withactual engineering projects to show students how intricately linked communication andteamwork skills are with engineering problem solving and design. Much emphasis is placed onsenior capstone courses, as this meets the immediate demand of preparing graduating seniors forthe non-technical aspects of their careers. In contrast, freshman classes receive less attention interms of their position to “set the tone” for the coupling of communication and engineering,likely because the demands placed on freshman engineering classes are already high. They serveas a recruitment tool, pique interest in engineering, expose students to the many and varied areasof concentration in the discipline, and perhaps, introduce students to engineering projects andbasic
in engineering capstonecourses as they form teams, seek professional positions in the workplace, and/or make decisionsto continue on to graduate school during their last year of undergraduate studies. Further, understanding persistence of Latinx is particularly imperative given that they arethe nation’s largest minority group and among its fastest growing populations [3]. As such, thisresearch project will contribute to the national conversation on broadening participation ofLatinx. The site of this research investigation is “Border University” (BU), which serves alargely Mexican-origin population in a region of Texas with one of the lowest median incomes[4]. In particular, we focus on the senior capstone course where students work in
, her research spans education and practice, working on the integration of community research into project based learning. Her work overlaps areas of GIS mapping, global sustainable urbanism, design and creativity.Dr. Andrew N Quicksall c American Society for Engineering Education, 2019 Deep Observation: Geo-Spatial Mapping as a Strategy for Site-Engagement and Problem-DesignAbstractWhile project-based learning powerfully brings students into real world economic andenvironmental contexts, a subject-oriented approach to such work means that they are often ableto remain aloof from real stakeholder engagement and participation, even when working on alocal site [1]. Given
ProblemDefinition-HCPD; 2) rapidly construct and test concepts to foster a strong feedback loopbetween students and NGO partners in the course Projects for People-PfP; and 3) developdesign solutions that can be implemented by NGOs in the communities where they workthrough the Engineering for Community Development Capstone Design course.5.1.1 Human-Centred Problem Definition (HCPD)HCPD equips students with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to identify, define, and beginsolving real problems, for real people, within the socio-technical ambiguity that surrounds allengineering problems. By the end of the course, students are able to recognize designproblems around them, determine whether they are worth solving, and employ design tools tocreate multiple
Spring 2010, a baselinemeasure was taken of capstone design project reports. The evaluation team consisted of onemechanical engineering faculty (a disciplinary "insider") and two experts in college-level writing(disciplinary "outsiders"). Design reports were rated on a two point scale (“sufficient” or“insufficient”) using criteria derived from the list of desired writing abilities. Included in theresults were that students were most successful in applying knowledge of physics, mathematicsand engineering to their writing (rated sufficient in more than 80% of the samples) and leastsuccessful in summarizing key points (rated sufficient in less than 40% of the samples).Every six years the mechanical engineering undergraduate program goes through
Paper ID #12608Students Writing for Professional Practice: A Model for Collaboration amongFaculty, Practitioners and Writing SpecialistsProf. Susan Conrad, Portland State University Susan Conrad, Ph.D., is a Professor of Applied Linguistics and head of the Civil Engineering Writing Project. She has written numerous articles and books about English grammar, discourse, and corpus linguistics.Dr. William A Kitch P.E., California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Dr. Kitch is a Professor of Civil Engineering at Cal Poly Pomona. Before starting his academic career he spent 24 years as a practicing engineer in both the
], [2] stressed the need for engineers to possessleadership abilities. The former emphasized engineering graduates “must understand theprinciples of leadership and be able to practice them in growing proportions as their careersadvance. Additionally, the latter report stated, “it is becoming increasingly recognized that it isimportant to introduce engineering activities, including team-based design projects … early inthe undergraduate experience.” Curricular approaches that engage students in team exercises, inteam design courses, and in courses that connect engineering design and solutions to real-worldproblems demonstrate the social relevance of engineering. However, the designs of theseapproaches and assessment of their effectiveness are not
ePortfolio; Engineering N/ACapstone taken simultaneously with a capstone design courseDesign Engineering/ Critique & Practice Incorporates all skills learned in the minor in aCapstone Various in Design & Arts team project A pervasive challenge of developing a minor like the IPM is communicating clearlyacross disciplines. Because the IPM core sequence includes courses from three differentcolleges, the faculty teaching these courses have had to work closely to negotiate terminologyand outcomes throughout the minor. One example of this is the term “design,” which can beviewed differently
