Paper ID #20575Work in Progress: Curriculum Revision and Classroom Environment Re-structuring to Support Blended Project-Based Learning in First-Year Gen-eral Engineering Laboratory CoursesProf. Brandon B. Terranova, Drexel University Dr. Terranova is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the College of Engineering at Drexel University. In his current role, he is the lead instructor for the freshman engineering program, and oversees activities in the Innovation Studio, a large-area academic makerspace. He has taught and developed courses in general engineering and mechanical engineering at Drexel. Prior to Drexel, he has taught
understanding.When introducing lifelong learning skills into the engineering curriculum at Grand Valley StateUniversity, there were multiple considerations. How should lifelong learning skills be defined bythis program? What courses and assignments already embody these concepts and skills in someway, implicitly or explicitly? What existing programs, courses, or assignments could be revisedor augmented to introduce lifelong learning skills more explicitly and measurably? At what pointin the curriculum should lifelong learning skills be introduced, and how often?This paper reports on a work in progress where ABET program outcome „i‟ is introduced in afirst-year course through the use of an independent research project, focusing on the ability toseek out and
theirstudents with tools to continue to learn new tools and strategies throughout their professionalcareer, many experience difficulty determining methods to measure how well their curriculainstill lifelong learning attributes. The Engineer of 2020 discusses “the imperative for engineersto be lifelong learners,” noting that technology changes rapidly and that engineers frequentlychange careers.2Litzinger et al. noted that lifelong learning can occur in two modes: formal and informal. Theformal mode includes university courses, and the informal mode refers to learning that takesplace naturally as an individual learns to accomplish a task3. We believe that project-intensiveeducational experiences provide fertile ground for practicing both modes of
200911. Herniter, M.E., D.R. Scott, and R. Pangasa. Teaching programming skills with MATLAB. 2001. Albuquerque, NM, United states: American Society for Engineering Education.12. Huet, I., et al. New challenges in teaching introductory programming courses: a case study. in Frontiers in Education, 2004. FIE 2004. 34th Annual. 2004.13. Attia, J.O. Increasing electrical and computer engineering enrollment: A multi-faceted approach. 2007. Milwaukee, WI, United states: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.14. he Infinity Project: Engineering education for today's classroom. 2010 [cited 2010; Available from: http://www.infinity-project.org/.15. Fish, S. Thoughts about the Best Introductory Language. 2006
Earth and Environmental Engineering 4 6 5 Electrical Engineering 37 36 19 Industrial Engineering/Operations Research 26 41 95 Mechanical Engineering 32 33 38 TOTAL 339 321 324Course Structure:A typical class session is approximately three hours and is divided into two equal parts. Aninstructional lecture about professional development and project management skills isadministered during the first half of the class session, with built-in
) education. Afterpilot classes were developed, in 1998 the FC curriculum was implemented college-wide. In2003, the university adopted a track system with the FYE foundational courses separated intothree tracks: Track A (aerospace, agricultural, biomedical, civil, industrial, mechanical, andnuclear engineering), Track B (computer and electrical engineering), and Track C (chemical andpetroleum engineering). Track A was primarily project-based and used Mindstorms, Legos,magnetic balls, and beams to build structures. Track B focused on circuit design and computerprogramming. Only Track C maintained the FC curriculum until 2013. The target population ofthis study is first-time-in-college (FTIC) chemical or petroleum engineering students who startedin
Ph.D., M.S.E.E., and B.E.E. degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Ga. He is a member of ASEE and IEEE.Prof. Shanchieh Jay Yang, Rochester Institute of Technology (COE)Dr. Adriana Becker-Gomez, Rochester Institute of Technology (KGCOE) Adriana Becker-G´omez was born in Mexico City, Mexico. She received the B.S.E.E. degree from Uni- versidad Iberoamericana, Mexico. She obtained the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station, and her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Dallas. In 1992 she was a Lecturer and a Teaching Assistant at Universidad Iberoamericana. In 1990 she worked as a Research and Development Engineer and Project
show the quality of studentwork thereby reflecting a quality program. Capstone projects are also valued highly in theaccreditation process. The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET),which provides accreditation to engineering programs in US have different criteria toevaluate a program. There are many general criteria and some specific criteria applied tothe program. The general criteria are related to programs, educational objectives,continuous improvement process, program outcomes, curriculum, faculty, facilities, andsupport. Program outcomes are more specific, since the ABET report would show thecurricula, course work, and other documentation to show the effectiveness of theprogram. Program outcomes are criteria 3 of the
