Conference Session

Women, Minorities and the New Engineering Educator

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brook Sattler, University of Washington; Jessica Yellin, University of Washington; Yi-Min Huang, University of Washington; Jennifer Turns, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

. Page 12.558.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 Diversity in Engineering Teaching – Views from Future Engineering FacultyAbstractThis current paper uses a qualitative analysis approach to explore the conceptions of diversity asexpressed by future engineering educators. Engineering graduate students and post-docs (futureengineering educators) wrote a statement of diversity as it relates to teaching engineering as acomponent of a teaching portfolio. We then interviewed these participants about the processesthey used for this writing task. During the interview, they reflected on their processes in writing thediversity statement; they also discussed their personal experiences with

Conference Session

New Engineering Educators: Off the Beaten Path

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robin Adams, Purdue University; Cheryl Allendoerfer, University of Washington; Tori Rhoulac Smith, Howard University; David Socha, University of Washington; Dawn Williams, Howard University; Ken Yasuhara

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

, delve deeper into specificresearch issues, or how to use their research to make an impact. Common sources for accessingthis kind of knowledge have been formal presentations or publications. However, these oftenprovide only superficial accounts of the rationales behind research, career, or impact decisions.Informal situations such as meetings, conferences, brown bag sessions, gatherings at the local“water cooler”, and blogs are also places to meet and share knowledge. However, theseconversations are rarely formalized and shared broadly. Some exceptions are efforts to formallysupport reflective practice and dialogue such as the Annals of Research on EngineeringEducation website [18]. On this website researchers may discuss such issues as

Conference Session

New Engineering Educators: Tricks of the Trade II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Melani Plett, Seattle Pacific Univ; Donald Peter

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

. Page 12.1263.4 7. Since it is common for students to earn 100% on the self graded portion, we keep the percentage of the course grade based on the self graded homework at roughly 5%. This is high enough of a grade reward to motivate students to complete the assignments, but it is also low enough to avoid significantly raising the course grade. 8. We have chosen to keep the total homework percentage of the course grade at roughly the same as we did before implementing self grading. Thus, the instructor graded homework portion is roughly 5% less than it would have been before. 9. To aid the student in learning, both of us require students to do a metacognitive reflection on what he/she learned when

Conference Session

Best of the NEE

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yi-Min Huang, University of Washington; Jessica Yellin, University of Washington; Jennifer Turns, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

anticipate that by asking educators about their teaching decisions, wemay trigger reflection, which in and of itself may lead to improvements in teaching practice.By exploring the processes through which engineering educators make teaching decisions andthe factors they consider, we can use decision making as a lens to understand their teachingpractices and gain a better understanding of how to help engineering educators make moreeffective decisions about their teaching. We believe that this approach is particularly appropriatebecause it is a framework used extensively in the field of engineering (i.e., design decision-making) and thus may be a more familiar framework to discuss their teaching practices.We chose to emphasize teaching decision-making

Conference Session

Women, Minorities and the New Engineering Educator

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Annette Mallory Donawa; Clifton Martin, Morgan State University; Carl White, Morgan State University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

Deductions Inferences Interpretations Assumptions Figure 1: Bloom’s Taxonomy and Watson-Glaser critical thinking categories. Page 12.1221.9 Page 8The critical thinking definitions that were discussed and used as class debates are listedbelow. 1. Robert Ennis a. Critical thinking is reasonable, reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do. 2. Richard Paul Critical thinking is that mode of thinking about any subject

Conference Session

Faculty Development: Creating successful NEEs

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Abul Azad, Northern Illinois University; Osman Tokhi, University of Sheffield, UK.

