Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Focusing on Student Success

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Qudsia Tahmina, Ohio State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

of Peer Mentoring is discussed and offered to students with each type ofmentoring (Scheduled Peer Mentoring and Mentor-Mentee Pair). Due three major topics in thelecture component of the course, the peer mentoring sessions were observed to driven by thematerial in those topics. Therefore, for the purpose of data collection and analysis ofperformance, the peer mentoring schedules were categorized. The three categories are: 1)Assistance with MS Excel concepts and Graphing Techniques 2) Assistance with Programmingin MATLAB and 3) Assistance with Project Management and technical writing for the DesignProject. In the previous work, the baseline was determined based on the grades in the first twoapplication assignments. The author noticed that the

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Mathematics in the First Year

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cem Karacal, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville; Ma Zenia N. Agustin, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville; George Pelekanos, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs, Mathematics

Paper ID #26265Integrated Mathematics Enrichment, Peer Mentoring, Tutoring, and Fresh-men Course for Student SuccessDr. Cem Karacal, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville Dr. Cem Karacal is a Professor of Industrial Engineering and Dean of the School of Engineering at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He obtained his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees from Oklahoma State University in 1991 and 1986, respectively. His received his B.Sc. degree from Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey in 1982. He has experience in industry and academia. His main research and teaching interest areas are simulation modeling

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Professional Skill Development

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Alan Degenhardt, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Brian S. Woodard, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

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

Conference Session

The Best of First Year Programs: Best Paper Session

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Noah Salzman, Boise State University; Ann Delaney, Boise State University; Catherine Rose Bates, Institute for STEM & Diversity Initiatives; Donna C. Llewellyn, Boise State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

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

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Professional Skill Development

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Leila Keyvani, Northeastern University; Kathryn Schulte Grahame, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

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

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Work in Progress Postcard Session

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kamau Wright, University of Hartford

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

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

Conference Session

Bridge Programs Connecting to First-Year Engineering

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rezvan Nazempour; Houshang Darabi, University of Illinois, Chicago; Peter C. Nelson, University of Illinois, Chicago; Renata A. Revelo, University of Illinois, Chicago; Yeow Siow, University of Illinois, Chicago; Jeremiah Abiade

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs, Pre-College Engineering Education

Standards and Technology.Dr. Peter C. Nelson, University of Illinois, Chicago Peter Nelson was appointed Dean of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s (UIC) College of Engineer- ing in July of 2008. Prior to assuming his deanship, Professor Nelson was head of the UIC Depart- ment of Computer Science. In 1991, Professor Nelson founded UIC’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, which specializes in applied intelligence systems projects in fields such as transportation, manufacturing, bioinformatics and e-mail spam countermeasures. Professor Nelson has published over 80 scientific peer reviewed papers and has been the principal investigator on over $30 million in research grants and con- tracts on issues of

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Focusing on Student Success

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nisha Abraham, University of Texas, Austin; Nina Kamath Telang, University of Texas, Austin

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

respectively. Her teaching interests are in the area of circuits and devices, computing, and logic design. Dr. Telang works closely with success programs for freshman engineering students. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2019 Effectiveness of the Supplemental Instruction Program in First Year Engineering Courses - A Longitudinal Report (2015-2018)AbstractThis Complete Research Paper examines the effectiveness of the Supplemental Instruction (SI)program implemented at our university in first year engineering courses from its inception in thefall semester of 2015 through the fall semester of 2018. The program offers two sessions perweek outside of the course that incorporates peer and

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Monday Cornucopia (Classroom Innovations)

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jenn Stroud Rossmann, Lafayette College; Hannah Stewart-Gambino, Lafayette College

