Conference Session

FPD XI: Tidbits and Cookies

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Thomas J. Vasko, Central Connecticut State University; Peter F. Baumann, Central Connecticut State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

-technologycurricula start with an introductory course [6, 12, 14, 21, 25, 39, 40, 41, 43]. Improvements tothe introductory course have been proposed by including design topics early in the program toretain students’ interest [15, 16, 21, 24, 28, 43], offering laboratory instruction [3, 10, 14, 20], oremphasizing the development of problem-solving skills [1, 10, 15, 16, 24, 25, 39, 40, 41].Baylor University developed a further refinement of a problem-solving course through a self-paced subject-matter-mastery program [41].Our university also includes within its introductory course a culminating team design project toreinforce learned problem-solving principles and skill sets as an experiential-learningopportunity [2]. In many respects, this team-project effort

Conference Session

FPD 3: Research on First-year Programs and Students, Part I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Holly M. Matusovich, Virginia Tech; Brett D. Jones, Virginia Tech; Marie C. Paretti, Virginia Tech; Jacob Preston Moore, Virginia Tech; Deirdre-Annaliese Nicole Hunter, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

approaches are becoming more widespread in useacross engineering programs and curricula, it is particularly important to understand the impactthat such approaches have on students’ motivation. As part of a larger mixed methods study, thispaper focuses on the critical element of team facilitation. Specifically, we examine how studentsperceive the role of facilitators and how these perceptions influence student motivation.Grounded in the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation, we present findings from interviewsconducted with first-year engineering students at two different research sites. State U1participants are engaged in a well-established PBL-based course. State U2 participants areengaged in a course that uses a project-based approach to integrate

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Design in the First Year

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joan V. Dannenhoffer P.E., Syracuse University; Sinead Mac Namara, Syracuse University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

engineering curricula. Mac Namara co-authored a book Collaboration in Architecture and Engineering released in 2014 and her research has been published in engineering and architecture education journals, nationally and internationally. She has received awards for innova- tive teaching from Princeton University, Syracuse University, and the American Society for Engineering Education. She also engages in design and design-build projects as a collaborator with her architecture students and colleagues. This work has been recognized with awards from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, the Architectural Institute of America and the City of New York. c American Society for Engineering

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 2: Design in the First Year: Challenges and Successes

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jill S. K. Nakatsu, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

introduce a student mentored first semester freshmenengineering design challenge, called the Holmes Hall Freshmen Challenge, with goals toincrease retention from first to second year while building community and support for first yearfreshmen. The challenge is introduced to freshmen at the college orientation, which draws agreater number of students than the previously mentioned programs. Typically over 100incoming engineering freshmen, participate in the college orientation so the program is offered toover half of the incoming freshmen.Research has shown that combinations of programs for first year freshmen such as learningcommunities, peer and faculty mentoring, introductory courses, and team projects.1 have positiveeffects on retention. Engaging

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 4B: Assessing Student Motivation and Student Success

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Matthew J Jensen, Florida Institute of Technology; Jessica Ha, Florida Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

semester, four topics/assignments were interwoven into both courses in avariety of ways: time management, career planning, personal ethics, and a design project thatincorporated teamwork and communication skills. First, time management was introduced in thesecond week of EGN 1000. Students sat through lectures and completed a homeworkassignment wherein they were to schedule what they expected to be a typical week. The studentswere given general guidelines focusing on how to succeed in an engineering program (how manyhours to budget for studying, relaxing, etc.), and the students had to comment on how sustainabletheir proposed schedule would be. The homework assignment was graded but never returned.Four weeks later, the EGN 1000 homework assignment

Conference Session

FPD 7: Beyond Course Content

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Angela R Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder; Nathan E. Canney PE, Seattle University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

% of the students who did not change inSR and 25% of the students who decreased in SR. Common themes of the courses that werediscussed by the students were international, community, ethics, service learning projects, anddevelopment. The survey also gathered information about students’ participation in volunteeractivities. Students who showed a positive change in SR had the highest average volunteerfrequency scores of 11.1, compared to average volunteer frequency scores of 9.9 and 9.0 forgroups of students with no change or negative changes in SR scores, respectively. The resultssuggest that courses and volunteer experiences may be effective ways to positively influencestudents’ views of SR. On-going research will explore changes in students as

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Poster Session

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amelia Chesley, Purdue University; Nathan Mentzer, Purdue University - West Lafayette; Andrew Jackson, Purdue University - West Lafayette; Dawn Laux; Max Renner, Purdue Polytechnic Institute, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

