Conference Session

Writing and Communication I: Innovative Models for Curriculum and Assessment

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

April Kedrowicz, University of Utah

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

3910/4000 – Senior Design Sequence. The senior design sequence is atwo semester sequence beginning with ME EN 3910. In this course, lectures and group projectslead to the team project proposal including problem identification and definition, teamorganization, background research, idea generation techniques, needs analysis, scheduling, andbudgeting. This culminates in a formal written document outlining the capstone project proposal.This course presents the opportunity for instruction in résumés and cover letters, such thatstudents have to “apply” to be on a project. Students are instructed in the appropriate format touse for these documents, as well as stylistic considerations, and the appropriate content toinclude. These are reviewed by both

Conference Session

Venturing Out: Service Learning, Study Abroad, and Criterion H

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Duffy, University of Massachusetts Lowell; Carol Barry, University Massachusetts Lowell; Linda Barrington, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; David Kazmer, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; William Moeller, University of Massachusetts Lowell; Cheryl West, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

museum to help it beginupdating its displays on recent developments in materials; junior fluids, junior circuits, seniormicroprocessor, senior design of machine elements, and senior capstone design are havingstudents design and build various parts of an automated canal lock opener for a local nationalpark. Many of the projects are low-cost and can be implemented by individual faculty memberswithout the requirement of a formal institutional program. These S-L projects are integrated intoa wide variety of core courses (and not just design courses) and represent typically from 10 to20% of the grade.IntroductionWe define service-learning as a hands-on learning approach in which students achieve academicobjectives in a credit-bearing course by

Conference Session

Liberal Education for 21st Century Engineering

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nadia Kellam, University of Georgia; Joachim Walther, University of Georgia; Tracie Costantino, University of Georgia; Bonnie Cramond, University of Georgia

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

of artistic cognition and the transformative potential of aesthetic experience as an educative event. She is exploring this topic in an interdisciplinary curriculum project funded by the National Science Foundation with colleagues from engineering and creativity studies. In addition to numerous published articles and book chapters, Costantino has served as the editor of the Arts & Learning Research Journal and associate editor for the International Journal for Education & the Arts.Bonnie Cramond, University of Georgia Bonnie Cramond, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology at the University of Georgia. An international and

Conference Session

Learning to Communicate with Engineers and Non-Engineers

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Laura Wilson, University of CIncinnati; Teresa Cook, University of Cincinnati; Jo Ann Thompson, University of Cincinnati; James Everly, University of Cincinnati

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

Technology (ECET) department, with at least half of the graded weight comingfrom humanities components.5 The major project for this junior capstone was designed toweave together all of the concepts learned in the first two years of the engineering program(including both humanities and engineering courses). Assignments included an annotatedbibliography, a proposal, an oral presentation, and a project poster board.5 By strengtheningthis relationship and introducing a writing component into the engineering courses from anearly onset, it is believed that the students’ attitudes about and relationships with their ownwriting will improve, as has been suggested by the results of other studies.6Putting a heavy emphasis on humanities components in technical

Conference Session

Learning to Communicate with Engineers and Non-Engineers

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Leslie Potter, Iowa State University; John Jackman, Iowa State University; K. Jo Min, Iowa State University; Matthew Search, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

AC 2008-1477: A NEW ENGINEERING COMMUNICATIONS COURSE BASEDON A PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATIONS PROCESSLeslie Potter, Iowa State University Leslie Potter is a Lecturer in the department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at Iowa State University. She has extensive professional engineering experience, including seven years with Deere & Company in various engineering and supervision capacities. She received her M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Penn State University prior to joining the IMSE department at ISU. She is currently teaching her eighth year of the IE capstone design course. Her research interests include capstone design course effectiveness, engineering and

Conference Session

Liberal Education Division Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gregory Tonkay, Lehigh University; E. Zimmers, Lehigh University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

334 would be technicalelectives, and IE 382 and IE 281 would be free electives.IE 281 (Leadership Project) will be implemented using resources/projects from the EnterpriseSystems Center (ESC). ESC is a center at Lehigh University committed to enriching students’education while working to make its clients in industry more efficient and increasinglycompetitive. ESC has provided senior projects for IE and I&SE students for many years. Theleadership project course will allow them to facilitate interaction between their companies and abroader range of students on projects that might not be acceptable for senior capstone design, butstill provide leadership practice and value to the company.Comparing the themes in the Engineering Leadership

Conference Session

Learning to Communicate with Engineers and Non-Engineers

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Judith Norback, Georgia Institute of Technology; Nicoleta Serban, Georgia Institute of Technology; Nagi Gebraeel, Georgia Institute of Technology; Garlie Forehand, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

