Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Saleh M. Sbenaty

Session 1280 RIDING WITH THE SUN: MTSU’S EXPERIENCE IN SOLAR CAR DESIGN AND THE IMPACT ON COMMUNITY Saleh M. Sbenaty Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Studies Middle Tennessee State UniversityABSTRACT This paper describes Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) efforts in:x promoting its Basic and Applied Sciences programs in general and the Engineering Technology program in particular,x demonstrating the impact of engineering physics and technology on the community, andx boosting environmental awareness in the Middle Tennessee area.The

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Pradeep K. Agrawal

writing and oral presentations throughtheir English departments. While these courses can provide useful instruction, they inevitablysuffer from certain drawbacks. First, these courses teach students one, optimal approach totechnical writing and speaking, overlooking the significant differences that exist in the ways thatengineers in various domains communicate technical information. Second, the courses seldomprovide students with adequate, targeted training (or exercises). Third, the courses do notaddress critical thinking concepts or apply critical thinking to discipline-specific issues and/orexamples.The concept of critical thinking is sorely lacking in the contemporary education of technicalcommunication. The technical communication courses

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Scot Douglass

moderator on either side of the room, astudent cannot engage both moderators without at least looking at the majority of theirclassmates. Secondly, the dual moderator models the idea of community learning.Thirdly, the two moderators can demonstrate participation skills by asking clarifyingquestions of each other, by referring a student back to a question or comment made by theother moderator, by taking a comment by the other moderator and pointing out asupporting text or adding an additional thought. The moderators are able to embody witheach other how students should interact with other students.Establishing Participation Expectations: For the engineering student, what we offer isdifferent enough from their normal classroom experience, we have the

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Raymond B. Landis

curriculum to provide freshman students increased exposure to topics such as computing,engineering design, problem solving, and creativity.Generally, little consideration is given as to whether these activities and interventions reallyaddress those factors that are impeding student success. Consequently, although worthwhile,the types of interventions listed above do not generally have a significant impact on studentsuccess. The postulate of this paper is that enhancing engineering student success can best beaccomplished by taking a direct approach to changing student attitudes and behaviors.In Chapter 1 of the author’s text Studying Engineering: A Road Map to a Rewarding Career,2the keys to success in engineering study are described as

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

James S. Tulenko; Edward T. Dugan; David E. Hintenlang

experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data; (c) an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs; (d) an ability to function on multi-disciplinary terms; (e) an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems; (f) an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility; (g) an ability to communicate effectively; (h) the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global/societal context; (I) a recognition of the need for an ability to engage in life-long learning; (j) a knowledge of

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Mary E. Besterfield-Sacre; Larry J. Shuman; Cynthia Atman; Harvey Wolfe

desired needs. D. An ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams. E. An ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems. F. An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility. G. An ability to communicate effectively. H. The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global/societal context. I. A recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in life-long learning. J. A knowledge of contemporary issues, and the techniques and skills necessary for engineering practice.As indicated in Table 1, all the criteria appear to have been accounted for by the outcomes, asdefined by the practicing engineers. In some cases, two

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Janet K. Allen; Farrokh Mistree; Jennifer Turns

. Students reported lowlevels of use and suggested that the potential usefulness of the resources did not surpass thecombined effort required to 1) learn a new computer platform (i.e. most students reported beingPC users) and 2) go to the resource’s location. As a result, the students continued to performtheir activities in the old manner and the resources apparently went largely unused. Based onthese experiences, we have moved the D-LS to a Web-based platform to provide the studentswith almost universal access and platform independence.3. EVALUATION QUESTIONSThroughout its life, the D-LS has been publicly available to students and to the engineeringeducation community. During this time, we have relied on comments from these groups, ad-hocsurveys