,” “innovative learning environments,” and “a context-richapplication of English, Communications and Technology” 1. Specifically, this project aims toimprove students’ writing skills, oral communication skills, and presentation skills by reinforcingthe importance of these skills in realistic, project-based design contexts. Administrators andinstructors within all 3 departments hope the integration will improve students’ learning in alldisciplines, increase academic engagement overall, and create a stronger sense of communityamong students. Large-scale integration on this level is an intervention in the traditional university model,which often times includes strict discipline-based divisions of coursework. In this newarrangement, students in each

Conference Session

Potpourri

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ronald Welch, University of Texas, Tyler

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

engineering society in England and the introduction to civilengineering. This naturally sparks a discussion as to the importance of professionalsocieties and when and how do they get involved. The coverage of steamboats andrailroads leads to discussions about mechanical engineering, while the coverage of thetelephone and electricity sets the stage for discussions about electrical engineering. Theuse of computers and research requirements on the web throughout the course and theintroduction of sensors within the design project set the stage for the introduction ofcomputer science. Even though the computer science majors do not currently take thecourse, the intent is to introduce the engineers to computer science while developing acourse that can serve

Conference Session

The Best of First-Year Programs Division

Collection

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Angela R. Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder; Madeline Polmear, University of Colorado, Boulder; Daniel Knight, University of Colorado, Boulder; Nathan E. Canney, Seattle University; Chris Swan, Tufts University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

engineering education research interests focus on learning through service-based projects and using an entrepreneurial mindset to further engineering education innovations. He also researches the development of reuse strategies for waste materials. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2017 Incorporation of Ethics and Societal Impact Issues into First Year Engineering Courses: Results of a National SurveyAbstractThis paper summarizes the results of a national study that asked engineering and computingfaculty to report the types of courses where they incorporated ethics and/or societal impacttopics. An online survey was conducted in spring 2016, with 1216 responses from

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Postcard Session 1: Retention and Student Success Strategies

Collection

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Krystal S. Corbett, Louisiana Tech University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

. Each courseconsists of different key engineering concepts are taught through the combination of lectures andhand-on projects. The content focuses on student centered-learning with emphasis onengineering fundamental concepts, design, fabrication, programming, and using amicrocontroller to provide a more engaging way to empower students to learn engineering. Table1 provides a condensed summary of the LWTL curriculum content. Table 1. Summary of LWTL content Course Engineering Fundamental Projects Concepts ENGR 120 Electricity, Conservation of Energy, Pump Fabrication, Pump Testing and Engineering Problem Efficiency, Linear Regression Analysis, Robotics Challenge

Conference Session

Mentoring First Year Students

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Daina Briedis, Michigan State Univesity; Nathaniel Ehrlich, Michigan State University; Colleen McDonough, Michigan State University; Jon Sticklen, Michigan State University; Thomas Wolff, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

, pro bono legal work, food safety, the electoral college, influences of cultural differences in cancer survival, the training of osteopathic physicians and others.Colleen McDonough, Michigan State University Colleen A. McDonough is a graduate assistant in the College of Engineering at Michigan State University. She is the coordinator of three component projects of a National Science Foundation grant focusing on retention issues and engaging early engineering students, and also serves as an academic advisor. Prior to coming to MSU, Colleen spent ten years as a development officer in the non-profit sector. She earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology from William Smith College and

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Poster Session

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Helen Yoonhee Jung P.E., California Baptist University; Ziliang Zhou, California Baptist University; Liya Ni, California Baptist University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

to do STEMoutreach by giving presentations and demonstrations using an interactive humanoid robotthrough community events and school visits.A simple drag-and-drop graphical programming interface called Choregraphe that came with theNao robot made it possible for students without much programming experience to put togethersimple demonstrations. Over the years, different components like music, dance moves,impersonation, simple dialogues, storytelling, interactive games, etc. have been added to acollection of demonstrations which engaged the audients especially the school-aged-children.In the fall semesters of recent years, the Nao outreaches were integrated with the freshmen teamdesign projects conducted in another course: EGR101 Introduction

