Atlanta, Georgia
June 23, 2013
June 23, 2013
June 26, 2013
2153-5965
Curriculum and Program Developments, Exchanges, Collaborations, and Partnerships
International
22
23.1322.1 - 23.1322.22
10.18260/1-2--22707
https://peer.asee.org/22707
414
Eileen Walz is working on her master's in Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois. She received her bachelor's degree in Environmental Engineering but is now pursuing a combination of interests related to education enrichment programs for international development, creativity, and community engagement.
Keilin Deahl is a graduate student in Systems and Entrepreneurial Engineering at the University of Illinois. She completed her undergraduate degree in General Engineering at Illinois with a concentration in Sustainable Development. Keilin is interested in international experiences in engineering and how to better integrate project-based learning into the engineering classroom.
Russell
 Korte is an Assistant Professor in Human Resource Development and a Fellow with the Illinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research investigates how engineering students navigate their educational experiences and how engineering graduates transition into the workplace. He is especially interested in the social and political systems that drive learning and performance in organizations. Additional research interests include theory, philosophy, social science, workplace learning and performance, socialization, professional education, and organization studies.
J. Bruce Elliott-Litchfield is a professor and assistant dean, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He directs the Illinois Engineering First-year Experience, the Academy for Excellence in Engineering Education, and the Learning in Community service-learning program. He teaches creativity enhancement and conducts funded research in creativity and service learning. He has a B.S. (1978) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois and an M.S. (1984) and Ph.D. (1986) in Food and Biochemical Engineering/Agricultural Engineering from Purdue University. He worked as a project and process engineer with General Foods in California, Delaware, and Indiana from 1978-82. He has been a member of the faculty at Illinois since 1986.
Dr. Judith Sunderman focuses on program and curriculum development, research, and evaluation in education. Her research focus and area of expertise is the development of sustainable transformative learning environments and curricular change. She has worked with program development in a variety of disciplines including: Business, Honors Programs, Engineering, Animal Sciences, Human Resource Development, and Education.
Dr. Sunderman has 20 years experience working in higher education using human development theory to inform program development and evaluation in the fields of experiential education, individualized learning paradigms, mentoring and unique structures for curricular innovation. Dr. Sunderman received her Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership from the University of Illinois. She has an undergraduate degree in English from DePauw University and an M.B.A. from Eastern Illinois University.
Valeri Werpetinski is a lecturer and co-director of Learning in Community (LINC), an interdisciplinary, inquiry-guided service-learning program in the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to this role, she worked as a specialist in Education in instructional development in the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Illinois and served as the Director of Curriculum and Service-Learning for the Social Entrepreneurship Institute in the College of Business. She has taught service-learning courses in various disciplines and has collaborated on, and traveled abroad with students participating in, international service-learning projects in engineering. Her professional and research interests are in (international) service-learning, social entrepreneurship, humanitarian engineering, community-engaged scholarship, instructor training and professional development, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Laura Hahn holds a PhD in Educational Psychology and Second Language Acquisition from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She was affiliated with the Academy for Excellence in Engineering Education and the Center for Teaching Excellence from 1999 to 2010; she is currently the Director of the Intensive English Institute, and holds a zero%-time appointment in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. She is involved in initiatives related to intercultural teaching and learning experiences for faculty and students at Illinois.
Preparing Engineering Students for International Work: Training Materials and an Open-Source Platform to Develop and Share ThemWhen working on international service learning projects, engineering students encounterchallenges not addressed in traditional classes. Research indicates that these challengescan include: implementing projects within specific political, economic, and socialboundaries; working with limited information; or holding discussions across languagesand with non-technical audiences. Many students do not receive a formal introduction ortraining on how to approach these challenges. However based on literature surroundingthis topic, pre-departure training makes the experience more effective.This paper outlines a plan to develop an experiential learning tool for students who arepreparing for international work. This will include interactive and simulated experiencesfollowed by discussion and reflection. It will serve as a way for students to prepare betterfor working in foreign environments before leaving for international assignments.This paper will document both the development and the implementation of thiswork. We will briefly present an overview of our background research. Then we willshare the structure of the program developed through participatory action research,whereby students and researchers collaborate to design the research, analyze the data, andarticulate the findings. Instructional objectives will be drawn from published research,best practices developed by other institutions, and interviews with participants of pastinternational service learning projects. This paper will present important dimensions ofinternational work and then discuss how to effectively prepare students for theseexperiences.A compilation of publicly available resources on this topic will be collected, organized,and distributed through an open-source platform. This will encourage a participatoryapproach from the academic community at large. The compilation of findings from thisstudy and other available resources will serve as references and instructional materials forstudents and advisors. Doing so will enhance the tools available to prepare students forinternational engineering work.
Walz, E., & Jahnke, K., & Korte, R., & Elliott-Litchfield, J. B., & Sunderman, J. A., & Werpetinski, V., & Hahn, L. D. (2013, June), Using International Engineering Experiences to Inform Curriculum Development Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--22707
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