Effectiveness of a Software-based Service-learning Project in First-year Seminar Course for Engineering Freshmen During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Wookwon Lee; Pezhman Hassanpour; Saeed Tiari

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Conference: 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access
Location: Virtual Conference
Publication Date: July 26, 2021
Start Date: July 26, 2021
End Date: July 19, 2022
Conference Session: Community Engagement Division Technical Session 2
Tagged Division: Community Engagement Division
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--37010
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/37010
Download Count: 238

Paper Authors

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Wookwon Lee P.E. Gannon University

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Wookwon Lee, P.E. received the B.S. degree in electronic engineering from Inha University, Korea, in 1985, and the M.S. and D.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from the George Washington University, Washington, DC, in 1992 and 1995, respectively. He is currently a full professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Gannon University, Erie, PA. Prior to joining Gannon in 2007, he had been involved in various research and development projects in industry and academia for more than 15 years.

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Pezhman Hassanpour P.E. Gannon University

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Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Toronto, 2008
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, 2004
B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Tehran, 2002

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Saeed Tiari Gannon University

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Dr. Saeed Tiari is an Associate Professor in the Biomedical, Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at Gannon University. Prior to joining Gannon University in 2016, Dr. Tiari obtained his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Temple University. His main research interests include bioheat transfer, biofluid mechanics, heat transfer and thermal energy storage systems. Dr. Tiari received his M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic) in 2012. He also received his Mechanical Engineering undergraduate degree from the University of Tehran in Iran.

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Abstract

The Service-Learning Project (SLP) component in an introductory engineering freshmen course at the University requires that students complete an engineering project from inception to implementation during their first semester. The project requirements are derived from specific needs of a non-profit community organization. Under normal circumstances, the SLP activities would produce a physical product or working prototype that would be installed at a community site. In fall 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, various cautionary measures and guidelines were put in place by the University to prevent spreads of the virus within the campus community. This hampered the normal ways of carrying out SLP activities in this course. Under these circumstances, in an effort to mitigate the impacts on SLP activities and the overall course delivery, after much deliberation among all instructors of the course for about 75 engineering freshmen, a simpler but still meaningful project concept was devised. The SLP project addresses the needs of an environmental non-governmental organization whose mission includes forging a partnership between the private sector and a state government’s department responsible for the conservation and natural resources in one of the Great Lakes areas in order to enhance educational programming. More specifically, the partner organization operates a set of buoys in one of the Great Lakes and collects necessary environmental data. There has been a compelling need for the capability of processing and presenting in a more meaningful way the raw data collected over the past several years and also those coming in every day in an ongoing basis.

In this Traditional Research paper, we present a software-based SLP to establish the needed capability of processing raw environmental sensor data from numerous buoys on the lake. The software-based project was intended to minimize physical contacts among students during design and implementation while achieving the typical objectives of service-learning projects. Using Microsoft Excel as a software platform to develop a graphical user interface (GUI) and data processing capability, we assess, via survey instruments and reflection essays, 1) the pros and cons of such a project as an SLP, 2) the effectiveness of teamwork in a partly virtual environment, 3) student awareness of environmental monitoring in a real-world situation, and 4) their perception on significance of the GUI development compared to traditional service-learning projects that are normally physically installed at community sites. We also assess the use of self-regulated learning (SRL) skills under the current circumstances and compare them with the assessment results previously reported in the literature.

Citation
Format

Lee, W., & Hassanpour, P., & Tiari, S. (2021, July), Effectiveness of a Software-based Service-learning Project in First-year Seminar Course for Engineering Freshmen During the COVID-19 Pandemic Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--37010

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - The Service-Learning Project (SLP) component in an introductory engineering freshmen course at the University requires that students complete an engineering project from inception to implementation during their first semester. The project requirements are derived from specific needs of a non-profit community organization. Under normal circumstances, the SLP activities would produce a physical product or working prototype that would be installed at a community site. In fall 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, various cautionary measures and guidelines were put in place by the University to prevent spreads of the virus within the campus community. This hampered the normal ways of carrying out SLP activities in this course. Under these circumstances, in an effort to mitigate the impacts on SLP activities and the overall course delivery, after much deliberation among all instructors of the course for about 75 engineering freshmen, a simpler but still meaningful project concept was devised. The SLP project addresses the needs of an environmental non-governmental organization whose mission includes forging a partnership between the private sector and a state government’s department responsible for the conservation and natural resources in one of the Great Lakes areas in order to enhance educational programming. More specifically, the partner organization operates a set of buoys in one of the Great Lakes and collects necessary environmental data. There has been a compelling need for the capability of processing and presenting in a more meaningful way the raw data collected over the past several years and also those coming in every day in an ongoing basis. 

In this Traditional Research paper, we present a software-based SLP to establish the needed capability of processing raw environmental sensor data from numerous buoys on the lake. The software-based project was intended to minimize physical contacts among students during design and implementation while achieving the typical objectives of service-learning projects. Using Microsoft Excel as a software platform to develop a graphical user interface (GUI) and data processing capability, we assess, via survey instruments and reflection essays, 1) the pros and cons of such a project as an SLP, 2) the effectiveness of teamwork in a partly virtual environment, 3) student awareness of environmental monitoring in a real-world situation, and 4) their perception on significance of the GUI development compared to traditional service-learning projects that are normally physically installed at community sites. We also assess the use of self-regulated learning (SRL) skills under the current circumstances and compare them with the assessment results previously reported in the literature.

AU  - Wookwon Lee P.E.
AU  - Pezhman Hassanpour P.E.
AU  - Saeed Tiari
CY  - Virtual Conference
DA  - 2021/07/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Effectiveness of a Software-based Service-learning Project in First-year Seminar Course for Engineering Freshmen During the COVID-19 Pandemic
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/37010
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--37010
ER  -