Conference Session

Unique Courses & Services for Freshmen

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Denny Davis; Jennifer Light, Lewis-Clark State College

AC 2004-1321: IMPACTS OF A COMBINED LIVING-LEARNING COMMUNITYON ATTITUDES AND COLLEGE ENGAGEMENT OF ENGINEERINGFRESHMENDenny Davis,Jennifer Light, Lewis-Clark State College Page 9.686.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2004 Session 3453 Impacts of a Combined Living-Learning Community on Attitudes and College Engagement of Engineering Freshmen Jennifer Light, Denny C. Davis College of Engineering & Architecture, Washington State University,Abstract Preparation for a diverse workforce of engineering graduates

Conference Session

State of the Art in Freshman Programs

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Edward Evans; H. Michael Cheung; Rex Ramsier; Francis Broadway; Sandra Spickard Prettyman; Helen Qammar

Session 1153 Impact of Vertically Integrated Team Design Projects on First Year Engineering Students Helen K. Qammar1, H. Michael Cheung1, Edward A. Evans1, Sandra Prettyman Spickard2, Francis S. Broadway3, Rex D. Ramsier4 Department of Chemical Engineering1/ Educational Foundations and Leadership2/ Department of Curricular and Instructional Studies3/ Departments of Physics, Chemistry, and Chemical Engineering4 The University of Akron Akron, Ohio

Conference Session

Technology, Communications & Ethics

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Stephen Silliman; Leo Hubbard McWilliams

- Responses allow monitoring of individual students, -5- Demographic comparisons and assessment of outcomes are routinely available for analysis, and -6- High-school students were impressed with the technological sophistication of the system.Among the weaknesses of the ARS are: -1- Some students have commented that the ARS unnecessarily slows lectures, -2- Some students have indicated a level of intimidation via the immediate response required with the ARS, -3- In one class, weak students were inadvertently “left behind” due to the more advanced lectures, -4- There is an increased potential for technology glitches, and -5- Distribution and collection of the hand-held units must be managed to minimize the impact on class time.While care

Conference Session

BME Assessment

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Thomas Harris; David Cordray

Impact of Assessment on a BME Undergraduate Program Thomas R. Harris, David Cordray Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235IntroductionLearning theory suggests that effective instruction should be “student centered, knowledgecentered, assessment centered, and community centered”1. We have been engaged in a largestudy aimed at exploring and testing these concepts for biomedical engineering education—theNSF Vanderbilt-Northwestern-Texas-Harvard/MIT (VaNTH) Engineering Research Center onBioengineering Educational Technologies. The set of concepts that have been applied toimprove learning have been labeled the “How People Learn (HPL) Framework”2. This paper isan

Conference Session

Attracting Young MINDs

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Diana Muldrow; Rosa Cano; Deran Hanesian; Henry McCloud; Angelo Perna; Howard Kimmel

graduate frominstitutions of post secondary education.The summer component is a comprehensive program that takes place in July and August fromMonday through Friday. During the five-week period, students are provided with intensiveacademics, taking courses in English, math, chemistry, physics, computer science, architecture,space science, French, Spanish, psychology, statistics, and counseling. Classes are taught byNJIT Faculty and local teachers. Students are also given the opportunity to participate inseminars on specific topics offered by community leaders and role models.The Upward Bound Mathematics and Regional Science Center provides academic enrichment tolow income and prospective first generation college bound students to increase the pool

Conference Session

New Faculty Issues and Concerns

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

J. Fredericks Volkwein; Linda Strauss; Lisa Lattuca; Patrick Terenzini

reveals that changes in programs and institutions consistent withthe model, the engineering education community will have evidence that these improvements area consequence of EC2000 rather than the result of other factors that might influence engineeringeducation (such as state performance funding, industry pressures, market competition, orinstitutional initiatives unrelated to EC2000).Based on this conceptual model, the following evaluation questions guide the EC2000 Study: • What impact, if any, has EC2000 had on student learning outcomes in ABET-accredited programs and institutions? • What impact, if any, has EC2000 had on organizational and educational policies and practices that may have led to improved student

Conference Session

Design for Community

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Nolan Van Gaalen; Kristin Wood; Carl Erikson; Frank Duda; Matthew Green; Steven VanderLeest

(VVF). Victims of VVF are often social outcasts because of the resultingurinary incontinence and associated infections. The goal of the project was to design a culturallyappropriate, cost-effective hospital complex (including the hospital, patient hostels, and staffhousing) capable of serving the needs of 1,000 to 1,200 women suffering from VVF per year.The hospital was designed to have a communal setting that would be open and inviting to thewomen coming for surgery.A Nigerian hospital team of five students, all from the civil engineering concentration, wasformed and had selected a project before the course officially began. Because they wanted tocomplete a mission-related design project, one of the team members contacted EMI three

