, 2024Embracing a Fail-Forward Mindset: Enhancing Engineering Innovation through Reflective Failure Journaling 1. IntroductionIn the evolving landscape of engineering education, the imperative to nurture innovation andresilience among budding engineers has never been more critical [1]. As global challengesbecome more complex and multifaceted, engineering educators are called upon to devisepedagogical strategies that not only impart technical knowledge but also foster the soft skillsnecessary for students to thrive in unpredictable environments. This study introduces aninnovative educational approach employed in the "Innovation Through Making" course atWorcester Polytechnic Institute, designed to cultivate a 'fail-forward learn-fast
the3Cs by challenging them to explore location selection and environmental factors (Curiosity), createfunctional and aesthetically valuable designs for clients (Creating Value), and assess how theirdesign decisions might impact stakeholders (Connections). To evaluate the project's effectiveness,students completed an open-ended survey designed to reflect on their learning outcomes and theirexperiences with EML principles. The survey responses were analyzed using thematic coding toidentify patterns and insights related to entrepreneurial learning. Preliminary results indicate thatstudents developed increased adaptability, innovative problem-solving abilities, and a deeperunderstanding of value creation in construction, validating the integration
mindset. To achieve thisobjective during the first offering, this course utilized active learning techniques, personalreflection, and the development of an individualized career-impact roadmap by each student. Inorder to work in conjunction with programming available from existing career centers andacademic advising, this interdisciplinary course placed an emphasis on personal reflection andthe roles of innovation and technology commercialization in creating societal impact. This paperdescribes the logistics of developing and implementing this 1-credit hour course and providesdetails of the assignments used to assess student learning. This course can serve as an example toother institutions who seek to more fully empower their students to
integrating entrepreneurially minded experiential STEAMlearning into a second-year engineering course - Design & Manufacturing Processes I. A total ofsix students enrolled in the course. The project required students to develop engineeringactivities to highlight water pollution via the design, fabrication, and programming of softrobotic fish. During one semester, students formed teams to work on project tasks, includingsketching out a fish, designing a mold (fish) in Solidworks, 3D-Printing the mold, fabricating thefish (pouring silicone into the mold), testing the fabricated fish, programming the fish forblinking light and vibrations. A metacognitive photovoice reflection was used to assess theproject's impacts. The preliminary thematic analysis
mechanicalengineering course on Dynamics of Machines to (1) give students access to real-world learningexperiences and (2) explore and identify the ways in which an interdisciplinary design projectthat combines key components of EM, STEAM and bio-inspiration impacts students’ learning.The results include initial findings from a thematic analysis of the data collected usingphotovoice reflections. Adopted from the relevant studies in the literature in the context of EMcurricular activities, photovoice reflections combine pictorial and textual data and constitute aportion of the project’s conclusion section submitted by students. The paper then discusses futuresteps on the use of interdisciplinary design projects which provide real-world experientiallearning
strategy for a selected idea.The curricular context of this paper is a course in creativity at a large, midwestern institution.The creative process used as an overarching model within this course is divided into two mainparts: (1) having ideas and (2) bringing them to be. As generative AI becomes increasinglyprevalent and accessible, it is worth pausing to reflect on if and how various generative AI toolscould be used to aid in each specific part of the creative process, including brainstorming [8] andthose outlined in the model shown in Figure 1. PART 1: Having Ideas PART 2: Bringing to Be 1.1 Identify 1.2 Ideate 2.1 Initiate & Interact 2.2 Implement• Cultivating curiosity
-tests, while qualitative data fromstudent reflections were examined using thematic analysis. Findings indicate significantimprovement in students’ entrepreneurial mindset (p < .01); however, quantitative measures ofvalue creation did not show statistically significant changes. Qualitative findings suggeststudents valued collaborative problem-solving and the use of structured decision-making tools,such as decision matrices. Even small interventions can influence online students’entrepreneurial mindsets.IntroductionThere is a growing need to better understand how intentional course design embeddingentrepreneurial mindset (EM) principles impacts engineering education [1, 2]. Specifically, suchdesign interventions can influence students’ ability
