Conference Session

Approaches to Learning Outcomes Assessment in Liberal Education

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lorraine Fleming, Howard University; Kami Carey, Howard University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.Kami Carey, Howard University KAMI CAREY is a Ph.D candidate at Howard University in the department of Communications and Culture. Her research interest include identifying ideologies and identities of Black sojourners. She plans to teach at Southern Polytechnic State University in the Fall of 2007. Page 12.1458.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 The Road to the Global Engineer: Using Liberal Arts Prerequisites Effectively in Engineering DesignAbstract This paper examines the role liberal arts education plays in providing theengineering

Conference Session

Liberal Education for 21st Century Engineering

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nadia Kellam, University of Georgia; Joachim Walther, University of Georgia; Tracie Costantino, University of Georgia; Bonnie Cramond, University of Georgia

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

(Freshmen). The main objective of the first year of the Synthesis andDesign Studio is to introduce engineering undergraduate students to design through anexperiential group design experience and to teach them observation, modeling, the use ofmetaphors, and creative thinking strategies through an ill-structured sustainability design project.Management and Communication (Sophomores). The second year of the Synthesis and DesignStudio will continue with project-based learning and will focus on learning strategies formanaging teams that are working on large-scale, complex issues. Within their design project, thestudents will develop a business plan that includes scope, time, performance, and teammanagement. The course is intended to develop students

Conference Session

Innovative Courses/Pedagogies in Liberal Education II

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George Catalano, State University of New York, Binghamton

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

fossil fuels.Students were asked to select a product or a process which they had a great interest in or feltpassionate about and perform a detailed LCA analysis. The diversity of the items selected wereamazing…enlightening? The items ranged from a Rubik’s cube to a skateboard to a computergaming box to a Buddhist monk’s robe. ≠ Introduction to Soft System Methodologies (SSM)Primarily Checkland and Wilson developed Soft Systems Methodology from earlier systemsengineering approaches.9,10 The primary use of SSM is in the analysis of complex situationswhere there are divergent views about the definition of the problem — "soft problems" (e.g. Howto improve health services delivery; How to manage disaster planning; When should mentallydisordered

Conference Session

Learning to Communicate with Engineers and Non-Engineers

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Leslie Potter, Iowa State University; John Jackman, Iowa State University; K. Jo Min, Iowa State University; Matthew Search, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

, (2) Formulation, (3) Creation, (4) Delivery, and (5) Assessment. Studentsparticipate in multimodal communication exercises that require ongoing practice and applicationof this process. This paper describes why the course was developed, the premise of the course,course content and logistics, examples and assessment of student work and perceptions, andfuture plans for long term impact and course/curriculum assessment.IntroductionSince 2000 when ABET identified outcome item (g) [students will have an ability tocommunicate effectively], academia has increasingly formalized its concurrence with industrythat effective professional communication skills are necessary for the successful engineer. 1 AsShuman et al. have described, the set of ABET

Conference Session

Liberal Education for 21st Century Engineering

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Heywood, Trinity College Dublin

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

necessary to make onefurther point about the practice of change that is often overlooked and that is the role ofthose in power. Very often those with the power authorise an individual(s) to makechanges but do not subsequently give them the support they need. The respondents tochange need to see that those with power support the change wholeheartedly and providethe resources for it to be brought about.20Toward curriculum changeIn general, therefore, curriculum change is more likely to be internalised when it is seen Page 15.1.6to be plausible, and planned to take place in small steps that are seen to be naturaldevelopments, one following from the other

Conference Session

Redefining the Boundaries of Engineering and Liberal Education: Contributions to the Year of Dialogue

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Grimson, Dublin Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

ranking for the ‘relevancy’ (High, Medium, Low). It is stressedhere that the exercise was a limited one and included engineers in Ireland only and those with atleast ten years of experience. A more formal exercise is planned which will include engineers at Page 12.1453.5various stages of development and involve a number of countries in Europe and North America.For the present, the results obtained from the exercise give a strong indication that the branchesof philosophy are indeed considered relevant to engineering and the overall conclusions aresummarized as follows: 1. Ethics: The highest ranking (High) was given by all respondents to Ethics

Conference Session

Beyond Individual Ethics: Engineering in Context

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dean Nieusma, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

