Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Chotchai Charoenngam; Abdul Samad Kazi

aspects of information technology in construction, it failed to provide a hands ontraining environment exposing students to the realities of working in a complex and diverseconstruction project environment. Extensive course load limited the students from actuallystepping out of the classroom for long periods to experience construction reality. For this the sitehad to be brought into the reach of the students and this was possible through an intitiative suchas Construction Communications Simulation through Virtual Set-Up Environment andInformation Technology (CCSTVSUEIT). Virtual sceanarios were created to simulate real lifeconstruction activities and to engage the students into the dynamics of decision making throughinformation exchange and

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Jeff Goldberg

” section. Also, students completed a survey on site usage and impact onlearning. The paper concludes with recent developments in the site and future directions.II. Course Topics and Motivation for Web Based InstructionThis course prepares he student to consider the economic dimensions in the evaluation ofengineering alternatives. Hence it is particularly useful in the analysis and decision stages of theengineering design process. Emphasis is on the analytical consideration of money and its impacton the areas of system operations and acquisition.The course is taught in 4 related lesson blocks. Block 1, The Time Value of Money, providesstudents with the quantitative methods for economic analysis of engineering alternatives. Block2, Analysis Methods

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

David A. Sabatini

of paper reviews. I did use active learning techniques and the students responded veryfavorably to this. These techniques included individual quizzes followed by group quizzeson selected reading assignments, small group consensus building activities on selected topics,etc. It was very rewarding to watch the students interact and become cohesive, especiallysince they spanned a range of ages and academic levels from pre-diplome to post-doctorate.My intensive short course was on a technology we are developing at my home universityknown as Surfactant Enhanced Soil Remediation. This course was taught as a two-dayintensive course to make it available to both the university community and the private sector.A total of sixteen participants were in

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Francis Wang; El-Hadi M. Aggoune

addressed. Finally the challengesencountered and conclusions are provided.Educational Outcomes Assessment PlanThe educational outcomes assessment process can be viewed as a way to reassure stakeholders(students, parents, faculty, administration, governing board, alumni, donors, accrediting bodies,etc.) of the quality of education provided by an institution. Its purpose is for an institution to usethe results for self-improvement. Typically, an assessment plan includes the following:• Objectives based on the programs role in the institution’s mission• Criteria against which to measure objective attainment• Tools to collect data and procedures indicating how assessment is donePart of our assessment plans are the student portfolios [1]. For

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Randy Russell; Nicholas Basker; Lisa Scranton; J. L. P Jessop; A. B. Scranton

the Internet will be illustrated using lessons developed for the sophomore-level chemicalengineering course on material and energy balances. The advantages offered by the Internet maybe exploited to create a valuable educational experience for the student that cannot be duplicatedin the formal classroom. These advantages include: i) convenient access to the course from anylocation and on any schedule; ii) an added level of communication of the scientific conceptsthrough well-designed audio-visual content (including voice, simulations, animations, pictures,and video); iii) the students’ control of the pace of the course; and iv) the ability to easilyintegrate problem solving with the “lecture” component of each lesson. We have developed

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Paul Mooney; Michael A. Mooney; Gerald Miller

studentswere required to understand all facets of the project and teach unclear concepts to theintroductory students when necessary. End of semester surveys revealed that both the upper leveland introductory level students benefited from the exchange.IntroductionThe rapidly changing profession of engineering calls for the education of life-long learners,individuals who can adapt and thrive through change [1]. This call must be met with a balancedemphasis on process skill development (thinking, integration, discovery, communication) andproduct (knowledge) [2]. Engineering instructors understand very well the adage one neverreally learns a subject until one teaches it. The process of teaching and preparing to teach buildsprocess skills, e.g., discovery

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Patricia Click

and culture.In addition to fostering an understanding of the impact of technology on culture, as well as thecultural context of technological development, the courses aim to help students improve their Page 4.385.1written and oral communications skills. Students, for example, have to write substantial papersand give formal oral presentations. Class discussions are encouraged, while mere lecturing isfrowned upon. As the official statement of guidelines for the TCC 200-level courses notes, “Thedual emphasis on subject matter and communications skills encourages student awareness, onone hand, of the humanistic concerns in engineering and, on the

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Francisco Ruiz; Michael E. Gorman; Phil Weilerstein

