Conference Session

Communication: From Pecha Kucha to Bullets

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Micah Hale, University of Arkansas; Richard A. Coffman, University of Arkansas

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

, outside of an English Composition or a Technical Communication course, these skillsare seldom directly addressed. Often the course subject matter, specifically in undergraduateengineering courses, dictate what is covered, and little additional time is available to discussthese topics. Even in graduate school, students may not begin writing until they have finishedtheir course work and have begun working on their thesis or dissertation.In Spring 2010, a graduate level course was offered and in this course, a writing componentcomprised a significant portion of their overall grade. Students wrote a state-of-the-art reviewpaper based on one of the course topics. Students also served as peer reviewers, submitted theirarticle to a journal, and

Conference Session

Why Industry Says that our Engineering Students Cannot Write

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeffrey A. Donnell, Georgia Institute of Technology; Betsy M. Aller, Western Michigan University; Michael Alley, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; April A. Kedrowicz, University of Utah

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society, Mechanical Engineering

deal of debugging. Gragson tells arepresentative story of a chemistry laboratory class that was modified in an effort to promotegeneral improvement in student writing skills by offering extended instruction on report writingand better writing feedback on graded reports.9 To meet these goals, the number of projectreports was reduced from 10 to 4, and the instructors created from scratch a writing manual foruse in the course. An elaborate peer-review process was also implemented, along with a systemfor assuring that students actually performed their peer-reviewing tasks. This paper judgesstudent performance to be satisfactory, but large questions remain open; student retention of thewriting lessons was not assessed in subsequent classes or in

Conference Session

Why Industry Says that our Engineering Students Cannot Write

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kathryn Mobrand, University of Washington; Jennifer A Turns, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society, Mechanical Engineering

their future professional lives. The ways in whichstudents attended to these dimensions of communication varied greatly between students.Introduction Strong communication skills can really make an engineer stand out among their peers, especially since engineers are known for their expertise and creativity, but lack of communication skills. Engineers that can communicate well are better collaborators, and often get more opportunities to shine, since they are usually the team member that presents work.The above quote, taken from a student portfolio, shows a recognition of the empowering natureof effective communication.In this paper we report on an exploratory study aimed at discovering the ways in whichengineering

Conference Session

Why Industry Says that our Engineering Students Cannot Write

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Scott Duncan, Valparaiso University; Mark M. Budnik, Valparaiso University; Jeffrey Will, Valparaiso University; Peter E. Johnson, Valparaiso University; Shahin S. Nudehi, Valparaiso University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society, Mechanical Engineering

course, itis also critical that students receive individual feedback to assess and improve theircommunication skills. Similar to most Senior Design courses, the VU course emphasizes teamperformance, and it has been determined that team assignments can mask communicationdeficiencies of individual students. This is especially prevalent in the area of technical writing Page 22.1135.4where the faculty advisor may not know the author of each paper section. Therefore, it isimportant to provide communication feedback to both teams and individuals.Multiple techniques are used to improve the consistency of faculty technical communicationfeedback. First

Conference Session

Rethinking PowerPoint and Other Acts of Communication

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

April A. Kedrowicz, University of Utah; Maria Dawn Blevins, University of Utah

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

expectations for the assignment, and review writing consultation sections the criteria for evaluation Contemporary Students prepare a 5 minute Communication instructors provide Students deliver presentations in small groups, Issues presentation that informs their audience instruction on organization, delivery, and receive feedback from peers and the Presentation about a contemporary civil engineering visual aids, discuss expectations for the communication instructor, and have the issue

Conference Session

Rethinking PowerPoint and Other Acts of Communication

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Laura R. Grossenbacher, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Christina Matta, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Technical Communication Program

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

Creating and integrating effective graphics Providing clear technical descriptions Providing logical transitions between ideas Unifying paragraphs Providing constructive criticism for peers Writing or presenting effectively as a team Listening and participating productively in a team meeting Thinking critically about political, social, and economic constraints Thinking critically about ethical ramifications Writing effective email Employing audience-appropriate tone and style Using proper grammar, punctuation, and spellingWe then asked our

Conference Session

Communication: From Pecha Kucha to Bullets

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Isabel Simões de Carvalho P.E., ISEL, Lisbon, Portugal; Christy Moore, University of Texas, Austin

