2008 and spring 2009) and one semester after (fall 2009) the course format change.One of the first questions asked students to rate the statement “This course has increased myinterest in Civil Engineering.” Figure 1 shows the responses, where the grey bars are the“before” case and the black bars are the “after” case. These findings indicate a strong shifttowards self-reported student interest in their major and future career. Page 15.159.9 8Page 15.159.10Page 15.159.11Page 15.159.12Page
. I am an early-career mechanical engineeringprofessor, and prior to participating on this project, my classes consisted of entirely lecture-basedteaching. Now, even when a course does not have a “lab-period”, I will take time out of lecturesto run MEAs or other group-based learning exercises. I recognize that I will not be able to coveras much material in class, but instead my students are achieving greater depth of learning on keyconcepts. Model-Eliciting Activities enhance my ability to convey difficult concepts to studentsand have provided an invaluable tool for identifying misconceptions in understanding. On apersonal level, it has been extremely rewarding to observe improved understanding offundamental concepts that results from
this process on their own. However, the instructor may be introducing newdomain specific tools that teams can use to manage their design process and to monitor somelevel of the teams’ productivity and cohesiveness. In an engineering undergraduate curriculumthis kind of model is implemented by teaching teaming, design, problem solving and projectmanagement skills in the first year of engineering, then engaging students in design projects ofvarious scales throughout the remainder of their undergraduate career. In designing thesecourses, instructors need mechanisms to monitor teams’ progress and potentially provide Page 15.1190.2feedback on their
learning and engineering performance • Engaging in reflective practice and continuous learning These common focus areas of existing faculty development efforts can be used to guidedevelopment of a broadly recognized core of competency areas for EET faculty. As afundamental aspect of the SPEED program, these competencies would be articulated at distinctlevels to promote the continuous development of faculty.Levels of Professional DevelopmentThe SPEED program would be open to all interested engineering educators as part of theirongoing professional development whether they are newly appointed faculty or establishedacademics. Additionally, post-docs or Ph. D. candidates who wish to embark on a career paththat will involve educating others could
Engineering Program (MEP) merged to become a new organization known as theBroadening Opportunity through Leadership and Diversity (BOLD) Center. The BOLD Centercontinues to offer scholarship support, education and career advice, as well as socialnetworking opportunities to students underrepresented in engineering. Female communitybuilding events such as department luncheons, Girl Scout technology badge volunteer days, andother K-12 outreach events are also offered through the BOLD Center. In the fall of 2009, theBOLD Center launched a new living-learning community in the university residence halls. Thisliving and learning hall is a shared space with the Engineering Honors Program and offers them
highly relevant for engineering students.Again, to our knowledge, a number of oral communication rubrics are available, mostly on websites. But only in a few cases have any steps used to create the rubric been described. Ourreview has indicated that none of these rubrics has been based on executiveinput, as ours is. Building on this foundation results in a rubric very relevant to engineeringstudents in becoming successful in their first jobs and as they ascend the career ladder. Page 15.1021.3A few resources about how to create effective rubricsThe literature contains a wealth of information about the broader array of rubrics and scoringsystems
the international labor market and workplace imperatives; • Understanding of the international business, economy and world market; • Competency in applying engineering solutions/applications in a global context.16The authors have used surveys to identify gaps between employer perceptions of the importanceof attributes as compared to their satisfaction with the actual performance of recent graduates.In the more specific context of global engineering education, Lohmann et al. have noted acontinued dearth of research on student learning, career impacts, and intercultural proficiency:“Largely absent are rigorous methods for assessing foreign language ability or competenciesspecifically related to professional practice within the academic