. Amy received the 2019 KEEN Rising Star award from KEEN for her efforts in encouraging students in developing an entrepreneurial mindset. She is interested in curricu- lar and co-curricular experiences that broaden students’ perspectives and enhance students’ development, and the use of digital portfolios for students to showcase and reflect on their experiences. ©American Society for Engineering Education, 2023 A First Year Design Project that Encourages Motivation, Curiosity, Connections, and MakingAbstractThis paper describes a design project, the Mars in the Making project, that was developed toencourage more motivation, curiosity, and connections in first year
, students completed a photovoice reflection for one of the assignments(manufacturing lesson on corrosion and erosion) to reflect on the manufacturing survey. In thispaper, we present the survey assignment and photovoice reflection on corrosion and erosion,specifically, as it is traditionally considered a negative surface phenomenon. Thematic analysisof the photovoice reflections show that students are motivated to explore mechanisms forincreasing system value and identifying opportunities. Ultimately, findings suggest that the useof hands-on surveying assignments to compliment the traditional teaching methods used inmanufacturing classrooms can promote an entrepreneurial mindset when studying manufacturingcontent.1. Introduction Industry 4.0
MBL courses, a Likert-scale failuretolerance assessment was created by adapting two existing tools [7, 8]. Students rated each question ona scale from 1 (Totally False) to 6 (Totally True), where lower scores indicated greater failure toleranceand higher scores reflected a stronger fear of failure. Each student’s failure tolerance score wascalculated by summing their 11 responses. Scores ranged from 11, representing complete tolerance forfailure, to 66, indicating a total fear of failure, with 38.5 considered neutral. Results from all institutionswere aggregated, and average scores were calculated and compared. Students were also categorizedinto five groups based on their scores: High Failure Tolerance (11–21), Failure Tolerance (22–32
-minute lesson to teach a small peer group about the content of an episode of the NPR How I BuiltThis podcast through a brief lecture, engaging activity, and a discussion or quiz as a means ofassessment. This activity exposes students to the paths that various innovators took in theirentrepreneurial journeys to demystify the process of innovation and provide inspiration throughstorytelling.The third primary assessment mechanism is an individual innovation map and synthesis. Theobjective of this assignment is to provide a formal means for students to reflect on potential nextsteps in their entrepreneurial journey after the course ends and synthesize their understanding ofthe entrepreneurial mindset and their role as an innovation leader. Students
into the students' experiences, helping to explain the quantitativefindings in greater depth. For instance, while the quantitative data might show a high level ofsatisfaction with the course's focus on entrepreneurial skills, the qualitative data providedstories and examples from students about how micro-moments and the multiphase projectfacilitated their understanding of real-world application of these skills. 3.4 Data CollectionData was collected through a combination of open-ended questions and Likert scale questions.Students were asked to reflect on their perceptions regarding the integration of entrepreneurialskills into their ET education and its potential impact on their future careers. This approachaimed to gauge the initial
ideas, formed teams,worked to identify and address important elements and issues, and presented their project. Thispaper briefly describes the current and planned structure of the Palm GreenLab; describes theStartup Weekend; reports results from participant reflections; and outlines lessons learned andfuture directions. Projects included agricultural products, education software, and electionsoftware. During the weekend, participants completed a Strength - Improvement - Insight (SII)reflection. Strengths focused on teamwork and collaboration, entrepreneurial thinking, andcreativity and problem solving. Improvements focused on teamwork issues and the foodprovided. Insights focused on the value and challenges of teamwork.1. IntroductionPalm
maps and reflections will be used to assess student’sgrowth in EM connectedness. A description of each institution’s partnership development andimplementation is presented in this paper. We anticipate key results will include: 1) students’positive perception through engaged learning, 2) student growth in EM connectedness, 3)students’ increased appreciation of multiculturalism, 4) all modalities support growth in student’sEM and multiculturalism competencies, and 5) in-person international travel componentsdemonstrate a larger increase in multiculturalism competencies due to cultural immersion. Theteam is finalizing plans for these experiences in fall 2023 and will implement the experiencesand collect data in spring 2024
pathway toexplore and pressure test new ideas and ventures, understand systems, network and practicallybuild and foster resilient organizations and communities. Fellows receive stipends, training,mentoring and opportunities to field test their ideas and ventures over their entire college career.Fellowship outcomes are assessed through coded analysis of student reflections and applying theEntreComp entrepreneurial competency framework. This paper suggests that the fellowshipeffectively helps students develop and field test creative vision, cultivate greater self-awarenessand intrinsic motivation, take thoughtful risks, overcome challenges, and nurture teams andcollaborative environments while birthing impactful new ventures and bolstering their