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Javed Alam, Youngstown State University; Joseph Rencis, University of Arkansas

computer technology withtelecommunication technology is creating new ways of inexpensive communication of theinformation.The computers are providing the software tools to create information content in hypermediaformat. The introduction of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) allows one to producedocuments that contain pointers to such multimedia elements as sound and video files. It alsohelps in providing a richer and more engaging experience to the consumer of the information.These documents are served through a World Wide-Web (WWW) server program usingHypertext Protocol (HTTP)1,2. The idea is based on client/server computing method. Similarmethodologies have been in existence in the past. However, the acceptance of HTML and HTTPprotocol as standards

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Barbara Tedesco; Sanford Bordman; Iftekhar Hasan

relationship with sensing (S) preferences. Overall, the paper provided strong evidence of the positive impact of teaching and testing style on students’ performance. V. Empirical Issues We used the MBTI to investigate and assess personality preferences for forty- eight students enrolled in the first semester sequence (ECO-MGT I) and seventy students enrolled in the second semester sequence (ECO-MGT II) of our integrated course.7 Two courses, freshman design and technology communication, are prerequisites for the fist sequence, ECO-MGMT I, which must be completed before students participate in the second sequence, ECO-MGMT II.8 It should be noted here that unlike

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Fazil Najafi

effectively h) The board education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global/social context i) A recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in lifelong learning j) A knowledge of contemporary issues and k) An ability to use the techniques, skills and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practices. The success of any new curricula depends on the ability of competent faculty institutionalsupport and financial resources. Furthermore, the input from government and industry isessential in the successful implementation of curriculum renewal. If university-industry becomepartners in the process of education, then joint benefits must be discussed. For instance, industrycan

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Hamid Khan

the study were: 1. How well did the program experiences meet the 'needs' of the managers? Evidence used to answer this question was gathered using a follow up questionnaire. 2. What were the impacts of these experiences on attending managers and on their corporations? The impact of the training on the managers and their organization was analyzed. Theimpact was assessed using Kirkpatrick's ( 1987) four levels of evaluation of the training programfor effectiveness consisting of (1) Reaction (2) Learning (3) Behavior and (4) Impact or Results. 1. Reaction: Reaction is a measure of how well the participant liked the training programwith respect to its content and delivery. Reacting to a training program with

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Mark A. Shields; John P. O'Connell

, science and engineering; b) An ability to design and conduct experiments, analyze and interpret data; c) An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs; d) An ability to function on multidisciplinary teams; e) An ability to identify, formulate and solve engineering problems; f) An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility; g) An ability to communicate effectively; h) The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global societal context; i) A recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in lifelong learning; j) A knowledge of contemporary issues; and, k) An ability to use the techniques, skills and modern

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Enno 'Ed' Koehn

desired needs;• an ability to communicate effectively;• the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global/societal context; and• a recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in life-long learning.The 7 areas listed above are perceived by undergraduate students to be covered at a high level.Nevertheless, a shown in Table 1, one attribute -- a knowledge of contemporary issues -- is ratedat a composite score of ≤ 3.1. Indeed, some individuals believe that gaining knowledge in thisarea should be considered to be the student’s own responsibility.Graduate Student Rating of ABET AttributesThe perceptions of graduate students are shown in Table 2. Here, the respondents indicate that

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

C. Dianne Martin; Edmund Tsang; Rand Decker

4,5,6,7, except thatservice learning provides the context for the design projects.The service learning project is carried out with the partnership of the Mobile County SchoolSystem and provides students enrolled in "Introduction to Mechanical Engineering" with real-lifecustomers in their design projects -- a team of two middle-school teachers. The students areinformed about a need in the community (the schools) for more resources to support hands-on ofmathematics and science in middle-schools in Mobile County 8, and they are tasked withdesigning and producing manipulatives/instruction modules that satisfy the need of their teachercustomers for implementing hands-on activities to teach mathematics and science.To make the process "real-world" like