AC 2008-1891: INTEGRATING TECHNICAL, SOCIAL, AND AESTHETICANALYSIS IN THE PRODUCT DESIGN STUDIO: A CASE STUDY AND MODELFOR A NEW LIBERAL EDUCATION FOR ENGINEERSDean Nieusma, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Dean Nieusma’s research and teaching focus on interdisciplinary design collaboration and the expertise that enables it. With a BS in mechanical engineering and another in general studies and a PhD in interdisciplinary social sciences, Dean has worked as a member of design teams in contexts as diverse as the U.S. and European automotive industries; Sri Lanka’s renewable energy sector; and STS, engineering, and design curriculum planning. He teaches across Rensselaer’s Product Design and

Conference Session

Innovative Courses/Pedagogies in Liberal Education II

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Katherine Wikoff, Milwaukee School of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

the Criterion 3(i)outcome in a way that goes beyond traditional ideas of continuing education. Applyingthe lessons learned from creative communities may help.What causes a place to become a creative center? How does innovation happen? If“creativity” is a behavior, which is how the field of psychology describes it, then can thisbehavior be learned? Can creativity be taught? Can it be assessed?Ideas for incorporating the lessons of creative communities into assessment plans fall intotwo categories: 1) design of the learning experience and 2) design of the performancecritera and assessment measures. Because these ideas are still at the work-in-progressstage, they are subjects for discussion more fully in a future paper. However, thefollowing

Conference Session

Communication and Collaboration

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sally Blomstrom, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; Hak Tam, University of California, Santa Barbara

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

accountability.The overall assessment plan included direct and indirect measures gathered as formative andsummative assessments using quantitative and qualitative assessments [3]. The portion of theplan presented in this paper is a quantitative, indirect assessment used as a pretest and posttest.We recognized the importance of alignment [4] and examined the university’s mission, thegeneral education goals, and the student learning outcomes for the course. The instrument usedin this study was developed to align with the course outcomes and the course content. Evaluationforms used by the instructor, the student for her/his own reflection, peers, and audience memberswere developed to reflect the same criteria. The instrument reported on in this paper

Conference Session

Normative Commitments and Public Engagement in Engineering

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George Catalano, State University of New York, Binghamton; Caroline Baillie, Western Australia; Donna Riley, Smith College; Dean Nieusma, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Chris Byrne, Cascadia Community College; Margaret Bailey, Rochester Institute of Technology; Katy Haralampides, University of New Brunswick

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

respondfavorably. We plan on gathering additional longitudinal data detailing the progress of thedifferent cohorts of students as they progress through their undergraduate programs.AcknowledgementThe detailed course modules have been produced through the generous support of thePennsylvania/New York Campus Compact Consortium through the Learn & Serve America,Building on Our Strengths grant. We would especially like to thank Dr. Charlene Grey, Director,PACC, Dr. James Heffernan, retiring Director NYCC and Kate Dantsin, formerly of PACC.References 1. Adams, W.M. (2006). "The Future of Sustainability: Re-thinking Environment and Development in the Twentyfirst Century." Report of the IUCN Renowned Thinkers Meeting, 29–31 January, 2006 2. Ed

Conference Session

Liberal Education Division Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carole Goodson, University of Houston; Susan Miertschin, University of Houston; Barbara Stewart, University of Houston; Luces Faulkenberry, University of Houston; Curtis Johnson, University of Houston

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

electrical power industry linkages with otherindustries and relationships with state and local governmental bodies are illustrated by anexercise in planning the construction of an electrical power transmission line.The course requires a term paper on some aspect of the electrical power industry and an in-classpresentation on the paper. The paper topic can be some aspect of the history of electrical power,including people who contributed in a fundamental way to the industry; a technical topic, such asdevelopments in generation, power system protection, ac or dc transmission, or distribution ofsubstations; electrical power practices and regulation in other countries; major electrical powerprojects including those undertaken by governments; or a

Conference Session

Liberal Education for 21st Century Engineering

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Grondin, Arizona State University; Chell Roberts, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

level of in-migration occurs. One way of visualizing this is to picture a program ashaving a process window. The pipeline strategy is to focus more students into a narrowwindow whereas our goal is to seek ways to appropriately broaden the window.While our initial student body was too small to allow us to develop statistics, our first 15graduates included individual students described below: • One student started in college as a communications major and dropped out. They then supported themselves by playing in a heavy metal band. This student joined our program after the band broke-up; • About 5 students over the age of 30; • Another student who plans on going to law school (political science was this student’s