industrial robots to perform many jobs and real-world applications that could beboth unsafe and unpleasant to people. The midterm project used to integrate (EM+ Bio +STEAM was given to the students focused on real-world problem-solving and experientiallearning opportunities. The students were required to finish this project within four weeks aspart of the integration of the new interdisciplinary project (crossing the realms ofentrepreneurially minded learning, STEAM, and bio-inspired design), students completed aphotovoice metacognitive reflection aimed to understand their perceived learning outcomes.Preliminary thematic analysis conducted on the metacognitive reflections showcases three corepatterns within the data. First, students generally
curriculum writer, but quickly evolved to reflect her passion for supporting the tactical details of large-scale programs and product development and dissemination. Ashley is currently engaged in research on behalf of NIHF as a member of the Strategic Data Project Fellowship, a program of the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University.Roxanne A. Moore Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology Dr. Roxanne Moore is currently a Principal Research Engineer at Georgia Tech with appointments in the Center for Education Integrating Mathematics, Science, and Computing (CEISMC) and Mechanical Engineering. She has spent her 12+ year research faculty career focusing on broadening participation in STEM and creating novel
gatherfeedback from a real audience to support their design proposals. This supplied a goal andpurpose for the activity and was a leading factor in exploration. To support promoting the EM inthe activity, students focused on providing a solution to a real-world problem and proposing amarket-driven solution based on research and product analysis. Proposals were also required tointegrate Bio-inspired components in their designs and use media artworks to reflect purpose andaudience in the final product.Over six weeks, students were introduced to several system design components. A preliminaryanalysis of results indicated that the hands-on experience facilitated higher-order reasoning andallowed the students to think systematically about the feasibility and
Alignment Model,In this paper, the authors attempted to investigate current engineering entrepreneurship educationthrough the lens of Constructive Alignment. We want to understand if this framework can capturethe nuts and bolts of the abovementioned diverse entrepreneurship education program designs. Theauthors proposed a modified model for the existing constructive alignment model to reflect thefeedback we received from the field.2. Methodology2.1 Data SourceTo obtain a comprehensive view of Canadian entrepreneurship education, we accessed the list ofdesignated educational institutions from the Canadian Federal government’s web tool provided byEmployment and Social Development Canada. We limited the scope of the project to educationalinstitutions
competenciesacross a spectrum of engineering disciplines including mechanical, electrical, civil, chemical,and computer engineering. Such a holistic educational approach is intended to arm students withthe analytical and problem-solving prowess essential for the engineers of tomorrow [7-8].Building on a preceding work-in-progress study focused on results from the pilot course offering,this paper dives into two offerings of the course over a two-year period, focusing on competencygains assessed through Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) instrument. The analysishopes to uncover advancements in competencies that are pivotal within both engineering andentrepreneurial mindset realms.This study reflects our findings from the initial two iterations of the
Paper ID #48203Work in Progress: From Curriculum to Competence: Exploring PedagogicalPractices in Engineering Entrepreneurship and Human Capital FormationDr. Helen L. Chen, Stanford University Helen L. Chen is a Research Scientist in the Designing Education Lab in Mechanical Engineering and co-founder of the Integrative Learning Portfolio Lab in Career Education at Stanford University. She earned her undergraduate degree from UCLA and her PhD in Communication with a minor in Psychology from Stanford. Her scholarship is focused on engineering and entrepreneurship education, portfolio pedagogy, reflective practices, non
what they learned and how it applies to the real-world. These qualitative data wereanalyzed using thematic analysis to detect patterns within the reflections. The results show that the bio-inspired projects engaged students by connecting theory, practice, and application when teachingmathematically intensive engineering subjects, while also instilling an entrepreneurial mindset amongstudents, enhancing their creativity by combining art and STEM, and sharpening their professional skills.The study concludes with details related to the instructor’s intervention and lessons learned so that otherengineering instructors can easily replicate in the classroom.1. Introduction1.1 Problem IdentificationFor engineering students, it is very important to
