ISES: A Longitudinal Study to Measure the Impacts of Service on Engineering Students

Christopher W. Swan; Kurt Paterson; Olga Pierrakos; Angela R. Bielefeldt; Bradley A. Striebig

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Conference: 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Vancouver, BC
Publication Date: June 26, 2011
Start Date: June 26, 2011
End Date: June 29, 2011
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topic: NSF Grantees
Page Count: 17
Page Numbers: 22.979.1 - 22.979.17
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--18212
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/18212
Download Count: 413

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Paper Authors

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Christopher W. Swan Tufts University orcid.org/0000-0001-5670-8938

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Chris Swan is an associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering with additional appointments in the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service and the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach at Tufts University. Dr. Swan has also served as chair of Tufts CEE department (2002 - 2007) and as an officer in the Environmental Engineering division of ASEE (2001 - 2005). Dr. Swan’s current interests lie in the areas of waste reuse, and service-based educational efforts in the engineering curriculum. Specific efforts involving engineering education concern project-based learning and service-based pedagogies – their potential impacts on student learning and how these impacts may be evaluated and assessed.

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Kurt Paterson Michigan Technological University orcid.org/0000-0003-2441-9511

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Kurt Paterson is on the environmental engineering faculty, where he currently serves as Director of Michigan Tech’s D80 Center (http://www.d80.mtu.edu/), a consortium of 20 research, education, and service programs dedicated to creating appropriate solutions with the poorest 80% of humanity. His research, teaching and service interests focus on appropriate technology solutions that improve public health, international project-based service learning, and engineering education reform. Prof. Paterson teaches courses on creativity, engineering with developing communities, and community-inspired innovation. He has served the American Society for Engineering Education in numerous capacities, as a member of the International Strategic Planning Task Force, the International Advisory Committee, and Global Task Force, and as Chair of the International Division. He actively serves Engineers Without Borders-USA, as a chapter co-advisor, education committee chair, and lead on EWB’s efforts to examine its educational impacts. He is currently leading several NSF-funded projects involving the design and assessment of service learning in engineering education. He is co-author of several recently released books, including: Measuring the Impacts of Project-Based Service Learning on Engineering Education, Engineering in Developing Communities: Water, Sanitation, and Indoor Air, and Environmental Engineering: Fundamentals, Sustainability, and Design.

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Olga Pierrakos James Madison University

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Olga Pierrakos is an assistant professor in the new School of Engineering, which welcomed it inaugural class August 2008, at James Madison University. Dr. Pierrakos holds a B.S. in Engineering Science and Mechanics, an M.S. in Engineering Mechanics, and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Virginia Tech. Her interests in engineering education research center around recruitment and retention, understanding engineering students through the lens of identity theory (NSF BRIGE grant), advancing problem based learning methodologies (NSF CCLI grant), assessing student learning, as well as understanding and integrating complex problem solving in undergraduate engineering education (NSF CAREER grant). Her other research interests lie in cardiovascular fluid mechanics, sustainability research, and K-12 engineering outreach.

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Angela R. Bielefeldt University of Colorado, Boulder

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Angela is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado - Boulder (CU). She has taught the capstone design for environmental engineering since 1998 and began incorporating service learning projects into the course in 2001. She also served for a few years as one of the faculty advisors for the student chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB), and has observed the benefits of service involvement on student learning and personal growth. Professor Bielefeldt is also affiliated with the Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities, and is actively researching point-of-use ceramic water filters appropriate to treat drinking water in developing communities.

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Bradley A. Striebig James Madison University

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Dr. Bradley Striebig is an associate Professor of Engineering at James Madison University. He has worked on sustainable development projects in Benin, India, Kenya, Malta, Rwanda, and throughout the United States. He is heavily involved with Engineers Without Borders and other professional service organizations. Dr. Striebig was the recipient of the 2010 Peter Bosscher EWB-USA Faculty Leadership Award.

