Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching Engineering Economy

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Weihang Zhu, Lamar University; Alberto Marquez P.E., Lamar University; Julia H. Yoo, Lamar University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Economy

devices. 116 students participated in this study. Surveys and interviewresults showed that the majority of the students who used the app said that the app aided theirlearning. 94% of the users said that they would recommend using the app to others who studyEngineering Economics.* Acknowledgment: This project is partially supported by a grant from the National ScienceFoundation DUE-1140457 to Lamar University. Page 24.3.2 1. Introduction Engineering Economics is a core class in the field of engineering and is also covered on theFundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam, which is the first step to be a Professional Engineer(PE). This course teaches

Conference Session

Integrating Engineering Economy into Curricula

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Heath J. LeBlanc, Ohio Northern University; Bryan O'Neil Boulanger, Ohio Northern University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Economy

performance report detailing the successes and failuresof each individual, the ECE group, and the CE group with whom they worked. A similarreflection piece was required of the CE students.1. IntroductionEach department within our College of Engineering teaches its own section of engineeringeconomy. Engineering economic analysis in practice, however, evaluates projects withcontributions from several different engineering disciplines. In an effort to close the gap betweenthe educational experience and experience in practice, we have developed a project-basedapproach to foster cross-disciplinary interactions between Electrical and Computer Engineering(ECE) students and Civil Engineering and Engineering Technology (CE) students during the Fall2013

Conference Session

Integrating Engineering Economy into Curricula

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joseph Wilck IV, East Carolina University; Paul C. Lynch, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA; Paul J. Kauffmann P.E., East Carolina University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Economy

, and 4 unspecified) enrolled in anundergraduate engineering economics course, near the end of the semester at the PennsylvaniaState University’s University Park campus in the Fall 2013 semester [IRB approval on 2/8/2013;human subjects assurance number 42153]. The questions involving engineering economics as ageneral education course are provided in Table 1.All of the students surveyed were either juniors or seniors in an engineering degree program, andall of the students had completed either microeconomics or macroeconomics at theundergraduate level (24 of the students had taken both microeconomics and macroeconomics). Page 24.494.7Table 1

Conference Session

Integrating Engineering Economy into Curricula

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christina Jauregui Barboza, Stevens Institute of Technology (SSE)

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Economy

in the world’s energydemand. Figure 1, shows the increase in world energy consumption for the past 200 years andincludes a breakdown of the energy sources utilized for consumption19. As shown in the figure,the fossil fuels coal and oil have been the major energy sources since 1900. Environmental andsustainability science discuss the IPAT equation, which suggests that the product of thepopulation (P), affluence (A), and technology (T) indicate the human impact (I) on theenvironment 4. Therefore, careful consideration of the figures for population, affluence andtechnology will allow a calculation of the approximate human impact generated on planet Earth. Figure 1 – World Energy Consumption As the increasing

Conference Session

Integrating Engineering Economy into Curricula

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gene Dixon, East Carolina University; Joseph Wilck IV, East Carolina University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Economy

method.IntroductionEngineering capstone design courses are recognized as “a culminating experience” wherestudents apply “knowledge and abilities to practical engineering problems”1 that “draws on allprevious course work”2. The capstone experience permits students to connect theory andpractice in the final academic process of developing professional skills of engineering design,professional relationships, and teamwork. Capstone texts each have variations of the designprocess such as stage-gate, systems engineering, and systems engineering lifecycle; however, noconsensus on what specifically constitutes engineering design was found3. Research indicatesthat experienced engineers recognize that the common process being described by these terms isiterative in nature and

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching Engineering Economy

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Paul J. Kauffmann P.E., East Carolina University; Joseph Wilck IV, East Carolina University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Economy

(CMS) and how that related to the final course grade.Although correlations between use of various tools and final grade were not large, our dataappears to show that students use on line learning tools flexibly to fit their learning styles.Overall use of the tools on the CMS did positively relate to final grade.IntroductionThere is no secret that online education in its many forms is a pervasive and growing trend.MOOCs (massive open online courses) have recently been in the news as schools like Harvard,M.I.T., Caltech, and the University of Texas have committed tens of millions of dollars toMOOC development with a stated goal of democratic reach.1 In addition to enhancing wideraccess to information, other diverse groups see online education as

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching Engineering Economy

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gillian M. Nicholls, University of Alabama, Huntsville; Neal A Lewis, University of Bridgeport; Ted Eschenbach P.E., University of Alaska Anchorage

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Economy

. A student that struggles with these concepts is atan increasing disadvantage as the course progresses and new material builds upon these concepts.A student that is less skillful at parsing word problems is further disadvantaged.Success and progress through the engineering economy and other time value of money courses isthe focus of this paper. However many of our points are also relevant to the larger problem ofthe efficient progression of engineering students through the STEM pipeline which is of greatimportance to educators. The supply and quantity of STEM graduates has a direct impact on thecompetitiveness of a nation 1. Students that perform poorly in a course or must repeat it are at agreater risk of dropping off the STEM track and may

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching Engineering Economy

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Billy Gray, Tarleton State University; Gloria Margarita Fragoso-Diaz, Tarleton State University ; Erick Jones, University of Texas, Arlington

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Economy

material in a manner consistent with how thematerial is shown in class. A third method is the homework help from sources such asChegg.com.6 Chegg is an academic company where students can log onto the site and postproblems they have for class so that other users can post help and answers to those questions.One of the instructional tools discussed in the literature for web-based materials is the use ofvideo recordings. It is discussed how software allows an instructor the tool of video as anefficient manner to provide the basics of engineering economy.1 This allows the instructor topush the videos online so that their students can have remedial instruction or it allows theinstructor to push the entire class onto the online environment. This is a