curriculum.Even more modest approaches to improved technical writing skills of engineering students have been utilized withmeasurable improvements. The United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) developed an engineering technicalstyle writing guide in conjunction with the university writing center6. Similarly, Embry-Riddle AeronauticalUniversity developed a style guide in conjunction with humanities and communications faculty7. The University ofMaine has developed a partnership between the Civil Engineering Department and the English Department toimprove the technical laboratory writing skills of freshmen students8. The University of Houston9 has developed apartnership between its writing center and a multidisciplinary engineering capstone course in order
Writing ProgramIn Fall 2016, the ME department began an embedded technical writing project that would giveME students sustained exposure to writing concepts and practice. From a single class in Fall2016 (Basic CAD, taken in first semester of Freshman year), the project has grown to encompassfour additional classes, which are discussed later and span first- through third-year courses. Inaddition, technical writing instructors have been involved in coaching Capstone students in their 1fourth year. All five embedded classes are co-taught by engineering and technical writinginstructors.In 2021, the second cohort of four-years exposed to the four-year
anexample conversation loosely synthesized from an engineering senior capstone project (detailschanged) follow: Person A: We're falling behind on our capstone project. I really don't think the software platform we're designing is appropriate for the high school students we are supposedly making it for, and want to switch to a more beginner-friendly programming language for them, but we're already two weeks behind and my teammates just want to keep going... (continues describing the issue, then steps back for B and C to discuss) Person B: It sounds like A feels like she should be working extra hours outside of class to prototype the project in a different language so she can show her team it works
to social responsibility, but theydon’t examine how faculty or departments believe that they are influencing such views. At the17 institutions surveyed, it would be beneficial for departments to see where their students saidthey were influenced and compare that to where they thought they were affecting student views.Departments could assess if the first-year or capstone projects were influencing the ethicaldevelopment that they expect. Possible single time interventions on ethical or professionalresponsibility are not enough to provide lasting impressions on students such that they wouldhighlight that course years later. This could be an impetus to change such approaches to ethicseducation. More broadly, this work provides a useful approach
CommentsThis paper describes an instructional innovation designed to promote revision of interdisciplinarydesign proposals collaboratively authored by student teams participating in capstone seniordesign courses. Just as students from different engineering disciplines worked together to designand continually refine their projects, faculty from different disciplines worked together withindustry partners to help the students see revision as an integral component of the design process.Communication is an important workplace skill, particularly in the sciences where skilledprofessionals need to communicate complex information to a wide range of audiences. Engineersespecially have long emphasized the need for strong communication skills and they continue
experimental section had aparti pris pedagogy [31] with a reverse content sequence where the central big ideas ofarchitectural structures preceded their refinement into statics and mechanics. The instructionalmethod is traditional lecture via marker on whiteboard. The learning outcomes are primarilyhomework and examinations. The assessment follows an absolute grading system [27, p. 433]. Capstone Architectural Structures The course originally had a researchemphasis due to the accreditation shift to the five-year Master of Architecture degree. Theresearch projects commonly dealt with building failures and natural disasters [32]. Theinstructional method was discussion [33]. The student work was posters and scholarly papers inthe case
students improve their technical writing skills. Thispaper details a comprehensive study of a GTA training program implemented in a largemechanical engineering department. Situated within the field of Writing Across theCurriculum/Writing in the Disciplines, the program was developed to meet the unique needs ofthe department’s GTAs and address perceived deficiencies in undergraduate student writing byteaching best practices in writing evaluation. Two methods were used to assess the efficacy ofthis program: 1) Qualitative methods such as interviews and an open-ended survey were used togain the perspective of the GTAs and their students on a variety of issues; and 2) A summativeassessment compared Senior Capstone Design final reports completed prior
