Paper ID #25333Alumni Feedback and Reflections on Industrial Demands and Transdisci-plinary Engineering Design EducationMs. Alyona Sharunova, University of Alberta Alyona Sharunova, BSc., is an Education Consultant at the Faculty of Engineering and a former Research Assistant at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta. Her background is in Psychology, Design, and Educational Development. The scope of her work lies in Transdisciplinary Engi- neering Education, Design Processes, Teaching and Learning Methodologies, Cognitive and Educational Psychology, and Curriculum Design and Enhancement.Miss
-related skills,and enables them to become more self-aware/mature independent thinkers. While many studentsengage in experiential learning activities voluntarily, some schools have formalized a creditedversion as an elective to ensure the learning includes the reflective and conceptual components,as verified by a deliverable outcome. A few schools such as Messiah College have also gone astep further to require an approved experiential learning activity of all students, includingengineering majors, to enhance their career preparation and community engagement beforegraduation. Students matriculating to Messiah College as of 2015 may now opt to fulfill theExperiential Learning Initiative (ELI) by either credited internship, practicum, service
problem solving in multidisciplinary andinterdisciplinary teams. Undergraduate engineering students often are trained in disciplinaryconcepts and techniques of their specializations, but rarely given opportunities to reflect uponhow they work with collaborators. Here, we discuss a course that brings students fromengineering and non-engineering fields together to grapple with a technical and conceptualchallenge: designing and building drones for humanitarian purposes. This paper describes an“Engineering Peace” course and discusses preliminary findings from surveys, focus groups, andobservations regarding the course’s effects on students’ multidisciplinary and interdisciplinaryskills. This material allows us to analyze the emergence of professional
practitioners haveshown interest in evidenced-based methods of developing student engineers, such asproject-based learning, experiential learning, peer to peer learning, and game-based learning. Thispaper describes an engineering education program that emphasizes technical, professional,creative design skills in our 3rd and 4th year student engineers. This program is continuouslyimproving. Faculty and staff meet each semester to reflect on the prior semester, address studentfeedback, and make specific changes to improve. Learning science tips are weaved into thedynamic program. Motives are pure, but execution can have some challenges. This program’sphilosophy allows faculty to try, get feedback, and pivot. Faculty exemplify iterative design andthe
opportunity has emerged in building brand new liberalarts, science, and engineering programs at Fulbright University Vietnam, a new institution inVietnam. Founding faculty members have engaged in a “co-design year” to prototype and iterateall aspects of this new university together with students and staff. In this paper, we reflect on theco-design year and present the main considerations that have driven the design of theundergraduate program.IntroductionThere has been increasing awareness to “re-engineer” engineering education as society grappleswith increasingly complex, ill-structured, and adaptive problems, such as water scarcity, globalpandemics, climate change, poverty, and the loss of biodiversity, which technology alone cannotsolve. These
-up,educational goals, challenges and opportunities. In Part II, we then move on to a closer look atthe technical design of the project. Finally, in Part III, we revisit the educational goals set out atthe outset, make a reflective assessment of the experience, and propose insights andrecommendations for instructors working with similar experiences or sets of challenges. Page 26.468.2Part I: Educational Goals, Challenges, and OpportunitiesBefore diving more deeply into reviewing the educational goals, it would be important to explorethe background of the institution and other contextual matters that scaffolded the experience.The project was
benefits and challenges of creating a multidisciplinarysenior capstone course from the perspective of engineering faculty. From this study five overallthemes emerged: 1.) multidisciplinary courses reflect real world, 2.) students are primarybeneficiaries of multidisciplinary courses, 3.) current university structure and organization cancreate obstacles, 4.) senior capstone is a critical component in engineering education, and 5.)dedication of resources. The paper will conclude with recommendations for working with facultyto create a more multidisciplinary learning environment for students and initial thoughts on thenext steps in the development process.Capstone as Part of Engineering EducationThe requirements of a 21st-century engineer are
that emphasizes student discovery. Scholars are selectedannually based on academic ability and financial need. Faculty mentoring, tutoring, peer studygroups, college survival skills training, career development, and undergraduate researchexperiences are all tools to help the scholars. Some MEP Scholars are actively participating inthe following research projects: 1) Design and Development of an e-Health System, 2) Designand Development of an Electronic Health Records program, 3) Study of the Field Effect onCharge Transport through Conductive Polymers Injected in Vascular Channels of AngiospermLeaves, and 4) A 3D-printed desk organizer. In this paper, MEP Scholars briefly present theirprojects and share their thoughts and reflections about the