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

class level.All inputs are analyzed and put into the place chosen by the learning community – thewhole class.The specific research assignment above mentioned is chosen from a list of Energy relatedtopics. This assignment goes on for six weeks with an online collaborative component.Students are requested to research, to engage in information management and validation,to establishing comparisons and decide on what works best in each case, share (facts andfigures) and discuss (supporting arguments) with their peers. At the end of the semesterthe students need to write a report and prepare a presentation to be delivered in-class forformative and summative assessment

Conference Session

Myths About Gender and Race

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carroll Suzanne Seron, University of California, Irvine; Erin A. Cech, University of California, San Diego; Susan S. Silbey, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Brian Rubineau, Cornell University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society, Minorities in Engineering, Women in Engineering

happy! (U37).Many of these young women also question whether engineering is a profession that will providethe space and time to find a balance between work and family. A woman at Smith asks, “Is anengineer allowed to be in love, be attracted to anyone, or better still, even have the time toengage in such wonderful human relationships?” (S03). Her counterpart at MIT echoes the Page 22.1719.9concerns of her peers when she writes, All my life, I‟ve been encouraged to not let being a female limit what I do; women like Sally Ride and Marie Curie were held up as role models and I was always told to pursue what I like and what I

Conference Session

Special Session: Moving Towards the Intended, Explicit, and Authentic: Addressing Critical Misalignments in Engineering Learning within Secondary and University Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kevin Anderson, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Sandra Shaw Courter, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Mitchell J. Nathan, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Amy C. Prevost, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Christine G. Nicometo, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Traci M. Nathans-Kelly, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Thomas Dean McGlamery, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Amy K. Atwood, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods, K-12 & Pre-College Engineering, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

University of Wisconsin - Madison, and a faculty fel- low at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) and the Center on Education and Work. Dr. Nathan studies the cognitive, embodied, and social processes involved in STEM reasoning, learn- ing and teaching, especially in mathematics and engineering classrooms and in laboratory settings, using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Dr. Nathan has secured over $20M in external re- search funds and has over 80 peer-reviewed publications in education and Learning Sciences research, as well as over 100 scholarly presentations to US and international audiences. He is Principal Investiga- tor or co-Principal Investigator of 5 active grants from NSF and the

Conference Session

Integration of Liberal Education into Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

K.L. Jordan, Michigan Technological University; Anahita Pakzad, Michigan Technological University; Renee Oats, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

class, while others justneed a book in hand) and that online learning makes it easier for students to cheat and gethigher grades compared to students in a traditional classroom setting. Comparing onlygrades is not conclusive. Students and faculty tend to believe that even if both groupsearn the same grades, long term retention is going to be higher in the students who sit in aclassroom and interact with others. Page 22.642.6Q8. Does internet based learning help foster strong peer-to-peer relationships andcollaboration?In general, students and faculty were neutral on this subject. They all agreed thatrelationships depend the individual, and that it is

Conference Session

Myths About Gender and Race

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amy E. Slaton, Drexel University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society, Minorities in Engineering, Women in Engineering

projects include the blog STEMequity.com, and a study, with sociologist Mary Ebeling, of economic equity in nanotechnology training and employment. She is also writing on distributions of blame between workers and materials for failures in contemporary building technologies, as economies of scale and automation continue their long incursion on the labor of commercial construction. Page 22.1061.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Metrics of Marginality: How Studies of Minority Self-Efficacy Hide Structural InequitiesAbstractIn ongoing

Conference Session

Ethical Perspectives on the Grand Challenges of Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Donna M Riley, Smith College

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

selection process? Does the prestige of the NAE, and of its members, lend grand-ness (orgrandiosity?) to the Challenges?At least some of the Grand Challenges relate very closely to the work of individual Committeemembers. For example, the emphasis on personalized medicine in Engineer Better Medicinesreflects Craig Venter’s interest in innovation in this area, exemplified by his controversialpublication of his own genome.22 Managing the Nitrogen Cycle is a passion of Rob Socolow,whose work is cited in the write-up.23 He is also deeply involved with Carbon Sequestration,another one of the Challenges, where he is cited again.24 This raises a question about framing –why the heavy emphasis on personalized medicine in Engineer Better Medicines? Why

Conference Session

Liberal Education Revisited: Five Historical Perspectives

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Heywood, Trinity College, Dublin

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

important [16]. Evidently as Davies (8 p 94) deducedheadmasters believed universities promoted some kind of social intercourse that was notpresent in the CATs.Whatever else it is, a liberal education is not a specialization. Technology is aspecialization so whatever differentiates a university student of technology from atechnological student in a technical college it is something other than the study oftechnology. Whatever it is, it contributes to the student‟s development as a gentlemanirrespective of what he studies. “It seeks” as Davies writes, “to confer on its recipients afreedom of mind which those who do not possess this advantage will not exhibit.” Thusthe technical college student is in a certain kind of bondage because his studies do