pieces are most effective in influencing,inspiring, and/or guiding our students into their particular pathways of engineering.At NU, the first-year engineering curriculum is fundamentally common for all majors andstudents take an Engineering Design course and a Problem Solving and Computation course in atwo-semester sequence. There is pressure for these two introductory engineering courses toaccomplish a myriad of things alongside content delivery, such as prepare students for thedemands of college, expose them to the engineering majors, provide relevant hands-on and real-world projects, develop algorithmic and critical thinking skills, and get them excited about theirengineering career path. There are a number and variety of projects
(ABET) identifies design as animportant element of the engineering curriculum. The faculty at the University of Tennessee atChattanooga (UTC) believes the concepts and principles of design are as fundamental toundergraduate engineering education as are those tools and topics traditionally thought asfundamental (such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, statics, and dynamics). The faculty alsobelieves, as supported in the literature, that getting engineering students involved in hands-onprojects early in their academic career motivates students and aids in retention. This paperdescribes the process and outcomes of using Project-Based Learning, specifically hands-ondesign projects supporting upper level course work, in the freshman design course
and design process, andalso to educate students on different engineering majors available at the institution such asmechanical, civil, electrical and computer engineering. To achieve these goals, engineeringfaculty decided to divide the fall semester into two seven-week modules. These modules are splitbetween mechanical/civil engineering and electrical/computer engineering. This paper mainlyfocuses on the structure of the mechanical/civil engineering module and the changesimplemented to that module over the recent years.The mechanical/civil module consists of three main components: computer aided design (CAD),machine shop, and a design project. Students learn how to use SolidWorks, shop safety andskills, wood fabrication, and basic metal
12.1432.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 The Impact of “Special Needs” Projects on Student LearningAbstractThe Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) identifies design as animportant element of the engineering curriculum. The faculty at the University of Tennessee atChattanooga believes the concepts and principles of design are as fundamental to undergraduateengineering education as are those tools and topics traditionally thought as fundamental (such asmathematics, physics, chemistry, statics, and dynamics). One of the benefits of design is thehands-on activities or Project-Based Learning application it brings to the classroom. ABET alsostates that engineering programs must demonstrate that their
B.S. from the University of Michigan and her Ph.D. from Purdue University, both in chemical engineering. She then transitioned into the engineering education field by completing a post-doctoral appointment at Oregon State University investigating technology-aided conceptual learning. She is currently doing research on team dynamics and students’ changes in engineering self-efficacy in project-based learning.Dr. Cynthia Finelli, University of Michigan Dr. Cynthia Finelli is Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Faculty Director for Engineering Education Research at the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching in Engineer- ing (CRLT-Engin) at University of Michigan (U-M). She earned B.S.E.E
and nanostructure on ionic conduction and surface exchange in ceramic materials. In 2014, he moved to Northeastern University to focus on teaching and developing curriculum in the First Year Engineering program.Prof. Duncan Davis, Northeastern University Duncan Davis is an Assistant Teaching Professor in First Year Engineering. His research focuses on using gamification to convey course content in first year classes. Mostly recently, he has implemented a series of escape room projects to teach engineering to first year students through the process of designing, prototyping, and building these play experiences.Brian Patrick O’Connell, Northeastern University Dr. O’Connell is an assistant teaching professor in the
assessment and testing. All of the cars were tested by theinstructor and the winner was declared. A portion of the final project score was based on howwell each car did. The testing was recorded and posted on YouTube for the students to watch.The second project was the Wind Farm project. The project was to design a wind farm to meetthe electrical needs of a campus. Students were given hourly wind data for a year as well aselectricity usage data for a campus. Students analyzed the data and researched specificwindmills on the market in order to design a wind farm for campus. The deliverables for thisproject were a written progress report as well as a final written and oral proposal (detailed in alater section).The faculty members determined that each