ObjectivesProgram educational objectives need to be developed that are consistent with the mission of theinstitution16. Rogers defines objectives as “the broad statements that describe the career andprofessional accomplishments that the program is preparing graduates to achieve”17. Other termsthat are sometimes used in place of the word objectives are goals or standards18. Whendeveloping program educational objectives the emphasis is placed on what the graduates of theprogram will be doing three to five years after graduation. Careful assessment needs to be madeof what the curriculum and program prepares the students achieve in the early stages of theircareer.The Engineering Technology faculty at MU developed their educational objectives to align withthe
successful. Not only does the data reveal this with the increase in the numbers oftransfer students to TAMUK, but also through the participants themselves. These students returnto their community colleges where they share their May-mester experiences with others whomay also be apprehensive about pursing a career in one of the STEM disciplines.AcknowledgementThe authors would like to thank the STEP project team Dr. John Chisholm, Dr. Greg Moehring,Dr. Ali Pilehvari, Dr. Larry Lee, Martie De La Paz, Rose Rodriguez, Idolina Cortez, and LauraParr for their support in the May-mester Research Program. This paper is based on worksupported by the National Science Foundation under DUE grant No. 0525496. Any opinions,findings, and conclusions or
TransitionsAcademic Transition ChallengesThe transition from 2-year to 4-year (2+2) engineering or engineering technology curricula, ortransitions from another „non-traditional‟ starting point, such as military background, career Page 15.415.3displacement, etc., can be a challenge for students for a variety of factors.Weak skills proficiency is one kind of challenge. A student might have been exposed to somecritical skill area, such as a mathematics skill (e.g., L‟Hospital‟s Rule), an engineering problem-solving technique (e.g., free-body diagrams), or equipment use proficiency (e.g., operating anoscilloscope), but not had extensive practice or not been
need to introduce engineering and scienceto students at an early age in order to increase the number of students entering engineeringdisciplines. However, most students in the middle level grades (6th, 7th and 8th) are unaware ofopportunities in engineering and do not recognize engineering as a rewarding career option.Furthermore, research tells us that women and minority students are drastically underrepresentedin the engineering fields.1 To more effectively prepare students for engineering and sciencedegrees, K-12 students should be engaged in activities which develop the critical thinking skillsnecessary for solving problems in the real world. It is universally accepted that all studentbenefit from hands-on learning activities in the
-test, the results were not statistically significant.IntroductionThe National Science Foundation has recognized the need to introduce students to engineeringand science at an early age to increase the number of students entering the engineering discipline.However, most students in the middle level grades (6th and 7th) are unaware of opportunities inengineering and do not recognize engineering as a rewarding career option. Eighth grade is acritical coursework juncture, when students and parents choose whether or not the student willparticipate in the math and science series. Actions during this critical juncture largely determineengineering readiness upon high school graduation. Furthermore, research tells us that womenand minority students are
. Larson, Janelle M., Stephen M. Smith, David G. Abler and Carolina Trevelli, An Economic Analysis of Land Titling in Peru, Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture. 42(1):79-97, 2003.8. Waks, S. and Sabag, N., Technology Project Learning versus Lab Experimentation, Journal of Science Education and Technology, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 333-342, Sept. 2004.9. Boyer Commission (1998), Reinventing undergraduate education: A blueprint for America's research universities. Stony Brook, New York: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.10. Nicholas Basta, Opportunities in Engineering Careers, McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2003.
. Larson, Janelle M., Stephen M. Smith, David G. Abler and Carolina Trevelli, An Economic Analysis of Land Titling in Peru, Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture. 42(1):79-97, 2003.8. Waks, S. and Sabag, N., Technology Project Learning versus Lab Experimentation, Journal of Science Education and Technology, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 333-342, Sept. 2004.9. Boyer Commission (1998), Reinventing undergraduate education: A blueprint for America's research universities. Stony Brook, New York: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.10. Nicholas Basta, Opportunities in Engineering Careers, McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2003.