Conference Session

Academic Standards and Academic Issues

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Hazem Said

and the community.1The idea of the ITSW came after the realization of two issues. The first issue is thatInformation Technology (IT) solutions have a great impact on the operation of non-profitand educational organizations the same way it impacts commercial businesses. However,generally, non-profit and educational organizations do not have enough budgets todevelop the IT solutions they need. The second issue is that undergraduate students whoare pursuing a degree in Information Technology have skills that allow them to developmuch of the solutions that non-profit or educational organizations will need. The ITSWwas then established to bring these two issues together.The ITSW project is an original project that builds on the accumulated

Conference Session

Nontraditional Ways to Engage Students

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Thomas O'Neal; Thomas Jacobius; Joseph Steig; Arnold Heggestad; Abigail Barrow; Phil Weilerstein; David Barbe

transformation of the university knowledge baseand technical expertise into entrepreneurially generated commercial activity.I2V workshops are annual, one-day intensive workshops on technology commercialization andventure creation that take place at host universities throughout the country. The workshopfocuses on engineering, science, and technology students and faculty with the intention ofextending involvement in the “entrepreneurial enterprise” to a diversity of participants. Membersof the local business community are also an important part of the audience. During the first yearof the series, over 1,500 emerging technology entrepreneurs will take part in eight or nineworkshops. These workshops will become part of a self-sustaining, nationwide series

Conference Session

Nontraditional Ways to Engage Students

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Kathy Brockway; Greg Spaulding

students. It grew into something much bigger, and each has been surprised at how Page 9.1215.1powerful such a simple and somewhat unplanned partnership can be.To date, the collaboration has focused on two main areas: encouraging entrepreneurshipthrough academic advising, and creating an entrepreneurial club to provide a visibleoutlet for student entrepreneurial activities.As advisors, Greg and Kathy realized the influence and impact they had on students.Infusing entrepreneurship into their advising consisted of identifying technology studentswho exhibited strengths in entrepreneurial areas. These students were encouraged, to at aminimum, enroll in some

Conference Session

K-12 Outreach Initiatives

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Steven Fisher; Jed Lyons

collected and analyzed indicate the GK-12 program hashad a positive impact on the graduate student participants’ development of science related Page 9.511.11communication and teaching skills for fellows in both cohorts. There is agreement among Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineeringfellows, participating teachers, and research advisors that the program has improved the fellows’science related communication and teaching skills. However, there is some evidence in thefellow’s survey data and in

Conference Session

Student Teams & Active Learning

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Jeannie Brown Leonard; Janet Schmidt; Linda Schmidt; Paige Smith

” between effectiveness and efficiency in the business teamliterature appears to be a little acknowledged problem in engineering project teams that maynegatively impact student learning. While specialization promotes efficiency in completing thetask, it works against broad mastery of multiple skill sets20. In a rare engineering reference to thenotion of “functional” roles, Johnson21 noted that one way to encourage breadth of learning onteams is to require students to rotate roles (e.g., leader, editor, technical computations, libraryresearch and writer). However, when left to choose their own roles on teams, engineeringstudents appear to repeatedly gravitate to the same functional roles, the ones in which they arealready skilled. Similar to

Conference Session

Writing and Communication I

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Roberta Harvey

to how students receive and processinformation: sensory vs. intuitive, visual vs. verbal, active vs. reflective, and sequential vs.global.1This approach was, from the beginning, extremely influential within engineering education.Numerous other methods and instruments have arisen, and research into the impact of learningstyles on student learning and the implications for teaching has burgeoned. (For an excellentoverview and comprehensive links to resources, see the University of Michigan College ofEngineering webpage on learning.2 See also Felder’s review of four commonly cited learningstyles theories.3 An overview of several approaches and an annotated list of online instrumentscan be found on the University of Guelph Learning Styles page.4

Conference Session

Building Bridges with Community Colleges

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

William Blanton

TeamworkEffective instructor-to-student communication Oral and written communicationsEffective student-to-instructor communication Incorporation of leading edge technologiesEffective student-to-student communicationAnytime, anyplace learningSelf-paced scheduleSimulates an in class "feel"Class sizeFeedback clear, timely, and meaningfulAdequately prepared for online courseIncorporation of leading edge technologiesSelf reported learningChallenging learning The Genesis Project, a Texas Engineering and Technical Consortium (TETC) and NationalInstruments Initiative, brings together electrical engineering programs from throughout Texas todiscuss and implement new ways to engage students early and throughout their electricalengineering experience with

