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Session 2558

Enhancing Engineering Education with Writing-to-learn and Cooperative Learning: Experiences from a Software Engineering Course

Lonnie R. Welch, Sherrie Gradin, and Karin Sandell Ohio University Athens, OH 45701 welch/gradin/sandell@ohio.edu

1. Introduction

Current progressive teaching movements draw forth strong skepticism as they often seem antithetical to engineering classes. Why would anyone want to switch from the lecture method of teaching engineering to methods that employ active learning? Doesn’t lecturing produce the most informed engineers? Isn’t lecturing the best way to challenge students? To uphold the highest standards? Many hold the view that active learning methods may be appropriate for “soft” disciplines, but are inappropriate for engineering and the sciences. Others argue that students won’t take the course work seriously and that coverage of material would have to be sacrificed. The presenters will question the validity of these objections by defining learning goals, such as depth of learning, engagement, and retention, that should be considered during selection of teaching methods.

It will be shown that teaching writing-to-learn and cooperative learning achieve these goals and result in extraordinary transformation of both teacher and students. Student engagement and excitement are elevated at the same time as the depth of learning increases. Students become better engineers because they can think critically, solve problems individually or in teams, write better, and orally present information. Teachers find themselves challenging students with an even more demanding curriculum. Examples from a software engineering course will illustrate how these methods can challenge students more, create higher standards for learning, and produce better engineers than a typical lecture approach to teaching.

2. Organization and Goals of the Software Engineering Course

This paper describes how cooperative learning and writing-to-learn have been employed in Software Design (course CS 456 13 in the School of EECS at Ohio University). The purpose of the course is to provide students with skills needed in the software engineering profession. While they have completed numerous courses requiring development of software (students take C S 456 in their senior year), they typically lack several important perspectives. They have focused

“Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright Ó 2002, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Welch, L. (2002, June), Enhancing Engineering Education With Writing To Learn And Cooperative Learning: Experiences From A Software Engineering Course Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10646