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Analysis of Mobile Technology Impact on STEM-based Courses, Specifically Introduction to Engineering in the Era of the iPad

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Conference

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

San Antonio, Texas

Publication Date

June 10, 2012

Start Date

June 10, 2012

End Date

June 13, 2012

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Tablets Large and Small

Tagged Division

Computers in Education

Page Count

12

Page Numbers

25.187.1 - 25.187.12

DOI

10.18260/1-2--20947

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/20947

Download Count

523

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Paper Authors

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Oscar Antonio Perez University of Texas, El Paso

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Oscar Perez received his B.S. and master's in electrical engineering from the University of Texas, El Paso, with a special focus on data communications. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering. Perez has been teaching the Basic Engineering (BE) – BE 1301 course for more than five years. He led the design for the development of the new BE course (now UNIV 1301) for engineering at UTEP: Engineering, Science, and University Colleges. He developed more than five new courses, including UTEP technology and society core curriculum classes specifically for incoming freshman with a STEM background. Perez has eight years of professional experience working as an electrical and computer engineer, providing technical support to faculty and students utilizing UGLC classrooms and auditoriums. Perez is committed to the highest level of service to provide an exceptional experience to all of the UGLC guests. Perez strongly believes that by providing exceptional customer service that UGLC patrons will return to make use of the various services the university offers. Perez enjoys working on the professional development of the student employees at the UGLC. He shares with his student employees his practical experience in using electrical engineering concepts and computer technologies to help in everyday real-world applications. Perez has worked with the UTeach program at UTEP since its creation to streamline the transition process for engineering students from local area high schools to college by equipping their teachers with teaching strategies and technologies each summer. Perez enjoys teamwork and believes in education as a process for achieving lifelong learning, rather than as a purely academic pursuit. He currently works on maintaining, upgrading, and designing new computer classroom systems. Perez is inspired because he enjoys working with people and technology in the same environment.

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Virgilio Gonzalez University of Texas, El Paso Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-1042-4811

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Mike Thomas Pitcher University of Texas, El Paso

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Peter Golding University of Texas, El Paso

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Hugo Gomez University of Texas, El Paso

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Hugo Gomez has a master's degree in engineering education at the University of Texas, El Paso. He works alongside a wide assortment of faculty, staff, and students on campus to make sure their technology toolsets are up to date. Gomez oversees the International and Professional Certification Institute within the Undergraduate Learning Center. Gomez's focus is to expand the professional and technical skill sets of our students and community members to better prepare them for the world of technology today. Gomez trains over half of the student population at UTEP and as such, has been instrumental in providing the behind the scenes support to all sections of English 1311/1312, which now utilize web and movie making technologies throughout. Gomez loves his interactions with students, both as student staff and workshop attendees. His goal is to work with each individual instructor to truly understand their teaching objectives and learning outcomes so that trainings can be tailored to the specific technology needs. Gomez participated in the UTEACH summer program as a Technology Instructor in which he provided workshops on website design, movie creation and computer networking. In addition, Gomez co-taught a university 2350 class: Interdisciplinary Technology and Society, in which students learn communication skills, ethics of the use of technology, and teamwork, among other topics. Gomez presented at the Teacher Networking Technology 2010 conference, where he presented on mobile technologies and the use of Podcast Producer to help the process of creating and publishing podcasts. Gomez also participated in MaST (Math and Science Teachers Academy) delivering workshops for the students. Gomez, as well, works with the UGLC team to provide Center for Life Learning classes to assist our returning community members in keeping up with the fast-paced and ever-changing world of technology. When not preparing our students for their technology dependent future careers, he assists in the UGLC with audiovisual systems design and support as well as a professional development mentor for the UGLC student staff. Gomez believes that together we create the future of our students, in which technology skills and professional certifications are just one piece of the puzzle that will make our students not just marketable but the market leaders when they graduate.

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Pedro Arturo Espinoza University of Texas, El Paso

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Pedro Espinoza received his bachelor's of science in electrical engineering degree from the University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP) in 2001 and is currently pursuing a master's of science in engineering with a concentration in engineering education. Espinoza works collectively with a team of dedicated managers that oversee instructional technology in the Undergraduate Learning Center at UTEP, a building that serves 10,000 students and faculty on a weekly basis. He leads a group of more than 30 student employees that help support a wide range of technologies and services in the building. Pedro’s primary area of expertise lies within the area of computer and network support applied specifically within the educational technology environment. His responsibilities include classroom design and installation, configuration/programming and maintenance of the systems in the UGLC. Espinoza also oversees and supports high-end video conferencing systems that regularly communicate to different parts of the world. Espinoza was integral in the unique design of the videoconference rooms, of which one was featured in both an article in Campus Technology magazine and Draper’s Product Guide for Visual Communications. In addition to systems support, Espinoza also teaches technology classes through several programs such the International Professional Certification Institute (iPCI) at UTEP and the UTeach Engineering Miners Summer Institute. Among some of the courses that Espinoza teaches through iPCI is CISCO Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP). Through the UTeach Engineering Miners Summer Institute, which teaches local area teachers engineering concepts and teaching strategies, Espinoza has provided workshops in both computer networking and student leadership. Recently, Espinoza has also presented at the 11th Annual Teachers Networking Technology Conference, which is geared towards K-5 educators. The presentation, “Harnessing the Power of Wikis and Ad-hoc Polling in Your Classroom through Mobile Devices,” focused on best practices on using mobile devices, such as the Apple iPad, to promote student participation and collaboration through online polling and a class wiki site.

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Abstract

ENGINEERING IN A MOBILE WORLD: AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGINEERING COURSE IN THE ERA OF THE IPADAbstractThe Authors report on a pilot investigation to measure the impact on students’ academicperformance utilizing mobile technology (iPad 1) on a subset of course objectives within anIntroduction to Engineering course - UNIV 1301. This paper inherently focuses on studentperceived value and learning impact (comprehension of learning outcomes). An iPad 1 wasprovided to students along with focused activities to gauge differences in comprehension oflearning outcomes. Student perceived value of using an iPad 1 for a class was also measured, asit has not been done in an environment with these demographics focused on the (STEM fields)science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.The effect of an iPad in the classroom was focused on two areas: academic impact and studentperceived value. Student perceived value was measured via a student attitudinal survey (Likertscale) prior to and after technology was implemented by an independent testing entity; results ofthis survey were not released until after the course had ended. The assessment for comprehensionarea focuses on three cohorts of students and it follows the methodology described herein: allcohorts of students were taught the same way up to the first semester exam to limit and accountfor the variance in starting scores between cohorts. Starting on week eight iPads were providedfor the second and third cohorts of students. The usage of the iPad in class assignments wasfocused on maximizing the impact of student learning on the following class areas: Classassignments, homework, quizzes and exams. Variances between the cohorts will be assessed onthe second and third exams. At this point in time we have enough results of this analysis tocompare two years of this research.This research has yielded data in a field that has not been explored yet on these specificdemographics. This is the second year of this work and we have comprehension of learningoutcomes assessment. The complete analysis on the comprehension and student perceived valuehave been analyzed and very interesting results were pin pointed in the final paper.

Perez, O. A., & Gonzalez, V., & Pitcher, M. T., & Golding, P., & Gomez, H., & Espinoza, P. A. (2012, June), Analysis of Mobile Technology Impact on STEM-based Courses, Specifically Introduction to Engineering in the Era of the iPad Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--20947

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