practiceSeveral engineers specifically sought out this course since it provided an opportunity to doproject-based learning. April, who was the only female engineer in the course, purposelyenrolled since she wanted to do more projects instead of “theoretical stuff.” She had beendisappointed with the lack of hands-on projects in her engineering program and did not want towait until her capstone to develop project-based experience. Working in an art-based projectprovided her an opportunity to shift her focus from function to aesthetics. In addition, working inthe art space allowed engineers to do projects that they could not do in a traditional engineerspace, such as casting a molding, which were deemed as too messy for the engineering building.Humanizing
, and type of reflection: how reflection is being operationalized. As aresult of our findings, it is evident that there has been a significant and recognizable upwardtrend in the explicit attention to reflection across the body of the ASEE conference publications.Understanding the trends of reflection across literature can help us further analyze its prevalenceand importance in the engineering education community.IntroductionIn engineering education, there has been an increase in pedagogical approaches that positionstudents at the center of the teaching practice, like problem-based learning, project-basedcourses, and capstone design courses.1,2,3 Such pedagogical approaches often engender reflectionby engaging students in reflection activities
discussion pedagogy (Barnes et al.1994). We wish to synergistically combine the two pedagogies and the two learning paradigmsin our program by (1) having faculty members develop multi-disciplinary case studies (perhapswith the aid of MS theses students), (2) using these as scaffolding examples for students in multi-disciplinary teams at the junior level, and (3) measuring the improvement in a student’smetacognition process when the student undertakes a capstone team project in a later semester(Bransford et al, 2000).Theoretical Basis:Conceptualization of active student engagement (ASE) is associated with a critical reflection onknowledge gains including theoretical premises such as motivation; building results-orientedmindset, “learning in context
application of teaming skills. Courses whichencompass a major team engineering project are a natural point in the curriculum to includeteaming instruction.Because of these constraints, the curriculum which is described in this paper is designed to beinterspersed within the existing coursework of a senior seminar or capstone course whichincludes a major team project as its focus. The tradeoff with this approach is that the teaminginformation presented must be limited to what is most salient and necessary for graduates on thecusp of entering the work force. Students are provided with targeted readings in an effort toprovide an additional degree of depth.The eight teaming lessons outlined in the curriculum in Appendix A are designed to be presentedas
– engineering situation. Some decisions are Design a pumping system to fill a rooftop Sophomore, Fall required to develop the model or use the water storage tank, optimizing pipe size model to optimize a design. with economic constraints. ELEC 3371: Computer 2 project reports documenting project Interface microcontrollers for serial Engineering Lab work done in course. Projects involve communication and interrupt based timer. Course – Junior Year, microcontroller interfacing. Fall ELEC 4497: Capstone Collaboratively authored engineering Design audio amplifier, quad-copter, Design Course – Senior design proposal in the fall. wireless power
social welfare history, and service-learning. Her research interests are guided by two over- arching themes, social work education and the culture of the profession, and generally fall within three domains: professional socialization, educational innovations, and educational outcomes. Some specific projects in which she’s currently engaged explore questions of professional socialization; professional self-care; critical thinking as a process and outcome; social work’s environmental paradigm; and trans- disciplinary educational approaches. She’s currently collaborating with colleagues from engineering to develop trans-disciplinary approaches to education for reflective practice in a global society, and with colleagues
energy devices, fluid dynamics… Capstone eng Senior design design (CDsn) Other leadership, entrepreneurship, business, project Coaching for engineers management, seminar (I3), professional issues (I5) ^ Courses not listed among those that contributed to ethicsFor courses that impacted ethical development, about half of all alumni identified a course withethics in the title. This included three of the exemplar courses (at I1, I2, and I8). Some studentslisted multiple ethics courses. HSS courses were listed by about a third of the alumni asimpacting ethical development, with course titles commonly
through a capstone project, thesis, or other participatory design process inwhich students engage with stakeholders ([22] see also [23] [24]). In these, material dealing withethics is not considered separate from the main topics of the engineering course, but instead asinextricably related to it as blood is when infused into a human body. Infusions of ethics mayentail complicated course planning that can be a challenge for educators who are inexperiencedin method and topic areas, but they can nonetheless be strong options for helping engineeringstudents see ethical implications in their work.A “high dose” of ethics, on the other hand, might entail a larger-scale endeavor such as adedicated course of study focused explicitly on engineering ethics