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

College Writing Program which provides a student Writing Associate toprovide additional guidance to students, and by the College Library which assigns a researchlibrarian to work with each section to develop research skills.The FYS was a promising context for our foundational interdisciplinary project-basedlearning experience for the same reasons such seminars are effective pedagogically and“high-impact” [14]. They engage students with faculty and with their peers in formal andinformal conversations “about substantive matters, typically over an extended period of time”[15].To our College’s standard FYS learning outcomes related to writing and information literacy,we added three additional learning outcomes: that after completing this class

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Work in Progress Postcard Session

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carol S. Gattis, University of Arkansas; Xochitl Delgado Solorzano, University of Arkansas; Don Nix, University of Arkansas; Jennie S. Popp Ph.D., University of Arkansas ; Michele Cleary, Cleary Scientific Intelligence, LLC; Wenjuo Lo, University of Arkansas; Bryan Hill, University of Arkansas; Paul D. Adams, University of Arkansas

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

opportunities for a STEM education arenot. Two cohorts of up to 18 STEM students per year will receive annually renewable scholarshipsof up to $4,500, or up to $5,500 if they join the Honors College. These students will participate inPTG’s evidence-based retention and graduation initiatives, including: an in-residence summerbridge program; a Living-Learning Community (shared housing); Academic Success Advising;faculty and peer mentoring; and on-campus or industry-based research opportunities. PTG willhelp identify and describe the barriers deterring low-income students, especially low-incomestudents from rural backgrounds, from achieving a STEM degree. PTG will develop andimplement retention programs for low-income, rural STEM students and will

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Engineering in the First-Year

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kleio Avrithi P.E., Mercer University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs, Multidisciplinary Engineering

Student Outcomes Innovative solutions to problems in the real world 1, 2, 7 Graphical presentation, technical writing, oral 3 presentation Engineering interdisciplinary teams 5 Application of computer software to solving 1, 7 engineering problems Engineering design process 1, 2, 7 Cost estimation 2 Hands-on learning and experiments 6 Professional organizations

Conference Session

The Best of First Year Programs: Best Paper Session

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Janet Y. Tsai, University of Colorado, Boulder; Beth A. Myers, University of Colorado Boulder; Jacquelyn F. Sullivan, University of Colorado Boulder; Kenneth M. Anderson, University of Colorado Boulder

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

had immediate access to many resources (peers, TAs, instructors, spaces) to one wherestudents still had the opportunity to share in the same course resources, but did so to a lesser anddifferent extent than in Y1. In other words, as the larger Y2 course moves more toward aninstitutionalized, standard, more factory-like model, we note the tradeoff in losing some of thebenefits that existed in the smaller implementation of the course as well as some surprising gains.As the size of the Y2 pilot is more realistic for any first-year course at a large public university,we share our lessons learned in the hopes of helping other designers of first-year programsponder the consequences of scaling up any course to fit the standard scale of larger

Conference Session

Bridge Programs Connecting to First-Year Engineering

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amanda Simson, The Cooper Union; Laura C. Broughton, City University of New York, Bronx Community; Elizabeth J. Biddinger, City College of the City University of New York

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs, Pre-College Engineering Education

. Additionally,students were exposed to common college practices like office hours, course syllabi, coursereadings, and class discussions. In the 2018 course, specific time was set aside to allow studentsto work on their own (with freedom to work anywhere on campus). These portions of time werespecifically designed to give students choices in how to manage their time.The course, which drew juniors and seniors from various local high schools, did not havespecific prerequisites. Thus, a fundamental challenge of the course was to incorporatedifferentiation into the curriculum delivery to meet the needs of a variety of skill levels. Toaccommodate all students, each section of the course included peer-peer tutoring, office hoursduring lunch, and optional

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Focusing on Student Success

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dawn Patterson Shew M.Ed., University of Kansas; Lorin P. Maletsky, University of Kansas; Grace Clark; Molly McVey, University of Kansas