U.S. and Canadian Programs.” Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Oct 2004. 18(4): p. 252-290. 10. Ford, J.D., and Riley, L.A., “Integrating communication and engineering education: A look at curricula, courses, and support systems.” Journal of Engineering Education, 2003. 92(4): p. 325-328. 11. Brinkman, G.W., and van der Geest, T., Assessment of Communication Competencies in Engineering Design Projects. Technical Communication Quarterly, 2003. 12(1): p.67-81. Page 13.304.8 712. McKenzie, K. J., et al., Capstone

Conference Session

Innovative Courses/Pedagogies in Liberal Education I

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kyle Simmons, University of Utah; Susan Sample, University of Utah; April Kedrowicz, University of Utah

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

collaborative writing skills; and (d)feedback from the instructional team guiding continuous improvement in the course.BackgroundCollaboration and communication impact engineering practice in profound ways. Engineers needto be creative, innovative problem solvers, often under time constraints. As a result, effectiveteamwork and communication are paramount. To equip students with the teamwork andcommunication skills necessary for engineering practice, educators have developed variousapproaches including writing across the curriculum, cooperative project-based learning, andintegrated communication instruction. For more than ten years, we have integrated teamwork andcommunication (oral and written) instruction into the freshman and senior

Conference Session

Writing Is Fundamental

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Beams, University of Texas, Tyler; Luke Niiler, University of Alabama

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

laboratory reports written by individualsor small teams. The work evaluated was thus principally the work of the EWI cohort. Thewriting samples evaluated in 2007-2008, however, consisted of senior capstone project reportsfrom seven design teams whose total membership was thirty students (seven from electricalengineering and 23 from mechanical engineering). Each team produced a preliminary designreport (known as a Primary Design Document, or PDD) at the end of the first semester ofcapstone design and a Final Design Report (FDR) at the end of the second semester. Thecurricula of electrical and mechanical engineering in the senior year at the University of Texas atTyler have few writing assignments outside of these capstone reports; it thus was not

Conference Session

Communication and Collaboration

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Julie Sharp, Vanderbilt University; Marilyn Dyrud, Oregon Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

peer review for an in-class writing sample.It is gratifying to see students concentrating on the review process and even more gratifyingwhen peer evaluators make the same comments as the instructor.Group Dynamics ApplicationsSince group work is becoming ubiquitous in engineering classrooms as a method to preparestudents for professional work groups, peer review of the teamwork aspect of education isimportant as a way to circumvent potential problems and measure general productivity.Particularly in a group-oriented senior project class, peer review is necessary for accurateevaluation.Background and RationaleAt Oregon Institute of Technology, the civil engineering senior capstone project is a group affair.Even the faculty function as an

Conference Session

Critical Thinking and Creative Arts

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Beth Todd, University of Alabama; Garry Warren, University of Alabama; Susan Burkett, University of Alabama; David Cordes, University of Alabama; Marcus Brown, University of Alabama

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

-module score of 3.7 to apost module score of 4.3 on a 5-point Likert scale. Another approach has been to combine studyof contemporary issues and ethics through case studies.14,15 Authors discussed the challenges ofteaching a truly contemporary ethical case study, where new information became available everyday. Needy introduces students to the impact of contemporary issues on project management byincluding articles from the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and the local paper as discussiontopics in her engineering management course.16ImplementationPrior to starting the actual meetings each semester, it is necessary to identify a time and locationfor the meetings and to publicize these events. Setting the time for the meeting is

Conference Session

Writing and Communication I: Innovative Models for Curriculum and Assessment

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marie Paretti, Virginia Tech; Lisa McNair, Virginia Tech; Diana George, Virginia Tech; kelly belanger, Virginia Tech; Lisa Norris, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

classroom is student learning anddevelopment. The desired outcome of an engineering design project in the workplace, in contrast,is a product or process the supports the company’s overall profitability and mission. Thus Page 12.1135.3teachers read student writing not because they need to act on the information a given reportincludes, but because they need to determine whether or not the student has mastered the contentand skills the course attempts to teach. In the workplace, managers, clients, and coworkers readreports or listen to presentations to extract information they need in order to perform their jobs.Data from a workplace test becomes the

Conference Session

Learning to Communicate with Engineers and Non-Engineers

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mieke Schuurman, Pennsylvania State University; Michael Alley, Pennsylvania State University; Melissa Marshall, Pennsylvania State University; Christopher Johnstone, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