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Alexandre Cabral; Rolland Viau; Denis Bédard

make a distinct impact on higher education programs,specially in the field of engineering.2. Academic context of the present researchOver the past five years, the Faculty of Applied Sciences at the Université de Sherbrooke(Quebec, Canada), has been quite concerned with how well its students were prepared to face thedemands and challenges that most engineering professions are now requiring. In the Departmentof Civil Engineering, a major effort is being made to ameliorate learning activities andassessment modes. The Department is also engaged in the development of new case studies thatwill be used throughout the program in order to help illustrate specific issues of the profession, aswell as motivate team work, initiative and critique.The

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

V.J. Deleveaux; C.O. Ruud

the roles of the instructor, student, and industry Page 2.140.1 1sponsor in the learning process. Finally, the impact of the course on the student, the sponsor, andthe department are discussed.II. ApproachThe approach to the I & ME capstone industrial project design course is to construct learningobjectives which address the aforementioned weaknesses of the student by immersing the studentin real life professional problem solving experiences. These learning objectives include: effectiveapplication of problem solving techniques

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Denny C. Davis; Richard W. Crain; Michael S. Trevisan; Kenneth L. Gentili; Dale E. Calkins

,communication, teamwork, and process improvement. Levels include: basic knowledge,application of knowledge, critical analysis, and extension of knowledge. Together, the categoriesand levels encompass the practice-related characteristics of engineering graduates listed as part ofthe ABET Engineering Criteria 2000.This paper also shows how knowledge of competency categories and levels can be used toachieve specific design learning (educational) objectives. Creation of student design exercisesbased on this approach provides a direct link between the steps students follow in their learningactivity and the competencies identified as learning objectives. The paper gives examples thatcan serve as models for other engineering educators to use in their creation

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Roland Jenison; Rebecca Sidler Kellogg

about the importance of verbal communication indesign through the teamwork experience. After the product has been thoroughly studied, the stu-dents are often required to reassemble it so that it once again works. Several products have beenused for the dissection project at Iowa State University including a fabric shaver, a computermouse, a Dremel FreeWheeler, a Kodak FunSaver™ camera, and a mobile robot built from a kitof components designed at Iowa State. Various aspects of these product dissection projects arediscussed in this paper. The reader will learn how each of these projects was used in the courseto enhance the students’ design experience. This paper also looks at student and faculty responseto hands-on, reverse engineering projects as

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Saundra D. Johnson

increasing capability and will strengthen the education andresearch programs: 1. Attract and develop an outstanding and diverse faculty, student body and staff. Page 2.380.1 2. Reconfigure the undergraduate curriculum to focus on engineering fundamentals and incorporate design, communications, computation and the contextual understanding of engineering. 3. Strengthen the graduate program by intra- and inter-disciplinary cooperation. 4. Develop research thrusts in areas of critical national and state needs through partnerships in a time of federal

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Christopher G. Braun

(faculty/TA instructional time) 3. Working at different times or different locations is important 4. Will impact a large number of users 5. Adequate computers are available at the site(s) Table 2. Some key criteria for developing computer-based training modules.A general flow chart for our tutorials is shown on Figure 1. Tutorial modules are brokendown into short (10 min or less) sessions, each with clear set of objectives, moduleinformation and several interactive exercises. At the end of each module, the student maythen take the quiz. If the student’s score does not reflect a good understanding of thematerial then he or she will have to revisit that module again. User identification, scoresand other session information

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Mary E. Besterfield-Sacre; Larry J. Shuman; Cynthia Atman; Harvey Wolfe

; x An ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams; x An ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems; x An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility; x An ability to communicate effectively; x The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global/societal context; x A recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in life-long learning; x A knowledge of contemporary issues; and, x An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engi- neering practice.5”As Rogers notes, EAC 2000 has changed the focus from “what are you [the program] doing” to“how is what you’re doing achieving the desired outcomes [what

