San Antonio, Texas
June 10, 2012
June 10, 2012
June 13, 2012
2153-5965
Educational Research and Methods
10
25.1320.1 - 25.1320.10
10.18260/1-2--22077
https://peer.asee.org/22077
393
Renata Revelo Alonso is a doctoral student in higher education in the Department of Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her B.S. and M.S. are in electrical engineering from the same institution.
Michael C. Loui is professor of electrical and computer engineering and University Distinguished Teacher-Scholar at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His interests include computational complexity theory, professional ethics, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. He serves as Executive Editor of College Teaching and as a member of the editorial board of Accountability in Research. He is a Carnegie Scholar and an IEEE Fellow. Professor Loui was Associate Dean of the Graduate College at Illinois from 1996 to 2000. He directed the theory of computing program at the National Science Foundation from 1990 to 1991. He earned the Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1980.
The LongTerm Outcomes of an Engineering Course for Students Outside Engineering October 7, 2011 This study aims to investigate the long‐term impacts of a general education course on digital information technologies taught at a large, research‐oriented university. Prior to this study, the long‐term impacts of general education courses have not been widely examined. In addition, there are few general education courses in engineering, and in some cases these courses may be one of the only exposures that non‐major students have to the field. Our university offers a course, ECE 101, on digital information technologies for students outside the College of Engineering. To understand the students’ outcomes of the course, we conducted twelve cross‐sectional semi‐structured interviews with past ECE 101 students. The students were prompted to recall the important ideas and significant experiences in ECE 101 and in one other general education course that was memorable. Some examples of other courses students discussed were in psychology, Latin American studies, and animal science. The interviews were transcribed and coded independently. The authors met to negotiate and re‐negotiate codes. The authors found four themes that describe students’ outcomes of ECE 101: students a) consistently remembered HTML and JavaScript b) found persistence as an outcome of taking ECE 101 c) experienced self‐development benefits such as self‐confidence and overcoming challenges d) utilized HTML knowledge as a resume builder Understanding students’ outcomes of general education courses in engineering can help us better prepare non‐major students for a highly technology‐driven society. In addition, this study can aid understanding in how to better engage students in courses that are not directly connected with their interests. This study is part of a larger investigation on the impacts of diversity harnessing in ECE 101. Diversity harnessing refers to the process of incorporating current students’ personal interests, educational backgrounds, and career interests into the content of ECE 101 as it runs during the semester. The interviews were conducted as a baseline assessment of outcomes for students who took ECE 101 before diversity harnessing was implemented in the fall of 2011. Starting in the spring of 2012, we plan to conduct longitudinal interviews with students who took the course after diversity harnessing was implemented.
Revelo Alonso, R. A., & Loui, M. C. (2012, June), The Long-term Outcomes of an Engineering Course for Students Outside Engineering Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--22077
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