Conference Session

Writing and Communication II

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Elisa Linsky; Gunter Georgi

program is distracting. While it might seemdesirous to develop tools that “measure” student learning, such tools fail to accurately measureactual learning. Furthermore, they give instructors a false sense of being informed about theirstudents; they would think that the data provided them an accurate picture of how their students’writing is improving. Even worse, quantitative tools tend to have a negative impact oninstruction, leading students to believe that writing instruction is a formulaic process related tothe completion of technically accurate sentences with no accumulative meaning (which they feelthey cannot do; one reason why they will say that they prefer science) rather than the mastery ofthe communication situation (which is something

Conference Session

Student Learning and Research

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Jay Porter; James Ochoa; Joseph Morgan

Session 2147 Project LIVE: A Classroom for Students on the Go J. R. Porter, J. A. Morgan, and J.A. Ochoa Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843Abstract The classical lecture environment represents one of the most important opportunities todirectly interact with students, allowing professors to leverage an array of communication andteaching techniques and to be immediately responsive to students’ questions. However, during alecture students must absorb considerable amounts of new information

Conference Session

Potpurri Design in Engineering Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Daniel Frey; Marisa Wolsky

. TheNational Academy of Engineering committee on technological literacy noted these trends and suggesteda possible cause: Most people have very few direct, hands-on connections to technology, except as finished goods. They do not build the devices they use, tinker with them to improve their performance, or repair them when they break. Because of this lack of engagement, people today learn relatively little about technologies through direct experience.1Coupled with the lack of public understanding is the dearth of students, especially women andminorities, studying engineering in school and pursuing engineering careers. In 2002, fewer than sixpercent of the 1.1 million seniors who took the ACT Assessment college entrance

Conference Session

Service Learning in Engineering

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

John Chandler; dean fontenot

solutions in a global and societal context Through the introduction to ethics, IE students get a better understanding of the responsibilities of professional engineers and the impact that engineers have on society in general. Because the clients are middle school and high school administrators and teachers, IE students develop an understanding that as engineers they have an obligation to society and to the communities in which they live. Because they are developing a project that will remain with the client for numerous years, they take an exceptional interest and pride in the work they produce. • (i) a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Virgil Cox; Stephen Kuyath

high schools in the region is coordinating an outreach project, usingcommunity college faculty who will focus on mentoring, tutoring, and encouragingunderrepresented groups in engineering and engineering technology. Community college facultywill assist in developing hands-on activities, provide lectures, provide guidance in projects, tutorhigh school students in the preparation of competitions, talk with parents about the rewards ofengineering technology careers, and provide information about community college programs andfinancial aid.This year, two competitions will be held for high school engineering technology clubs. The firstwill be an academic and robotic competition between high schools near Gaston College. Thesecond competition will be

Conference Session

Technology, Communications & Ethics

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert McLaughlan

number ofstudent postings and the threaded nature of the discussion forum some students found itdifficult to interact with all the points raised and to sustain dialogue within a thread. Theseproblems with online dialogue have also been found in other studies. The instructionaltechnique described has been effective in allowing students to develop knowledge ofcontemporary issues and appreciate the impacts of engineering solutions.IntroductionIncreasingly, social controversy is becoming one of the basic ingredients of technologydevelopment1. Social debate about technologies used for energy production, transport,biotechnology and lifestyle are widespread. Within these contexts the engineering designprocess can be complex, multi-dimensional, ill

Conference Session

Entrepreneurial/Innovative Communication

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Ronald Gonzales

discussion assignments that facilitate meaningful group coherency. Discussions should be focused on a task, and each task should result in a product or measurable outcome, and tasks should engage learners in content. 3. - Students should present course projects. Students learn from seeing and discussing peer’s work. 4. - Instructors need to provide two types of feedback, frequently and continuously. 5. - Online courses need deadlines and intermediate deadlines to maintain progress. 6. - Challenging tasks, sample cases and praise for quality work communicate high expectations

Conference Session

Technology, Communications & Ethics

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Christopher Long

Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright  2004, American Society for Engineering Educationprinciples of research and communications are made explicit, and students are engaged inreflecting on their own learning. As the students discuss, write about, reflect upon, and presenttheir research, they learn how to communicate clearly. RCS activities enhance learningoutcomes through intensive practice of communications. Figure 1 shows the interactiverelationship among the interdisciplinary staff and undergraduates along with the connection of allparticipants to the engineering faculty members. Studio Communication Faculty Engineering Faculty

Conference Session

Program Delivery Methods & Technology

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

David Enke; Susan Murray

communities will also benefit.There are many definitions and forms of distance education. Students can receivematerial as text, graphics, audio, video, or combinations of these. Faculty may receivefeedback ranging from none to real time streaming video connections. Traditional on-campus students may or may not be present. It is imperative to understand the variousfactors that will influence the learning experience of the students in this hybridenvironment so that faculty can customize their teaching and lesson plans. This paper isfirst in a series of papers that will discuss on-going research activities in the EngineeringManagement department at University of Missouri – Rolla aimed at understanding anddeveloping novel methods for hybrid classrooms