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

first-year students, are particularly difficultfor students to succeed as they transitioned to college. Exam formats and expectations aredifferent than what students experienced in high school and vary from class to class. Engineeringmajors report spending a greater amount of time preparing for classes and exams [2]. Manystudents new to college report that they don’t know how to study and prepare for college exams[3], anecdotally reporting that in high school it was sufficient to simply read over notes. Mostnew students are also still building their support network of peers and may solely be studying ontheir own. Additionally, in many courses exams can comprise a significant portion of the finalgrade. Doing poorly on an exam can also have a

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Professional Skill Development

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michelle E. Jarvie-Eggart, Michigan Technological University; Laura Kasson Fiss, Michigan Technological University; Karla Saari Kitalong, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

performance in engineering programs. Toaid in the retention and success of all students, many first year programs have special classes forstudents who many need additional math skill development. Math skills are recognized as essential tothe success of future engineers. However, other skills are integral to the engineering career path.Within industry, it is communication skills that often make or break careers. Technically capableengineers will find their careers stagnating without well-developed communication skills, which are anessential part of engineering work. In fact, it has been shown that engineers spend over half theirworking days (55-60%) communicating both orally and in writing [1]. When engineers were surveyedabout the most important

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Monday Cornucopia (Classroom Innovations)

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brian Scott Robinson, University of Louisville; Nicholas Hawkins, University of Louisville; James E. Lewis, University of Louisville; James Christopher Foreman, University of Louisville

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

this interactivecourse, which introduces students to fundamental engineering skills – including teamwork,design, project management, technical writing, critical thinking, programming, communication(including written, oral, and graphical), and an introduction to engineering research. The courseincludes extensive introductory design pedagogy coupled with project management; includingtwo individual design challenges during the semester, and culminating in a team-basedCornerstone project that all students present at the end of the semester. For conveying keyinstructional topics to the students, a few select classes are held in the EG classroom(s), whileadditional instruction is delivered online via supplementary, instructor-created videos

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Focusing on Student Success

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephen Roberts, University of Florida; Fazil T. Najafi, University of Florida; Curtis R. Taylor, University of Florida

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

isolation on campus and other challenges related to their successful transition into theuniversity. Over the years, many strategies have been implemented in efforts to address thesechallenges. These strategies have included peer counseling, faculty, and corporate mentoring,targeted academic support programs, need-based financial assistance, centralized academicadvising, and student transition support. The projected shortcoming of students completing thedegree program create an urgent need for diversity within the field; it is critical to increase effortsto provide first-year and underrepresented students with the academic, social and transition supportneeded to promote their success.The purpose of this research is to introduce the Successful

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Focusing on Student Success

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Abigail T. Stephan, Clemson University; Laurel Whisler, Clemson University; Elizabeth Anne Stephan, Clemson University; Bridget Trogden, Clemson University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

strategies, and positive habits of mind.Laurel Whisler, Clemson University Laurel Whisler is Assistant Director and Coordinator of Course Support Programs in Clemson Univer- sity’s 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.Dr. Elizabeth Anne Stephan, Clemson University Dr. Elizabeth Stephan is the Director of Academics

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Integrating Computing into the First Year

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Djedjiga Belfadel, Fairfield University; Marcia Arambulo Rodriguez, Fairfield University; Michael Zabinski, Fairfield University; Ryan Munden, Fairfield University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

to teach the course, as well as to incorporate regular faculty feedback into the continuousimprovement process. We can measure the effectiveness of the course improvements due to consistencyin delivery achieved through close peer collaboration as team teachers. The course has scaled up throughteam teaching. The course also builds in year-over-year consistency by incorporating undergraduatestudent mentors and course assistants, who are trained in the assessment methods, after having taken thecourse, so that they can serve as effective Teaching Assistants (TA) in the class to the new first-yearstudents. This has allowed us to offer four identical sections with four different instructors. The course goals are: (I) Create a passion for

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Work in Progress Postcard Session

