Conference Session

Assessing Teaching and Learning

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

John Dantzler; Kevin Whitaker; Jim Richardson

grouping, cooperative learning, teamdesign projects, and an emphasis on written and oral communication. Student record dataindicates that the program has improved retention in the engineering program but has hadminimal effect on achievement. Anecdotal evidence from follow-on teachers, however, suggeststhat the TIDE program may have soft skill carry-over effects. Upper-class engineering studentswho participated in the TIDE program may exhibit more confidence, better communication skillsand greater team skills than their traditional program counterparts. To test this hypothesis, engineering faculty who teach downstream design courses thatrely heavily on student soft skills were asked to rate past students on a variety of dimensions.Each rater

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Ralph Budwig; Beyerlein Steve; Matthew Cunnington; Levi Westra; Donald Elger

, so students could solve open-ended problems4.This work combines the characteristics of reinforcing basic concepts so students can solve open-ended problems, motivating student learning with real-world problems, applying math modeling,and teaching engineering soft skills. The main contribution of this work is the focus on creatingan environment for meaningful learning with a focus on the technical aspects of wind tunnelexperimentation. This paper describes and documents the wind tunnel facility, and describeshow the facility was designed to enhance meaningful learning.Objectives for the Wind Tunnel FacilityThe wind tunnel project team determined four goals for the University of Idaho's new windtunnel facility. The first objective was creation

Conference Session

Using Technology to Improve IE Education

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Jerry Davis; Paul Stanfield

Session 3557 Systems Engineering and Information Technology Education Through the ALIVE System Paul Stanfield, Jerry Davis North Carolina A&T State UniversityAbstractThe environment and expectations facing graduating engineers have changed dramatically in thepast decade. Graduate engineers are expected to contribute immediately in competitiveenvironments with system engineering, information technology, and soft skills in addition totraditional engineering fundamentals. The ability of engineering education to produce graduatesmeeting these market

Conference Session

New Programs and Success Stories

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

John Farr

enrollments, • compete with business schools, • be more entrepreneurial in their focus, • produce graduates who are strong in the “soft” skills and therefore more relevant to todays industry needs, and • produce engineers who are employable in the growing service-based US economy.Another important factor is that traditional engineering programs are resource intensive.Laboratory space, technicians, equipment, small class size requirements (especially for designclasses) and supplies make the cost per student significantly greater than the typical business orhumanities student. Most courses in management and systems can be taught to large classes,with minimal infrastructure, and are readily ported to distance learning platforms such as the

Conference Session

Freshman Curriculum Development

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

John Gardner; Harold Ackler; Anthony Paris; Amy Moll

‘score’ in which the highest indicates the highest priority.Summary of Part I:The college survey results indicate that the will of the faculty is to have ENGR 120serve as an introduction to the technical professions for which the College ofEngineering is preparing our students. As a secondary goal, the course shouldattempt to teach and foster specific technical skills relevant to the curricula. Specific“soft” skills such as presentations, teamwork and retention are considered tertiarygoals.Part B: Course Content by TopicIn the second part of the survey, faculty were asked to rank from highest to lowest, theimportance of specific topics to be included in the course. Again, the committeeassembled the list from previous experience in the course and

Conference Session

Comparing National Styles of Engr. Educ.

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Richard Thibault; Rene Hivon; Danielle L'Heureux; Noel Boutin

dimension of engineering, soft skills, competence- based curriculum Page 7.1139.1 Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2002, American Society for Engineering Education1 IntroductionFor many years, engineering accreditation bodies1 have required engineering curricula to have aminimum proportion of their content devoted to the development of “soft skills” or tocomplementary studies. This not only gives engineering students a broader education but itenables them to import from the humanities and the social sciences tools, methods and mentalprocesses that allow

Conference Session

Mentoring Graduate Students for Success

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Steven Beyerlein; Robert Drew; Matthew Walker; Karl Rink; Dan Gerbus; Dan Cordon; Edwin Odom

on the projects in addition to courses, research and socializing. Some may think these extraefforts are not worthwhile and are not the purpose of graduate school. Instead, the focus ingraduate school should be learning about being an engineer. IEWorks provides an environment Page 7.645.3 Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2002, American Society for Engineering Educationin which these soft skills are allowed to be implemented and assessed. Research is conducted onthe various methods of practicing these skills.The benefits IEWorks has