Conference Session

Accreditation and Related Issues in ECE

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Hue Van Tran; Steven Reyer; James Friauf; Owe Petersen; Katherine Wikoff

wide range of settings for the evaluation of these skills is presented. Theevaluation focuses on using reading, writing, speaking, and listening as the four corecompetencies for effective communications. The findings show that reading and listening skillsneed strengthening. The belief is that those skills are key to exposing students to influences andthoughts beyond themselves, enlarging the capability to express themselves in their writing andspeaking.The Electrical Engineering Program of MSOE requires communication skills to be stressed invarious aspects of the entire curriculum and integrated into the syllabi of courses, includingtechnical courses. In part this is a product of the school’s “applications-oriented” educationalphilosophy, but

Conference Session

Graduate Student Experiences

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Angela Linse; Tammy VanDeGrift; Jessica Yellin; Jennifer Turns

groups experienced the program. We are currently using the data to gain insight onthe impact of the program and learn how to improve it. We demonstrate the experiences ofparticipants and the impacts of the program through case studies of participants.IntroductionEngineering graduate students have few opportunities explore and develop scholarly approachesto teaching compared to graduates in other fields. There are at least two reasons to support thispopulation in getting more preparation on teaching. First, graduate students represent the futurefaculty in engineering education. Thus, helping these students become more effective educatorsprovides one means of promoting effective teaching in engineering (a widely accepted nationalgoal). Second

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Rodger Dalton; Paul Klenk; Gary Ybarra

disciplines: civil, mechanical, electrical/computer, and biomedical engineering.The mature program now includes fully developed lesson plans for two sections of students,Techtronics I for 6th grade and Techtronics II for 7th grade, each led by a graduate studentcoordinator and five undergraduate teaching Fellows. Emphasis is placed on learning throughhands-on experience and creating an environment that encourages inquiry. Students first studyapplicable scientific theory and are introduced to instrumentation and software tools that will beneeded later. Each unit then culminates in the construction of a related project such as balsawood bridges, Lego robotics, AM radios, or heart monitors. With a student return rate of over70% for 2003-2004, the

Conference Session

Understanding Students: Cognition

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Steven Beyerlein; Denny Davis

) Clearly articulates own and others’ assumptions, use enabling all to understand impacts on interpretations and conclusions on matters involving a wide variety of disciplines and perspectives Level 4 Effective use of skill by (a) Carefully listens and reflects on success to gain Self-reflective learner; skill can be self- maximum understanding relevant to a specific use improved and adapted to need unfamiliar contexts with (b) Analyzes

Conference Session

Building Bridges with Community Colleges

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Louis Frenzel

impels students and faculty to share the responsibility of keeping up to datewith technology advancement. The modules provide full and relevant coverage of newand important topics that have been identified by industry representatives. Thesemodules represent a hybrid form of instruction in which students gain most of theirknowledge outside of class, then come together with their instructor for in-depthdiscussions of difficult concepts, followed by supervised hands-on practice andexperimentation in the electronics laboratory.Concise summaries of new topics, guided exercises, simulations and animations, labexperiments and on-line references give full and up-to-date coverage of each subject.Total module engagement time varies depending upon the

Conference Session

State of the Art in Freshman Programs

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Stoian Petrescu; Ronald Ziemian; Richard Zaccone; Richard Kozick; James Baish; Margot Vigeant; Daniel Cavanagh

first semester required course for all 200 first-year engineeringstudents at Bucknell University. Last year, the course was modified into a format consisting offour project-driven units, with the middle two being student-elected topical seminars ofapproximately 25 students, and the first and last being taught to the entire class as a large lecture.This paper describes the reworking of the first unit of the course to include a design projectfocused on making the university more accessible for persons using wheelchairs. The mainlearning objectives for this project were to have students 1) Use the engineering design process2) Practice teamwork skills 3) Practice oral and written communication skills 4) Apply mathskills 5) Relate economic and other

Conference Session

Outreach: Future Women in Engineering I

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Merredith Portsmore; Kaitlyn Conroy; Melissa Pickering; Emily Ryan; Brian Gravel

disciplines of engineering offered at Tufts andrange from freshman to graduate students. The video interview contained thirteen questions thataddressed the students’ experiences in outreach and how it impacts their engineering skills.Additional questions about their background were also asked, such as how and why they becameinvolved in outreach, and why they decided to become an engineer.The survey consisted of eight questions dealing with the impact of outreach on the students’lives. Students were asked to rate the level and type of impact that outreach had on differentareas of their lives such as communication skills, presentation ability and self confidence. Thescale used for rating the impact ranged from negative five to positive five, with