sophomore Bioengineering class, over 50% of students reported feelingunprepared for technical writing assignments (data unpublished), despite some of thesestudents having earned credit for the RHET 105 course. In sum, while the RHET 105 courseprovides many valuable lessons in rhetoric and research-based writing, it cannot provideengineering students with disciplinary-specific skills necessary to write in the genres thatengineering careers will demand.Lack of student preparation for technical writing assignments is one of several challenges thatfaculty face when developing student writers. Teaching technical writing is also very time-intensive. Peer review has been used successfully in some cases, but it requires that students betrained in reviewing
reports which the authors deemed generally unimpressive, so thestructure of the class was changed to address this deficiency. Students now submit two individualwritten assignments prior to the final technical report, which are returned with inline feedbackfrom the instructor. Additionally, students are assigned to blind peer review reports fromclassmates. Evidence has been collected to compare similar final reports between offerings of thecourse, and evaluations show a drastic improvement in the quality of the final reports with theseadditional writing assignments and feedback as part of the course. Surveys are taken at thebeginning and end of the semester to assess student perceptions of their skills in several areas.The results of these surveys
mathematicsco-requisite course to college algebra, in order to reach more students. We have alsoimplemented a mandatory peer mentor led workshop for all students. Peer mentors provide thestudents with an upper classman peer who can provide support inside and outside of theclassroom. In our paper we will continue to discuss specifics regarding the ENGR 100 course,peer mentoring, intervention strategies, and FYE components.Literature ReviewAccording to Kuh (2008)1 freshman year experience programs are highly influential inimproving student success and create positive impact on their pathway to a degree. Keycomponents of successful FYE programs are utilizing learning communities. In addition Kuh(2008) recommends writing intensive curriculums that focus on
design would best assesscritical thinking skills. This course goal was separate from the engineering professionalismcourse goal. Initially, the individual technical writing assignment (ITW) and the individual oralpresentation (IOP) were chosen as the tools to assess the course outcomes tied to effectivecommunication, and the engineering professionalism goals. Critical thinking was seen more asthe domain of problem solving. However, this meant that the focus of the individual technicalwriting was very narrow in its purpose. The initial focus of that assessment was to demonstratecompetence in writing using a technical style, citing peer-reviewed work, and including correctinformation. These were all skills seen as necessary to proper engineering
,students covered topics such as purposeful writing, revision and writing process, argument andanalysis, critical reading, research and technology, and multimodality. The course also utilizedthe book Writing in Engineering: A Brief Guide by Robert Irish for student reference. This bookgives guidelines for writing in engineering and was chosen because it was easy for students tounderstand and apply concepts from it. The assignments in the course were broken up into stepsfor the students which included a rough draft process with peer revisions. The ENGL 1020course also allowed students to get support for the research paper they wrote in the ENGR 1208course. Students peer reviewed their research papers in the ENGL 1020 course with the guidanceof the
Page 15.587.9this context, the theme that emerged was the use of both self- and peer-assessment in group-work projects and assignments. One important initiative here was the implementation in 2009of peer-assessment exercises. These were conducted fortnightly in tutorials. Prior to “peer-marking tutorials”, students were asked to write solutions to specified questions. At the startof the tutorial these solutions were collected by the tutor who re-distributed them amongst thestudents. A detailed marking scheme was then displayed and the tutor guided the studentsthrough it as they marked the work of one of their peers. The markers were required to awardmarks, write short explanatory notes where marks had been lost, and also write their name
. Visual communicationbecame enhanced by 60%; however, writing skill and technical depth decreased by 24%.According to survey results, students favored web publication over conventional term report by92% and felt that it is an effective way to deliver their projects. The results indicate that webpublication could be an exciting and effective way to develop communication skills for thedigital generation. Students still need training in the art and skill of technical writing.Introduction:As we transition from an industrial to digital age, engineering communication must also face thechallenges due to the proliferating use of the internet [1]. The internet provides many types ofcommunication opportunities. Technical communication is evolving because
