Conference Session

Programmatic Curriculum Developments

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert Ettema; James Stoner; Forrest Holly; Wilfrid Nixon

Session 2615 A Flexible Undergraduate Civil Engineering Curriculum Wilfrid A. Nixon, Robert Ettema, Forrest M. Holly Jr., and James W. Stoner Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 52242AbstractThe ABET EC 2000 criteria allow programs to develop flexible approaches toundergraduate education. Such approaches must reflect program objectives and meet allABET criteria, but content and quantity of the various curricular components (Math andScience, Humanities and Social Science, Engineering Science, and Engineering Design)are defined

Conference Session

Issues for ET Administrators

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Roger Reynolds; Macy Reynolds

. Students ranged from new freshmen to graduating seniors. The computer class, anintroduction to Excel and VBA programming for Excel, was mainly made up of first yearstudents. Engineering economics, an upper level class with mostly juniors and seniors, usedfinancial and economic concepts to analyze cost-related engineering decisions.In this study the journal content was not expected to be voluminous but rather to the point andsomewhat reflective. The students usually had a week to respond with their journals to allowtime to complete homework or unfinished class assignments. Often students found that thematerial that seemed clear in class became less so when applying it to new problems. At thispoint the emails arrived with questions or even attached

Conference Session

ASEE Multimedia Session

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

George List; Stacy Eisenman

Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2003, American Society for Engineering Education” Session 2793Several seniors registered for a course call “Hands on Experience” in the 2001-2002 academicyear. Although the course was quite different from the “Hands on Experience” courses that willbe offered in the future the course provide students a wonderful opportunity to reflect on whatthey had learned in the previous year and allowed them to explore new opportunities for learning.In order to ensure that the Hands on Experience courses in the future would be seen as valuableto the students, the students were asked to play a key role in its

Conference Session

Using IT to Enhance Design Education

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Karthik Ramani; Anderson David; Alexander Lee

levelengineering course at Stanford. WebCT, a web-based course management tool, is used in a self-taught solid modeling course at Rensselaer 6 which uses it as an archiving system for pastprojects, student profiles, local vendor directories, and presentations. How universities teach anduse CAD and CAM continues to evolve with the changes in the tools themselves.Our goal was to develop a framework for a course that could continue to reflect the advances indesign software. We created an environment and process for the learning to occur in a settingwhere the students are self-motivated. Learning also occurs through errors and difficulties incollaboration in team settings. To further ensure long-term success, we imparted a process bywhich students could learn

Conference Session

Trends in Mechanical Engineering

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Bret Van Poppel; Blace Albert; Daisie Boettner

understand concepts, achieve course objectives, and apply their knowledge to follow-oncourses and capstone designs will all be assessed based on this feedback. Data can be comparedto the feedback that is currently collected at the end of each semester to determine if theintegration of courses has had a significant impact. The questions that support theaccomplishment of our program outcomes and objectives can also provide valuable feedback overtime. Based on the cited advantages, other institutions may want to consider implementing someof the changes proposed.ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect theposition of the United States Military Academy, the Department of the Army

Conference Session

Improving Teaching and Learning

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

H. David Smith; Cara Rieger; David Kanter; Robert Linsenmeier; Ann McKenna

-laboratory instruction demonstrated a greaterability to apply core concepts, with effect sizes ranging from 0.41 to 0.75. In addition, studentscompleted a survey designed to capture their experience of the course. This surveyindependently verified the increased learner-, community-, and knowledge-centeredness of theexperimental group’s redesigned pre-laboratory. The experimental group also reported a higherdegree of satisfaction with the redesigned learning experience.2.0 Introduction2.1 Why Teach Undergraduate Biomedical Engineers to Apply Systems Physiology’s Core Concepts?Grounded in the biological and medical sciences, the undergraduate Biomedical Engineering(BME) curriculum has systems physiology at its core, reflected by the extent to which

Conference Session

ECE Online Courses, Labs, and Programs

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert Summers

had ideas and suggestions of how we might improve the on-line program. Somewere very good and insightful, others were reasonable but difficult to implement. No one suggested thatnothing could be done. Some of the suggestions have already resulted in changes in how we offerour on-line courses and have already resulted in improved grades and student work. Other ideasremain the subject of subsequent and ongoing research outlined in this report.Some of the suggestions that came out of the interviews with students and professors are easily resolvedby good teaching practices and equally apply to the on campus courses. Other suggestions reflect thefrustration experienced by students working alone to understand complex concepts with only a

