 1999, p. 99, as cited in Piaw, 2014, p. 510).23 To assess the role of humor cartoonsin increasing motivation, Piaw conducted an experiment in which subjects were given twodifferent versions of a chapter: (1) a text-only version and (2) a text with humor cartoons. Themain conclusions emerging from the experiment were that “Reading the text with humorcartoons led to great self-efficacy, intrinsic and social motivation [and thus] help a reader toachieve a higher reading comprehension score” (Piaw, 2014, p. 513).23 One way to interpretthese findings is that humor enhances reading motivation, and motivated readers invest moreeffort in reading. Another way to interpret these findings is to say that the