largest secondary school. This period also saw him setting and marking national examinations, training high-school teachers, and publishing several physics texts. Since the start of 2002 he has lectured in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of AucklandKarl Stol, University of Auckland Page 14.736.1 Dr Karl Stol earned his Ph.D. in 2001 from the University of Colorado at Boulder in Aerospace Engineering Science. He joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Auckland in 2004 and is currently a Senior Lecturer, teaching courses and
for Engineering Education, 2006 Discovery based learning in the engineering classroom using underwater roboticsAbstractUnderwater robotics projects offer an excellent medium for discovery based engineering andscience learning. The challenge of building underwater robotic vehicles and manipulatorsengages and stimulates students while encompassing a very broad spectrum of engineeringdisciplines and scientific concepts.This paper describes the successful design and implementation of student projects, building wireguided remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) with motorized grabbers. This work ispart of an ongoing effort to incorporate innovative, hands on projects into our freshmanengineering curriculum
AC 2009-1027: THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ANANOTECHNOLOGY MODULE INTO A LARGE, FRESHMAN ENGINEERINGCOURSEVinod Lohani, Virginia Tech Vinod K Lohani is an associate professor in the Engineering Education Department and an adjunct faculty in the Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech. He received a PhD in civil engineering from Virginia Tech in 1995. His research interests are in the areas of knowledge modeling, water and energy sustainability, engineering learning modules for freshmen, and international collaboration. He leads a major curriculum reform project, funded under the department-level reform program of the NSF, at Virginia Tech. A spiral curriculum approach
University (ECU),freshmen are introduced to engineering topics that include solid modeling, mechanicalengineering, electrical engineering, and design engineering. Robots inherently integrate all thesedisciplines. At ECU, student teams are used in a cohort learning environment to build robots.The robot building project serves as a platform for experiential learning in engineeringdisciplines and also serves to develop problem solving skills, interpersonal skills, and ethics. Arobotics competition is embedded into the introductory class work to increase levels ofparticipation, interest and challenge for the freshmen. During classroom and laboratory exercisesleading up to the competition, students build mobile robots to compete in a treasure-huntinggame
development of additionallearning activities as the need arises. A detailed curriculum map using Bloom’s taxonomy for thecognitive domain is presented for both the classroom and lab environment. This curriculum mapis linked to learning outcomes for the course.IntroductionThe impetus for this research came from papers by Behrens et al. [1], [2] which suggested thatLEGO® Mindstorms robots coupled with the MATLAB programming language could be used inundergraduate courses in electrical engineering to motivate students using “practical situations”driven by “active learning” activities. The activities proposed by those authors were disciplinespecific to electrical engineering and design, but their results motivated us to consider a similaridea for a more
AC 2007-686: TOWER OF STRAWS: REACHING NEW HEIGHTS WITH ACTIVELEARNING IN ENGINEERING DESIGN FOR THE FIRST-YEAR CURRICULUMJohn K. Estell, Ohio Northern University JOHN K. ESTELL is Chair of the Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Department, and Professor of Computer Engineering and Computer Science, at Ohio Northern University. He received his doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His areas of research include simplifying the outcomes assessment process, user interface design, and the pedagogical aspects of writing computer games. Dr. Estell is a Senior Member of IEEE, and a member of ACM, ASEE, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, and Upsilon Pi
, manyinteresting and non-trivial electrical and computer engineering problems require a strongprogramming background or knowledge of advanced mathematics.Digital logic, however, is an area of computer engineering that requires more transferableskills—such as critical thinking and problem-solving—than advanced theoretical knowledge.Digital logic uses discrete mathematics instead of the calculus that many students struggle withearly in the engineering curriculum. Although new knowledge has to be acquired in the area ofBoolean algebra, this new content is a very natural extension of the regular algebra that mostengineering students are already very comfortable with. Because of this non-reliance on calculus,digital logic projects make prime candidates for
internationalcompanies.” [2] Some researchers have created courses that have a goal of incorporating systemengineering principles. In 2007, Sheppard et al. describe developing curriculum that has first-year engineering student teams select a design project that poses a set of system requirements.[3] “This together with mini-lectures and assignments continue a thread started in the first designcourse to develop systems concepts in the context of design. Development of students' comfortand capacity with sensors and systems as a core thread early in their education provides animportant foundation for future engineers.” In 2001, Stengel created a course that introducedseveral issues in system engineering to all first-year students at Princeton University “in a