experiences.Dr. Marie C Paretti, Virginia Tech Marie C. Paretti is an Associate Professor of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech, where she co- directs the Virginia Tech Engineering Communications Center (VTECC). Her research focuses on com- munication in engineering design, interdisciplinary communication and collaboration, design education, and gender in engineering. She was awarded a CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation to study expert teaching in capstone design courses, and is co-PI on numerous NSF grants exploring com- munication, design, and identity in engineering. Drawing on theories of situated learning and identity development, her work includes studies on the teaching and learning of communication
Army Airfield, Savannah, Georgia.Lt. Col. Brian J. Novoselich, United States Military Academy Brian Novoselich is an active duty Army Lieutenant Colonel currently serving as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at the United States Military Academy (West Point). He earned his Ph.D. in Engineering Education at Virginia Tech in 2016. He holds Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and West Point respectively. His research interests include capstone design teaching and assessment, undergraduate engineering stu- dent leadership development, and social network analysis. He is also a licensed professional engineer in the
, she has been involved in research projects to develop, refine, and apply innovative assessment tools for characterizing student knowledge of sustainability. Her ultimate goal is to use this assessment data to guide the design and evaluation of educational interventions to improve undergraduate sustainability education. In the area of bioprocessing, Dr. Watson has experience using bacteria and algae to convert waste materials into high-value products, such as biofuels.Joshua Pelkey, AirWatch Joshua Pelkey is currently a product manager at AirWatch in Atlanta, GA. He completed his MS in Elec- trical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech and his BS in Computer Engineering from Clemson University. He has
Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life and the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach at Tufts. His current engineering education research interests focus on community engagement, service-based projects and examining whether an entrepreneurial mindset can be used to further engineering education innovations. He also does research on the development of reuse strategies for waste materials. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2018 Faculty Perceptions of the Most Effective Settings and Approaches for Educating Engineering and Computing Students About Ethics and Societal ImpactsAbstractTeaching students about ethical responsibilities and the societal
analysis for ongoing CETL projects. His master’s thesis is an analysis of choice and player narratives in video game storytelling.Dr. Judith Shaul Norback, Georgia Institute of Technology Dr. Judith Shaul Norback, Ph.D. is faculty and the Director of Workplace and Academic Communication in the Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. She has developed and provided instruction for students in industrial engineering and biomedical engineering and has advised on oral communication instruction at many other universities. The Workplace Communica- tion Lab she founded in 2003 has had over 19,000 student visits. As of Spring 2013, she has shared her instructional materials with
ultimately design for.” In a review ofempathy in philosophical and psychological literature, the authors recognize theempathizer’s cognition and identity formation. However, this focus on the empathizer’s(designer’s) inner life did not translate into pedagogical practice in the capstone projects,where empathy was once again operationalized as an instrument for data collection.Speaking of the projects—designing for users with disability, the authors concluded,“[r]egular exposure to handicapped users, their limitations, and how these impact theirability to perform daily tasks, can provide useful data”[22]. When empathic design is translated into a method for user observation, the focus isoften placed on an exclusive, two-entity relationship: the
cooperative, project-based integrative and interdisciplinary learning. Although aproposed AB program in engineering was neither successful nor sustained, this institutionalsensibility is still reflected in WPI practices at the course level (e.g. [13]) as well as larger-scaleinitiatives.Since the late-1960s moment at which boundary-transgressing programs like the WPI Plan andLafayette College’s AB in Engineering (which later became a program in Engineering Studies)curriculum were launched, disciplinary boundaries have remained strong, sometimes even beingfortified on campuses. Integrative activities flourished only on the margins of traditionaldisciplines, rarely offered much institutional nourishment or light (e.g. [7]). Even at HarveyMudd, the