Conference Session

Workplace Concerns, Realities, and Intangibles

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Craig Gunn, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative & Experiential Education

surveys of these incoming freshmen finds some startlingrevelations. Comments range from, “I will never have to write again,” to “I’m going to be anengineer and that means NO English!” We realize that with a little thought from thesestudents on the reality of life in the world of engineering will ultimately change thisperspective. But it is an incoming group that sees engineering in a different light from thefaculty and academic staff. It is important, therefore, to make every effort to juxtapositionthe teaching of the necessary technical material with those skills that will make an engineerboth suited for the real world technically and fully capable of communicating his or herengineering expertise to a waiting public.Obviously it is important to

Conference Session

Outcomes of Cooperative Education Assignments

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Daniel Walsh, California Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative & Experiential Education

sound educational approach. The college has along history of using a learn-by-doing approach to engineering education. Indeed, it is embodiedin the motto of the university “Discere Faciendo”, to learn by doing. Through this pedagogicalapproach, understanding theory is facilitated and enhanced by demonstrating its application tothe real world situations. This learning and teaching paradigm has allowed the colleges graduatesto be more productive ab initio in their professional careers than their counterparts with a lessrigorous laboratory and project based exposure. As evidenced by the growth of the “learn-by-doing” approach to education in the United States and the rest of the world, project basedlearning has been accepted as a valuable

Conference Session

Preparing and Retaining Engineering Students

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Rabb, United States Military Academy; Margaret Nowicki, United States Military Academy; Elizabeth Bristow, United States Military Academy

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative & Experiential Education

accomplished duringthe summer. This, however, is sufficient time to allow the students to be exposed to, work on,and sometimes solve an engineering problem. The Army Material Command (AMC) and UnitedStates Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) sponsor most of the AIADs, but there are sponsorsfrom private engineering organizations, NASA, the national labs, and other Department ofDefense activities. This paper describes the AIAD program and discusses how it attracts andretains engineering majors. Additionally, feedback from the project sponsors can be used tomeasure student progress and assess the curriculum.Introduction “My sponsor and others at the Laboratory took time to talk with me not just about math and science but also the politics and

Conference Session

Developing Tomorrow's Leaders through Co-op Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adrian Millward-Sadler, Joanneum University of Applied Sciences; Annette Casey, Joanneum University of Applied Sciences; Emilia Bratschitsch, Joanneum University of Applied Sciences

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative & Experiential Education

degree award) can be written in English, in which case, the student receives similarlanguage support as they would during an internship.There are many different methodologies, which can be and often are utilized in language instruction.Since the 1970s there has been much research into the modernization of traditional teaching ideas,including for example Allwright’s assertion in 1977 that ‘if the language teacher’s managementactivities are directed exclusively at involving the learners in solving communication problems in thetarget language, then language learning will take care of itself’.2 This paper does not intend to go intodetail regarding the exact nature of these changes, but will build on the concept of communicationproblems in a target