AC 2010-281: STRUCTURED PROCESS FOR WRITING, REVISING, ANDASSESSING MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUIZZESJosh Coffman, University of Arkansas Josh Coffman is a M.S. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. He has worked as a civil design technician for Crafton, Tull, Sparks, and Associates in Russellville, Arkansas. He received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Arkansas Tech University in 2006. V-mail: 479-970-7359; E-mail: jacoffma@uark.edu.Joseph Rencis, University of Arkansas Joseph J. Rencis has been professor and Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville since 2004. He has held the inaugural
writing instruction across thecurriculum. Writing activities include impromptu writing assignments, peer review, outliningand planning exercises. The overall approach to improving students’ skills was: “group-basedtechnical writing development”. Assessment tools include instructor-written observations,student surveys, and in-class analysis of short writing samples by peer evaluation. The courseitself, which focuses on experimental methods in fluid mechanics and heat transfer, stressesexperimental techniques, results presentation, and technical report writing. Experiences in thiscourse have also provided opportunities for honors work, and research opportunities forundergraduate engineering students.Motivation As writing in engineering
Paper ID #30146A Three-course Laboratory Sequence in Mechanical Engineering as aFramework for Writing in the DisciplineDr. Maria-Isabel Carnasciali, University of New Haven Maria-Isabel Carnasciali is Chair of the Engineering and Applied Science Education Department at the Tagliatela College of Engineering, University of New Haven, CT. She is also an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. She obtained her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech. She received her Bachelors of Engineering from MIT. Her research focuses on the nontraditional
laboratory course often lead to last-minute writing withlittle time spent in reflection and review2. Stephen Brookfield3 speaks to the heart of the teacherwhen he describes our motivation to instill habits of self-evaluation and peer evaluation. “Sooner or later students leave the intellectual enclave of higher education and return to the workaday world. For them to have acquired the habit of examining their own work critically as a detached observer is an incalculable benefit”. “Likewise, for students to have learned something of the art of peer evaluation – of giving helpful critical insights to colleagues and intimates in a manner that affirms rather than shames – develops in them in them a capacity that will be sought out by their peers
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
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
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
students transfer to a largetime commitment on already taxed professors for grading. Therefore, the question is: how doyou increase the amount of material absorbed without increasing the students’ workloadexcessively?This paper deals with “mini” research papers assignments. The term “mini” research papersrefer to papers less than 5 pages. The papers should contain the important aspects of a fullresearch papers, namely: introduction, theory, procedure, results, conclusions and a referencerequirement of at least three peer reviewed papers.The case study papers specifically address a certain concept in the broad field of heat transfer.For heat transfer, there are three sub-categories that stand out; conduction, convection andradiation. A mini
. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company,Inc., 1985.Davis, B.G., Tools for Teaching, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993.Elliot, N. et al. "The Assessment of Technical Writing: A Case Study," Journal of Technical Writing andCommunication, Vol.24, No.1, Winter 1994, p.9.Foster, D. A Primer for Writing Teachers. Upper Monclair,New Jersey: Boynton/Cook, 1983.Houp, K.W., and T.E.Pearsall. Reporting Technical Information. New York: Macmillan, 1988.Lefferts, R. How to Prepare Charts and Graphs For Effective Reports. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1981.Miller, R. L. and B. Olds, "A Model Curriculum for A Capstone Course in Multidisciplinary Engineering Design,"Journal of Engineering Education, Vol.83,No.4 October 1993, pp. 311-323.Peer commentary on
produced a real challenge for the course design. However, thecourse was designed to mitigate these issues, focusing on offering multiple learning opportunities andencouraging peer learning and tutoring.The course provided different learning activities, such as students’ reviewing recorded videos,recitation videos, online discussions, peer learning and peer tutoring, and LA sessions, which helpedstudent not only learn but also build a great learning community. LA sessions had been proven tosupport student success. The learning assistants had an important role in the traditional class. The LAsession in the online class was to mirror the experiences of the traditional class. “Happy Hour”- avirtual office hour hosted by the instructor was a key
the author’s focus on the use of computer technology in theclassroom. The techniques are guided notes, peer discussions (using Piazza), and gamification(using Kahoot!). The efficacy of the techniques in increasing student engagement with the coursematerial and student understanding is self-assessed through a survey administered to the studentsat the end of the Fall 2019 semester. This assessment method is limited due to the small samplesize studied (nine students), however, the data suggests that the use of these strategies may behelpful in student education. From the assessment, it was found that guided notes wereconsidered helpful by students, and they were particularly helpful for studying. Online discussionusing Piazza was not appreciated
motivation and achievement, are unwilling to do mindful work, such as executinghigher level cognitive processes. Learners in the collaborative problem solving process receivefeedback and comments from peers, and from the teacher on the steps of planning,implementing, and executing problem solving processes rather than only receiving feedbackfrom the teacher on their performance. Therefore, peer pressure, as a motivating factor, may pushstudents to perform higher level cognitive functions. In addition, social constructivism3 suggeststhat the exchange of critical feedback among peers as well as from the instructor can encouragestudents to modify their work. Research is needed that will provide insights for engineeringdepartments in design