Page 4.532.3"inter-professional projects”. These projects are intended to expand the views of thestudents beyond their academic major. Our "Invention and Innovation" classes combinetechnical aspects (a working prototype must be built) with law (a patent must bewritten), business (through a business plan) and social aspects.The program has run continuously for three years under funding from the Fund for theImprovement of Post-Secondary Education and the NCIIA. . Class size is small (underten students), and it has consistently been one of the most popular choices of "inter-professional project" during the prototype phase of this new degree requirement. Theidea of the course is to help students become more creative by engaging in actualinventions

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Heidi Diefes; William LeBold; William Oakes

faculty member, lead and teach ENGR 195F. Students inthese courses earn a grade of A-F based on attendance, participation, and completion ofassignments.In ENGR 195D, faculty members meet with groups of approximately30 students for one houreach week and actively engage students in career related experiences. This instructor-led courseinvolves the student in resume writing, job fairs, career planning, internet searches for careerand academic information, ethics games, communication exercises, and engineering problem Page 4.287.3solving. This course has been well received by students.7In ENGR 195F, two upper-class-engineering students lead discussion

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Matthew Dettman

and Construction Managementand get their view of having practitioners in the classroom. More specifically, students’ viewsof the importance or value of having professors who actively engage in professional practice inaddition to their teaching duties were explored. The questions were few and straightforwardwith a chance for general comments as the last question. This study was used to determine thestudents understanding of the need for real world knowledge on the part of the faculty. If theunderstanding was there, responses to the questions could be used to refine this practice with thestudents interests in mind. If the understanding was not there, steps would be taken to clarifythis point to the students early in their educational career

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Ann M. Bisantz; Amjad Aref; Alexander N. Cartwright

system. In particular, students are asked to comment onhow each of the engineers should take into account the possibility of their portion of the systemfailing. Possible topics for discussion include measuring reliability of system components,designing redundant systems, and examining the impact of catastrophic failures on co-locatedback-up systems. Page 4.346.3 Part 3: Reliability and RedundancyAt 6:00 EST on Tuesday May 19, 1998, there was a failure of a major communication satellite, Galaxy IV, operated byPanAmSat. Press releases from PanAmSat identified the problem as one which affected

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Kenneth Bryden

systems, components, or processes• Function on multi-disciplinary teams• Identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems• Understand professional/ethical responsibility• Communicate effectively• Understand the impact of engineering on society• Engage in life long learning• Demonstrate knowledge of contemporary issues• Use the techniques, skills, tools of engineeringNoting that these are program outcomes and that not every class needs to meet all of thesecriteria, we can still gain some sense of what is needed in an engineering class. It is clear thatmany of these items must be taught in some manner other than lectures. For example,communicating effectively, functioning on multidisciplinary teams, and lifelong learning areitems that must be

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Tom Christensen; R. M. Seymour; Kim McKeage; Deborah Skinner; Darrell Donahue

and expertise and that of theircompany, reinforcing the importance of the customer-centered focus in the arenas of constructionand service engineering. Page 4.338.2Engineering education should be preparing students to be customer-centered in their designprocess, able to work on teams and communicate their design work to all kinds of audiences. Thenew ABET 2000 requirements address these needs through program outcomes and assessmentcriteria. The requirements to communicate effectively, to work in multidisciplinary teams, tounderstand the impact of engineering solutions in a societal context and be aware of current eventsare all preparing

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Nancy Peck; John E. Nydahl

. These tasks included thedevelopment of better oral and written communication skills plus more exposure to computertools (engineering graphics, computer programming, spreadsheets and word processing),engineering statistics, teamwork, and general management. The Mechanical EngineeringDepartment (ME) immediately initiated a major effort to integrate these constructive criticismsthroughout its curriculum. Many of these suggestions are also delineated in the newAccreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) 2000 criteria2. The UW’s Page 4.545.1Engineering Task Force on Undergraduate Education also recommended students should bemade to

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

John E. Nydahl; Colin K. Keeney; Ann Peck

oftheir personal insights. However, this appeared to have very little impact on classes. To trulyconvince the students that they must be proficient in technical communication, it was decided toreplace the ineffective lecture format with one in which the class discovers this fact forthemselves. To accomplish this, the Chinese proverb, “To know the road ahead, ask thosecoming back,” is emulated by having the class conduct its own interview-based survey. Its aimis to give students an opportunity to interact with professionals in their field and gain a first-handunderstanding of the many ways writing is used and the importance of good technical writingskills.During the first minutes of the first class meeting, a two question survey is given, with