. Byincorporating aspects of the maker movement, the course allows students to make preliminary models,create prototypes, find limitations and develop business plans with targeted markets around the novelty ina new product. A novel studio format product design course was developed, featuring hands-on skill-buildingmodules and group projects focused on wearable technology. The studio format uses inductive rather thandeductive pedagogy which follows a design-build-test-reflect building around a theme of productdevelopment for wearable technology. This studio-based approach, adapted from architecture andindustrial design programs, emphasized experiential learning and real-world artifact production in aflexible, collaborative space with extended contact
at the Civil andEnvironmental Engineering and Construction Management Department at a University in theUnited States. The study was a four-week assignment integrated into two senior-level courses: 1.the capstone project course in two semesters, 2. the pre-construction management course in onesemester. This study uses participatory action research (PAR) as a data collection instrument.PAR is a qualitative approach in which researchers work collaboratively with the participantsubject population to collect data, reflect and take action. Photovoice, commonly linked to PAR,is used to collect and explore qualitative data, give a unique depth of understanding to theresearch questions identified, and offer new insights and perspectives toward
of studentresponses and prompting the AI to summarize the the responses. After a few passes, similargroupings were combined, and we asked the AI to identify specific quotes that reflected thistheme.Only students 18 years and older participated. All procedures were approved by our IRB, and allparticipants completed a Statement of Informed Consent form before taking each of the surveys.Thirty-three to 40 students participated in each of the PHY120 surveys and 33 to 38 participatedin the EGR360 surveys.We also surveyed two additional populations at the mid-term and end of term. A parallel group offirst-year students not enrolled in PHY120, but taking a Calculus course instead (non-PHY120),and a group of four second-year students participating
student who may not otherwiseview themselves as an engineer—a curious person, an entrepreneur, a person with great ideasthat society needs, or a part of the university’s ecosystem—may be able to demonstrate theirpotential to themselves and to their community through their lived experiences viastory. Providing time for students to develop and tell their stories is a powerful way to validatethe vast experiences students bring with them to college. Likewise, faculty want to know theirstudents, and students want to know themselves. Our own work with story in this context wasinspired by the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) on Stories project starting in2020 and reflects our interest in instilling an entrepreneurial mindset in our
and ensures reliability through inter-rater assessments, making it particularly well-suited for the nuanced, domain-specific evaluations of engineering projects. By incorporatingmultiple quasi-experts (advanced graduate engineering students), ECAT integrates professional-level criteria with authentic student experiences, reflecting real-world engineering challenges.During calibration sessions, these evaluators honed their scoring consistency and refined theassessment dimensions, balancing subjective insights with product-based measures.Students’ creative outputs (n = 199) in this study were physical models constructed from basicmaterials within a constrained timeframe, coupled with short video explanations. This approachcaptures both the
know that I have learned a lot of interpersonal skills by having toor existing skills skills from a specific influential communicate a lot with the team for the project. My advisors are very busy, so I experience have to schedule meetings and reach out." - MackenzieOpportunity Recognizing the benefits of- and "Medicine is a whole other world, unless you're exposed to it you have no idea. Ifrecognition capitalizing on- a specific opportunity in I didn't do the study abroad program, and I didn't do the REU program, I would one’s life have no idea." - MarkerSelf-reflection How one feels about their
. The self-assessment form can be found in Appendix A. In general, very few students are aware of ABETor of its student outcomes [11]. By having the students participate in the self-assessment processand reflect on their experiences, each student is able to identify outcomes which have not beenachieved and develop a plan to achieve all ABET outcomes prior to graduation. This proactiveself-assessment prompts students to identify weak points in their education and has the potentialto shape better student outcomes, filling all the ABET student outcomes and preparing studentsto be well-rounded engineers.[12]. The two senior semesters of IBL allow the students to directtheir learning and create their own learning experiences to address these
using active andcollaborative learning pedagogical approaches. For the course project, the first-year studentswere required to design a 65,000 ft2 community park on a brownfield site in Charleston, SC, witha $5,000,00 budget for site cleanup and redevelopment. A few assessments were implemented,including weekly summary reports, poster creation, presentations, peer evaluation on teamwork,reflection assignment, and a survey. This paper discusses the redesign of the course through thebackward design approach, the implementation of project-based learning, and the assessment ofactivities. Additionally, it provides insights into its implementations in other institutions.BackgroundEML has emerged as a relevant educational approach fostering an