to explore nanotechnology they can incorporate into their designprojects, and develops fundamental technical communication skills. Students are responsible foridentifying reliable scientific literature, reading and understanding the technical language used,and presenting it in a way their fellow peers will understand. This requires the ability tocomprehend technical writing and also consider their audience when presenting the information.Students must have a strong, working understanding of the content so that they are able to clearlyexplain ideas and answer questions from peers and instructors.Assignment 3: Laboratory Data CollectionThree labs take place over the course of the eight-week project timeline. The first of the threelabs spans
University Innovation Fellows organization (now part of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, a.k.a. the d.school).Mrs. Catherine Rose Bates, Institute for STEM & Diversity Initiatives Catherine Bates received a bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies and Creative Writing from Florida State University and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing with an emphasis in fiction from Arizona State University. She serves as the Program Director for the NIH Southwest Bridges to Baccalaureate program and the Program Coordinator for the NSF Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program. In her current role at the Institute for STEM & Diversity Initiatives, Catherine is dedicated to expanding re
students spoke in panels during dinners including panels withthe peer mentors, advice from first year students, student club representatives, and students withglobal travel as part of their SJSU experience.Enhance Math and Writing PreparationA primary goal was to strengthen the academic success of the EXCEED students. The EXCEEDprogram included ten hours each of math and writing workshops. The workshops were taught byfaculty who teach pre-calculus and remedial English classes using a set of topics designed bysurveying faculty of freshmen and entry level engineering classes on the areas they felt studentsstruggled with the most. The workshops included homework which was also used as a tool toteach time management and study skills.Build Community
%)and illustrates effective targeting toward their peer audience.The infographic assignment has been implemented winter quarter 2017 in two sections of theIntroduction to Engineering course (total of 90 students placed in 30 teams) and also in onesection of a Critical Thinking and Writing course (~20 students). The Introduction toEngineering course repeated the assignment and both draft and final rubric assessments wererecorded. The full rubric results are available in Appendix E with summarized results availablein Table 3. The infographic platform chosen by student teams again favored Piktochart (57%)with other platforms chosen including Venngage, Google Slides, MS Word, and various Adobesoftware. The top vote earning infographic posters from
Westmoreland Academic Success Program. In this capacity, she provides vision and direction for the Tutoring and Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) programs and provides support to the General Engineer- ing Learning Community. She is also co-developer of Entangled Learning, a framework of rigorously- documented, self-directed collaborative learning. She has an M.A. in Music from The Pennsylvania State University and an M.L.S. from Indiana University. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2020 Continuing to Promote Metacognitive Awareness in a First-Year Learning Strategies CourseAbstractThis complete, evidence-based practice paper builds upon our previous work [1] in
teamsatisfaction and student assessments of team contributions. In first year team-based studentdesign courses, instructors use student self- and peer-assessment information to gauge teamfunctioning and even to affect student project scores. However, students’ identity characteristics,such as their gender and race, may impact the scores they receive from others as well as thescores they assign. The poster will also describe the creation of and results from a learning-analytics style investigation of the researcher’s own student team assessment data, and the posterpresentation will allow others to query the data set with their own questions. The final data setincludes assessment information from 620 first-year engineering students working in 132 teamsof 4
-represented groups who may not have access to college-educated role models within theirfamilies and who may not otherwise have access to professional and academic engineeringmentors. PROMES was launched at the University of Houston in 1974 and incorporates keyrecommended structural elements such as a formal introductory course for new freshmen andincoming transfer students, clustering of students in common sections of their courses, adedicated study center, and structured study groups.1 In addition, peer mentors assist freshmenand new transfer students throughout the first year.There is a second learning community within the College of Engineering that supports successfor a different, although sometimes overlapping, cohort. This second community is
stress.Students may enjoy working collaboratively with others on a challenging goal.However, others often express frustration when team communication breaks down, teammembers manage time differently, or when group members’ contributions areinequitable [2].Previous research in engineering education has examined best practices in engineeringand assessment strategies. These practices include instructor-formed teams that do notisolate underrepresented groups, establishing team policies through team contracts oroperation agreements, and providing accountability through peer-evaluations [3].Google’s research on teams revealed that the highest functioning teams providepsychological safety where team members trust one another enough to share theirconcerns