Conference Session

Approaches to Learning Outcomes Assessment in Liberal Education

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kyle Oliver, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Traci Nathans-Kelly; Sandra Courter, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Laura Grossenbacher, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

helpstudents better succeed with Outcomes 4–5. The authors discuss future plans for the course aswell as exportable lessons for those interested in trying to find a place for similar courses at theirown institutions. Throughout the paper, the authors also argue that flexible, interdisciplinary,student-centered discussion courses like this one have the potential to teach some of the ABETprofessional skills in way that students and faculty alike will find refreshing, exciting, andeffective.IntroductionIn his “Ethics Instruction in Engineering Education: A (Mini) Meta-Analysis”1 David Hawsexamines 42 papers on the subject of engineering ethics instruction, all of them from the ASEEannual conference proceedings, 1996-1999. His paper identifies six common

Conference Session

Tree-huggers, Diggers, and Queers--Oh my!

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dean Nieusma, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

  2008 for the Fall term  2009. Cross course  Collaborative assignments and meetings between engineering and  Three courses offered collaboration  STS courses focusing on sustainable design.  Spring term 2009; to be  completed in May. Cross New inter School major to be offered by traditional academic  In early planning stages disciplinary  departments; to use sustainability as the overarching concept in  as of Spring term 2009. major  determining appropriate breadth and depth requirements in each

Conference Session

Critical Thinking and Creative Arts

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Helen Donis-Keller, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

other AHS courses atOlin because it is not primarily focused on text-based analysis. However, the course meets thestandards for writing commonality in the number and type of writing assignments that arerequired. In addition to intense concentration on the communication competency, developmentof life-long learning skills is emphasized and context is provided by readings, lectures, andanalysis of non-fiction films. The course, which has been offered regularly since 2002,culminates with an exhibition of visual work and a screening of video projects. In this paper Idescribe the elements of the course, its implementation at our College with examples of studentwork, assessment tools, course evaluations, and plans for dissemination of the course

Conference Session

Historical Perspectives for Engineering Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rachel Maines, Cornell University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

role of international codes and standards in helping to createwhat the World Health Organization called in 1989 a “national policy and plan of action to createand sustain safe communities.”89,90 Industrial democracies that have already taken this step havedone so with the aid of such codes and standards, and there is every likelihood that such normsas building fire safety codes, uniform traffic laws, aviation safety regulations, and routine Page 15.477.9 9monitoring of indoor and outdoor carbon monoxide will play a role in the reduction of injury andmortality in the developing world as

Conference Session

Innovative Courses/Pedagogies in Liberal Education I

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kyle Simmons, University of Utah; Susan Sample, University of Utah; April Kedrowicz, University of Utah

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

Ph.D. student in Communication, when she worked as a communication consultant in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. She has been the director of the program since its inception and has developed a four-year curriculum plan in all seven departments in the college. Her responsibilities include faculty development (she has facilitated numerous college-wide workshops), TA training (approximately 15 graduate students from the Humanities work with CLEAR to develop the communication competence of engineering undergraduates), programmatic and basic research, instructional development, and assessment. Dr. Kedrowicz’s work has been presented at international, national, and regional

Conference Session

Tree-huggers, Diggers, and Queers--Oh my!

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George Catalano, State University of New York, Binghamton; Caroline Baillie, Queens University, Kingston

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

substantial freedom. According toNussbaum, “At the heart of this tradition is a twofold intuition about human beings: Page 14.542.4namely, that all, just by being human, are of equal dignity and worth, no matter where theyare situated in society, and that the primary source of this worth is a power of moral choicewithin them, a power that consists in the ability to plan a life in accordance with one's ownevaluation of ends." To these two ideas is linked one more, that "the moral equality ofpersons gives them a fair claim to certain types of treatment at the hands of society andpolitics. . . . [T]his treatment must do two . . . things [:] respect and promote

Conference Session

Writing Is Fundamental

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Beams, University of Texas, Tyler; Luke Niiler, University of Alabama

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

assessment 1; a plan for the incremental implementationof writing skills instruction in Engineering courses 2; an outcomes assessment 3; the use ofwritten workplace materials in Engineering courses 4,5 ; a review of shared assumptions aboutwriting skills among Engineering faculty 6; a multiple-trait scoring guide 7; and the first threeiterations of this longitudinal study 8,9,10. To date, there is no other longitudinal study ofEngineering students’ writing skills on record. Our four years of work therefore begins toaddress this gap in knowledge, and it is hoped that this project will be understood as (a) adescription and analysis of trends observed within a single cohort of subjects; and (b) aninvitation for other researchers to begin contributing