Conference Session

FPD9 -- Teaching Methods & Technology

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Margot Vigeant, Bucknell University; Karen Marosi, Bucknell University; Ronald Ziemian, Bucknell University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

lectures for the entire200-person class. As of 2002, a seminar format was used. The course begins and endswith approximately two weeks with all 200 students in the large lecture, during whichtime engineering as a profession, each of the six majors, and professional ethics areintroduced. There is also an overall project which all students complete in teams duringthis time [2, 3]. The rest of the time students spend in discipline specific three-week seminarshosting ~30 students each. The key features of the seminars are that they are studentselected, and use a specific topic, which is of interest to the student, to introduceengineering. Eight different seminars are available, and students took either two (2002,2003, 2004) or three (2005, 2006

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 3: Diversity and Multicultural Influences in the First Year

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elizabeth A Adams, Chandler Gilbert Community College; Claire Louise Antaya Dancz, Arizona State University; Amy E. Landis, Arizona State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

having obtained her PhD in 2007 from the University of Illinois at Chicago under the supervision of Dr. Thomas L. Theis. She has developed a research program in sustainable engineering of bioproducts. Her research ranges from design of systems based on industrial ecology and byproduct synergies, life cycle and sustainability assessments of biopolymers and biofuels, and design and analy- sis of sustainable solutions for healthcare. Since 2007, she has lead seven federal research projects and collaborated on many more, totaling over $7M in research, with over $12M in collaborative research. At ASU, Dr. Landis continues to grow her research activities and collaborations to include multidisciplinary approaches to

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 9: Focus on Student Learning, Lifelong Learning, and the Whole Student

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Liya Ni, California Baptist University; Helen Yoonhee Jung P.E., California Baptist University; Ziliang Zhou, California Baptist University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

quarters) trips, preparation of lab and graded assignments. July 2004-May 2009 Research Assistant: Investigating the Effects of Wildfire on Southern California Watersheds. AKM Consulting Engineers August 2002 – July 2004 Assistant Engineer -Complete knowledge of GIS, H2ONET, Microstation, HEC-RAS, HEC-HMS -Projects-Master plan of City of Garden Grove, Master plan of City of Corona, Storm drain design, Pump station design, City of Newport Highway Improvement project, and City of Long Beach water routing design. Intel Corporation May 1997 Sept. 1997 Intel’s Honor Internship Program -Conducted electrical tests on wafers -Repaired and maintained electrical test devices -Experienced in clean room environment proce

Conference Session

First-year Programs: Research and Spatial Skills

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Asefeh Kardgar, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

assistants initially analyzed thedata to reduce bias in the assessment.Infographic course contentInfographics are the combination of data and picture. In this course (Design Thinking inTechnology (3 credit hours)), which is offered to all first-year technology students, allows themto learn how to connect data and pictures together. The students will understand the data first andthen learn the techniques to create infographics. They will then identify which particularvisualization technique can be applied for their project. The infographic course will begin byintroducing the most important components of infographics and then focus on teaching differenttools for designing them. Once the students have learned how to design infographics and whattheir

Conference Session

FPD1 - Early Success and Retention

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alicia Boudreaux, Louisiana Tech University; Kelly Crittenden, Louisiana Tech University; James Nelson, Louisiana Tech University; Galen Turner, Louisiana Tech University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

BioMedical Engineering from Louisiana Tech University in 1996 and 2001 respectively. He is often involved in multidisciplinary work at Louisiana Tech, either through the Integrated Engineering Curriculum or through the IMPaCT (Innovation through Multidisciplinary Projects and Collaborative Teams) program. He is also very involved in STEM education at both the pre-college and college levels.James Nelson, Louisiana Tech University Dr. Jim Nelson is the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies for the College of Engineering and Science at Louisiana Tech University. He is also the Robert Howson Professor of Civil Engineering and specializes in water resources. He played a key role in establishing

Conference Session

FPD1 -- Implementing a First-Year Engineering Course

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dana Elzey, University of Virginia

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

analysis, thishumble course is now burdened with a host of newly recognized needs. These include the ability toexcite a wide range of students about engineering, motivating them to its study, and aiding in theretention of non-traditional engineering students. This paper discusses our efforts to redesign theUniversity of Virginia’s Intro to Engineering to better meet all of these requirements, using theEngineering In Context approach. The EIC approach seeks to improve retention and the quality oflearning through integration of context. Here, the critical contextual learning component is asemester-long, hands-on project (theme) emphasizing application of the engineering problem-solving method to a current challenge or opportunity, coupled with more

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Poster Session

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ishbah Cox, Purdue University, Band and Orchestra Department; Monica Farmer Cox, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