; Acquire, apply and strengthen the design methodology and other high-level skill sets in a global context; Establish an international collaborative network; Explore global engineering career opportunities.At Stanford University, a capstone project in mechatronics was designed to involve internationalcollaboration with Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden31. The collaboration project was found topromote: Disciplinary learning skills; General skills, such as teamwork, team management and presentation techniques; Awareness of cultural differences and different educational systems; Self-motivation to meet the challenges internationally.D. Other long-term
projects, or team laboratory assignments to help studentsdevelop skills necessary for their professional careers. Teamwork skills have traditionally beendeveloped by exposing students to team activities without discussion of teamwork techniques. To someextent, this lack of formal instruction does produce results, but a better approach was undertaken at theUniversity of Dayton2 where student teams were instructed on teambuilding and leadership. Manyresearchers have struggled with the difficult task of assessing teamwork and other soft skills involved inmulti-disciplinary PBL teams. Plumb and Sobeck3 put together a framework for developing assessmenttools. They urge instructors to develop a rubric to track performance over time.Teamwork in PBL is
” come first, and to the extent that the nearly 200 firms who recruit our students at the twiceyearly career fairs have expectations that NC State students will have a particular suite of civil engineering skills, and the department aims to provide those skills. It also does assert that ABET requirements are viewed as minimum requirements that must be met, not an optimal target. Expanding the scope of those expectations (read as being constraints), unnecessarily, as might easily occur with an explicit conformance to either BOK1 or BOK2, is not advantageous nor is it necessarily important in meeting the needs of our customers. This having been said, the department’s “customers” are true civil engineering firms, both local and
, but the primary concern would be in setting up false expectations in newly hired faculty who do not understand the final objectives and outcomes of the P&T process. By providing new faculty members with OES-l opportunities that are "outside of the academic mainstream" compared to the traditional P&T process—without ALSO mentoring them so they know about and understand the need to address the core function of the P&T process (Teaching, Creative Activities, & Service) —then they may be moving along an inappropriate career trajectory, leading to disappointment, failure, and possible law suits as a result. ≠ Retention is much influenced by the OES-l as a part of P&T process
5 Table 1. Course StatisticsOne possible explanation of student “at-risk” status is a mismatch between the student’spreferred learning style and the delivery style adopted in a particular course. For this reason,the first tutorial (run by a lecturer) provided an introduction to learning styles11, and theattendees were given the opportunity to attempt the Felder-Soloman Index of Learning Styles(ILS) questionnaire12. Assistance with the interpretation of individual ILS results wasprovided. Subsequent tutorials (run by senior PhD students who aspire to academic careers)dealt with relatively low-level technical issues on circuit theory, electronics andelectromagnetics. Postgraduate students (assisted on
Would you please reveal what kinds of basic Chemistry Competence are required for graduates who major in Chemical and Material Engineering? And why do you think so? 2 What kinds of occupation domain are appropriate for the graduates majoring in Chemical and Material Engineering? 3 {Continue with question 4} Please indicate the basic Chemistry Competence which Chemical and Material Engineering graduates should acquire if they want to pursue their career in the aforementioned occupation domains, respectively (e.g. photoelectricity, plastics, commodity industry, semiconductor, environmental engineering, energy, etc.). 4 What kinds of basic Chemistry Competence will be beneficial to
., and C. Coates. "Attracting Minorities to Engineering Careers: Addressing theChallenges from k-12 to Post Secondary Education." ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, ConferenceProceedings (2009).26 de Cohen, C., and N. Deterding. "Widening the Net: National Estimates of Gender Disparities inEngineering." Journal of Engineering Education. 98.3 (2009): 211-226.27 Buchmann, C. "Gender Inequalities in the Transition to College." Teachers College record 111.10 (2009): 2320.28 Leicht-Scholten, C., Weheliye, A. and A. Wolffram. "Institutionalisation of Gender and Diversity Management inEngineering Education." European Journal of Engineering Education 34.5 (2009): 447.29 Garforth, L., and A. Kerr. "Women and Science: What's the Problem
students are explicitlytaught the model as soon as possible in their educational careers. In the School of Engineering,Introduction to Engineering was the most logical place to begin teaching critical thinking, and todeliberately and explicitly explain the Paul-Elder model to students. Additional reasons forplacing a heavy emphasis on critical thinking in Introduction to Engineering is our belief that: • Critical thinking is a core engineering activity, • Students need to learn early on to be aware of their thinking process, • If students like to think, then they will like engineering.Introduction to Engineering has several specific critical thinking goals. Students should be moreconscious of critical thinking and its role in both