Conference Session

Design in the Engineering Core

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Hamid Hadim; Sven Esche

. 24 This design spine allows the development of many of the “soft skills” that areembodied in the ABET EC Criteria 2000. These skills demanded of engineering graduatesinclude effective teaming skills, project management, communications, ethics and engineeringeconomics. Thus, the acquiring of these skills evolves over the four years of the design sequence.In addition, the design spine is a means for enhancing learning, as each of the design courses islinked to a lecture course taught concurrently. Students experience this strong linkage for thefirst time in the second semester of the freshmen year when they take Mechanics of Solidsconcurrently with Engineering Design II. Mechanics of Solids is a 4-credit lecture/recitationcourse that replaced

Conference Session

Assessing Teaching and Learning

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Donald Headley; Sanjiv Sarin

Educationwere asked to subjectively rate themselves on very specific abilities. The same students were thengiven a test that measured the same abilities. Correlations between students’ self-assessment andtheir performance on test questions are used to comment on the general validity of engineeringstudent self-assessments.2. BackgroundInterest in student self-reports has been motivated by the recognition that achievement tests aloneare not sufficiently viable for outcomes assessment. This is due to several reasons. First, it isquestionable whether a test can adequately measure all outcomes of interest, especially thoseinvolving soft skills such as team work and life long learning. Second, there is concern whether asingle nationally administered test (or

Conference Session

Global Engineering Education

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

William Paterson; Samantha De Bon; Jean-Yves Chagnon; Deborah Wolfe

reflect such issues as technological advances and thegrowth of the engineering team in the workplace. Over the past decade the CEAB increased therequirements for complementary studies (soft skills) and moved from a proportional measure ofcurriculum to an absolute measure. Changes under consideration at the present time include: · refining the curriculum content requirements for Basic Science and Mathematics, · including morale and commitment of faculty, support staff and students as a component of the qualitative evaluation, and · including the requirement for students to be exposed to the concepts of project management.The engineering profession expects of its members competence in engineering as well as anunderstanding of the impact of

Conference Session

Real-world Applications in ET

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Randall Timi; Dannie Hutchinson; William Strenth; James Otter

Society foe Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ã 2002, American Society for Engineering Education" Page 7.9.8 3. Students in general prefer this model versus a strictly academic classroom setting for construction education. Students also feel like they learn a lot about soft skills (communication, leadership, people skills, planning, documentation) through this process. 4. The process continues to improve and evolve much like an actual construction company. Nothing is the same each semester. 5. The

Conference Session

Global Engineering in an Interconected World

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Jørgen Hansen; Arvid Andersen

their study to find new information and use itin a relevant context and discuss it with others in order to form their own personal opinion.The success of project-organised teaching on EPS is measured by the way in which thestudents handle situations and problems occurring during execution of their project. Studentssimply have to learn to take responsibility of their own situation and learn to appreciate that itis a life-long situation. Doing international teamwork is more than ever a skill needed. It willbe an important part of the career of the future engineer.Assessment of technical and soft skills in teamworkStudents participating in EPS have varying educational and cultural backgrounds. The focusis on people involved; on the product

Conference Session

Techniques for Improving Teaching

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Beth Todd

assignments. It is important when using in-class exercisesthat the students feel that the assignment will impact their grade in some way so that theassignment is completed. There is also discussion on assessing the impact of the lifelonglearning module on the student’s appreciation of lifelong learning. The instructor’s guideconcludes with a listing of references that were used during module development.Module TestingThe lifelong learning module was one of 15 modules created to address soft skills in theengineering curriculum. A testing program was created for these modules. In this program, eachmodule was taught by an instructor who did not develop the module. A group of engineeringstudents in the sophomore through senior level with a range of GPAs

Conference Session

ET Graduate Education

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Niaz Latif; Michael Dyrenfurth

participation.Instrumentation & Data CollectionWithin these three foci, the evaluation design, shown in Figure 2, calls for assessment of: · Satisfaction (overall) with the program · The program’s instructional methodology · Effectiveness of the program’s mechanics (registration, fees) · Perceptions of value received · Appropriateness of content mix (technology, management, soft skills, communication, and research) · Technological literacy · Written communication · Post-participation career advancement · Employer perceptions of performance change Post-Assessment Cohort 1 Post

Conference Session

ASEE Multimedia Session

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Michael Jenkins; John Kramlich

providing and objective viewpoint.Capstone Design: Of the eleven departments/programs, three use capstone design projects toassess how well programmatic goals and learning outcomes are achieved. An advantage of usingcapstone design projects is that these projects represent the synthesis of coursework, thereforedemonstrating an important step in attaining the professional engineering degree. Adisadvantage is that assessing the intangible soft skills of capstone design projects (e.g.,teamwork, communication, etc) can prove problematic and illusive.Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering reported that design projects illustrate the students