for her efforts in encouraging students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Amy has contributed to the development of a new hands-on multidisciplinary introduction to engineering course and a unique introduction to engineering MOOC. She is interested in curricular and co-curricular experiences that broaden students’ perspectives and enhance student learning, and values students’ use of Digital Portfolios to reflect on and showcase their accomplishments. Amy earned her Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Arizona State University (ASU), and is currently pursuing her PhD in Engineering Education Systems and Design.Ms. Jill L. Roter, Arizona State University Jill Roter is a senior instructional design
, carrying auseful load of at least four bags of groceries, and use the least amount of energy possible. Theperformance and fuel economy of the motorcycle was evaluated before and after streamlining.Examining data from several Vetter Challenges, dramatic improvement in the fuel economy ofmotorcycles after being streamlined is demonstrated. In parallel with the student team’s technicalresearch, their individual reflections before, during, and after the project were formally gatheredand analyzed. In this paper, the results of the Vetter Challenge competition are discussed alongwith students’ experience and reflections. Ongoing next steps and a pathway to implement thisresearch at other schools are revealed.Background & Introduction
meeting with teammates.At the beginning of ERT, students delivered team products through traditional written formats ofWord and Google Docs. Holding onto what had worked well in the past, it appeared thatcompleting team-based work was limited with reliance on “cut-and-paste” methods.New tools that reflected a virtual environment were needed to shift the focus to collaborativelearning. In a just-in-time fashion, faculty learned and utilized tools such as JamBoard [5] andMural [6]. These tools provided platforms for students to discuss, learn from each other, and stillproduce a product. They also allowed the faculty to see students’ collaborative processes, whilestill having a finished product to assess with rubric criteria.Students, used to face
training concurrent with the first term that they teach.Since the seminar occurs during their teaching activity it is based on reflection in action andreflection on action. While this work has helped align GTAs and LAs to our intent in studiopractices, this work is complex and we are seeking ways to further develop this knowledge andskill.PLC Work Around Inclusive Teaming. During the 2017-18 academic year, School facultymembers (all of whom will have completed the DPD Academy), will come together in aProfessional Learning Community (PLC). PLCs are collegial groups that provide teachers acrossdisciplines facilitated opportunities for extensive inquiry-based faculty development around afocal point. This group’s focal point will be the design of
colleagues. Yet, teamwork skills are rarely “taught” inengineering curricula; in fact, compared to business representatives, university educators havebeen found to underestimate the value of teamwork KSAs. Instead, students are expected todevelop teamwork and leadership skills via a sink-or-swim approach where they are assignedgroup work and left to perform as they can. Often, these poor teamwork experiences combinedwith the lack of training and opportunities for guided reflection lead to students disliking workingin groups, impacting not just the cognitive but also the affective domain of learning.In response to this identified weakness, a committee of representatives from the Faculty ofEngineering and other support units at the University of
assessment data.The WGG project created blended engineering design challenges that engage youth in problemsolving and reflection. Through the WISEngineering online learning environment, youth arepresented with a design challenge. They are guided through knowledge and skills builders(KSBS) that help them to learn the content knowledge needed to successfully complete thedesign challenge. Youth are later asked to evaluate their design solutions according to criteriathat were presented along with the challenge. After completing the design challenge, the youthengage in guided reflection about the experience. This informal learning activity was deliveredat Boys and Girls Clubs. The project team was very aware that if the assessment resembled aschool “test
notion of ‘the public’.Application of Nursing Theory to Engineering Education Emphasizing Two CoursesTo explore the apparent disconnect among the ‘practice’ of engineering and the ‘practice’or nursing as reflected in the professional codes focused upon ‘every person’ ascompared to ‘the public’ for nursing and engineering, respectively, Nightingale’senvironmental theory was used as a starting point for interdisciplinary discussion amongengineering students and nursing students who participated side-by-side in a series ofeducational offerings over a period of approximately ten years. As described in Table 1,six seminal events – including instruction in two separate courses – over a period ofapproximately one decade were instrumental in the
