Conference Session

Liberal Education and Leadership

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Hanson, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Julia Williams, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

of Technology Julia M. Williams is Executive Director of the Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment & Professor of English at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Indiana. Her articles on writing assessment, electronic portfolios, ABET, and tablet PCs have appeared in the Technical Communication Quarterly, Technical Communication: Journal of the Society for Technical Communication, The International Journal of Engineering Education, Journal of Engineering Education, and The Impact of Tablet PCs and Pen-based Technology on Education. She is the recipient of the 2007 HP Technology for Teaching Award and the 2008 Rose-Hulman Board of

Conference Session

Writing Is Fundamental

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Murali Krishnamurthi, Northern Illinois University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

choose to use in their tasks.6. Reduces uncertainty, surprise, and frustration so that students maximize their learning.7. Delivers efficiency in the learning process by helping students to focus on their work.8. Creates momentum in the learning process by allowing new ideas and experiences to flow.From the mentioned characteristics of scaffolding, it is easy to infer that instructional scaffoldinginvolves developing instructional plans that build on students’ existing knowledge to result in adeeper understanding of new information. The instructional plans must be implemented and theparticipating students must be supported during the learning process for the scaffolding to benefitstudents10. The types of instructional and support plans that have

Conference Session

Liberal Education and Leadership

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Val Hawks, Brigham Young University; John Harb, Brigham Young University; Alan Parkinson, Brigham Young University; Spencer Magleby, Brigham Young University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

achieve the desired outcomes. Examples of the types of activities andinterventions used to teach leadership are given. Organizational and tactical plans to move theleadership initiative forward in a sustainable way are also discussed.The Call for LeadershipTo be successful and effective in the current technologically dependent, multi-disciplinary,global environment requires engineers and technologists to be more than just technicallycompetent. In fact, calls for the engineer to possess more than just technical expertise arecoming from all sides - especially from industry. Today the engineer must understand businessprocesses, thrive in cross-functional teams, and communicate effectively with and lead othersboth locally and globally. Duderstadt

Conference Session

Liberal Education and Leadership

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Julia Williams, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Richard House, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Anneliese Watt, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

AC 2009-1610: COMMUNICATION PEDAGOGY IN THE ENGINEERINGCLASSROOM: A REPORT ON FACULTY PRACTICES AND PERCEPTIONSJulia Williams, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Julia M. Williams is Executive Director of the Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment & Professor of English at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Indiana. Her articles on writing assessment, electronic portfolios, ABET, and tablet PCs have appeared in the Technical Communication Quarterly, Technical Communication: Journal of the Society for Technical Communication, The International Journal of Engineering Education, Journal of Engineering Education, and The Impact of Tablet PCs and Pen

Conference Session

Writing Is Fundamental

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Beth Richards, University of Hartford; Mohammad Saleh Keshawarz; Hisham Alnajjar, Computer and Electrical

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

relevant subjects for civilengineering students. Using BSE as a base, development of a class reader began.Given the wide range of English language background found in the first-semester English course,the workbook attempted to meet the needs of as many levels of readers as possible. Each chapterbegan with the original text from BSE, appropriate for the 20% of students with the highestEnglish language skills (equivalent to above grade 8). The second passage adapted the originaltext for the lowest level readers (equivalent to primary grades 2-4). A third passage (if needed)adapted the original text for intermediate-level readers (equivalent to grades 5-8).Keying readings to grammar textsAs of summer 2008, there was no common syllabus or course plan

Conference Session

Communication and Collaboration

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Julie Sharp, Vanderbilt University; Marilyn Dyrud, Oregon Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

of a paper and use the checklist to rate it. Another method is to have studentsrate the same example and then discuss it. In this way, the professor is training or “calibrating”the reviewers. For those interested in more intensive calibration of student peer reviewers,Carlson and Berry discuss the Calibrated Peer Review√ online system.11Student FeedbackAs part of the course requirements, at the end of the semester ES 210w students rate theirknowledge gained in meeting course instructional objectives. The instructor uses thisinformation to plan for the next semester. Students respond to an anonymous self-assessmentinstrument, rating how much they knew about the objectives when they entered the course andhow much they now know after taking the

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics: An Interdisciplinary Endeavor

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joseph Herkert, Arizona State University Polytechnic; Jameson Wetmore, Arizona State University; Heather Canary, Arizona State University Polytechnic; Karin Ellison, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

web-based microethics material andnew macroethics material developed under this project. Modules are planned in the followingareas: ≠ Nanotechnology: development of nanomaterials and their use in particular applications ≠ Real Time Macroethical Assessment: real time responses to macroethical problems in such areas as information and communication technology and transhumanism Page 14.763.4 ≠ Engineering and Sustainable Development: Efforts by professional engineering societies, engineering schools, and corporations to address the economic, environmental, and social challenges of sustainability ≠ Engineering

Conference Session

Critical Thinking and Creative Arts

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bill Genereux, Kansas State University, Salina; Elena Mangione-Lora, University of Notre Dame

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

students, or even used to educate thegeneral public. They can be uploaded to web pages and used in portfolios as students ventureout into the workforce or graduate schools. Showing an ability to collaborate, meet deadlines,communicate with digital media technology, as well as planning and executing a multifacetedproject are valuable qualities that make a qualified candidate even more desirable.Wakonse Conference on College TeachingIt may seem to be an odd juxtaposition; a paper describing video projects in EngineeringTechnology and Spanish courses. Indeed, it is an unlikely pairing except for the hiddenconnection that bears mentioning here. The instructors of these two courses would have had littlechance for interacting and learning from each

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

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

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

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