Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Audeen W. Fentiman

project report was avehicle they could use to learn about writing in engineering, and the EngineeringGraphics faculty welcomed comments and suggestions from the Writing Center thatcould help them improve the quality of the engineering students’ writing. Plans weremade for collaboration during the 1996-97 school year. During that same year, The OhioState University, a member of the NSF-sponsored Gateway Engineering EducationCoalition, was participating in a project to encourage the improvement of writinginstruction in Engineering. Funding from that Gateway project allowed the UniversityWriting Center staff and Engineering Graphics faculty to spend more time assessing thewriting in EG166 than might otherwise have been possible.This paper describes

Conference Session

Impact of Information Technology on Engineering Education (3215)

Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Tahar El-Korchi, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Paul P. Mathisen, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Frederick L. Hart, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering (CE)

preparation is necessary toensure that the software and hardware is operable such that it can be utilized effectively by thestudents. In addition, the course content must be carefully planned to ensure that students canlearn the use of the technologies in a short-time frame. Second, the assessments described abovedemonstrate the importance of student interactions and group dynamics in student project work.Due to some of the features of distance engineering projects, the results suggest that groupdynamics can be especially important to consider for these projects. Learning styles andpersonality type indicators provide insight into these dynamics and associated groupperformance. It is recommended that the potential implications of these interactions

Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Richard R. Schultz

senior year so that they havethe mathematical proficiency necessary to understand the theory and design methodologies associatedwith digital signal processing. Section 3 specifies the hardware and software configuration used in theComputer Aided Measurement and Control laboratory, while the C++ and LabVIEW programmingexperiments are described in Section 4. A brief summary of the paper along with the planned courseevolution is provided in Section 5.2. Teaching Practical Digital Signal Processing ConceptsAs alluded to previously, Computer Aided Measurement and Control is not a conventional DSP course,in the sense that students are not introduced to the Nyquist sampling theorem, the Z-transform, andmethodologies of digital filter design in both the

Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Paul Duesing; Morrie Walworth; Jim Devaprasad; Ray Adams; David McDonald

senior design projects sequencewhere they are involved in multi-disciplinary teams working on projects solicited from industry.Through this method of instruction the graduating engineers gain a sound knowledge andappreciation of the soft skills as demanded by the employers. Lastly, oral and written feedbackfrom alumni have indicated this methodology was extremely beneficial in their transition fromacademia to the work place. References Manufacturing Education Plan (Phase I Report): Industry Identifies Competency Gaps Among Newly Hired Engineering Graduates, published by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Oct. 1997. Przirembel and E.G. Christian, “Integrating the Product Realization

Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Gary H. McDonald; Charles V. Knight

fabricated in the engineering shop and analyzed using basic statics. Thestrain gages were added and wired. In the second semester, another group obtained theappropriate data acquisition devices and generated a LabVIEW virtual instrument for the trussproject. This group also tested the truss using a conventional strain gage indicator to recordstrain gage output before connecting the gages to the strain gage data acquisition system. Thedata acquisition system was then used in obtaining the loading in each member of the truss, withthe loading values being compared using basic statics. This year’s projects being planned willretrofit existing fluid mechanics and mechanics of materials experiments with modern electronicsensors that will support data

Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Stephen B. Affleck; Marvin C. Gabert; Hahns J. Kuhr; Donald J. Parks

departments plan to incorporate using the formula into their procedures for assigningand/or annually evaluating faculty work. The other two departments have not indicated any plansto use it but these policies are still not firm in all departments. The original intent for developing the academic workload formula was to assist in fairlyassigning classes for individual faculty to teach and in helping to resolve any conflicts that mayarise. These conflicts can be • between faculty who feel the grass is greener on the other side of the teaching load fence • between departments and upper administration regarding the need to add or lose faculty positions or • between upper administrators and non-academic critics outside the university