Conference Session

Issues in Computer Education

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Jeremy Cooperstock

sacrifice of our Environments, Vol. 1, 1999, pp. 145-148.earlier goals, but it was necessary to ensure a common 3. Authoring on the Fly, University of Freiburg, Germany.mechanism for volume adjustment, regardless of source.13 http://ad.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/mmgroup.aof.Another area of current research is the automatic insertion 4. AutoAuditorium. http://www.autoauditorium.com/of images taken from the document camera, reflecting a 5. Bacher, C. and Ottmann, T. Authoring on the Fly. Journal ofsignificant change of scene indicative of a new slide. The Universal Computer Science, 1(10), Oct. 1995.Course Online system [7] provides similar functionality

Conference Session

Programmatic Curriculum Developments

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

W.B. stouffer; Jeffrey Russell

senior design course. Instead ofreinforcing the professional skills absolutely vital to practice, and then documenting andassessing these efforts, a disconnect between lessons and application can be found betweenseparate courses, and between engineering education and practice as a whole.Too Much Choice or Not Enough Direction?In our designer culture where custom-order is included on most everybody’s consumer bill ofrights, engineering education seems to have followed suit. Electives, especially technicalelectives, reflect the opinion that the wealth of information “out there” necessities the need forspecialization. Student-determined electives comprise a much larger percentage of the total civilengineering curriculum today (21.5%) than was the

Conference Session

Statistics in the CHE Curriculum

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Milo Koretsky

Society for Engineering Education Session 3513Figure 2. Correlation of heat transfer coefficients in senior lab.3. ChE 302: Chemical Process Statistics3.1 Course overviewChemical Process Statistics (ChE 302) was developed to provide students exposure to statistics,in the context of the educational challenges discussed in Section 2. It especially focuses on thosetopics that will be useful for work in industry. The Course Goals and Course LearningObjectives are presented in Figures 3 and 4, respectively. An outline of the topics is presented inTable 1.The course content reflects, for the most part, topics covered in many engineering

Conference Session

What Makes Them Continue?

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Staci Provezis; Mary Besterfield-Sacre; Larry Shuman; Siripen Larpkiattaworn; Obinna Muogboh; Dan Budny; Harvey Wolfe

American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2003, American Society for Engineering Education”section (most difficult) of a six part Algebra-Trigonometry Placement exam, student attitudetowards math, and background in differential calculus4 as reflected from that section of the MathInventory.Two output classes - good (C or better) and poor (C- or lower) performance in Calculus 1 wereused and three models resulted. The actual predicted math performance was then based on a“majority vote” (at least two out of the three results) from three different competitive networks.These models were first implemented as part of the advising/testing process for the 2001-02entering Freshman

Conference Session

ASEE Multimedia Session

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

David Malicky

, indicating that womenare not leaving because they are not performing—a finding reflected in Seymour and Hewitt.In sum, there are national database studies showing both gender effects (Adelman) and no gendereffects (Sax) on retention. And, there are multi-institutional studies on both sides (Takahira v.Strenta). And, there are single institution studies on both sides (McClelland v. Schaefers). Thiscontroversy can be better understood after examining self-efficacy and a reconciliation is Page 8.62.6 Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2003

Conference Session

K-12 Outreach Initiatives

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Tamy Fry; Mark A. Nanny; Mary John O'Hair; Teri Reed Rhoads

comparing responses before and after implementation of the ATAactivities.The Authentic Teaching Alliance In recent years, the nation’s educators have expressed growing concern as they witness thedwindling numbers of students entering math, science, and engineering fields. According to theNational Science Foundation (NSF), enrollment in engineering dropped by more than 20 percentbetween 1983 and 1999, and continues to decline2 . Interest in math and science seems to be atan all- time low. The National Center for Education Statistics (2002) reported that attitudestoward math have been shown to decline from grade eight to grade twelve for the majority ofstudents, and are generally more negative for females3 . This is also reflected in the national

Conference Session

Recruitment & Outreach in CHE

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Tricia Lytton; Margie Haak; Edith Gummer; Dan Arp; Willie (Skip) Rochefort

figure below): I) Training andPreparation, II) In-school Engagement, and III) Extended Outreach. The details of each phaseare described below. This plan was designed with the participation of GK-12 Teachers, OutreachCoordinators, and Departmental Liaisons and reflects three years of experience with the currentproject. Each Fellow was paired with a GK12 Teacher from their school. This teacher acceptsthe responsibility to assist the Fellow in preparing for the in-school activities, offer guidancethroughout the year, and provide some assessment of the Fellows. The GK-12 Teacher is alsoexpected to be the primary beneficiary of the assistance afforded by the Fellow. TheDepartmental Liaisons assist in all three phases by providing disciplinary support