Assessment (i2e2a). She ob- tained a B.S. in mathematics from Spelman College, a M.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Alabama, and a Ph.D. in Leadership and Policy Studies from Peabody College of Vanderbilt Univer- sity. Her teaching interests relate to the professional development of graduate engineering students and to leadership, policy, and change in STEM education. Primary research projects explore the preparation Page 24.302.1 of graduate students for diverse careers and the development of reliable and valid engineering education assessment tools. She is a NSF Faculty Early Career (CAREER

Conference Session

FPD 2: Building Community

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mangilal Agarwal, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis; Maher E. Rizkalla, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis; Sudhir Shrestha; Kody Varahramyan, IUPUI

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

laboratoryand research experiences in the emerging nanotechnology area. Examples of assigned freshmanengineering projects include solar cell and fuel cell cars. In these labs students assemble a modelcar and use solar panel and fuel cell to power the cars. A series of experiments that studentconduct include measurement of open and short circuit current and efficiency of solar panel, andperformance of the car with varying light intensity. In the fuel cell car project, students use solarpanel for the electrolysis of water and use the generated hydrogen and oxygen as fuel to powerthe car using a fuel cell device. Students conduct a series of experiments with the fuel cell thatinclude measurement of electrolysis and fuel cell efficiencies. These

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Poster Session

Collection

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Gerald Gallego Tembrevilla, McMaster University; Susan Nesbit P.Eng., University of British Columbia, Vancouver; Peter M Ostafichuk P.Eng., University of British Columbia, Vancouver; Naoko Ellis P.Eng., University of British Columbia, Vancouver

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

Paper ID #34492First-Year Engineering Students’ Experiences and Perceptions ViewedThrough the Lens of Transdisciplinary Knowledge and Threshold ConceptsDr. Gerald Gallego Tembrevilla, McMaster University Gerald Tembrevilla completed his PhD in science (physics) education in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada in July 2020. Currently, he serves as a postdoctoral fellow for the PIVOT project, a cutting-edge revamp of the engineering curriculum in the Faculty of Engineering at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. During

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Monday Potpourri

Collection

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amelia Chesley, Purdue University; Nathan Mentzer, Purdue University, West Lafayette (College of Engineering); Dawn Laux, Purdue Polytechnic Institute; Tejasvi Parupudi, Purdue University; Asefeh Kardgar, Purdue Polytechnic Institute, West Lafayette; Sarah Knapp, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

ways of thinking)” (p. 2). Theyimplemented a studio requirement each year, where project based learning, community service,and reflection are highlighted. Kellam et al.8 drew from student reflections and focus grouptranscripts in their evaluation of this long-term integration. Guthrie et al.6 used quantitativestudent self assessment and collected student comments to gauge the effectiveness of theirinterdisciplinary capstone design course. Rhee et al.9 in “A Case Study of a Co-instructedMultidisciplinary Senior Capstone Project in Sustainability” discussed a senior capstone coursewhere students engage together with specific shared projects, share classroom space and meetingtimes. Mentors from several engineering and non-engineering disciplines

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 2: Design in the First Year: Challenges and Successes

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Natalie C.T. Van Tyne P.E., Colorado School of Mines; M Brunhart-Lupo, Colorado School of Mines

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

Reflective Learning in First Year Engineering DesignAbstractThe current generation of college students is on a quest for meaningful knowledge and relevancein learning, and educators are continually challenged to meet these needs. Students will no longeraccept the necessity of learning copious amounts of technical and scientific information “justbecause.” Faculty often attempt to provide relevance by presenting real-world examples, buteven these are not “real” to a student who fails to identify the connection or usefulness of thesubject.During the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 academic years, we implemented a simple, weeklyreflective journal assignment in our first year, project-based engineering design course, whichconsists of three

Conference Session

Potpourri

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Summer Dann Johnson, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge; John Scalzo, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge; Sarah Jones, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge; Kelly Rusch, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge; Warren Waggenspack, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

© American Society for Engineering Education, 2009 ENG2: Engineering Engagement for Student Success Building a Community for First Year Freshmen in the College of Engineering Research has shown that engineering retention and graduation rates are enhanced throughfirst year experiences that actively incorporate and engage faculty and students. 1-5 Based on thispremise, the STEM Talent Expansion Project at Louisiana State University (LSU), funded by theNational Science Foundation, has focused the majority of its efforts into the first year experienceof incoming freshmen in order to increase retention and ultimately graduation rates in theCollege of Engineering. This will be achieved by

