Johnson, B. M., & Ulseth, R. R., & Savela, G., & Hansen, M. A., & P.E., J. K. (2011, June), The Itasca CC Engineering Learning Community  Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC. 10.18260/1-2--18702

\bibitem{asee_peer_18702}
  Johnson, B. M., \& Ulseth, R. R., \& Savela, G., \& Hansen, M. A., \& P.E., J. K. (2011, June), \emph{The Itasca CC Engineering Learning Community}
  Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Vancouver, BC.
  10.18260/1-2--18702

Bart M. Johnson, Ronald R. Ulseth, Gordy Savela, Mason A. Hansen, and Julie Kennedy, P.E..  "The Itasca CC Engineering Learning Community".  2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC, 2011, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2011.  https://peer.asee.org/18702 Internet.  21 Jun, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_18702}
  Bart M. Johnson, Ronald R. Ulseth, Gordy Savela, Mason A. Hansen, and Julie Kennedy, P.E..
  "The Itasca CC Engineering Learning Community".
  \emph{2011 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Vancouver, BC, 2011, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2011.
  https://peer.asee.org/18702 Internet.  21 Jun, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_18702
author = "Bart M. Johnson, Ronald R. Ulseth, Gordy Savela, Mason A. Hansen, and Julie Kennedy, P.E."
title = "The Itasca CC Engineering Learning Community"
booktitle = "2011 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2011"
month = "June"
address = "Vancouver, BC"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/18702}
number = {10.18260/1-2--18702}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -                 The Engineering Learning Community at Itasca CCThe engineering program at Itasca Community College in northern Minnesota has developed avery successful engineering learning community. Students who start their engineering educationin Itasca’s engineering learning community average 8.7 semesters to completion of theirbachelor’s degree in engineering with a graduation rate of 54%.The Itasca learning community is an open admissions program with approximately 1/3 of thestudent body ready to start their math sequence with calculus 1, 1/3 with pre-calculus, and 1/3 ata math course below pre-calculus. Students who complete ICC’s engineering program thentransfer to 4-year institutions across the nation to complete their STEM degree. The program hasgrown from 10 students in 1993 to 150 students in 2010.Some of the key characteristics of the engineering learning community at Itasca CommunityCollege are:* Strong K-12 Relationships – Itasca Community College has strong relationships with theregional K-12 schools to promote student interest in engineering. Examples of activities includeelementary school renewable energy activities, Women in Engineering Day, Engineering Day atItasca, JETS competition at Itasca, regional FIRST robotics training and practice competitions atItasca, Itasca faculty mentoring high school Project Lead the Way teachers, etc.* Block Scheduling – Itasca’s engineering courses are taught in a "two-at-a-time" 8 week blockclass format instead of the traditional 16 week semester format. This alternative coursescheduling method is successful in providing students the ability to navigate through the pre-calculus and calculus sequences at different paces than in a traditional schedule yet have theability to complete their engineering degree in four years.* Program Assessment – Itasca engineering has developed an annual program assessment tool toprovide feedback on student learning that utilizes an annual “FE” type comprehensive exam toassess the student learning in program courses and a student portfolio to demonstrate theirattainment of the programs “ABET-based” learning outcomes at the end of their second year.* Learning Community – Itasca has developed a very strong learning community where studentsand faculty develop strong working relationships that enhance the student learning in the classroom and improve student retention rates.The authors will present a detailed description of the learning community at Itasca CC andcompare the success of Itasca students with student from other institutions across the U.S.The wider application of the Itasca Engineering learning community model is a model that istransferrable to other institutions and can serve to increase the number of students in the U.S.who are completing an engineering degree. The model can be fully adopted or components ofthe model can be used to build or improve the learning community at other institutions.Keywords Section: K-12 Relationships, Learning Community, Program Level AssessmentMethods, Block Scheduling, Alternative Course Scheduling
AU  - Bart M. Johnson
AU  - Ronald R. Ulseth
AU  - Gordy Savela
AU  - Mason A. Hansen
AU  - Julie Kennedy, P.E.
CY  - Vancouver, BC
DA  - 2011/06/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - The Itasca CC Engineering Learning Community
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/18702
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--18702
ER  -