Duzer, E., and McMartin, F. "Building better teamwork assessments: A process for improving the validityand sensitivity of self/peer ratings", Proceeding of the American Society for Engineering Education 1999 AnnualConference, 1999.10. Arfken, D., and Henry, J. “A survey of engineers: writing attitudes and productivity”, 1986 Annual Meeting ofthe Southwest Educational Research Association, Houston, TX, 1986. Page 14.52.8 Appendix A MUSE Assessment of BSE Outcome 4 Design and Conduct Experiments and Analyze and Interpret Data
engagement. Inshort, active learning is any activity that engages students in a classroom, and demands studentsto do significant learning activities and analyze what they are doing, rather than simply focusingon traditional lecture. Student engagement in classroom via review, discussion, application andpractice, demonstrated that the students learn more than in traditional classrooms. In-classreading and writing exercises also, improve student engagement in learning process even in largesize classes.To improve student engagement in the class size of up to 40, in senior mechanical engineeringcourses, such as machine design. Every student was provided with similar problem havingdifferent variables to solve. The instructor was solving a similar problem
learning. This coursetypically has 59-120 sophomore and junior level mechanical engineering students enrolled andhas been taught in a flipped format, using the SCALE-UP model (Beichner, 2008), for severalsemesters. By design, the course relies heavily on peer-to-peer instruction through cooperativelearning, and beginning in the semester of Spring 2016, the instructor aimed to move fromcooperative groups to high performing teams using principles of team-based learning (L. K.Michaelsen, Knight, & Fink, 2002). Three primary research questions were examined: 1) whateffect does the implementation of TBL have on individual student learning, compared to anoffering of the course prior to implementation; 2) what effect does the implementation of
great deal of their professional lives writing journalarticles and conference papers, reviewing articles written by other faculty, and being the mentors foruntold numbers of theses and dissertations. Life as an engineering faculty member requires thewriting and review of two major documents in their own lives: the thesis and the dissertation. Eventhe youngest assistant professor has been closely connected to writing a spectacular document andwhat it means to do so. It would be an interesting study to see how many faculty members nevermade a comment on the theses and dissertations of their own students.Faculty members should think beyond the technical assignments that are given to students to issuesthat are raised in their own writing and
, primarily-undergraduate institution. These changes were made with the goal of improving alignmentbetween in-class assessment practices and ABET assessment requirements. The first majorchange involves reviewing and revising the Performance Indicators for all Student LearningOutcomes. Specifically, the PI’s were rephrased for strong alignment with the revised Bloom’sTaxonomy, with a focus on higher order learning. The second major change is the developmentof descriptive rubrics for several major assessment tools. Two rubrics will be examined asexamples: one for peer assessment of team members’ contributions in the program’s capstonedesign project and the second for a position paper on contemporary issues related tothermodynamics. Initial results from
“soft skills” upon their graduation, with the former learning outcomes typicallyeasier to evaluate and assess than the latter. This paper presents rubrics and assessment methodsusing engineering courses for evaluating the soft-skills-program learning outcomes engagementin lifelong learning competencies, communication, and the impact of engineering solutions. Theassessment of the lifelong learning student outcome is addressed using results from a set ofsemester-long assignments in a fluid mechanics course. The recently developed and adoptedcourse, Engineering Technical Writing and Presentation, in which students learn to develop aneffective writing process for writing engineering documents in future courses and industry, isused in the assessment
of nanomaterials relevant to energy conversion and storage devices. Dr. Banerjee’s teaching interests lie in the fields of thermo- dynamics and heat transfer. He has received several prestigious awards including the 3M Non-tenured Faculty Award in 2013, the Pratt Fellowship at Virginia Tech and the Best Poster Award at Dean’s Forum on Energy Security and Sustainability at Virginia Tech. He has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles and presented nearly 30 times at national and international meetings, organized symposia at conferences and serves as a frequent reviewer and referee in his field. Page
equations, drawn on chalkboards or whiteboards. In capturing lectures on video however, these traditional props become liabilities: the presenter must turn away from the audience to write or draw on the board, and the presenter’s body often obscures the material. We developed the Lightboard to create visually compelling videotaped lectures, to avoid the liabilities of chalkboards, and furthermore to be able to produce upload-‐ready video segments with no post-‐production. The Lightboard is a glass board, carrying light internally from LED strips along its edges. A video camera captures the presenter and his/her writing by viewing through the
inkey capstone exercises, including a mid-semester, peer-based design review as well as a final symposium.This student engagement and undergraduate networking has far reaching benefits, as the studentsinvolved enrich their own experiences and become resources to pass information and critiques along toone another.Our plan for assessing this program and its students involves following the participating studentsthroughout the sophomore, junior and senior years. Students, at varied stages in the curriculum, alongwith their mentors and industry sponsors, will be interviewed to assess the effectiveness of theintroductory course and the influence of early exposure to the capstone experience on their capstoneprojects. Project performance will also be
