Conference Session

Improving the Teaching Skills of Graduate Students

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mary Lynn Brannon, Pennsylvania State University; Sarah Zappe, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

Observation Project assignment. This Alternate Assignment requires thestudent to attend a teaching and learning workshop or write a paper based on a pedagogicalarticle that they found in an engineering journal such as the Journal for Engineering Education.Because it is important for the student to practice giving a presentation to a group, the studentpresents to the class on the topic they selected for this assignment. This ensures that the non-teaching student has an opportunity to be observed and receive feedback from their peers in theclass. The instructor gives feedback as well in summary statements after the students arefinished.The three assignments, Peer Observation Project, Teaching Observation Project, and the

Conference Session

Graduate Student Experiences

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jin-Hwan Lee, Georgia Institute of Technology; Carla Purdy, University of Cincinnati; Ian Papautsky, University of Cincinnati

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

who worked as teaching assistants for a laboratory class discussedteaching skills and safety issues in laboratory classes. In the final course, The AcademicProfession, the academic job search process and writing actual job applications were explored.The samples of cover letter, curriculum vita, statement about teaching, and statement aboutresearch from the PFF coordinator helped us prepare our applications. Peer reviews wereperformed, with the students giving useful feedback to each other. Student members whoalready had finished their final defense and tried to find a position discussed their experiences.The offered forums with faculty and students offered very helpful discussions of pedagogicalethics, faculty roles, and responsibilities

Conference Session

Improving the Teaching Skills of Graduate Students

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Erin Crede, Virginia Tech; Maura Borrego, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

an academic career. The GTFprogram currently being assessed was designed to combine elements from other successful Page 14.975.3programs into a holistic approach to graduate student training that focuses on the integration ofteaching, research and service. The research questions will be investigated using the concept of a community of practice11, 12 to address the mentoring and teaching communities, as well as the social and academicinteraction of the fellows with their mentors and peers. The final question concerning thepreparation of fellows for faculty careers will be addressed using the model of a “steward of thediscipline

Conference Session

Graduate Student Experiences

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Catherine Hovell, University of Texas, Austin; Kimberly Talley, University of Texas, Austin; Kathy Schmidt, University of Texas, Austin

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

joining a research project at FSEL, a new student is assigned a desk looking out over thelab floor. For new masters’ students, the desk is located in a “bullpen” style (or cubical-farm, ifyou’d rather) room – a large room divided into five short isles with two to four desks per aisle.This personal space is highly beneficial to a new student: not only does it provide an out-of-home location to work on schoolwork, but the student is surrounded by his or her peers, who arealso newcomers to the program.A small conference room is also available to the students, which aids in teamwork for groupprojects. The room isn’t very fancy, but has enough space for five or six students to cometogether and talk, with a white-board for writing up ideas. A printer

Conference Session

Methods and Techniques in Graduate Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Brooks, Temple University; Berk Ayranci, Temple University; Keerthi V. Takkalapelli, Temple University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

within the scope of the syllabus for the course. In this study, a courserepeated over three years was considered. Students were directed to undertake engineeringdesigns in specialized areas of transportation engineering, technology and management. Designtopics related to these areas ranged from Flexible Pavements, Rigid Pavements, Asphalt PavingTechnology and Pavement Rehabilitation, to Signalized Traffic Intersections. These topicscovered not only conventional transportation systems but also intelligent transportation systems.The students’ presentations were peer-graded.The extent of improvement in design, discovery, and learning was documented extensively byapplying appropriate statistical tests. Assessment, grading formula and results are

Conference Session

Improving the Teaching Skills of Graduate Students

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Anna Fox, Drexel University; David Delaine, Drexel University; Adam Fontecchio, Drexel University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

satisfying the department that oversees the course. This type of nontraditionalgraduate education has the potential to strongly improve graduate student communication andleadership skills while teaching important educational development tactics and can contribute inthe decision to pursue an academic career. Implementing a Ph.D. student teaching program is animprovement to the traditional doctoral curriculum and will strongly enhance studentcommunication and mentoring skills.Past approaches to educating graduate students in undergraduate engineering curriculum designand instruction have been offered in the form of classes focusing on this topic1. Anotherapproach uses teaching assistant peer mentors for helping in the growth and development of the

Conference Session

Mentoring Graduate Students

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tonya Saddler, Northwestern University; Elizabeth Creamer, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

) the student’s researchinterests1 . Still others contend that these limitations in the training of doctoral students are notlikely to change because they have worked well for tenured faculty members in the past14 .Conceptual Framework The Graduate and Professional Student Socialization Model7 offers the mostcomprehensive framework for understanding the socialization process for doctoral students. Itsuggests that graduate students are socialized in their departments and respective fields as theylearn the knowledge and skills needed to be successful in their programs and fields, interact withfaculty members and peers, and become involved in various activities within their fields7. Figure1 displays the conceptual model. One of the core

Conference Session

Measuring Success of Graduate Program Components

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mysore Narayanan, Miami University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

senior member of IEEE and is a member of ASME, SIAM, ASEE and AGU. He is actively involved in CELT activities and regularly participates and presents at the Lilly Conference. He has been the recipient of several Faculty Learning Community awards. He is also very active in assessment activities and has presented more than a dozen papers at various Assessment Institutes. His posters in the areas of Bloom’s Taxonomy and Socratic Inquisition have received widespread acclaim from several scholars in the area of Cognitive Science and Educational Methodologies. He has received the Assessment of Critical Thinking Award twice and is currently working towards incorporating writing assessments that

Conference Session

Measuring Success of Graduate Program Components

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wendy Crone, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Raelyn Rediske, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Steve Ackerman, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Sharon Dunwoody, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

nonscientific audiences,” specifically policymakers and business leaders18. Warren, Weiss,Wolfe, Friedlander, and Lewenstein sum the message up by writing: “[a] cultural shift is under way,reflecting the higher stakes of research, and an increased recognition by scientists, stakeholders, andpolicymakers that (i) scientists need to get their message out, (ii) scientists need training to learn how todo so, and (iii) training should begin at the graduate level”19 . In a recent editorial in Science, AlanLeshner, the chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science(AAAS), has echoed this call20. By offering training at the graduate level, one could conceivably reach allfuture scientists, and that effect would trickle up as