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Yixin Shao; Laura Walhof; Joseph J. Biernacki

provided a set of standards for K-12science education called the National Science Education Standards3. Among the goals setin these standards are science taught through inquiry. At the same time, Pauschke andIngraffea4 report that recent innovations in undergraduate education indicate trends suchas emphasis on design, multidisciplinary approaches, team dynamics, hands-on designand analysis experiences, communication skills and tying theory to practice. Indeveloping activities for our students at any level, we must strive to integrate relevantexperiences which result in enduring frameworks upon which individuals can better relateto the world around them. 5Infrastructure Materials is an inquiry-based design sequence for high

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Michael E. Gorman; Matthew M. Mehalik; Julie M. Stocker

teaching of ethics. What kind of outcome-based measure can be used toassess whether we are producing ethical engineers from our undergraduate programs, programswhich must demonstrate an “. . . emphasis on effective communication and professional andethical responsibility, awareness of the global societal context of engineering, and knowledge ofcontemporary issues . . .” (Luegenbiehl, 1996)?Adapting Mortimer Adler’s Paiadeaia Proposal (Adler, 1982) to ethics, we would argue that weseek outcomes in three areas: 1) Knowledge: Every student ought to know something about ethical theory. For example, Harris, Pritchard & Rabins teach students to distinguish between a utilitarian approach and one based on respect for persons (RP

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Massoud Tavakoli; Gary Hammond; Jawaharlal Mariappan; Henry Kowalski

incorporated (or discarded)based on the following principles:1. Teach design with great attention to manufacturing capabilities and limitations.2. Practice manufacturing and develop manufacturing skills in parallel with the design effort.3. Teach the design methodology with even emphasis on the theory of design as well as on the practical implementation of the theory.4. Elevate the students’ elementary technical knowledge to a point where they can rely on and develop faith in their elementary engineering analysis skills.5. Teach and practice organizational and creativity skills such as Brainstorming, Objectives Tree, Reverse Engineering, and Patent Development.6. Insist on and incorporate the development of oral and written communication skills

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Josef Rojter

with the entry point of theprofession ie education.To begin with, the undergraduate curriculum needs somerestructuring.It must be linked to a stage of communal development to produce aprofessional who is socially conscious of his or her role.The argument for increased Page 2.346.4humanities studies in producing an all rounded professional is not new,disparatepeople such as Eric Ashby and Finniston in his report into Engineering education sawin the increase content of humanities as enhancing the engineering curriculum In1968 the UNESCO secretariat in its international perspective on engineeringeducation argued , . . ..In view of the engineers dual

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Mark A. Pagano; Christine L. Corum

improvement inteaching effectiveness or student learning. The MET Department’s contribution to this effortinvolved a project that focused on a restructuring of the credit hour count in the existing plan ofstudy with an emphasis on overall reduction of hours required. Outcomes for this project havebeen summarized in another paper by Hutzel, et.al [5]. A second project involves planning andimplementation of a more comprehensive recruitment/enrollment development plan. Thetechnical staff is working on a third project aimed at standardizing and documenting laboratoryprocedures to allow smoother transitions when laboratory courses are taught by different facultyor with different technical support personnel.In general, the university community has

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Wade C. Driscoll

meet desired needs; function on multi-disciplinary teams; identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems; communicate effectively; and use the techniques, skills and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.In addition, Engineering Criteria 2000 also specifies that engineering programs must alsodemonstrate that their graduates have an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility; Page 2.315.1 the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global/societal context; a recognition of the need for an

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Raymond Yannuzzi; Edward McDonnell; Bradshaw Kinsey; Robert Bowman

element of its institutional identity onthe outcome of the joint venture. Community College of Philadelphia, which had for yearsoffered courses at the Shipyard, had to agree to invite other "competitor" institutions onto its"turf." Delaware County Community College, from the suburbs, had to agree to manage a grantand provide administrative support for a project where it would enroll fewer than one-third of thestudents. Camden County College, across the river in New Jersey, had to agree to share itstechnology programs and facilities with students from another state. Drexel University, a leaderin engineering and technology research, had to adapt to the short-term delivery modes andapplied technology programs needed for workforce retraining. At