Conference Session

Writing and Communication I: Innovative Models for Curriculum and Assessment

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marie Paretti, Virginia Tech; Lisa McNair, Virginia Tech; Diana George, Virginia Tech; kelly belanger, Virginia Tech; Lisa Norris, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

narrows engineering students’ ability to see perspectives outside their own. In future studies, we plan to examine more integrated composition classrooms using similar pedagogical approaches. • Targeted curricular partnerships early on can provide the basis for helping engineering students cross disciplinary boundaries and encourage them to make varied course selections throughout the rest of their undergraduate education.AcknowledgementsThis work has been conducted through a grant from the Council of Writing Program Page 12.1135.12Administrators.Works Cited1. Alford, E.M. and D. Rocheleau. "Designing Effective

Conference Session

Liberal Education Division Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Daniel Walsh, California Polytechnic State University; Stacey Breitenbach, California Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

12.8.3retention and outreach for students who do not seek a career in engineering practice, but maywant to have careers in education, business, law, policy, art and design and seek this inconjunction with technological strength.The charge to the committee was to develop a proposed plan for the BA in Engineering,including a variety of tracks and corresponding curricula which would be submitted foruniversity review and implemented by normal processes at the university.ProcessFaculty members from every college at the university, students, industry representatives and staffjoined the ad hoc committee for the proposed degree program, whose membership swelled tosixteen. As part of the effort to develop a common lexicon and a baseline knowledge the

Conference Session

Beyond Individual Ethics: Engineering in Context

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Byron Newberry, Baylor University; William Lawson, Texas Tech University; Kathy Austin, Texas Tech University; Greta Gorsuch, Texas Tech University; Thomas Darwin, University of Texas at Austin

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

have encountered some form of professional ethics instruction at the undergraduate levelbecause of current ABET requirements. But for graduate students coming from undergraduateinstitutions in other countries, we can neither be sure that they have received any professionalethics instruction at the undergraduate level, nor that they are familiar with the particularconceptions of the engineering profession and of professional ethics in this country.This is not of great concern for those graduate students who return to their countries of origin topursue their careers. But 45% of the approximately 140,000 engineering graduate students in theU.S. are international students, and up to two thirds of those have plans to stay in the UnitedStates to

Conference Session

Critical Thinking and Creative Arts

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Beth Todd, University of Alabama; Garry Warren, University of Alabama; Susan Burkett, University of Alabama; David Cordes, University of Alabama; Marcus Brown, University of Alabama

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

added. Informally, discussions withstudents indicate that they enjoy discussing issues outside of the classroom with their faculty.Our only metric of success, to date, is the continued regular attendance that we see from thestudents. We believe this is a positive sign.While we have not done any formal assessment in the past, we are planning on including thisactivity in the senior exit interviews of mechanical engineering students this semester. In thepast, senior exit interviews in ME found that students indicated that they never did anythingrelated to contemporary issues. The faculty in ME could rattle off numerous topics from theircourses, e.g. alternative energies, biomedical implants, and a host of others that were clearlycontemporary, but

Conference Session

Normative Commitments and Public Engagement in Engineering

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Erin Cech, University of California, San Diego

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

undergraduate education ready to be practicing representatives of theirprofession. Therefore, undergraduate engineering must provide that professional socialization,whether or not students plan to pursue advanced engineering degrees.The existing professional socialization literature clearly demonstrates that becoming aprofessional is more than the mastery of technical competence or expert knowledge.1, 12, 13 Tothe extent that professional socialization is a process of preparing the neophyte to go out into theworld to earn a living, it involves the cultivation of “practical skill” as well as the nurturing of a“professional identity.” 14, 12, 15 Learning “practical skill” translates into hands-on understandingof the challenges faced in working with

