Conference Session

Information Literacy in Context: Enabling Real World Problem Solving

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Fosmire, Purdue University, West Lafayette; David F. Radcliffe, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Libraries

creative act than is captured in more analytical“problem solving,” even where this is understood to include problem identification andformulation.2 More recently the term “design thinking”3 has caught hold as way to encapsulate themany cognitive and social dimensions of what is involved in the act of design in the context ofnew product development, with an emphasis on user-centered design.In the educational process, design projects provide an opportunity to integrate and apply contentknowledge, but perhaps more importantly, practice using the professional skills, often erroneouslyreferred to as ‘soft skills’ that are key to success according to the Engineer of 2020 report.4 Therole of information in design has been investigated by many groups over

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade II

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marcus L. Roberts, U.S. Air Force Academy; Randall Deppensmith, U.S. Air Force Academy; Ryan Jay Silva, U.S. Air Force Academy

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

paradigm and balancingtechnical syllabus content with real-world “soft” skills. It is not our intention to define theseobservations as “Tricks of the Trade” or “Best Practices,” although some recommendations aremade. Rather, our intent is that these 10 observations will open dialogue in other institutions anddepartments to collectively address these issues.IntroductionMany students anxiously begin each academic semester with apprehension as they wonder whatchallenges the next few months may hold. First time instructors may very well begin the sameway, wondering if they will excel or just survive the first semester. This paper provides the top10 observations from our first year experiences with a central focus on “what we wish we knewbefore we

Conference Session

Trends in Mechanical Engineering II

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kuntinee Maneeratana, Chulalongkorn University; Angkee Sripakagorn, Chulalongkorn University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

course (no. 43), an obviousindicator of the importance of the communication and other soft skills that should be looked at. Page 15.825.12 Correlation with Graduate/Current GPA 1.00 Semester 3 4 5 6 7 8 0.75 Plot 8 2002 0.50

Conference Session

Research on the First Year I

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chirag Variawa, University of Toronto; Susan McCahan, University of Toronto

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

importance ofengineering competencies is subconsciously influenced by gendered assumptions. Engineeringcompetencies that are perceived as “feminine” are regarded as soft skills that are less valued. Asa mitigation strategy, they and others 35,36 suggest emphasizing the value and importance of awide variety of competencies in engineering, and being careful not to reinforce stereotypes. Tobe effective, they contend improvement strategies should be structural rather than individualistic.In general, the literature on gender issues in engineering education shows that the currentpopulation of women in STEM education is low relative to the general population and theinclusion of feminine identity plays a key role in the formation of an inclusive

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ashley Clayson, Laboratory for Innovative Technology and Engineering Education; P K Raju, Auburn University; Chetan Sankar, Auburn University

learning skills into the learning experience14. Active, integrative project-based learning is needed to replace the passive lecture-based instruction that is so common in ourclassrooms 9, 19, 7, 15. Engineering students are increasingly being asked by potential employers todemonstrate “soft” skills (such as problem solving, communication, and teamwork skills) inaddition to their “hard” technical skills. Reflecting these expectations, the Accreditation Boardfor Engineering Education adopted new accreditation criteria, which identify in Criterion 3 (a)through (k), eleven outcomes expected of engineering graduates1.Faculty and administrators across the nation have come to reassess the values of variousinstructional methods, seeking the best ways to

Conference Session

The New ABET CE Criteria - Program Development

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ronald Welch, University of Texas, Tyler

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

critical“soft” skills called for by ASCE. CENG 4341 Multi-Year Assessment College/Inst. Level Scale (1-5) 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4.0 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5.0 A1. Instructor encouraged being responsible for learning. A2. Instructor used effective techniques A3. Instructor cared about my learning. A4. Instructor demonstrated respect. A5. Students contributed to my learning. A6. Motivation to learn has increased. A7. Instructor stimulated my thinking

Conference Session

Writing and Communication II

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Luke Niiler; David Beams

/computersFig. 1: Self-reported factors involved in freshmen students' choice of engineering as a major.Figure 1 clearly demonstrates that the majority of students planning careers in engineering wereattracted by the challenges of problem-solving and the exercise of creativity.Figure 2 shows the distribution of the 69 freshman responses to the question of the knowledgeand skills that they expected to develop in their undergraduate studies. The categories wereagain developed from the responses. These students listed a broad range of skills and knowledgethey expected to develop; the "soft" skills of teamwork and communication receivedsurprisingly-high responses. Since this was a mixed group consisting of both EE and MEstudents, the split responses