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Todd R. Hamrick, West Virginia University; Lizzie Santiago, West Virginia University; Kristin Brewster, West Virginia University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

write a paper for you. Table 1. Examples of behaviors that are considered cheating[1] Copying from another student during a test or quiz Permitting another student to look at your answer during a quiz or exam Copying from an unapproved reference sheet during a closed- book test or quiz Taking an exam for another student Claiming to have handed in an assignment or exam when you did not Copying an old term paper or lab-report from a previous year Copying another student’s homework when it is not permitted by the instructor Submitting or copying homework assignments from previous terms

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Monday Cornucopia (Classroom Innovations)

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Duncan Davis, Northeastern University; Jimmy Gitming Lee, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

(h) a mirror maze that connects a laser to aphotoresistor. During the milestones, students play the puzzles made by their peers and give feedback tohelp improve the project. They also submit these opinions to the professor in a report asdiscussed in the Appendix. Each group gives one of their members to one of the four committees: Narrative, Flow,Infrastructure and Marketing. The Narrative committee writes a theme appropriate story aboutthe room to immerse players in the experience. They name the room and tell the players whythey are trapped. The Flow committee link together the puzzles made by the small groups andcreate a master document to help volunteers run the rooms at the end of the semester. TheInfrastructure committee

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Design in the First Year

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Pamela L. Dickrell, University of Florida; Lilianny Virguez, University of Florida

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

skills used for writing reports and preparing presentations are also veryimportant and useful in both upper level courses and future careers.”“Actually working on the design process and learning how to do engineering memos and designreports felt so important to me. Those are skills that I know I will carry with me for years andthat I will actually use. Also, I went from being very shy and not voicing my opinions to feelinglike I can speak intelligently. This class has given me my voice and my confidence.”“I felt most like a maker/future engineer when I was in peer mentor hours or meeting with mygroup outside of class hours. Being able to talk about design with my group members in a lessstructured environment helped us brainstorm more freely and

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Wednesday Cornucopia (Educational Research)

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Karen E. Rambo-Hernandez, West Virginia University; Melissa Lynn Morris, West Virginia University; Anne Marie Aramati Casper, Colorado State University ; Robin A. M. Hensel, West Virginia University; Jeremy Clinton Schwartz, West Virginia University; Rebecca A. Atadero, Colorado State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

lower retention rates than theirmajority peers with similar grades and test scores [7]–[9]. Instead, problems with climate,teaching style, and misperceptions of students’ abilities by peers, faculty, and advisers, allinfluence the retention of students from under-represented groups [7]–[9]. While programs thatsupport under-represented students can be helpful, larger-scale systemic changes are needed atthe instructional and engineering culture level to address the “chilly climate” that some studentsface [9], [10].Recent work in the problem-solving fields has identified that diverse teams are better problemsolvers and innovators than homogenous teams, even if individual ability is lower on the diverseteams [4], [11]. Focusing on the importance of

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Work in Progress Postcard Session

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ramanitharan Kandiah P.E., Central State University; Krishna Kumar Nedunuri, Central State University; Edison Perdomo, Central State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

program requirementsand higher expectations of academic preparedness, particularly in mathematics and sciences. Asignificant number of students enrolled in a minority institution like a Historically Black Collegeand University (HBCU) are still first-generation college students in their families. Hence, thechallenges they have to overcome as the first-year students are greater than their peers. Thissituation warrants a first-year course that is specifically designed to help the first-year studentwho intends to pursue an engineering major to successfully navigate their academic life withinthe campus. The first-year students are challenged with a number of issues including financialmanagement, time management, student advising and alcohol, and drug

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Focusing on Student Success

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Natalie C.T. Van Tyne, Virginia Tech; Lisa D. McNair, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

useful todiscern how well our students could learn to reflect and think critically during their first year ofcollege, even with minimal guidance in reflection.Two theoretical models are useful when evaluating student performance on reflective learningtasks. The Perry Model of intellectual development [4], as interpreted by Pavelich and Moore[5] suggests that students with extensive practice in open-ended problem solving involvingreflection will be more successful than their peers. Similarly, the King and Kitchener ReflectiveJudgment Stages model [6] contains a scale which is useful for measuring increased complexityof reflective thinking over time, another indicator of future success. Both models emphasize thatknowledge is largely contextual