to reflect on three areas of learning. Theirresponses are presented as case studies.IntroductionEngineering schools with predominantly undergraduate enrollments traditionally emphasizeresearch opportunities for upper level undergraduates working in conjunction with facultymembers. At such institutions, the level of faculty research is often congruent with what a highlymotivated rising senior can contribute to in a meaningful way. Consequently, accommodation isoften made through offering independent study courses taken during the academic year for credit,or focused summer research stints of variable length, or even a combination of the two, to enablethese experiences for students, especially those who may be thinking of going to graduate
, and to summarize thecombination model of university path selection. Specifically, the research questions in thisstudy are as follows: (1) What are the core paths of China's new engineering construction? (2) What is the selection model of the "new engineering" construction path for differenttypes of colleges and universities?2. Literature review2.1 The concept of new engineering conceptThe "new" of new engineering construction is reflected in five aspects [4]: (1) The newconcept of engineering education. With the new economy and new industries as thebackground, the new engineering construction needs to establish a new concept ofinnovative, integrated and full-cycle engineering education. (2) The new structure of thediscipline
aim is to teach skills, and notcontent. To ensure that skills are developed, in-class challenges are given for each of the analysis stages,deep learning assignments are given at major milestones in the course, and students complete a courseproject. Many assignments require justification of answers to break the student mentality of “what is theright answer” and lead them toward developing solutions that address system requirements and balancetradeoffs. The reflection that comes along with justification solidifies concepts and enables mastery ofthe systems analysis process.IntroductionThe engineering program at James Madison University provides an emphasis on engineering design,systems thinking, and sustainability. Our young engineering program
arts majors, aswell as between the liberal arts and the areas of study leading to a major or profession.Our findings suggest that the learning objectives and the pedagogical approaches used in thecourse are adequate for a broad range of non-computer majors. Performance on writing andcomputing assessments as well as final grades (75% of students obtained a grade of C or better)indicated that a vast majority of students successfully achieved the learning objectives. Theseresults were consistent with student perceptions as reflected in an end-of-course survey. There isalso evidence that students satisfactorily integrated creative writing and computer programmingto develop their video game prototypes, making in-depth interdisciplinary connections
identifies perceived benefits and challenges for the students engaged in thecompetition. Complementing the report of the team's experience at the 2018 RTZ, this studyemphasizes the importance of teamwork collaboration in the present context of the AEC industrywhile drawing upon concepts of sustainable construction. The study encompasses data collectedfrom: (1) a survey with all the 8 students, (2) interviews with the faculty leader and the studentteam leader, and (3) the reflections of two of the authors of this paper based on their ownexperiences and observations as participants in the 2018 RTZ competition team. Three categoriesemerged from the data and background literature analyzed: teamwork, education and knowledge,skills, and abilities (KSA
several department-specific Comm Labs, 2)Brandeis’s centralized Comm Lab for their Division of Science, and 3) Rose-Hulman’sundergraduate-only centralized Comm Lab for students using a multidisciplinary, co-curricularspace. We then discuss these adaptations with a focus on how our different institutional profilesshape our Comm Lab design. Specifically, we draw connections between institutional data andthe disciplinary focus, scale, and institutional fit of each Comm Lab. We conclude by sharingdata about the Comm Labs’ success, reflecting on the importance of continued data collection,and considering the value of cross-institutional collaboration. Our conclusion reflects both thelimitations of our study and the need for ongoing research. These
a science methods class (n = 15). The paired classes collaborated inmultidisciplinary teams of 5-8 undergraduate students to plan and teach engineering lessons tolocal elementary school students. Teams completed a series of previously tested, scaffoldedactivities to guide their collaboration. Designing and delivering lessons engaged universitystudents in collaborative processes that promoted social learning, including researching andplanning, peer mentoring, teaching and receiving feedback, and reflecting and revising theirengineering lesson. The research questions examined in this pilot, mixed-methods research study include: (1)How did PSTs’ Ed+gineering experiences influence their engineering and science knowledge?;(2) How did PSTs
the software on exams). Generalcomments about the lecture also reflected that too much material is being covered, the lectureperiods feel rushed, and therefore the exam periods seem too short.Constraints, Challenges, OpportunitiesSome comments from the above section reflect some expected frustrations given the nature ofteaching statistics in a multidisciplinary environment [4]. The breadth of topics covered makes itnecessary to move quickly during lectures and the diversity of the student population makes itdifficult to design examples that will be relevant to all engineering disciplines. There alsoappears to be a lack of engagement with the topic of statistics itself that may stem simply fromthe growth of the lecture sections over the years
