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Session 2745

ExCEEd Impact on a New Professor

David P. Devine Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present quantitative information and qualitative remarks regarding the impact of the ExCEEd Teaching Workshop (ETW) on an assistant professor of civil engineering technology at a regional campus of a large state university system in the Midwest. The participant attended the ETW during the summer between the first and second years of a tenure eligible appointment. Features of the ETW were adapted to the participant ’s teaching immediately following the workshop and have continued in use with some adaptation since then. Aspects of the workshop that were adopted immediately were listing of objectives for each class, development of board notes, movement away from the chalkboard during class and use of colored chalk. The manner for class preparation of board notes, presentation style, and the use of colored chalk and its impact can not be over-stated. Furthermore, the workshop instilled a confidence to conduct class in manners other than routine lecture that was not gained from experience as a teaching assistant in graduate school, as a visiting assistant professor, or from a tenure eligible position for 1 year. The impact of the ExCEEd program has been significant and quite positive.

Introduction

The author began a position teaching after over 10 years experience in the civil engineering field. The teaching position was in the disciplines of civil engineering technology and construction engineering technology and while previous work experience did include 3 semesters as a teaching assistant, no formal training in what a professor is supposed to do was a part of the author’s background. While work experience in industry is a requirement of the teaching position, no experience in teaching was required in order to be hired. The initial teaching position of the author was as a visiting assistant professor in August 2001. Subsequently, the author was hired as an assistant professor on a tenure track appointment in the summer of 2002.

Initial aspects of this career change were not completely positive. The visiting appointment was accepted much due to the loss of a job with an engineering consulting firm and occurred with less than 3 weeks before the first class began. This made the work of preparing to teach 3 classes for a first time instructor all the more challenging. Syllabi were prepared, classes were held, and grades were assigned for this first semester of teaching but the effectiveness of teaching was suspect and the amount of learning by students was questioned by the instructor. Student evaluations and comments from the first year of teaching were below department averages and oftentimes quite critical of the

“Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Devine, D. (2005, June), Exceed Impact On A New Professor Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--15511