author is confident that the course isconverging on the proper balance of theory and application. The students and instructor areslowly becoming more proficient at achieving the course goals. It is believed that students arenot only gaining an appreciation for the state of the art but also having fun. They developed arealistic perspective of the mobile robot‟s capabilities, open areas of research and the importanceof multidisciplinary teamwork. Lastly, three robotics certificate students completed the courseand graduated in 2009. Two of them went on to careers in controls, robotics and automation andone went on to graduate study in robotics. The feedback from two of these students indicatedthat this course was helpful and relevant to their
(market penetration, staffing, purchasing, facilities, distribution) business plan (capitalization, pro-forma financial projections) Figure 5: Matching Project Objectives with Project Performance The innovation team presented a set of designs that they believe are commercially viable, andall three members of the final team roster offered to take the opportunity of building this newenterprise as their first career placement after graduation. As of the time of this writing, thecustomer has not made a decision on proceeding further, in part due to
sustainability. Engineers of the 21stcentury must understand globalization and sustainability to be professionally successful in thedomestic and international dimensions of their careers.2 Galloway goes on to say that suchrequirements demand that engineering education be reformed to include lifelong learning, ethicsand sustainability; while continuing to teach the core undergraduate curriculum. Interestingly,results from the Peterson and Humble 2007 study of 28 graduate programs in EngineeringManagement, places Environmental Policy and Sustainable Development at the bottom of lists ofcourses taught ranked in order of importance.3 This gap certainly creates a challenge foreducators at institutions of higher learning teaching in Engineering Management
an organization called Learning for Life, Jaurez also uses video games to inspire juvenile court system kids in the area of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). His aim is to encourage academic and professional career paths in gaming, and inspire "at risk" youth to enroll in college. Jaurez also sits on the board of his local church and assists with outreach programs and ministries.Peilin Fu, National University Peilin Fu, Ph.D., received the Bachelor of Engineering in Automatic Control from Qingdao University of Science and Technology, China, Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from Ocean University of China, China, and Ph.D. in Systems Engineering and
frommismatched code-execution speeds of the two microprocessors, we have successfully integrateda pair of Synapse End Node and BASIC Stamp in cascade for each ARobot. With a Synapse EndNode on the ARobot, we have established networking capability among ARobots and the BridgeNode based on the SNAP. With an in-house GUI for generation of control commands, we havesuccessfully executed these commands on ARobots and controlled their motion as desired. Theinevitable inter-command delay was reasonable for the purpose of controlling ARobots in indoorenvironment. Finally, we have suggested a set of laboratory experiments for undergraduatestudents in electrical and computer engineering to help them better prepared for their early-stageprofessional career measured
required to complete Drexel University’sIntroduction to Engineering Design (ENGR 101-103) program. This is a three course, year-longengineering design sequence which aims “to provide students with an understanding of thesimilarities, differences, and career options available in the various engineering disciplines, theimportance of multidisciplinary teams to innovation, an appreciation for engineeringmeasurements, errors, units, significant figures and reproducibility, and the ability tocommunicate relevant technical information concisely and incorporate experimental dataclearly.” In the course sequence, all incoming engineering students representing the disciplinesof Architectural Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Sciences and Health Systems
throughout theHabitat for United States. From 2004 thru 2007, Villanova sent the most students out of 1989Humanity approximately 250 campus chapters. In the Two-day program, Villanova works with local Habitat affiliates Approximately 800 VU students sign up each year, Learning Partners is an online tutoring and mentoring program between VillanovaLearners undergraduates and students at the School of the Future (SOTF). Participants workConnect! together through an online course that is focused on career/college goals with SOTF 2006Learning learners. The program has the
core of the university selection process. In the twentyyears following this debate it could be asserted with considerable confidence that an‘A’ level in engineering science was the equivalent of 1st and sometimes 2nd yearcourses in four-year university programmes in other countries. This was achieved atthe expense of breadth of study. From the age of sixteen a student, in that period,pursued three perhaps four subjects for two years either in the sciences or the arts(humanities).For the most part, however, attention was focused on the schools and to argue thatteachers should do much more to encourage students pursue careers in science andtechnology. Some schools experimented with engineering subjects. One outcome oftheir efforts was the