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Accentuating the Positive: Including Successes in a Case Study Survey Class

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Conference

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

New Orleans, Louisiana

Publication Date

June 26, 2016

Start Date

June 26, 2016

End Date

June 29, 2016

ISBN

978-0-692-68565-5

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Case and Scenario in Engineering Ethics Instruction

Tagged Division

Engineering Ethics

Page Count

9

DOI

10.18260/p.26494

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/26494

Download Count

563

Paper Authors

biography

Colleen Janeiro East Carolina University

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Dr. Colleen Janeiro teaches engineering fundamentals such as Introduction to Engineering, Materials and Processes, and Statics. Her teaching interests include development of solid communication skills and enhancing laboratory skills.

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biography

Teresa J Ryan East Carolina University Department of Engineering

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Dr. Teresa Ryan teaches mechanical engineering fundamentals such as Dynamics, Mechanics of Materials, Acoustics and Vibrations. She also focuses on technical communication skills within an engineering context. Her research interests include acoustics, the dynamics of complex structures, and the use of laser Doppler vibrometry for characterization of such structures including percussion instruments, landmines/IED, and coupled resonator arrays.

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biography

William E Howard P.E. East Carolina University

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William E (Ed) Howard is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering at East Carolina University. He was previously a faculty member at Milwaukee School of Engineering, following a 14-year career as a design and project engineer with Thiokol Corporation, Spaulding Composites Company, and Sta-Rite Industries.

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Abstract

Case studies have been used in engineering programs and classes as examples of “what not to do.” The authors created a one hour elective course, geared at upper level undergraduate students in a general engineering program. This course focused on engineering case studies, but with a twist: instead of focusing solely on engineering failures, successes were also included. The course was implemented in a seminar format. Early in the semester, guest lecturers including faculty and program alumni working in industry presented a case study of their choosing. As the students gained familiarity with the presentation style, student pairs presented case studies. Each week, two to three presentations were followed by general discussion. Students completed a short synopsis form that included a summary of the main points and the key takeaway for each case. At the end of the semester, the students wrote personal reflection papers on what they learned in the course during the semester. Leaving the choice of the cases discussed to the presenters (both guest lecturers and students) resulted in inclusion of cases beyond the classic examples (e.g. the Challenger, the Ford Pinto, the Hindenburg, the Titanic). Some of the less widely discussed failures presented included the groundwater contamination at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, the structural failure of the Skyline Tower in Fairfax County, VA, the crash of Swissair Flight 111, and the excessive deflection of the London Millennium Bridge. Also interesting were the various engineering successes such as the Brooklyn Bridge, the Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon skywalk, and rural electrification. By expanding the course topics to include successes, what, if anything, did the students gain? Comments from the students’ papers are insightful, and indicate that inclusion of successes enhanced the students’ learning. One observation of note from this first offering was the emergence of some common threads among both the failures and successes, including most notably the role of effective communication. The course will be offered again in the spring of 2016, and the authors are exploring additional methods of assessing the students’ learning and will work to emphasize the common threads.

Janeiro, C., & Ryan, T. J., & Howard, W. E. (2016, June), Accentuating the Positive: Including Successes in a Case Study Survey Class Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/p.26494

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