Public Speaking Self-Efficacy of Engineering UndergraduatesAbstract This paper reports on how tailoring a speech communication course at The PennsylvaniaState University specifically for engineering undergraduates affected the public speaking self-efficacy of those students—a project partially funded by the Engineering InformationFoundation. This paper focuses on the following research question: Did engineering studentswho completed an engineering section feel more confident in their ability to communicateeffectively than engineering students who completed a regular section? Overall, students in the engineering sections increased their public speaking self-efficacyslightly more than students in the regular sections; this

Conference Session

Communication - Needs and Methods

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christine Nicometo, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Kevin Anderson, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Traci Nathans-Kelly, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Sandra Courter, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Thomas McGlamery, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

a moreinterpersonal communication skill set in students. Indeed, as Trevelyan pointed out in his studyof communication practices of engineers in Australia, “assessment of communication inengineering education is misaligned with practice requirements”5. To better align educationalassessment of communication practices in the first place, educators need to know more abouthow this skill set is defined and practiced in engineering workplaces. This paper intends to helpshed light on that question through reporting on the ways that practicing engineers valued,defined, and practiced “communication skills”.Study Description and MethodsThis study is part of a larger project sponsored by the National Science Foundation whichexamines the alignment of

Conference Session

Philosophy of Engineering Education: Epistemology and Ethics

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mark Valenzuela, University of Evansville; James Allen, University of Evansville; Brian Swenty, University of Evansville

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

democratic institutions and expanded human freedom and justice, and direct experience in addressing the needs of the larger community. • “Inquiry- and project-based learning: multiple opportunities to work, independently and Page 13.853.6 collaboratively, on projects that require the integration of knowledge with skills in analysis, discovery, problem solving, and communication.”In 2004 ASCE published its first attempt at defining the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledgefor the 21st Century.7 In this first edition (BOK1) ASCE defined 15 outcomes necessary in theeducation of a civil engineer, paralleling and also augmenting the

Conference Session

Liberal Education and Leadership

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Hanson, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Julia Williams, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

AC 2009-1676: DEVELOPING STUDENTS' ABILITIES IN TECHNICALLEADERSHIP: THE ROSE-HULMAN LEADERSHIP ACADEMYJames Hanson, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology James Hanson is an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at Rose-Hulman where he has been teaching since 2002. Among the courses he teaches is the capstone design course where he mentors team leaders. He has received several teaching awards including the ASEE Illinois-Indiana Section Outstanding Teaching Award and the ASEE Outstanding New Mechanics Educator Award. He has four years experience as a US Army officer where he led combat ready units. Recently he helped initiate the Rose-Hulman Leadership Academy.Julia Williams, Rose-Hulman Institute

Conference Session

Beyond Individual Ethics: Engineering in Context

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dean Nieusma, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

, instrumentalsystems are well suited to different kinds of political conditions, especially ones worthsustaining.”8 It is not a new method that is needed, but a whole new approach bridging“political, spatial, and technical dimensions” of design.9 Such inquiry is necessaryinterdisciplinary, since careful understanding of social worlds, technology, and their interactionsis required. Since technology-making is not an end in itself, “It must always be seen in thecontext of broader political debates, goals, projects, and struggles.”10Winner calls his proposed new discipline “political ergonomics,” and he builds a sketch of howpolitical ergonomics might be approached by drawing together the main strengths of threedistinct design traditions—engineering, statecraft

Conference Session

Tree-huggers, Diggers, and Queers--Oh my!

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George Catalano, State University of New York, Binghamton; Caroline Baillie, Queens University, Kingston

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

them in half and placing the torntickets into a receiving basket. As David had very limited strength in his hands, the linesof people seeking admittance would soon back up. It was determined by both his Page 14.542.11employer and social worker a newly designed device that would help David’s pace wouldbe a great aid. A team of senior engineering capstone design students selected this projectand dedicated two semesters to the design, fabrication, testing evaluation and delivery ofthe final device.During the two terms, David made several visits to the campus and he and the studentsbecame quite close. Delivery day became a highly publicized event with

Conference Session

Recent Developments in Engineering Ethics

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marilyn Dyrud, Oregon Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

much more cost-effective than hiring high-priced outsideconsulting firms to develop programs, an ironic side effect of the mandated ethics andcompliance provision.Educational AppropriatenessIndustrial ethics games can be a boon to the classroom, for not only do they reinforce the notionwith students that business and industry care about ethics (indeed, now they are required to careabout ethics!), but the games offer insights into organizational structure, which, for mosttraditional-aged college students, is truly new information.As an eight-year veteran of using “The Ethics Challenge” in a variety of classes, including a civilengineering senior-level capstone design project, I can say with certainty that this game is adelight in the classroom