Conference Session

A Potpourri of Innovations in Physics

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Guido Lopez

totally eliminated by using EES.EES is a window-based software. The structure of mathematical formulas and procedures aimingto solve physics problems are written on an “equations window” in an intuitive format. The userdevelops this structure based on the proper conceptual and logical thinking that reflects the natureof the problem. Subsequently, the computer takes charge to manipulate equations as needed(variable substitution, elimination, etc), and perform the calculations that lead to an answer. Thesoftware is capable to check for dimensional homogeneity, and it will prompt the user to checkunits if related inconsistencies are detected. Page

Conference Session

Aerospace Engineering Curriculum

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Keith Koenig; Masoud Rais-Rohani; Thomas Hannigan

State University (MSU) recognizedthe need for restructuring its curriculum in part to modernize its undergraduate program andincrease enrollment which had begun to decline rapidly since 1990 following nearly a decade ofsteady growth as indicated in Fig. 1. This decline in enrollment was in most part a reflection ofcareer opportunities available to ASE graduates and was not necessarily unique to MSU. In fact,Mississippi State University is on par with the national average* in the percentage of enteringfreshmen choosing ASE as a major (1.8% compared to national average5 of 1.6%), thepercentage of engineering BS degrees awarded to ASE majors (2.25% compared to the nationalaverage6 of 2.2%), and has exceeded the national average in recent years in

Conference Session

ECE Online Courses, Labs, and Programs

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Ronald DeMara; Avelino Gonzalez; Annie Wu; Jose Castro; Ingrid Russell; Mansooreh Mollaghasemi; Marcella Kysilka; Erol Gelenbe; Michael Georgiopoulos

students' critical thinking, intellectual growth and communication skills. • Offer a unique curriculum development, by traditional undergraduate standards, where faculty integrate their current research results into the curriculum. This curriculum will be Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Page 8.36.2 Copyright © 2003, American Society For Engineering Education interesting and dynamic, reflecting changes in the faculty’s and the Machine Learning community's research interests over time. • Offer the opportunity to a multi

Conference Session

Knowing Students: Diversity & Retention

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Richard Heist; Ann Marie Flynn

Mechanical Engineering. The Mission of the College is to provide acontemporary, person-centered educational experience characterized by high academic standards,reflection on values and principles, and preparation for a life-long career. In this regard it is alsoimportant to note that, consistent with this Mission, there is a strong emphasis on providingeducational opportunities to first generation college students. As mentioned earlier, retention of students has both institutional and global ramifications. Page 8.63.1Considering the stringent economic constraints facing most colleges and universities, the “costs” “Proceedings of the 2003

Conference Session

Quality & Accreditation: Outcome Assessment

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Julie McBride

alumnisurveys, capstone design courses, employer surveys, exit interviews, industrial advisory boards,and nationally standardized tests4.Assessment of student learning is at the center of many forces currently working to transformAmerican higher education. Currently, there are several trends taking place in the way highereducation is viewed. First, there is a growing demand for public accountability, as reflected instate legislation. Approximately two-thirds of the states had developed assessment mandates by1990, either through legislation or state agency regulation5. Since 1990, state-level measures ofinstitutional performance have been developed in eighteen to twenty states6. Secondly, there isgrowing internal pressure to become more productive

Conference Session

Introduction to Engineering: The Present State

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Anita Mahadevan-Jansen

. Questions were modified to reflect change in the time line and assess studentperspective of the course and their knowledge. In addition, nine of the ten sections were alsogiven the content-based questionnaire that consisted of the same problems as in the pre-coursequestionnaire. A return of 100% was again obtained for the completed questionnaires. Theassessment questionnaires were coded by an independent party and were blinded to all theinvestigators during the rubric and analysis process. Each investigator, in turn, was asked tocomplete the questionnaire as well. Rubrics were developed for each problem to assess thestudent's approach and the problem solving approach. Three sample answers were scored usingthe developed rubric. The scores were

Conference Session

Teaching Design

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Kristin Wood; Daniel Jensen; Alan Dutson; Matthew Green

“feelers”) comprehendmaterial better through hands-on experiences, rather than through abstract discussions or Concrete Experience (dissection, reverse engineering, case studies) Information 4 1 What Why? If? Reflective Active