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Students Sharing Their Co-op Experiences Mike Eastman, Anthony Trippe, Walt Bankes, Jeff Lillie, George Zion Rochester Institute of Technology

Abstract As a mechanism for providing students with a meaningful oral presentation experience, the Computer Engineering Technology program at RIT has instituted a new requirement for each student to meet. The requirement is related to their co-operative education assignment. Students returning from co-op are required to create a PowerPoint presentation and a poster describing their co-op experiences in order to receive a passing grade for their co-op assignment. These requirements are in addition to the employer’s and student’s co-op evaluations traditionally incorporated into the student assessment. These new activities provide upper class students with an opportunity to share with their classmates, underclassmen, and professors some of their co-op related experiences and provide them a formal setting in which to practice presentation and communications skills. This paper includes details for all phases of the co-op poster and presentation assignment and delivery. Planning aspects are discussed along with details of the instructions provided to students. Photographs are included to illustrate typical posters, presentation arrangements and various other meeting activities.

Introduction Computer Engineering Technology majors at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) are required to complete five quarters of co-op work as part of BS program requirements. The first co-op block generally takes place at the start of the third year with the remaining co-op blocks occurring during the student’s fourth and fifth years of study. Starting in March 2003, students are required to perform oral presentations and poster sessions describing their co-op experiences.

During the first week of each quarter, an evening is set aside for returning co-op students to participate in a formal oral presentation and/or a poster session. Attendance is mandatory for all returning students and faculty within the Computer Engineering Technology program. Students from certain courses such as First Year Enrichment and Career Orientation may also be required to attend. All students within the Computer Engineering Technology Program are encouraged to attend. The purpose of the event is to allow students, returning to campus from a co-op work block, to share their experiences. As a part of the total co-op assignment, returning students must create a PowerPoint presentation and a poster which focus not only on the technical aspects of the co-op assignment, but also include information about the job interview, the location of the job, housing, transportation and the student’s interactions with engineers, technicians and managers within the co-op firm. The agenda includes a time for the display of posters, the formal presentations and question and answer periods. There are four very beneficial outcomes of the co-op presentation and poster assignment:

1. Upper Level students share their co-op knowledge and experience with freshman and sophomore students who have not yet been on a co-op assignment. “Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2005, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Bankes, W., & Eastman, M., & Trippe, A., & Lillie, J., & Zion, G. (2005, June), Students Sharing Their Co Op Experiences Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--15243