encountered already in their coursework.First, the students were made aware of the multidisciplinary nature of the nanotechnology whichwas reflected in the diverse group of faculty involved with the summer camp. Next, thepresentation discussed books, TV shows and movies where specific reference to nanotechnologywas made. Students were asked why most of the references in popular media were ominous innature and all students correctly reflected that the reason is because ‘nano’ is too small. Thisperception was juxtaposed with scientific and economic aspects of nanotechnology which areoverwhelmingly positive and optimistic.10 The students participated in an activity where theywere presented with various statements and asked to choose whether these
+ program.Several definitions of learning community within academic settings exist. Gabelnick,MacGregor, Matthews and Smith choose a perspective on learning communities that relies oncurricular structures that link courses to aide students in deeper understanding and integration ofacademic material with five “core practices” for success: community, diversity, integration,active learning and reflection.3,4 According to Astin and Tinto, learning communities are definedby many factors of student involvement, including curricula, common interests and residentialproximity to build a sense of group identity that is cohesive and unique to the group.5,6 Tintoasserts that a multi-faceted approach to learning communities in higher education encouragesintegration of
.4Approaches used to facilitate transfer of learning include the use of reflective writings,contextualization of learning experiences, and application of learning to real life.4 To make transferof learning explicit to students, instructors advise students to take courses in the appropriatesequence, emphasize in each course the material transferable to other courses, model transfer byinviting guest lecturers, develop students’ metacognitive skills, and reinforce concepts by usingthem often and in different contexts. However, regardless of the strategies used, transfer of learningdoes not occur automatically. Curriculum and course design should emphasize the connectionbetween courses to stimulate transfer.The primary strategy used at our institution to
the aerospace company at the time of this study wereinterviewed remotely (the researcher and participants are bi-coastally located), and the industrialdesign undergraduate was interviewed in person when they returned to school to resume study.The interview questions and methods were approved by the university Institutional ReviewBoard (ID 18-401). The interviews were conducted 4 months after the summer 2018 internshipprogram concluded.The questions asked were open by design, to encourage the interviewee to reflect on theirexperiences. The questions were categorized as follows: (1) educational background, academicpreparation, and role in the company, (2) communication channels on projects, and (3) thoughtson improvements that could be made to
statement needs to incorporate the needs of theconstituents and the strategic plans of the city and state officials. Save your brainstorming map asthis will form part of your deliverable. Create a strategic sustainability vision statement (2 to 3sentences) that will reflect the needs of the City of Goodyear.Part B: 10 year strategic sustainability plan for transportation systemsUsing the vision statement your group has crafted, create a high-level 10 year strategic andsustainable transportation system feasibility plan for the City of Goodyear. You have a budget of$500,000 dollars to develop this feasibility plan. Be sure to address the functional areas outlinedin this link: http://www.goodyearaz.gov/government/city-manager-s-office/strategic-plan
was always available whenever a break was neededfrom the main project or if an intern wanted to work on their soldering skills.Methodology: Assessment of Innovation as a ProcessWe assessed the overall impact of the internship as a learning intervention to supportmultidisciplinary group participation in innovation and individual learning achievements byapplying three different instruments: a) an exit survey focused on relationships betweenemergent group-dynamics and evidence of innovation-in-practice b) regular “audio-diary”journal entries recorded by participants in response to a weekly repeating prompt c) focus groupexit interviews that prompted participants to not only reflect on what they had gained from theexperience but challenged them
full study includes quantitative and qualitative assessmentsin the form of surveys, focus groups with students, and evaluation of student work (lab reports ororal presentations) for quality and content by two external reviewers. Student learning styles(active/reflective, sensing/intuitive, visual/verbal and sequential/global) were also assessed usingthe Index of Learning Styles Survey (ILSS) by Felder and Solomon. Data was collected at threedifferent institutions: a public, land-grant minority serving institution, a private minority servingliberal arts college for women, and a private, predominantly white liberal arts college. A controlgroup of students experienced a traditional laboratory or seminar and an intervention groupexperienced case