Conference Session

Communication Across the Divisions I: Communication in Engineering Disciplines

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mike Ekoniak, Virginia Tech; Molly Scanlon, Virginia Tech; M. Jean Mohammadi-Aragh, Mississippi State University

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

Paper ID #13867Teaching Peer Review of Writing in a Large First-Year Electrical and Com-puter Engineering Class: A Comparison of Two MethodsMr. Mike Ekoniak, Virginia TechMolly Scanlon Scanlon, Virginia Tech Molly J. Scanlon is an Assistant Professor at Nova Southeastern University where she teaches undergrad- uate and graduate writing courses. She received her PhD in Rhetoric and Writing from Virginia Tech. Her research interests include visual rhetoric, public rhetoric, and writing across the disciplines.M Jean Mohammadi-Aragh, Mississippi State University Dr. Jean Mohammadi-Aragh is an assistant research professor with a

Conference Session

Communication Across the Divisions I: Communication in Engineering Disciplines

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alyssa Catherine Taylor, University of Washington; Stephanie Pulford, Center for Engineering Learning and Teaching (CELT)

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

bedemoralizing4,6. Students also often defer to their reviewers’ suggestions without engaging withthem or making meaning out of them, in order to attain better grades5,6. And though studentsprefer to receive honest and straightforward critiques, they are not all yet in a position to give it;there is great variation in both participation and quality of feedback among peer discussants6.These drawbacks are reminiscent of similar ones within peer-to-peer review activities in writingcourses. Among writing educators, these shortcomings are often mitigated by providing morescaffolding within the peer review activity itself. Recommended practices include providingstudents with guiding questions to help them focus on important feedback7; instructing studentsto

Conference Session

Communication Across the Divisions I: Communication in Engineering Disciplines

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David A. Saftner, University of Minnesota Duluth; Mary U. Christiansen; Adrian T. Hanson, University of Minnesota Duluth; Jill D. Jenson, University of Minnesota Duluth; Sara Ojard; Rebecca L. Teasley, University of Minnesota Duluth; Emily Woster, University of Minnesota Duluth

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

presentationskills are repeatedly identified as important to employers looking to hire new engineers.7, 8Presenting the writing guide and relevant evidence of the importance of communication skillsearly on in the students’ career will help them develop strong habits to be reinforced throughouttheir time at school. Additionally, the guide will help make it easier for instructors to provideuseful feedback by aligning their comments with the elements found on the rubric, byreferencing the writing guide, and by having students use the guide to peer review each other’swork, all strategies proven successful in improving writing skills.9, 10Developing the writing guideMotivation for creating a department writing guide came from consistent weaknesses in

Conference Session

Civil Engineering Division Poster Session

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Douglas G Schmucker, University of Utah; Steven J. Burian, University of Utah

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

.) • Writing Consultant (CLEAR) 4910 15 to 30 3 • Oral Presentation Consultant (CLEAR)Original Instructor Team Model within the Professional Skills SpineAs initially conceived, each of the three courses utilized an instructional team to organize,facilitate and delivery instruction, and provide feedback to the students. Table 2 shows typicalclass sizes, the number of times that the class has been offered in an academic year, and theinstructor team in each of the courses. The instructor teams and the courses were specificallydesigned to integrate with the Communications, Leadership, Ethics, and Research (CLEAR)Program in the College of Engineering at University of Utah.In the original model, the lead instructor was a

Conference Session

Civil Engineering Division Technical Session 5

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Virginia Sisiopiku, University of Alabama, Birmingham; Robert W. Peters, University of Alabama, Birmingham; Ossama E. M. Ramadan, University of Alabama, Birmingham

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

; and practiced technical writing and communicationexercises. In a class project, students worked in teams of three to four to apply Leadership inEnergy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) principles forevaluation of proposed Community Development Plans or Redevelopment Projects. The projectassignment required teams to: a. Develop a proposal, b. Perform analysis, interpret findings, and provide recommendations, and c. Summarize study and results in a final report and PowerPoint presentation.Each team conducted an assessment of the principles and resulting LEED-ND scores that wouldbe achieved for the community area plan assigned to them. The selected sites included: CahabaHeights Community Plan, Calara

Conference Session

Civil Engineering Division Technical Session 8

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Isaac L. Howard PE, Mississippi State University

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

favorable for materials courses, offering some evidence the applied focus has beenwell received. Other information collected from students (e.g. exit interviews, surveys, impactstatements) also suggest the applied focus has been well received with average responses on a 10point scale being in the 9 to 10 range in most cases.MSU’s materials program is in some ways similar to the University of Arkansas (UA)approaches described a few years ago that were reported to be favorably received bypractitioners4. Both align more closely to professional (as opposed to academic) models forlaboratory activities. MSU uses professional specifications (e.g. ASTM, AASHTO, state DOT)as opposed to laboratory manuals. Also, writing assignments are more closely aligned

Conference Session

Civil Engineering Division Technical Session 6

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven J. Burian, University of Utah; Defne S. Apul, University of Toledo

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

specific skills were then elaborated as quantitative and qualitative skills as below:Qualitative learning objectives: 1. Explain what constitutes weak (and strong) technical writing style in a journal paper 2. List the phases of an LCA and explain what is done in each phase 3. Discuss the similarities and differences between EIOLCA and process based LCA 4. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of process based and EIOLCA 5. Discuss the similarities and differences between ReCiPe and TRACI impact assessment methods 6. Determine the appropriate functional unit for an LCA 7. List online resources for following LCA literature 8. List names and regions (where they were developed) of major life cycle inventory databases 9. List

Conference Session

Civil Engineering Division Poster Session

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael J. Davidson, Wentworth Institute of Technology; James Lambrechts P.E., Wentworth Institute of Technology; Leonard Anderson, Wentworth Institute of Technology; Nakisa Alborz, Wentworth Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

facilitate collaborative, experiential, interactive engagement,and peer learning through small-group and individual real world work assignments. The DSLfaculty have used a variety of teaching styles including problem-based, project based, discoveryand just in time teaching which have been indicated to enhance student problem solving abilitiesby many researchers 3,4,5. Other research3,4,5,6,7 indicates non-traditional courses such as DSL canincrease students’ overall academic performance, develop their interpersonal skills and developtheir ability to frame and solve real world problems. Collaborative and integrative courseenvironments have also been shown to reduce overall student attrition, increase retention ofminorities and women, increase

Conference Session

Civil Engineering Division Technical Session 1

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Shawn P. Gross, Villanova University; Eric Musselman P.E., Villanova University

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

means of feedback, but activities inside the classroom werestructured in a very passive learning format. Most class meetings consisted of a PowerPointbased lecture, perhaps including an example problem that was pre-solved and included in thelecture slides. Students were assigned homework problems and if they ran into difficulty theywould have to seek out help from the instructor outside of class or from their peers. In the end,the instructor felt that students were learning the material because the course was well organizedand the lecture notes were thorough, but that with more engagement inside the classroomstudents could learn more efficiently and more effectively for the long term.At the time the instructor considered changing the course to