Conference Session

Communication - Needs and Methods

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christine Nicometo, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Kevin Anderson, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Traci Nathans-Kelly, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Sandra Courter, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Thomas McGlamery, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

hospital staff for a new operating room design. The engineer managing the projectremarked, “We found out from the surgeons that they think they want it to be 65 degrees [ steadytemp in the operating room], - but they don’t really [tonal emphasis], since they actually need tocontrol certain fluctuations.” From his interactions with the medical team, the engineer haddiscovered that their stated desire was not going to meet the clients’ actual physical needs inreality. Only through listening carefully to them and adjusting his design team’s plan was thespace his team designed going to truly meet the needs of the client. Another engineer fromGeminid put this skill another way, stating, I think it is important for us to listen to understand what

Conference Session

Communication - Needs and Methods

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Warren Waggenspack, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge; Sarah Liggett, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge; Warren Hull, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge; David Bowles, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge; Stephen Sears, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge; Daniel Thomas, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge; Paige Davis, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

appropriate strategic planning will enable us tomaintain the future viability of the Studio and our communication initiatives to prepare studentsto use 21st century technologies.References[1] Waggenspack, W.N., Hull, W. R., Bridwell-Bowles, L., Powell, K. “Integrating Communication-IntensiveClasses and Communication Studios into the Louisiana State University College of Engineering,” Proceedings of the2006 Annual Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education. June 2006.[2] Waggenspack, W.N., Hull, W. R., Bridwell-Bowles, L., Farrell, J., Bowles, D. “Implementing Informal WritingAssignments and a Written Feedback and Revision Loop to Enhance Learning in Engineering Courses” Proceedingsof the 2008 Annual Conference of the American

Conference Session

Ethical Responsibilities of Engineers in the World of Corporate Business

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Donna Riley, Smith College

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

within engineeringeducation, with a strong emphasis on ecological as well as economic sustainability. For exampleParsons16 was engaged in developing a handbook for U.S. engineering students planning to workin developing countries. Emphasis was placed on listening to the community. For a review ofappropriate technology courses that involve a service learning component see Sandekian et al.17A strong model for service learning and appropriate technology is the ETHOS program at theUniversity of Dayton. The program connects students with service learning opportunities indeveloping countries, and offers a course which includes language and cultural preparation aswell as readings in appropriate technology to prepare students.18 Explicit recognition is

Conference Session

Engineering for Social Justice

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Charles Schreier, University of Dayton; Carl Eger, University of Dayton; Margaret Pinnell, University of Dayton

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

Central Section Conference, Ohio Northern University, April 7-8, 2005 (second place in Best Paper Competition)14 Jamieson, L.H., Oakes, W.C., and Coyle, E.J., “EPICS: Documenting Service-Learning to Meet EC 2000,” Proceedings, ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Session T2A, Reno, NV, October 10-13, 2001.15 Martin, P.T. and Coles, J., “How to Institutionalize Service-Learning into the Curriculum of an Page 11.1164.11 Engineering Department: Designing a Workable Plan,” in Projects that Matter – Concepts and Models for Service-Learning in Engineering, Tsang, E., Editor, A

Conference Session

Innovative Courses/Pedagogies in Liberal Education I

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Deborah Sinnreich-Levi, Stevens Institute of Technology; Susan Metz, Stevens Institute of Technology; David Silverstein, Stevens Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

. Starting very shortly, presentationswould bring more than certificates and token prizes – or cost more than momentaryembarrassment. But in addition to the students’ enjoying the competition, perhaps the mostsalutary result was that the design spine instructors present in the audience were struck thatalthough some students were quite accomplished, some others displayed a distressing lack ofskills. The instructors all said they would either continue to have the workshops offered to theirclasses or begin to do so (that is, instructors who had not yet requested workshops planned to inFall 2009). The 2010 competition will be announced early in the spring semester to give widervisibility to the efforts of the WCC workshops and student success. The first

Conference Session

Beyond Individual Ethics: Engineering in Context

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Arthur Sacks, Colorado School of Mines

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

diversion is a scheme to drive farmers off the land so it can be boughtat a fraction of its value. In the process, great damage is done both to the land and to thelivelihoods of those who inhabit and own it, water is intentionally wasted—pushed out to seathrough multiple channels presumably over a sufficient number of days to impact L.A. andfarmers alike—irrigation ditches and water tanks are blown up and wells are poisoned.Along the way to these revelations of Cross’ plan designed to greatly expand L.A.’s boundaries,Jake learns that his first conclusion, that Cross was simply trying to bring water to the Valley togrossly inflate the value of land he bought on the cheap, was only partially correct. He ultimatelylearns directly from Cross that his