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Frank J. Fronczak; John G. Webster

responding positively):a) an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering (15)b) an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data (14)c) an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs (15)d) an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems (16)e) an ability to communicate effectively (16)f) a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning (15)g) an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice (15)These evaluations gave a clear indication that the students felt that the course was meeting theestablished goals. One area in which the course fell somewhat short

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Victoria Gallagher; Tracey Weldon; Cynthia R. Haller; Richard M. Felder

engineering education by analyzing work sessions of student groups ina sophomore-level chemical engineering course at North Carolina State University. Usingconversation analysis as a methodology for understanding how students taught and learned fromone another, we found that group members engaged in two types of teaching-learninginteractions. In the first type, transfer-of-knowledge (TK) sequences, students took on distinctteacher and pupil roles, and in the second, collaborative sequences (CS), they worked onproblems with no clear role differentiation. Student management of both types of sequenceswas affected by gender factors and interpersonal communication. Our findings suggest thatfacilitating effective interactional dynamics can enhance

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Ingrid H. Soudek

firstyear, it is most heavily emphasized in their senior year when they take a two semester course,TCC 401, $Western Technology and Culture,# and TCC 402, $The Engineer in Society.# Thissenior course sequence includes the writing and presenting of a senior thesis which communicatesa technical project to a diverse audience with a focus on the impacts a particular project mighthave on society, the area of expertise, industry, individuals, etc. This is a good starting point to getseniors to think about the ethical consequences of their work, as well as focus on the importance ofethical behavior in private and professional life. By the time students are seniors, they have certainly developed a work ethic and their ownmoral codes. So the aim of

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Debi Switzer; Siegfried M. Holzer; Richard M. Felder; Douglas E. Hirt

Programs New Faculty Course on Programs Workshops Teaching Orientation Learning to Teaching Communities Mentoring Figure 1. Elements of the SUCCEED Faculty Development ModelFaculty development coordinatorTwo of the authors have had occasion to present teaching workshops on almost 100 campuses,many of which have teaching centers or other faculty development programs. Few of thoseprograms seem to have had a significant impact on engineering education, but those that did hadone common characteristic: an

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Matt C. Smith; David K. Gattie

to educate their own students in the engineering principles of waterresources. Through this instructional outreach to other departments, an informal water resourcesfaculty has been formed with members from several departments. From this interdisciplinaryeffort the need for such a program became even more evident.At the University of Georgia, water resource courses are taught in at least eight departments, witheach course designed to emphasize a particular physical, biological or chemical aspect of waterresources. In practice, these basic sciences are interrelated and serve as the basis for identifyingissues and evaluating impacts and effects on water resources. Through interdisciplinary effortswith experts in these areas, the research

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Patricia M. Yaeger; Rose M. Marra; Francesco Costanzo; Gary L. Gray

communication skills. Items measuring students’confidence and motivation to become an engineer and perceptions of their computer skills werealso included. Students completed this instrument once at the end of the semester.2.2.3 Other MeasuresAdditional information was obtained by modifying existing feedback mechanisms. Penn Statehas a program to collect Student Ratings of Teacher Effectiveness (SRTE). Items were added tothis instrument to obtain anonymous input from students on their satisfaction with the weightingof assignments toward the final grade and the mix of lecture and activities.2.3 Using the Results to Improve the ProcessThe assessment results had an impact on both our assessment plan and the course itself for thefollowing semester. We

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert A. Johnson; J. Shawn Addington

QUANTITY ALL EE QUALITY Chart 1Chart 1 provides a summary of average student response to the first program outcome, “Anability to apply knowledge of math, science and engineering”. Recall that students were asked torate their opportunity to engage in skills associated with each outcome, both quantitatively andqualitatively on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). They were also asked to evaluate theirachievement in such skills on the same scale. Not surprisingly, Chart 1 indicates