engineering students and develops aconceptual model focusing on STEM Identity for conducting further research. The College ofEngineering at an urban research university is acutely aware of the increased need for retentionprograms in engineering colleges across the US. To respond to this need, a unique mentorshipprogram, the LMP, was established as one of the main components of an Engineering LearningCommunity (ELC) for first-year engineering students. Students self-select into the ELC programand, upon being registered, are assigned a peer mentor. The peer mentors are sophomorethrough senior-level undergraduate engineering students in the college who hold looselystructured meetings with the mentee students. The peer mentors are in turn supported by
are advisers and peers. With this in mind, McCormick decided to hire four advisers that also taught classes in the FirstYear sequence. This decision was key in developing a AdvisingasTeaching Model. The advisers teach sections of Design, Thinking and Communications I and II, the Cornerstone Design classes, departmental service classes, or Engineering Problem Solving classes. The goal is to get the advisers in front of the students in either FirstYear, Basic Engineering, or Departmental Core Classes. While it would have been easier to hire professional advisers, but the administration thought the advisers would have more credibility if students interacted with them as professors
courseequivalents of those taken during the summer residential component of the program. Additionalcourses may include general education classes, First Year Florida (a freshmen introductorycourse), courses to complete a minor, and other introductory courses offered by the College.Weekly peer mentor meetings with assigned students are scheduled at the beginning of eachsemester. All students must attend and participate in weekly meetings with their assigned peermentor. Through the weekly meetings, peer mentors write reports on all members of theirassigned students and report on their academic, personal and professional development. Reportsfrom the peer mentors are delivered to the program coordinator on a weekly basis. The reportsare read for thoroughness
Page 26.300.6on campus, and participated in workshops on topics such as effective writing and “survivingengineering.” These co-curricular activities were intended to introduce students to differentresources on campus that could be valuable to them, and to call attention to some of the commonchallenges that students face during their first year. Students also went on site visits to localengineering companies, in order to familiarize them with the local engineering community, andgive them an overview of the various career opportunities available within the field.Throughout their time in the program, participants stayed in a residence hall together and had thesupport of a peer mentor, a sophomore engineering student who provided assistance
likely to recognize or talk about academic benefits. Page 23.514.8The most commonly mentioned relevant words used in response to the question “What value doyou think your ELC brings to students?” were community (or similar) (41), academic (14),support (or similar) (13), faculty (11), relationships (or similar) (9), service (or similar) (9),campus (9), study (9), career (8), experiences (7), tutoring (7), connected (7), peers (6), success(6), retention (5), transition (4), classes (4), writing (3) lab (3), advising (3), and mentors (3).Community was again the most common term. Academic, support, and faculty were alsomentioned by at least 11
skills for our first-year engineering students. Although this skill can betaught and assessed, the results of past surveys show that engineering students are inadequatelyequipped to meet this need.This need is addressed by teaching and assessing the three pillars of engineering communication:written, oral and graphical through a series of lectures, activities and group assignments. Forinstance, a series of biweekly group assignments, designed to assess and improve the three pillarsof engineering communication are woven into the project-based curriculum, culminating with afinal project exhibition and written reflection. These assignments, not only assess thepresentation, graphical communication and writing skills of the teams but also their
is an Assistant Professor and Director of ECU Engineering, Inc. at East Carolina University. His research interests include engineering management themes including leadership, followership, team work, organizational culture and trust. Before coming to ECU, he worked in various positions in industry for Chicago Bridge and Iron, E. I. DuPont, Westinghouse Electric, CBS, Viacom and the Washington Group. Dr. Dixon received a BS in Material Engineering from Auburn University, an MBA from Nova Southeastern University and PhD in Industrial and System Engineering and Engineering Management from The University of Alabama Huntsville. He is currently writing a book on the logistical flow of worship