this qualitative assessment of a pilot program spanning 3 semesters, two (2) College ofEngineering faculty at Northeastern University explored and managed several experientialservice-learning projects in their first-year engineering courses between Fall 2012 – Fall 2013.As a result of 84 first-year engineering students working with 7 different community partners,215 middle school and high school students were exposed to engineering curriculum throughmeaningful service-learning projects involving STEM (science, technology, engineering &mathematics) education that they otherwise would not have received. The service-learningprojects were qualitatively very successful in delivering STEM curriculum to young students, asdetermined from faculty
following:Mechanical Engineering Core - Dynamic Systems, Fluids, Manufacturing Processes, Material Science, Mechanics of Materials,Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, and StructuresElectrical Engineering Core - AC Circuits, Digital Logic, Electric Machines, Instrumentation, Signals and Systems, Linear ControlSystems, and Three-Phase AC SystemsBusiness Core - Statistics, Entrepreneurship, Engineering Economics, and Programming/Modeling.Students also take Advanced technical credits in a focus area to complete the technical course requirements of the Bachelors ofScience degree. They also complete a Design course, and Seminar and Professionalism courses each semester.This project used a quantitative study with convenience and purposeful sampling methods. Weused the
Paper ID #33338Project-Based Learning: Contrasting Experience Between TraditionalFace-to-Face Instruction and Virtual InstructionDr. Jaya Dofe, California State University, Fullerton Dr. Jaya Dofe is an Assistant Professor at California State University, Fullerton in the Department of Computer Engineering. She teaches computer engineering and general engineering courses at the fresh- man, junior, and senior levels. Her work focuses on hardware security and trust. In engineering education, she is interested in project-based learning. Dr. Dofe received her PH.D. in Electrical and Computer Engi- neering from the University of
focusing on mechanics and basic engineering graphics and werethus labeled the Mechanics track. Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Scienceand Engineering removed engineering graphics and desired an intensive focus on programmingand were labeled the Programming track. Petroleum Engineering and Chemical Engineeringfocused on engineering and physical processes and graphics and were labeled the Process track.The Process track was designed to be almost identical to the freshmen sequence beforereorganization. Each of these tracks, called tracks A, B, and C respectively, agreed to follow thebasic guidelines of implementing a project based curriculum.Track A had the students construct a truss from magnetic members, program a robotic vehicle
curriculum have also been shown to positively impact student performance.Kalkani et al.16 reported that hands-on projects make students appreciate the values of co-operation, performance of tasks, quality of results, and reporting effectiveness. Behrens et al.17reported that freshman hands-on projects can improve programming skills, enhance motivation,and enable the peer learning process.There is a wide spectrum of first year engineering course frameworks that vary significantly bycredit hour and pedagogy; ranging from one-credit hour seminar-type formats--providing a broadoverview of the engineering discipline and student success strategies, to high credit-hour formatsthat integrate peer assisted, project based or active learning pedagogies. No
AC 2012-4040: CHOCOLATE CHALLENGE: THE MOTIVATIONAL EF-FECTS OF OPTIONAL PROJECTS IN AN INTRODUCTORY ENGINEER-ING CLASSDr. John Reap, Virginia Tech John Reap currently serves Virginia Tech’s educational mission as an instructor in the Department of Engineering Education. He primarily teaches introductory engineering courses as part of the freshman year engineering program. Research interests include topics in sustainable design and manufacturing (SDM) life cycle assessment, design for environment, green manufacturing, renewable energy, and system efficiency (energy and material). He specializes in approaching SDM problems from the perspective of holistic biomimicry, which encompasses identification, development, and
education curriculum with a focus on laboratory courses for the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. His courses leverage project-based learning, experiential learning, and self-paced activities. David has over ten years of industry experience specializing in mixed-signal RF integrated circuit design, power systems, and power electronics.Prof. Kia Bazargan, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Prof. Kia Bazargan is an Associate Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota. Has has published over 70 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters related to FPGAs and VLSI computer-aided design. He received his Bachelors degree