Conference Session

First-year Programs: Core Skills

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Seach Chyr (Ernest) Goh P.Eng., University of British Columbia, Okanagan; Claire Yu Yan P.Eng., University of British Columbia, Okanagan; John M. Hopkinson, University of British Columbia, Okanagan

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

Blended Delivery of a Statics CourseAbstractThis is a complete paper on Evidence-based Practice. A project was undertaken at the Universityof British Columbia to modularize the engineering mechanics: statics course. The full duration ofthe project is three years. In accordance with the project schedule, by September 2019, modulesfor the first half of the statics course were developed. The schedule calls for the remainingmodules to be developed by September 2020, and be implemented in that term.This paper presents a pre-implementation study to compare the effectiveness of two of thesemodules against conventional lectures. This study has been approved by the Behavioral ResearchEthics Board of our university. A total of 332 students enrolled in the

Conference Session

Bridge Programs Connecting to First-Year Engineering

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adrienne Steele, Louisiana State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs, Pre-College Engineering Education

college’s six-year graduaterate was 15% lower than the university as a whole, with the biggest drop in retention occurringbetween the first and second year (30%). The E2 bridge camp was one of several initiativesimplemented as part of the NSF-funded STEP project targeting first-year students to increaseengineering student persistence to rates closer to those of the university as a whole [7]. The goalsof this camp were to give students hands-on experience with the engineering design process;introduce them to campus resources; and connect them with faculty, staff, and peers.The principle investigators of the STEP grant decided that the best way to increase retention atthe college level was to make the bridge camp open to all first-year students. The

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 4: The Best of the All: FPD Best Papers

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chao Wang, Arizona State University; Jennifer Mott, California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

schools, and its use inundergraduate programs in engineering, sciences and humanities has been growing1-3. Unlikeother active learning strategies, TBL involves a prescribed sequence of individual work, groupwork, immediate feedback and applications. This paper will discuss in particular the experience,evaluation and lessons learned from implementing team-based learning in a freshmanintroduction to engineering course at Arizona State University. The introduction to engineeringcourse is a 15-week 2-credit hour course structured as a 50-minute lecture and 2-hour and 50-minute lab per week. The course introduces students to engineering design process, engineeringmodel and drawing, MATLAB, teamwork, technical communication and project management.Basic

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 4A: Retention Programs and Strategies

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

W. Jackeline Torres, Rice University; Ann Saterbak, Rice University; Margaret E. Beier, Rice University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

American Society for Engineering Education, 2016 Long-Term Impact of an Elective, First-Year Engineering Design CourseAbstractThis evidence-based practice describes the impact on retention of implementing an elective, first-year engineering design course. Authentic, client-based projects form the focus of a one-semesterfreshman design course at Rice University. The course is an elective course available for allfreshman students in the School of Engineering. During the course, first-year students learn theengineering design process and use it to solve meaningful problems drawn from local hospitals,industry, local community partners, Rice University, and international partners.The course was designed to meet two high-level objectives in the School

Conference Session

FPD IX: Research on First-year Programs Part III

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stanley M. Forman, Northeastern University; Susan F. Freeman, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

. Theyconcluded that soft skills can be taught, albeit not through traditional lecture means and a degreeof mentoring is recommended in the workplace, if possible. They tended to see the skillsenhanced through experiential project work. Similarly, Parker and Anderson5 at the Universityof Wisconsin deleted specific lectures on time management and team work skills in favor ofhaving students do appropriate project work to learn these same skills in a trial introduction tocivil and environmental engineering course. Vasko, et al11 concluded that once a projectexperience was concluded, soft skills such as life-long learning could be adequately assessed bystudent survey techniques. Tallon and Budny10 took a different approach in adding specificpublic speaking

Conference Session

FPD II: Increasing Engagement and Motivation of First-Year Students

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Julie J. Parish, Texas A&M University; Kristi J. Shryock, Texas A&M University; Dimitris C. Lagoudas, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

new design component. Instead of viewgraphpresentations, guest speakers were asked to bring in demonstrations to explain current aerospacedesign problems and applications of new technology. Industry representatives were invited topresent “real-world” problems they are resolving to give students a better appreciation of theunique challenges of the aerospace industry. Also, aerospace student organizations, graduatestudents, and upperclassmen were recruited to speak to the students about research opportunities,aspects of senior design projects, and ways to become involved in the aerospace community toencourage integration of students into the department after their freshman year.The course has continued to evolve with the addition of a freshman