Conference Session

Effective Methods for Recruiting Women to Engineering

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sara Atwood, University of California, Berkeley; Eli Patten, University of California at Berkeley; Lisa Pruitt, University of California, Berkeley

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

in primary and secondary grades toward science, they founda common more positive attitude towards life sciences explained by the girls as a common desireto care for people and animals.It has also been suggested that women’s choice to enter a particular field of engineering is relatedto their perceived strengths in certain areas,16 such as communication and interpersonal skills.Women in engineering often report lower confidence in science and math skills than men despitehigher or equivalent grades,8,16 or women’s confidence and performance decrease throughout anengineering program18. However, women are often perceived to have better communication andinterpersonal skills, but these so-called “soft skills” are not as emphasized in

Conference Session

Aerospace Division Technical Session 3

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steve Gorrell, Brigham Young University; C. Greg Jensen, Brigham Young University; Brett Stone, Brigham Young University; Edward Red, Brigham Young University; Michael Richey, The Boeing Company; Fabian Zender, The Boeing Company; Michael Wright; David E. French, The Boeing Company; Shigeo Hayashibara, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott; Carl Johnson, Georgia Institute of Technology; John P. Sullivan, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Aerospace

learn important soft skills (suchas teamwork) in addition to hard skills (technical knowledge) desired by Boeing.The AerosPACE curriculum views learning as a social-technical process whereby knowledge isco-constructed within a social network, mentored by peers, industry workplace experts, anduniversity faculty through both face-to-face forums and a cyber-infrastructure. AerosPACEcourses are intended to be rigorous in accordance with the existing high university standards.The AerosPACE framework has four foundational elements: stakeholder engagement,incorporating learning sciences, advanced manufacturing, and collaborative social networks withlearning analytics. These four elements work in unison to provide a holistic approach to closethe

Conference Session

The Interdisciplinary Nature of Engineering

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Benjamin Cohen, Lafayette College; Jenn Stroud Rossmann, Lafayette College; Kristen L. Sanford Bernhardt, Lafayette College

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society, Multidisciplinary Engineering

socio-technical concepts as away to enhance the range of skills that engineering education is intended to teach and to fosterthe status of the engineer as a professional with social responsibility and public engagement. Itasks for engineers to cultivate their identity as technology designers cognizant of foundationalattributes inclusive of technical and non-technical skills.e                                                                                                                e The spatial metaphor that helps promote this vision is important as well. Instead of proposing a radial, atomicmodel, with the core technical attributes in the nucleus and so-called “soft” skills of communication, economicattention, and cultural value awareness

Conference Session

Active Learning and Demonstrations in Materials Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adam J. Kardos, University of Colorado, Denver; Stephan A. Durham, University of Colorado, Denver; Wesley E. Marshall, University of Colorado, Denver

Tagged Divisions

Materials

as having not only the technical skills, but thecommunication, teamwork, leadership, innovation and initiative. Jonassen and Strobel (2006)commented how practicing engineers are employed and rewarded for solving problems andwonder why we do not teach students in the same fashion. One such way of exposing students toproblem solving and problem solving skills was through problem-based learning. Problem-basedlearning programs use integrated and interdisciplinary problems that involve a high degree ofcollaboration. Hasna (2008) discussed how using problem-based learning in engineering designcourses allowed students to be more independent learners. Hasna further explains that problem-based learning helps with students learning the “soft skills

Conference Session

Difference, Disability, and (De)Politicization: The Invisible Axes of Diversity

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Julie L Taylor, University of Utah

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

ofclashing beliefs. For example, gender marks a moment of potential unknown, or reaction todifference. More specifically for this study, the engineering discipline is commonly characterizedas masculine, privileging hard science, objectivity, rationality, hegemonic ideology, and evenmale bodies.7 This is in juxtaposition to humanities, a more feminine discipline where scholarsengage in “soft” science, teach “soft” skills, and embrace subjectivity, emotionality, and femalebodies.5 Due to the merging of two cultures in an effort to have multidisciplinary education,different through the representation of gender is illuminated.Difference Discourse The concept of difference is important to examine because it helps us torecognize what is not “standard” or