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

social welfare benefits aregetting stricter, but in case of an unemployment situation, still one can rely on this. Tofacilitate all these benefits, the income tax rate is relatively higher than in the US. In contrast, the US has an economy of capitalist at its best. Relatively, there arevery little social welfare benefits for the poor and under achievers. One needs to managehis/her health care provision and higher education expenses. People at the lower earningband need to work long hours to manage their livelihood. On the other hand, the US is stillin the growing phase, and one can have success with hard work and smart thinking. As itappears, the US is still considered as the land of opportunity and that also reflects throughthe current

Conference Session

New Engineering Educators: Tricks of the Trade II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Marshall, University of Southern Maine; June Marshall, St. Joseph's College

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

and which reflect the amount and nature of theinformation that must be learned will go a long way to promoting academic success.Question #7 - Learning Strategies: What types of learning strategies do my studentsneed? Will they need to collaborate with others in small or large groups? Will studentsneed to listen, maintain their attention for long periods of time, or take extensive notes?Application of the Theory:Students often need to be shown how to learn in class, how to work effectively in a group,how to engage in a discussion or debate, how to take notes, or even how to ask questions.Do not simply assume students know how to learn in your class.Doyle concludes that after asking these seven questions, you will find yourself muchbetter

Conference Session

New Engineering Educators: Tricks of the Trade I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dean Kim, Bradley University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

of some of these answers with helping them master these fundamental mathtopics, with the understanding that the instructor subsequently expects them to be able to solvesuch problems in the future.ExamsFor engineering courses, exams traditionally have been used to provide students with theopportunity to demonstrate their mastery of the course material. This section contains theauthor’s thoughts and observations regarding the effective use and administration of exams.The author strongly believes that exams must be used to fairly measure each student’s mastery ofthe material as presented in lecture and as practiced in the assignments. The author’s policy ofnot curving grades is reflected in the exams as well, in terms of exam format, content

Conference Session

Women, Minorities and the New Engineering Educator

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cheryl Allendoerfer, University of Washington; Sharon Jones, Lafayette College; Jaime Hernandez, Texas State University-San Marcos; Rebecca Bates, Minnesota State University-Mankato; Robin Adams, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

. Page 12.557.9Research MethodsThe quantitative portion of this study is in the form of a survey that incorporates the FelderLearning Style Inventory21, as well as basic demographic questions that include informationabout such things as the student’s GPA, major, parental education level, and length of time incollege. The learning style inventory results in four measures showing preferences betweenactive/reflective, sequential/global, visual/verbal and sensing/intuitive. The results of the surveywill be used to get an agglomerative measure of the learning style distributions that can becompared across different demographic factors. A subset of students who take the survey will beasked to give feedback on informational materials as well as to

Conference Session

New Engineering Educators: Tricks of the Trade I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Edward Gehringer, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

vary widely among institutions and programs.1 Generallyspeaking, a student is not allowed to substitute independent study for more than two courses.Many programs allow only one course (e.g., 3 semester hours or 4 quarter hours) of independentstudy. Others have per-semester limits (e.g., one course worth) and per-degree limits (e.g., twocourses). The limit tends to be lower for master’s students, reflecting the lower number of creditsrequired for the degree. For undergraduates, some institutions are quite a bit more permissive;some allow more hours, but stipulate that they do not count toward the major. Others requirethem to be counted as free electives. Occasionally there is a process by which a student mayapply to have the independent study

Conference Session

New Engineering Educators: Off the Beaten Path

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jenny Lo, Virginia Tech; Vinod Lohani, Virginia Tech; Michael Gregg, Virginia Tech; Richard Goff, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

graduated with honors. Thestrong bond that was formed between the faculty and these students continues even today thoughthere was not much contact during the regular academic first year or in subsequent years.Although, some of the now graduated students, still reflect on the great educational experiencethey had in 2002. Goff and Gregg had major life changing experiences as a result of thiscollaboration and team-teaching experience.Conclusions The success of the team teaching approach discussed in this paper highly depends on theprofessional and personal relationship between team members. It does not work for everyfaculty pair6. The literature cites numerous examples of successful team teaching in non-technical areas, but few in technical

Conference Session

Educational Research and the New Engineering Educator

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Malcolm Drewery, National Academy of Engineering; Norman Fortenberry, National Academy of Engineering; Stefani A. Bjorklund

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

because of their backgrounds or identities.e. You observed certain engineering students being ignored or excluded (from projects, discussions, etc.) because of their backgrounds or identities.f. Students harassed or discriminated against you because of your background or identity.g. Your course’s content reflects contributions of all engineers, including women and people of color, etc..h. You tailor lessons because some students learn in different ways than others.i. Students of all backgrounds/identities participate in class (in discussion, in-class assignments, team projects, etc.). Almost Almost7. In

