Aligning the Agendas of the Academy and the Community
- Conference
- Location
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San Antonio, Texas
- Publication Date
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June 10, 2012
- Start Date
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June 10, 2012
- End Date
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June 13, 2012
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
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Stakeholder Perspectives on Community Engagement in Engineering Education
- Tagged Division
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Community Engagement Division
- Page Count
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13
- Page Numbers
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25.144.1 - 25.144.13
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--20904
- Permanent URL
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https://sftp.asee.org/20904
- Download Count
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370
Paper Authors
Christopher Bull Brown University School of Engineering
Christopher Bull is a Senior Lecturer and Senior Research Engineer at the Brown University School of Engineering. He teaches, writes, and researches topics ranging from appropriate technology and neural implants to the university's role in the larger community and how that might overlap with engineering education.
Maureen Kay Sigler Brown University
Maureen Kay Sigler is a lecturer in education and Director of the History/Social Studies Education program at Brown University. Before coming to Brown, Kay Sigler worked for several years teaching in Washington, D.C., in both a public school and at DC Prep, a high-performing urban public charter school. After completing her graduate work at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, Kay Sigler became involved in teacher support and training, working as a mentor teacher to new and veteran educators and developing a Resident Teacher program at DC Prep, and through the New Teacher Project and Mercy College in New York City, where she helped develop a residency-based master’s in education program for New York City Teaching Fellows. Kay Sigler’s work at Brown has focused on preparing secondary history/social studies teachers for urban classrooms. Kay Sigler currently works with schools to evaluate the way in which they are implementing best teaching practices for diverse students, focusing particularly on the inclusion of students with disabilities into the general education classroom. She is also directing the Coalition for Equity in Education at Brown and working as one of Brown’s Engaged Scholars, an initiative that promotes service learning and the creation of community and university-based partnerships.
Michael Lye Rhode Island School of Design
Abstract
Aligning the Agendas of the Academy and the CommunityThis article reports on a series of projects in Providence, Rhode Island inspired by the question,“How can we push change in a more sustainable direction?” During the spring of 2011 twoteams of students from an upper level engineering course entitled “Sustainable EnergyTechnology” worked with community based organizations (CBOs) to identify site-specificenergy and material use actions. During the fall of 2011 a joint Brown University School ofEngineering - Rhode Island School of Design Department of Industrial Design studio addressedthe question from a product development perspective, again working in partnership with CBOs.The projects presented a complex context with many stakeholders and competing agendas. Oneof the ways we quantify the success of a particular project is to determine the value of the outputto community partners. For example, does the CBO use what students produce to further theorganization’s mission? Or does the output have reasons to exist (and thrive) after the semester’send? We would like to believe that engaging students in work that has meaning to others, and apurpose beyond fulfilling course requirements, informs and validates what we do in theclassroom, and inspires them to further engage. What can we show to substantiate this?From an educational perspective, we explore whether students gained skill in articulating therationale for their decision making, whether the experience motivated further study andengagement, and whether any of this transferred to other areas of study. Using information fromsurveys and interviews, and our experience, we offer some ideas about the environment andframework necessary to promote these objectives.
Bull, C., & Kay Sigler, M., & Lye, M. (2012, June), Aligning the Agendas of the Academy and the Community Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--20904
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