Conference Session

ME Education Poster Session

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Matthew Panhans; Joseph Musto; William Howard

management become the core activities of the “professional” engineerThe implications of these recommendations point to a dramatic restructuring of the mechanicalengineering curriculum. ABET, with the adoption of new, more flexible accreditation criteria,has been praised for providing latitude for programs to redefine their curricula. The inclusion ofnew sciences, more elective choices, and increased focus on the “soft” skills, all consistent withthese new recommendations, are certainly facilitated by the accreditation criteria. However,there is some opposition to these radical concepts. For example, in their Report of theEngineering Licensure Task Force (2003), the National Council of Examiners for Engineeringand Surveying (NCEES) states8

Conference Session

BME Potpourri

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Roberta Berry; Jonathan Olinger; Paul Benkeser

Regulations 46, Subpart A, Protection of Human Subjects.21. Bledsoe, J.G., “Ethical Discussions in an Undergraduate Tissue Engineering Course,” Proceedings, 2nd Joint Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society and the Biomedical Engineering Society, IEEE, 2002.22. Collins, J., and C. Mathieson, “Case Studies in Economics and Ethics in an Early Biomedical Engineering Class,” Proceedings, 2002 ASEE Conference, ASEE, 2002.23. Benkeser, P.J., and W.C. Newstetter, “Integrating Soft Skills in a BME Curriculum,” Proceedings, 2004 ASEE Conference, ASEE, 2004.BiographiesROBERTA M. BERRY is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Policy and Director of the Law, Science &Technology Program at Georgia Institute of

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Engineering Courses II

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Katie Sullivan

potential and need to improve engineering training andeducation regarding team soft skills such as team dynamics and communication are widelyrecognized.4 Teamwork is an essential, but not widely emphasized concept in the engineeringdiscipline.4 Wu and Chang found that teamwork in the classroom resulted in increasedproblem-solving abilities and the development of teamwork strategies necessary forsuccess in the engineering profession.5 Students in this class will each be a member of oneof six teams. Each team consists of one chemical engineering student, one college studentfrom a different discipline and two high school students. The teams are each meant to takeone portion of the project and work together to solve a specific problem. Each

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Yi Min Huang; Michael Trevisan

ABET accreditation requirements has to some degree,undermined its own efforts to foster program improvement evaluation.Achievement Outcomes and Student AssessmentEach project has at base a set of achievement outcomes students are expected to obtain at variouspoints in their educational experience. Faculty across projects and disciplines experiencedconsiderable difficulty developing sound outcomes and connecting student assessment strategiesto measure these outcomes in a reasonable way. There are three aspects to this difficulty. First,the nature of the desired achievement outcomes is complex, multidimensional, and often illdefined, particularly outcomes associated with “soft skills.” For instance, Example 1 maintainedengineering design

Conference Session

Abroad Educational Opportunities in Engineering

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Bethany Oberst; Russel Jones

for common global grounds for quality standards, fair employmentpractices, and useful application of human resources goes on. That this section of thepaper is not longer is less a reflection on the importance of this theme than it is of the lackof real progress that has been made over the past three years.The social imperativeWhile students from around the world strive to acquire the strongest possible technicaleducation in engineering, some older hands persist in proclaiming that the ill-named “softskills” are the ones which will ultimately be key to the successful practice of engineeringby up-and-coming engineers. But the list of “soft skills” too often is limited to things suchas public speaking techniques, management skills and the

Conference Session

Tenure and Promotion Tricks of the Trade

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Diane Muratore; Jeannette Russ

Page 8.573.11 Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2003, American Society for Engineering Educationaccomplishments.Keep documentation of all meetings with your student advisees. If you have counseled them toadd or drop a course for a particular reason, you may need to refer to this change in the future.Similarly, keep documentation of any major decisions that are made regarding curriculum, coursecontent, and so forth. A written history is an important part of departmental (and individual)success.Finally, look for ways to collaborate with other departments on campus. Employers areincreasingly requesting that students be trained in the “soft” skills of communication andteamwork, and