focused on underrepresented populations, specifically women and minorities, whileothers are implemented for the entire engineering student population. Mentoring efforts include:demographic-specific advisors, faculty advisors, peer mentors, faculty mentors, and engineeringindustry mentors. The School has taken a four-year approach to its mentoring efforts. Overallobjectives of the mentoring program are multifaceted: 1) to help new students transition to highereducation and identify with their particular program; 2) to help students who are struggling inupper level courses and in leadership positions or conducting undergraduate research; and 3) tohelp students with their transition to the engineering profession.This paper describes how one
themselves.Students were encouraged to post articles of interest. Instructors also prompteddiscussions on topics relevant to the course, such as writing case studies, providingStrength, Improvement, Insight11 (SII) feedback to peers, and interviewing for a job. Thejob interview discussion, for example, happened during a week of on-campus interviewsand two groups contributed to an article on the topic that week.InstrumentsThree instruments were used to collect data: (1) Industry/Advisory Board survey,questionnaire and interview; (2) student focus group discussion; and (3) an online wikiarchive. These instruments were selected based on best-practice methodologies ineducation assessment8 and best fit for the scope of the study.Three College Advisory Board
. The later includedpresentations at the Undergraduate Research & Creativity Colloquium. Assessment was based onstudents’ (1) work; (2) peer evaluations using Comprehensive Assessment of Team-MemberEffectiveness (CATME), a web-based tool; (3) surveys during the CP experience; and (4)surveys in post-requisite courses. The comparison of these assessments provides cross-sectionaland semi-longitudinal results. Cross-sectional results obtained in post-requisite courses indicatedthat CP students in comparison with non-CP students, typically had a higher level of agreementthat they understood thermodynamics; had built professional camaraderie with some of theirengineering classmates in thermodynamics; were excited to do undergraduate research; and
work effectively in teams. Indeed, Kamp [6] writes that personalattributes like autonomy, organizational sensitivity, and empathy are increasingly important injob applications. Developing such a skillset requires that students master the ability to make emotionalconnections among theoretical concepts [7]. This means that engineering educators need toinvolve students at cognitive and emotional levels in authentic, meaningful, and immersivelearning experiences amidst a full curriculum. This study, which uses mixed methods to comparedata from two semesters (one face to face, one online only) of the same Design forManufacturability course, seeks to address this need by investigating the following broadresearch question: How might
engineeringdynamics class8; Holdhusen talked about a flipped statics course9; Lee et al., flipped a mechanicsof materials course10; etc., while others have partially flipped one11-16. Most of these flippedclassroom models were related to student-centered learning theories, such as, active learning,peer-assisted learning, cooperative learning, collaborative learning, problem-based learning, peertutoring, etc.17-22. However, in general, most of them have not followed any specific theoreticalframework. This paper describes a flipped Solid Mechanics course that has been designed andtaught during the Spring 2015 semester at Arizona State University, following the Interactive,Constructive, Active, and Passive (ICAP) framework by Chi et al.23.According to Chi et al
reflectivepractices, as demonstrated by the curation of artifacts and writing of personal reflections. Webelieve that by allowing students to explore and discover how their competencies are developingthrough their course assignments, they may also discover how classroom learning goals connectto professional learning goals drawn from the ABET quality assurance framework.2) Encouraging peer and instructor assessmentEvaluation of the ePortfolios included peer grading to help build a community of practice [26].This study paper evaluates whether peer grading increases transparency, improves learning,provides more valid and reliable assessment, increases student engagement, and/or increasescoherence in learning outcomes. The study included scaffolded mini projects
, some of her articles have been published in important journals of her field of expertise and her article entitled ”1-N- alkyl-3 methykimidazolium ionic liquids as neat lubricant additives in steel-aluminum contacts” has been named one of the TOP TEN CITED articles published in the area in the last five years (2010). Dr. Iglesias has extensive experience working on tribology and has published 14 peer-reviewed articles and more than 20 conference proceedings in the area.Ms. Kate N. Leipold, Rochester Institute of Technology (COE) Ms. Kate Leipold has a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rochester Institute of
in a wind tunnel using a pitot/static probe. Here thestudents made use of the Bernoulli Equation that had been developed in class to calculatevelocity. The twist was that the report generated in Activity One was given to a differentteam to use, i.e., not the team that generated the report. The Activity Two studentsprovided a peer review of the Activity One report regarding ease of use and technicalcorrectness. The instructor then used this peer review to grade Activities One and Two. Page 14.1118.5The use of student generated reports, utilized by different students, is extremely valuablein emphasizing the importance of writing an industry report
-scale projects that centered around each core competency required by the second tierwhich is the main project in the course. Page 12.1052.3In the first tier, each student group is given four weeks to work on a tier-one project in thelaboratory. Then, each group teaches the rest of the class the details of the core competency theyworked on. This allows peer-to-peer learning. In this process, each group gave a 25-minutemini-lecture to the class and demonstrated their prototype. The design challenges andprogramming details were covered in great depth. This approach generated lots of questions andinteraction between the presenting