Conference Session

New Engineering Educators: Tricks of the Trade II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Karen Benitez, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez; Juan Jimenez, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez; Yesenia Cruz, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez; Marta Rosa, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez; Alexandra Medina-Borja, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

. Thisauthor categorizes people into four types of learners:• Divergers (Type 1 Learners), Perceive information through concrete experience, rely on feelings, need to express feelings when learning, seek personal meaning as they learn, and want personal interaction with the teacher and others.• Assimilators (Type 2 Learners). Assimilators perceive information through abstract conceptualization and process it through reflective observation.• Convergers (Type 3 Learners), Convergers perceive information through abstract conceptualization and process it actively.• Accommodators (Type 4 Learners), Accommodators perceive information through concrete experience and process it through active experimentation.Framework for choosing a strategic teaching

Conference Session

Best of the NEE

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wendy James, Oklahoma State University; Stacee Harmon, Oklahoma State University; Richard Bryant, Oklahoma State University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

, scientific methods in thelatter part of the nineteenth century when researchers asked subjects to reflect and report on theirown cognition. At the turn of the nineteenth century, using such subjective data for analysis was Page 12.556.7abandoned in favor of using only observable actions as appropriate objective data. This resultedin the behaviorist perspective, where learning is understood as the formation, strengthening, andadjustment of associations between ideas, stimuli, and responses. These theories “are framed bythe assumption that behavior is to be understood as the responses of an organism to stimuli in thesituation,”1 which usually can

Conference Session

New Engineering Educators: Tricks of the Trade II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Claude Villiers, Florida Gulf Coast University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

. They feared that studentlearning is difficult to stimulate in evening classes because almost 90 percent of these studentsheld a full-time job. Their comments were well taken because PowerPoint presentations can bemisused. As mentioned by Estes et al., PowerPoint presentations may incorporate more materialthan the students are able to absorb, provide an inflexible structure that can hide spontaneity, andcause passivity 4.The author valued the comments from other faculty but did not want to be pressured tocompletely change his teaching style to adapt to the CCNY norms of teaching. The fact of thematter is that people have different learning styles that are reflected in different academicstrengths, weaknesses, skills, and interest5. In this paper

Conference Session

New Engineering Educators: Off the Beaten Path

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bobby Crawford, USMA; Tony Jones, USMA

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

that welearned is to have all of the required materials prepared well in advance.This EDP was also more difficult for the students. They have a large variety of materialsto choose from (as opposed to being restricted to a two-liter soda bottle) and amultifaceted problem: focus on scoring or attacking the opponent, speed versecontrollability, etc.; the number of tradeoffs is significant. The LEGO sets are capable ofbuilding very complex machines but the rules of the contest limit the size that the cadetscan use and a single nine volt battery power supply rewards those who design efficiently.The student satisfaction with the EDPs throughout the course is reflected in the followingstudent comments: “The past 26 lessons have been quite

Conference Session

Faculty Development: Creating successful NEEs

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kam Jugdev, Athabasca University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

ongoingsense of accomplishment as I tracked my scholarship activities. The dossier was also useful inhelping me identify gaps in my scholarship and goals for next year. A dossier can also be usefulin identifying areas for improvement (although this required me to really try to be objective).One of the hardest things I had to learn to write was my teaching philosophy. I think this wasdifficult because I had focused on discipline specific content at university but had not takencourses in teaching. By reviewing examples on the Internet, I found some useful ones thatallowed me to reflect on my teaching philosophy and document it accordingly. In particular, Ifound that the dossier helped me review my research program and from time to time, identifysome

Conference Session

Best of the NEE

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Squire, Virginia Military Institute; Charles Bott, Virginia Military Institute; Matthew Hyre, Virginia Military Institute

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

manner similar to a “real” engineering job 3. Students who enjoy the work, and who are paid for it, are often a project’s best advertisingNegatives 1. It can be very difficult to hold students accountable to project goals if their interest in the project wanes 2. Classroom work often takes priority over work for pay 3. Student motivation can cycle with external events that have nothing to do with the project (i.e., you will find a high degree of motivation on work for pay projects in the weeks leading up to spring break)Students Working for CreditPositives 1. Students understand that poor performance is reflected in a bad grade. There are both positive and negative reinforcement mechanisms