Collection

2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Scott Danielson; Sudhir I. Mehta

time in the future. For other statics instructors, wanting to use the NGprinciples in statics, we plan to publish quiz questions and other instructional materials.The most important outcome of this experiment is determining if NG Principles make anydifference in student understanding of statics, retention in college, and other "soft" skills liketeamwork, problem-solving, and critical thinking. Thus far, regular quiz scores in the NGsections are about the same as compared to the quiz scores in the previous years. This type ofoutcome, i.e., no significant improvement in regular exam scores, has been found in manystudies (Hake, 1998). However, Hake does report that in classes employing interactiveengagement methods, student learning "gain" as

Conference Session

Developing ABET Outcomes F--J

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Timothy Hoffman; Christopher Zappe; Steven Shooter; Michael O'Donnell

pursuit of providing a full complement of technical skills to engineering students,developing management and traditionally “soft” skills is often overlooked. As a result, thegraduating engineering student may not possess sufficient skills or at least an awareness of theprimary management aims of business. Perhaps one of the most crucial areas that is affected duein part to this perceived gap in engineering education is the students’ abilities to assess andcommunicate risk within a company.On January 28, 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger flight 51-L of the National Aeronautics andSpace Administration (NASA) exploded in flight at 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all sevenpassengers aboard. It was a disaster – not an accident – witnessed by millions

Conference Session

Two Year-to-Four Year Transfer Topics Part I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Erik N. Dunmire, College of Marin; Amelito G. Enriquez, Canada College; Kate A. Disney, Mission College, Santa Clara

Tagged Divisions

Two Year College Division

2R = Recommended X = Required choose one combined course3 4 5 Careers/soft skills Design specialized Intro to Civil only6 7 specialized Civil Materials course only microelectronic circuits*Data obtained

Conference Session

Approaches to Teaching Ethics

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael H.G. Hoffmann, Georgia Institute as Technology; Jason Borenstein, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

.  Assessing alternatives in terms of consequences, public defensibility, institutional barriers, etc.  Engaging in reasoned dialogue or negotiations.  Revising options, plans, or actions.This list highlights the complexity of the issues that engineers confront. An engineer‘s actionscan have effects on stakeholders whose existence, perspectives, and values she does notnecessarily see. An engineer does not always directly interact with the people whose livesare being altered as result of her decisions. Obviously, engineering students need to refinetheir technical competence. But it is crucially important that they develop ―soft skills‖ aswell [3]. Among these skills is the ability to identify hidden ethical challenges.Ill-Structured

Conference Session

Interdisciplinary Experiences and Assessment in Environmental Engineering

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Angela R. Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

CapstoneCourse, with Assessment Tools to Satisfy ABET “Soft Skills”. National Capstone Design Conference, Boulder,CO. 4 pgs.8. Dekker, D., S. Sundarrao, R. Dubey. 2010. Sustainability and Commercialization of Capstone Projects. NationalCapstone Design Conference, Boulder, CO. 4 pgs.9. Kruse, G. W. Thomas. 2010. A Capstone Couse Sequence in Information Technology. National Capstone DesignConference, Boulder, CO. 4 pgs.10. Rios-Gutierrez, F

Conference Session

NSF Grantees' Poster Session

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Raymundo Arroyave, Texas A&M University; Miladin Radovic, Texas A&M University; Jefferey E. Froyd, Texas A&M University

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees Poster Session

STEM instructor must evolve beyond informationtransmission. In recent years, “the need to modify current paradigms, to reinforce not only thetechnical level of the instruction, but also to improve so-called soft skills, such as communicationskills, teamwork, leadership and so forth” 14 has been reinforced numerous times. Engineeringgraduates need development in creative thinking and problem-solving. In addition to an increasein the abilities and skills of the students, it is necessary to increase students’ interest in scienceand technology. All this is required while at the same time emphasizing the need for students tobe able to graduate in four years 14. This impressive list cannot be achieved in any single course.However, it is possible to

Conference Session

Relevance of and Models for Community Engagement in Engineering Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Susan McCahan, University of Toronto; Holly K. Ault, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Edmund Tsang, Western Michigan University; Mark R. Henderson, Arizona State University, Polytechnic; Spencer P. Magleby, Brigham Young University; Annie Soisson, Tufts University