Conference Session

ASEE Multimedia Session

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Linda Leffel; Glenda Scales; Cheryl Peed

line instruction video the phoneTo assess the need for new courses to offer to practicing engineers, company representativeswere asked to name their three preferred course topics for enhancing the engineers’effectiveness. Respondents identified leadership/soft skills, project management softwarecourses and information technology as preferred course topics for enhancing engineers’effectiveness. According to Bowman and Farr, “Employers are calling for [engineering]graduates who are not merely expert in design and analysis, but who possess the leadershipskills to apply their technical expertise and to capitalize on emerging construction andinformation technologies, management models, and

Conference Session

ASEE Multimedia Session

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Keith Gardiner

conclusions all as a corollary to studentlearning. The primary purpose of the course, IE334, is to develop or improve the students’abilities, understanding and appreciation for the “soft skills” of organizational planning andcontrol. It is recognized that “experiential learning,” or “learning by doing,” produces a superiorclassroom experience to uninvolved reading, listening or watching the wielding of chalk (unlessthis is done under the tutelage of the most exceptional, superb and captivating teachers!). Thisclass usually enrolls between 40 and 50 students, mainly IE seniors, but with a scattering ofjuniors and individuals with other engineering majors; there are just occasionally one or twobusiness and graduate students. The class is divided into

Conference Session

ASEE Multimedia Session

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

David Radcliffe

andteleconferences. They also maintain a professional log with regular submissions back to theUSLP team to enable us to maintain track of their progress. Having the site students return tocampus before the end of semester ensures that the whole cohort, not just the students onplacement, draw benefit from the experiences on site. The site students have a portfolioworkshop after returning to consolidate the transferable "soft skills" and professional attributesacquired in the placement.The preparation, support and debrief phases now form the basis of a new course, ProfessionalDevelopment, which the USLP students can enroll in and thus gain academic credit for analyzingand reflecting on the professional aspects of the work in which they engage in on site.On

Collection

2002 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

William H. Semke; Arnold F. Johnson; Richard. R. Schultz; Chang-Hee Won; Jason G. Gullicks; Nicholas E. Hulst; Douglas R. Olsen; George A. Seielstad

actual fabrication. Thishelps ensure the successful implementation of a large scale project involving manycomponents. This was an additional benefit of the project that is not often found in moretraditional classroom or cooperative education experiences. Also, many of the “soft skills”that are beneficial to the development of the students were practiced. Written and oralcommunication skills were utilized at group meetings as well when dealing with projectmanagement, advisors, vendors, and government officials. The Summer 2001 AEROCamteam is shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 4. Summer 2001 AEROCam team. Through detailed analyses and comparisons a final design was constructed. TheAEROCam system is a self-contained unit that

Conference Session

Engineering Management Curriculum

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Ken Vickers; Ronna Turner; Greg Salamo

1.29 AreaKnowledge Level in 6 3.67 0.82 4 4.50 1.00 Area of ExpertiseInternship in Graduate Program 6 3.67 1.51 4 4.00 1.15________________________________________________________________________Table 6: Importance of and Assessments on Academic Training Characteristics of theMicroelectronics-Photonics Graduate ProgramInterestingly the graduates, as a whole, rated the soft skills higher in level of importance incompleting their job than the academic characteristics. Their perception of the most importantjob-related skill is the ability to communicate effectively, with the remaining skills of problemsolving, working in a team environment, and completing business related tasks efficientlyconsidered

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

Graphics Applications in ME

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Richard Wilk

referred to these as “soft” skills. This characterization ismisleading though, implying that these abilities are secondary to or more easily developed than“hard” technical expertise. On the contrary, a great importance of these abilities to engineeringeducation has emerged over the last decade1 and ABET Engineering Criteria 2000 has targetedmany of these as essential program outcomes in order for engineering programs to be accredited.It is probably more appropriate to refer to these as contextual and process skills, the term used bythe National Advisory Council1, in its report “Engineering Education for a Changing World.”Co-chair of this council and former Martin Marietta CEO Norman Augustine coined the termSocioengineering2 that sought to

Conference Session

Product and Venture Creation Curriculum

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Ken Vickers; Otto Loewer; John Ahlen; Ron Foster; Greg Salamo

to assess eightkey components of the proposed program: (i) effectiveness of the partnership to nurture newideas and provide the resources needed for proof-of-principle; (ii) increase in opportunities foruniversity researchers to work with Arkansas small businesses and transfer new knowledge; (iii)increase in the number of start-ups in Genesis; (iv) number of new innovative products reachingthe market due to Incubator partnership; (v) establishment of an “innovation” culture withstudents and faculty; (vi) identification of problems suitable for student research theses; (vii)improvement in student creativity and related soft-skills, and (viii) demonstrations of thedifference the university enterprise can have on the state economic well