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Frederick Orthlieb

stated goal of the NCIIA program, the modest facilities improvements it enablescan have a sustained positive impact on the motivation and achievement of many more studentsthan those actively involved in the funded E-Team projects.6. Assessing Development Projects and Academic ProgramsE-Team students planning and pursuing the development of an innovative technologyapplication must first identify and analyze opportunities for innovation and then synthesize,realize, test and evaluate a product or system that represents a step beyond what’s currentlyavailable in the market. Viewed as a means for making an incremental (albeit perhapssubstantial) improvement in the effectiveness of solutions available to customers confronted bythe underlying problem

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Nagy N. Bengiamin

. Page 4.188.1 (f) Understand professional and ethical responsibilities. (g) Ability to communicate effectively. (h) Possess a broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context. (i) Recognize the need for, and is able to engage in life-long learning. (j) Has knowledge of contemporary issues. (k) Ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.Assessment and its relevant instruments in engineering education have been the focus of severalpublished works.2-5 The reader is encouraged to review the work by Olds and Miller 4 andRogers and Sando 5 for information about the process of

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Flora McMartin

these sources were adapted to reflect the Synthesisskills defined by the brainstorm and negotiation process described above. The goal was togenerate a concise, easily completed instrument that would inform faculty efforts to targetdeficiencies that impact on teamwork abilities.The Initial Pilot TestA freshman design course and an upper division design course at two different universitieswere selected for the pilot test. A total of 142 students completed the instrument. Once thedata had been collected, there was an analysis of:• The level of the variation among ratings.• The correlation between pairs of items intended to measure the same abilities.• The correlation between the distribution of 100 credit points among members of the team and the

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Glennelle Halpin; Gerald Halpin; L. D. Benefield; William Walker; S. MacGuire

% of the respondentsagreed that this was indeed a supportive academic community and that academic assistance could Page 4.68.12be easily accessed. We also wanted to examine what impact the coordination of the math andengineering classes had on understanding of mathematics or increased skill in application of mathconcepts. A large majority of the students (80%) agreed that their skill in application of mathconcepts had increased considerably, and 88% agreed that the integration of these courses hadstrengthened their understanding of mathematics.Quarter 3 - MH 183, EGR 183, and PS 183For MH 183 the two strengths mentioned most frequently were

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

W. F. Walker; S. MacGuire; L. D. Benefield; Glennelle Halpin; Gerald Halpin

% of the respondentsagreed that this was indeed a supportive academic community and that academic assistance could Page 4.68.12be easily accessed. We also wanted to examine what impact the coordination of the math andengineering classes had on understanding of mathematics or increased skill in application of mathconcepts. A large majority of the students (80%) agreed that their skill in application of mathconcepts had increased considerably, and 88% agreed that the integration of these courses hadstrengthened their understanding of mathematics.Quarter 3 - MH 183, EGR 183, and PS 183For MH 183 the two strengths mentioned most frequently were

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

William Daughton

Page 4.11.1underlying concepts and principles during the course of the program. Ideally, lessons learnedcould be applied on the job soon after their introduction.Based on the issues highlighted above, the program’s guiding principles can be summarized as:• A primary focus on engineers preparing for early management assignments• A rich mix of relevant management theory and practices• Flexibility and portability to meet the work and personal demands on students• A format that effectively engages remote students• An opportunity to include a technical area of emphasis associated with the manager’s functional area• A provision for an original research project on a management topicProgram ModelThe model of the program is shown in Figure 1. This

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Marcus Huggans; Nystrom Hal

effective astraditional lectures.This paper reports on a study1 that was performed at the University of Missouri – Rolla, whichsuccessfully measured the impact of one of the learning styles to engineering students. It utilizeda web site that contained three tutorial learning modules. These modules were designed forasynchronous application and with varying degrees of global and sequential content in theirlearning environments. Thirty-two graduate and undergraduate students participated in the study,which became a part of an established engineering course. The students were tested for theirlearning styles as well as their knowledge of the material before and after each of the Internet-based tutorial sessions. The results of the study showed that the

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Barry Jackson

closed off bythe time each new part of the process is introduced. Therefore, the focus of the studio is aroundthe activities in which the students can engage to help construct a comprehensive knowledgebase necessary to design, optimize and build complex structures.The potential impact of the studio is to improve the education, professional behavior and atti-tude of students as they prepare for various aspects of the building industry. The students havethe opportunity to understand how the separate courses they have taken in architecture, struc-tural engineering, and building performance are integrated. They comprehend that contemporaryconstruction is not a simple separate, sequential process, but rather a system characterized byintegration and a