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

. IntroductionLearning through Service (LTS) is a rapidly growing pedagogy in engineering education. Theimplementation of LTS programs has been, in part, a reaction to a paradigm shift that has takenplace in undergraduate engineering education; the rebalancing of the development ofprofessional skills (sometimes called “soft” skills) in addition to technical skills. This shift waslargely a response to the 1994 report of the Engineering Deans’ Council and the CorporateRoundtable of the American Society for Engineering Education1, and also to the NationalAcademy of Engineering’s The Engineer of 2020.2 The 1994 Green Report1 asks engineeringeducators to “reexamine their curriculum and programs to ensure they prepare students for thebroadened world of engineering

Conference Session

Advances in Assessment of Communication and Interdisciplinary Competence

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carolyn Kusbit Dunn, East Carolina University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

on eitherissue. And there is yet another salient point. In many engineering curricula, adding courseworkin global studies is difficult because of ―the highly sequenced and content-demanding nature ofthe curriculum‖ [3]. This is also a factor frequently cited as to why more technical writingcoursework is not part of an engineering/technology curriculum. Professional or technical writing and communication, along with global competence, is aso called ‗soft skill‘ that both practitioners and scholars have deemed important to the success ofstudents. The discussion on this issue has been going on for decades. In the October-December2011 issue of Technical Communication Quarterly, Wright et al examines the history oftechnical writing via an

Conference Session

Assessments, Assessments, and Assessments

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David B. Meredith, Pennsylvania State University, Fayette

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

remind them that they are allowed to think during the exam. Too many times it seems they are so anxiousto start punching numbers into their calculator that they forget to consider why they are doing the steps.Some topics are just not conducive to a timed test. When teaching Thermodynamics, students demonstrate theirability to accurately interpolate using the steam tables on the first test. After that, the hardest value to extract fromthe tables during a test might be to average between two tabled values. I see that they get plenty of interpolationpractice in their homework. But for their later tests, I want to see if they know what to do with the values, morethan if they can just determine them. Soft skills are better demonstrated through team

Conference Session

Projects in Alternative Energy

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

José Colucci Ríos P.E., University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez; Efrain O'Neill-Carrillo, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez; Miriam del Rosario Fontalvo

Tagged Divisions

Energy Conversion and Conservation

supported by grants from theAlfred P. Sloan Foundation, Air Force Research Laboratory, Department of Homeland Securityand more important the Department of Education. The latter sponsors CIVIS, a Center forResources in General Education established at the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez (UPRM)campus to provide a new perspective in general and STEM education [6]. CIVIS, which means“citizen” in Latin, brings together faculty from Business Administration, Arts and Sciences,Agriculture and Engineering in order to develop interdisciplinary activities that further theuniversity’s mission of shaping productive and committed citizens. CIVIS challenges thetraditional classification of “technical skills” and “soft-skills”, substituting it by an

Conference Session

Accreditation and Outcomes-based Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jens Kabo, Chalmers University of Technology; Xiaofeng Tang, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Dean Nieusma, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; John Currie, University of Sydney; Hu Wenlong, Beihang University; Caroline Baillie, University of Western Australia

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

, segregation has endured betweenprofessional (math, science and engineering analysis courses) and general education (H&SScourses) or “hard” and “soft skills”4 or, in yet other words, technical and social content. In theeyes of Leydens and Schneider, the outcomes-based criteria of ABET EC 2000 have providednew opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and integration of H&SS (in their case,communication content specifically) approaches into engineering education.5As a counterpoint, Seron and Silbey highlight difficulties for innovative engineering educationinitiatives to align with the instrumentality of ABET requirements.6 Studying efforts at FranklinL. Olin College of Engineering and Smith College’s Picker Engineering Program, Seron

Conference Session

Relevance of and Models for Community Engagement in Engineering Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Karinna M. Vernaza, Gannon University; Theresa M. Vitolo, Gannon University; Barry J. Brinkman, Gannon University; Scott Steinbrink, Gannon University

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

for those suffering from cerebral palsy. A recent exerciseallowed clients to participate in a geocaching activity which integrated retention of presentedmaterials with recall of known facts about their home area.9One of the ways adults with disabilities are supported through the Barber Institute is byproviding vocational training and work-site opportunities. Clients proceed through an initialassessment, hard and soft skills training, individualized and specific site-training, and exposureto labor incentives. Once clients are prepared and qualified, they may move into supportedemployment services.While in supported employment, a client is guided and supported by an employment specialist, ajob coach. Clients (1) may become direct hires, (2) may