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Abstract

ISES – A Longitudinal Study to Measure the Impacts of Service on Engineering StudentsAbstractOver the last few years, concerns have escalated among many national organizations thattechnical expertise is no longer solely sufficient for the development of future engineers.Additionally, in the United States engineering programs continue to struggle to attract students,especially women and minorities, despite decades of strategies to change these patterns.Independent of these challenges, students’ interest has exploded in extracurricular service efforts,notably through Engineers Without Borders. In some institutions, this service involvement hasfueled the implementation of Learning Through Service (LTS) in curricula. A growing body ofevidence suggests that LTS may provide significant advantages to engineering students, butindividual studies to-date have been limited in their duration and scope of assessment.This paper outlines a three-year project that will measure various indicators related to desirableattributes of future engineers, how these indicators are impacted by LTS efforts, and how theydevelop over the time of undergraduate education. The proposed three-year project is acollaborative effort involving four institutions diverse in size and culture. The evaluationconsists of a sequential but staggered longitudinal study of engineering students at these fourinstitutions that have LTS programs, either curricular, extracurricular or both. The impacts ofLTS on engineering students’ traditional technical attributes as well as a mix of non-technicalattributes will be studied; along the way, information on interest and persistence in engineeringwill be gathered.It is expected that the study will significantly add to the growing body of evidence that LTS haspositive benefits for engineering students, particularly those from underrepresented groups.Specifically, this project will: Create a methodology to assess the development of students’ skills as well as attitudes, beliefs, and identities; Determine whether extracurricular and curricular LTS opportunities offer similar benefits to all students and their universities; and Provide insight on effective engineering course and program design. Support the concepts espoused by various national foundations / associations / academies on the value in creating broadly- or holistically-thinking engineers; Create service-minded engineers, and assist communities-in-need through engineering; and Improve the image of engineers in the eyes of the general public, through promotion of service projects.

Citation
Format

Swan, C. W., & Paterson, K., & Pierrakos, O., & Bielefeldt, A. R., & Striebig, B. A. (2011, June), ISES: A Longitudinal Study to Measure the Impacts of Service on Engineering Students Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC. 10.18260/1-2--18212

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -            ISES – A Longitudinal Study to Measure the Impacts of Service                             on Engineering StudentsAbstractOver the last few years, concerns have escalated among many national organizations thattechnical expertise is no longer solely sufficient for the development of future engineers.Additionally, in the United States engineering programs continue to struggle to attract students,especially women and minorities, despite decades of strategies to change these patterns.Independent of these challenges, students’ interest has exploded in extracurricular service efforts,notably through Engineers Without Borders. In some institutions, this service involvement hasfueled the implementation of Learning Through Service (LTS) in curricula. A growing body ofevidence suggests that LTS may provide significant advantages to engineering students, butindividual studies to-date have been limited in their duration and scope of assessment.This paper outlines a three-year project that will measure various indicators related to desirableattributes of future engineers, how these indicators are impacted by LTS efforts, and how theydevelop over the time of undergraduate education. The proposed three-year project is acollaborative effort involving four institutions diverse in size and culture. The evaluationconsists of a sequential but staggered longitudinal study of engineering students at these fourinstitutions that have LTS programs, either curricular, extracurricular or both. The impacts ofLTS on engineering students’ traditional technical attributes as well as a mix of non-technicalattributes will be studied; along the way, information on interest and persistence in engineeringwill be gathered.It is expected that the study will significantly add to the growing body of evidence that LTS haspositive benefits for engineering students, particularly those from underrepresented groups.Specifically, this project will: Create a methodology to assess the development of students’ skills as well as attitudes,     beliefs, and identities; Determine whether extracurricular and curricular LTS opportunities offer similar benefits to     all students and their universities; and Provide insight on effective engineering course and program design. Support the concepts espoused by various national foundations / associations / academies on     the value in creating broadly- or holistically-thinking engineers; Create service-minded engineers, and assist communities-in-need through engineering; and Improve the image of engineers in the eyes of the general public, through promotion of     service projects.
AU  - Christopher W. Swan
AU  - Kurt Paterson
AU  - Olga Pierrakos
AU  - Angela R. Bielefeldt
AU  - Bradley A. Striebig
CY  - Vancouver, BC
DA  - 2011/06/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - ISES: A Longitudinal Study to Measure the Impacts of Service on Engineering Students
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/18212
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--18212
ER  -