. TheirACT scores are 2-4 points below their peer cohort admitted in the CEAS at UC. In addition, onthe UC Math Placement Test (MPT), which is used as a basis for first math course placement,the target students typically score below the cutoff for placement in Calculus I, the first course inthe engineering math sequence and a prerequisite for Physics I. Issue II: inability of the studentsto adapt socially to their new environment1, 2. UC is an urban university with over 30,000students on its main campus and CEAS has close to 3,000 students. This environment presentsparticularly unique challenges to ethnic minorities, women, First Generation, economicallychallenged students, and students from small, rural schools, or from large urban public
process. Students learnabout design through redesign of common consumer devices. They undertake a market analysisof the device as part of determining design objectives, undertake experimental studies on theperformance of existing products, carry out reverse engineering of two models, and propose adesign for the next generation of the device. As part of this experience they become immersed inthe design process; design and execute experiments; use basic statistics to analyze the needs oftheir users and their experimental results; write technical reports and proposals; and prepare anddeliver oral presentations. We also focus on the students’ growth as competent team members,with an ongoing peer evaluation process that includes individual or team
discussionsto write rules and norms for their teams helps to raise awareness in students of these issues. Theresults show a positive impact of the introduced interventions, especially around teamwork andcollaboration with peers. The results offer insights on how we can continue this study and followthe cohort of students through time to see if the impact lasts beyond the first year.Pre-/Post-survey data ResultsResults from comparing the pre- and post-survey results are shown in Table 2. A value of 1indicates No Agreement and 7 indicates Strongly Agree. There was no significant difference inthe survey results for Question 1 either from the beginning to the end of Fall 2020 or between theend of Fall 2019 and Fall 2020. When comparing Fall 2019 (no
engineering residential college, and peer mentoring, faculty mentoring,and mentoring by practicing engineers.The introduction to engineering course will include all freshman students in SIUC College ofEngineering. This lecture-laboratory course will provide an interesting description of eachengineering major and allows students to work with hands-on projects that will teach theusefulness of mathematics and basic engineering concepts. The SIUC College of Engineeringhas worked with other departments on campus to offer engineering designated sections of corecurriculum courses, such as math, sciences, English, and speech communication. The summermath course lasts four-weeks and accepts students who test below the pre-calculus level andprepares them for
, organizationalcontexts, and design limitations.Literature Review A variety of methods for evaluating learning communities have been proposed by Moore2Tinto, Love, & Russo,3 and Wilkie.4 Moore used Perry’s5 theory of intellectual development as a basis for measuring theeffects of learning communities. A survey instrument, the Measure of Intellectual Development(MID) which is a survey instrument and an essay-writing test derived from Perry’s work, wasused to determine impacts from the learning community. The MID was given to learningcommunity participants and also to peers who were scored on a 1 to 5 point scale. LLCparticipants showed more developmental gains than their non-participating counterparts. Love, Tinto, & Russo3 approached
scheduled for one lecture session and two two-hour lab/workshops per week for a total of threecredits. Consistent with many “freshman support” programs at other universities, the goals ofthe course are to introduce the midshipmen to the “big picture” of the major for context; tointroduce the midshipmen to each other and develop a mutual support network; and, to provide“tools” for success in follow-on courses. These tools include technical writing, critical thinking,design process, project management, computer programming and software, and engineeringdrafting skills. There is a significant project-based learning (PBL) component to the course. Theassignments include both individual and team submittals. The double “lab” schedule allowsmuch of the
skills.The development of the MSU Engineering Residential Experience includes much more than justthe physical housing of first-year engineering students in a single residence hall. It also includes Page 15.589.3delivery of student service operations, including career services, freshman academic advisingand peer-led tutoring sessions. Another aspect of our co-curricular program includes thedevelopment of a faculty speaker series and alumni panels. These activities are intended tocompliment the social events offered through residence hall programming.A comprehensive approach to integrating a first-year academic program with a living-learningcommunity
the instructors and helping support all thestudents, the assignment of three sub-groups created a clear structure where students had pointsof contact in between sessions, and for subsequent break-out sessions or activities which requiredgroups, it was easy to fall into these mentor groups. It should be noted that all Peer Mentors hadreceived training in the Guaranteed 4.0 Program and were able to check students’ bullet pointnotes and other assignments. In this week, the instructor lectured on the concept of forming goals using the“S.M.A.R.T” technique. Students were tasked with writing down goals for the semester and/oryear, and then reviewing a few ancillary resources online about the acronym of “S.M.A.R.T.”They were then tasked with