Conference Session

Educational Software

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Anthony Rynne, University of Limerick; William Gaughran, University of Limerick

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

limited use to engineers and technologists who do not fullyunderstand fundamental graphics principles and 3-D modelling strategies. Increasinglytechnological education in our second level schools (high schools) is becoming more alignedto the real-world needs of business so as to better prepare students for entry into a moreskilled and technically oriented workplace. In this context there is a real need to develop acoherent and systematic taxonomy for parametric modelling within a coherent and soundpedagogical framework.The research entails developing a coherent theoretical framework and problem-solvingheuristic for best practice in CAD pedagogy for the effective use of Parametric Modellingsystems. The work encompasses cognitive psychology

Conference Session

Educational Software

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeff Joines, North Carolina State University; Stephen Roberts, North Carolina State University; Dianne Raubenheimer, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

thestudents in learning about their discipline. However this engagement must be done in a way thatpermits multiple instructors and multiple sections to be taught to offer uniformity in computingexperiences. “Scale” is important at lower level classes simply due to the number of studentsand the limited teaching resources. During the second offering (Fall 2006), a formal anonymoussurvey by our director of assessment was performed to ascertain the impact of our approach (SeeAppendix A for the entire set of questions and results). The questionnaire represents a 90%return from both sections. The questions were designed to ask their confidence with Excel andVBA, opinions of the class, course components as well as homework and project assignments. Afew

Conference Session

Special Session on Fixed-Point Education

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wayne Padgett, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

process, starting with simulationand then after the project had been successfully designed and tested, moving on to a specifichardware implementation. Perhaps a comparison of processors and FPGAs could beimplemented by having parts of the class use different implementation platforms, or evenpartition the design between the two. Unfortunately, such a complete version of the material hasnot yet been offered, and may not be practical in a ten week term.Conceptual Learning ExperimentIn the process of developing this course, the question was posed, “how will it affect studentunderstanding of fundamental concepts?” The question of how this hands-on course wouldcompare with a more theoretical course was also raised. Fortunately, a tool exists for

Conference Session

Instrumentation and Laboratory Systems

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Bell, University of Illinois-Chicago

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

basic premisebehind this project area is that students will quickly forget long tedious lists of boring lab safetyrules, however anyone who has ever experienced a real laboratory accident will remember thatexperience ( and hopefully learn from it ) for a much longer time. Simulated accidents areobviously not as memorable as true experiences, however they should still be more memorableand have a more long-lasting impact than simple written rules.Part of the research goal for this project area was to experiment with different developmentplatforms, in order to determine how to best implement educational virtual reality. It was alsodesired to address lab safety issues that were common across a broad spectrum of laboratoryenvironments, and not

Conference Session

Instrumentation and Laboratory Systems

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jon Sticklen, Michigan State University; Daina Briedis, Michigan State University; Mark Urban-Lurain, Michigan State University; Timothy Hinds, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

National Research Council3 criticized undergraduate engineering curricula for notreflecting the shifting needs of the engineering profession by saying that these curricula are“lacking the essential interdisciplinary character of modern design practice” (p. 4). As a result,NRC claimed, engineering graduates are poorly prepared to utilize “scientific, mathematical, andanalytical knowledge in the design of high-quality components, processes, and systems”. TheABET Engineering Criteria (earlier called Engineering Criteria 2000) reinforce theseperspectives as has the National Science Foundation in the last decade.4Curricular reform efforts have focused on developing new paradigms for engineering education,including an emphasis on active student learning

Conference Session

Instrumentation and Laboratory Systems

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hassan Rajaei, Bowling Green State University; Mohammad Dadfar, Bowling Green State University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

. His research interests include Computer Extension and Analysis of Perturbation Series, Scheduling Algorithms, and Computers in Education. He currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in data communications, operating systems, and computer algorithms. He is a member of ACM and ASEE.Mohammad Dadfar, Bowling Green State University Page 12.803.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 High Performance Computing Student Projects Hassan Rajaei and Mohammad B. Dadfar Department of Computer Science

Conference Session

Issues in Computer Education-HDL

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeff Gribschaw, D/EECS, USMA; Paul Patterson, D/EECS, USMA; Bryan Goda, USMA

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

in the Master Teacher Program whichguided the initial direction of our research. We thank Dr. Greg Conti for guiding the primaryauthor in the right direction for developing the format of the paper and for providing theperspective on how to develop research that adds to the current academic base of knowledge.Finally, we would like to thank Dr. Robert Sadowski for identifying the poor teachingenvironment in the introduction to computer architecture course which lead to the developmentof the enhanced EE teaching computer classroom concurrently with this research project; theenhanced classroom is having a positive impact on student education. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy orposition of

Conference Session

Educational Software

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Norman Chonacky, Yale University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

undergraduate physics nationwidefalls below the need for it as judged by physics instructors themselves. This situation has apotentially greater impact upon engineering than on physics in as much as computation plays amore prominent role in engineering than it does in current physics professional practices. Inaddition, it is arguable that the ways in which engineers use computation are considerablydifferent, not only in practice but also in concept, from those of physicists. It follows thatengineering stands to gain from a greater presence of computation in physics curricula, but onlyone thoughtfully designed by a dialogue between both these communities.The analyses and conclusions in this paper are based on the perspective of an experimentalphysicist

Conference Session

Embedded Computing

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

J.W. Bruce, Mississippi State University; Lee Hathcock, Mississippi State Univ.

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

systems-on-a-chip design and was named the Bagley College of Engineering Outstanding Engineering Educator in 2003. Dr. Bruce received the John A. Curtis Lecture Award from the ASEE CoED in 2004. Dr. Bruce performs research in embedded systems design. He is the author or coauthor on more than twenty-five journal articles, technical publications, and book chapters. He is a member of IEEE, Eta Kappa Nu, Upsilon Pi Epsilon, Tau Beta Pi, and ASEE.Lee Hathcock, Mississippi State Univ. Page 12.596.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 Embedded Systems Education via Dissection