Conference Session

Liberal Education Poster Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Smitesh Bakrania, Rowan University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

presentation. Animportant strategy to enforce rehearsing involved pairing students to peer-evaluate theirpresentations prior to final delivery. This was in addition to a short animated video ‘Get Preparedto Present Well’ produced specifically for the course, along with a check list, to emphasize thekey techniques. A pre- and post-survey was conducted to benchmark presentation skills anddetermine how regimented rehearsing affected their delivery. When rehearsed, the studentsclearly saw an improvement in their performances and as a result developed a strongappreciation for the importance of practicing. However, the study also identified that when theassignment is demanding and time is limited, practice is first to be sacrificed.IntroductionABET

Conference Session

Integration of Liberal Education into Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Vassilios Tzouanas, University of Houston, Downtown; Lea Campbell, University of Houston, Downtown

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

engineer in the group. d) At the next design meeting, focus the agenda on the impact of J. T.‟s behavior on the success of the project and threaten to speak with the project manager if he does not “shape up.” e) Have another senior-level engineer in the group have a private conversation with J. T. about his work.The final unit looks at the nuances of teaming within a virtual environment in which fellow teammembers may be located in a distant country and may come from diverse backgrounds. Toolswhich can be used to support and enhance virtual collaboration are explored. Discussion boardsand collaborative writing and editing within a course management program or via a documentediting program like Google Docs are used to

Conference Session

Integration of Liberal Education into Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George D. Ricco, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

seminal work left unread by engineers dabbling in phenomenology and existentialism.(20) Aswith some great works, the actual writings of Husserl on philosophy are as revealing as how heoutlines previous philosophies to differentiate himself. Husserl argues that there are fourimportant revolutions in history of thought: Socratic/Platonic arguments based on logos and itssubsequent development into scientific thought; the Cartesian revolution; the transcendentalrevolution of Kant, whereby the only source of necessity is subjectivity and thus followsknowledge; and finally, the phenomenological revolution, which incorporates the form of andcontent of acts of knowing into a subjective framework. Descartes, according to Husserl’s history, believes

Conference Session

Making Students Aware of Their World: Five Perspectives

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cherrice Traver, Union College; Douglass Klein, Union College; Borjana Mikic, Smith College; Atsushi Akera, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Steven B. Shooter, Bucknell University; Ari W. Epstein, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; David Gillette, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

break free of disciplinary constraints andreconfigure one’s own knowledge with the knowledge of others.15, 33, 41, 107, 113 Thus, both domainknowledge and integrative experience are important antecedents of innovation.One of the most powerful effects of E&LE integration is that of collective intelligence. Page88shows that in many situations calling for innovative solutions, who you know turns out to trumpwhat you know, and Reich93 has noted that in the modern world, successful new ventures requirea team; what he refers to as “collective entrepreneurship.” Leonard and Sensiper write, “Creativeideas do not arise spontaneously from the air but are born out of conscious, semiconscious, andunconscious mental sorting, grouping, matching, and

Conference Session

Rethinking PowerPoint and Other Acts of Communication

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christine G. Nicometo, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Traci M. Nathans-Kelly, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

Wisconsin–Madison Traci Nathans-Kelly earned her PhD in 1997. At that time, she was also the Program Director for the Sci- entific and Technical Communication BS degree at the University of Minnesota, Crookston. She came to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to teach in the College of Engineering’s Technical Communication program, the Masters of Engineering inProfessional Practice program, and the Masters of Engineering in Engine Systems program. She instructs a variety of topics, including technical communication (graduate and undergraduate), technical presentations (graduate and undergraduate), technical editing, writing user manuals, and other courses. She is active in the Society for Technical Communication (STC) as

Conference Session

Liberal Education Revisited: Five Historical Perspectives

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Atsushi Akera, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

the idea that, “an engineer should be able to write welland speak effectively, that he should be able to win friends and influence people”; and againstsuperficial definitions that amounted to a “finishing school” concept of general education inwhich engineers were given “a cultural veneer designed to make the engineer acceptable in politesociety.” It also warned against overly ambitious statements that expressed the “faith that a fewcourses in the humanities and social sciences can provide health and emotional adjustment,personal and social success, clarity of thought, moral integrity, civic responsibility, aestheticsensitivity, professional vision, and in general a kind of serenity and wisdom we had thoughtreserved for Providence alone.”24