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Work in Progress Postcard Session

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jenahvive K. Morgan, Michigan State University; Roya Solhmirzaei, Michigan State University; Hadi Salehi, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

involve their experience with writing and programming, as well astheir university schedule and location. Based on the responses from these questions, each pair ofstudents are matched with another pair of students with complementary skills. Another uniquecharacteristic of this course involves students having the ability to change teams after the firstdesign project. Students may desire to change teams if they feel that the rest of their team isunderperforming, or if they feel that the other students on their team are overly demanding.These practices are informed by the above studies to encourage students to develop moredependent learning styles.A self-reporting measure of team performance was given to first-year engineering students toexamine

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Monday Cornucopia (Classroom Innovations)

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joshua L. Hertz, Northeastern University; Duncan Davis, Northeastern University; Brian Patrick O'Connell, Northeastern University; Constantine Mukasa, Northeastern University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

of therequired criteria for accreditation of engineering colleges [2]. Micheaelsen et al. [3] argued thatteam-based learning transforms the classroom experience into one that is enjoyable for bothinstructors and students.At the core of this pedagogy is the creation of effective teams to exploit the benefits of peer-to-peer interaction and instruction. Team formation is a complex task that has been extensivelystudied in psychology [4], management [5], and related fields [6]. In these studies, severalcharacteristics including prior knowledge, student’s skills, motivation, competence, homophily[4], diversity, familiarity with other students, personality, and scheduling, have been suggested tosignificantly influence the effectiveness of the team

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Work in Progress Postcard Session

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Sangster P.E., Northeastern University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

environment, and the expectation thattreating each student equally is the same as treating each student fairly, regardless of their priorknowledge. Returning to Greeno and Collins’ work, they write that a preponderance of studies ineducational psychology show that students’ ability to solve problems and learn new conceptsdepended heavily on what students already knew. [2] The difference between the haves and thehave-nots in terms of prior knowledge and ease of transition into college is a barrier, especiallywhen it reinforces the perceived lack of belonging by women and underrepresented minorities inengineering. The book Bandwidth Recovery by Verschelden directly addresses the impacts thatpoverty, racism, and social marginalization have on

Conference Session

The Best of First Year Programs: Best Paper Session

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joshua L. Hertz, Northeastern University; Noah Daviero, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

required, 4 credit-hour, first-yearengineering course at a medium-sized, private university. Course learning outcomes includedtopics in design and intellectual property, among a range of other foundational areas.Coursework included a major team-based, design-and-build project. This project had a slightlycompetitive aspect in that bonus points were awarded to the team that built the best project.Three years ago, one of the authors conceived and implemented a “class patent” system wherebyteams could write and submit an application to patent a project idea. By patenting an idea, a teamcould hope to gain competitive advantage in achieving the best project. As a pedagogical study, we sought to determine the effects of the class patent system

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Work in Progress Postcard Session

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lindsay Corneal, Grand Valley State University; Nicholas A. Baine, Grand Valley State University; Samhita Rhodes, Grand Valley State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

academic support on both campuses was also identifiedas a way to better provide access to academic resources. Drop-in tutoring with graduateassistants as well as peer tutors was organized on both campuses. The attendance at these drop-insessions is tracked for scheduling and assessment purposes.Through review of first year seminars, relevant topics and activities to help students developappropriate learning skills were identified [7-9]. These topics were prepared into a series ofmodules that could be used in a first-year seminar. To add a credit for a mandatory first-yearseminar required a broader overview of the engineering foundations courses (required forsecondary admission into the engineering programs). This review is being completed as part