Reverse Engineering and Redesign: Courses to Incrementally and Systematically Teach Design

A variety of design‐process and design‐methods courses exist in engineering education. The primary objective of such courses is to teach engineering design fundamentals utilizing repeatable design techniques. By so doing, students obtain (1) tools they may employ during their education, (2) design experiences to understand the “big picture” of engineering, and (3) proven methods to attack open‐ended problems. While these skills are worthwhile, especially as design courses are moved earlier in curricula, many students report that design methods are typically taught at a high‐level and in a compartmentalized fashion. Often, the students' courses do not include opportunities to obtain incremental concrete experiences with the methods. Nor do such courses allow for suitable observation and reflection as the methods are executed. In this paper, we describe a new approach for teaching design methods that addresses these issues. This approach incorporates hands‐on experiences through the use of “reverse‐engineering” projects. As the fundamentals of design techniques are presented, students immediately apply the methods to actual, existing products. They are able to hold these products physically in their hands, dissect them, perform experiments on their components, and evolve them into new successful creations. Based on this reverse‐engineering concept, we have developed and tested new courses at The University of Texas, MIT, and the United States Air Force Academy. In the body of this paper, we present the structure of these courses, an example of our teaching approach, and an evaluation of the results.     

Teaching vs. Preaching: EC2000 and the Engineering Ethics Dilemma

The recently revised accreditation criteria issued by ABET have stirred renewed discussion of how and why to teach engineering ethics. This paper suggests that demonstrating students “understand ethics” need not (indeed, should not) imply that we assess whether our students “behave ethically,” either before or after graduation. Suggestions are provided for an approach focused on teaching ethics rather than preaching ethics, potential counter‐arguments are considered, and references to key resources in the engineering ethics literature are included.     

Integrating Ethics Into a Research Experience for Undergraduates

A Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) is an extra-curricular opportunity for science or engineering students in the sophomore, junior, or senior year to participate in academic research in much the way graduate students do. It is a way to introduce undergraduates to the excitement of real research. Because it also seems an easy and attractive way to integrate ethics into undergraduate education, working out how professors of engineering or science might actually incorporate professional ethics into an REU seems desirable. This paper describes one effort to do that with engineering students.     

The Effects of a First‐Year Engineering Design Course on Student Intellectual Development as Measured by the Perry Scheme

In response to the demand for enhanced design, problem‐solving, and team skills in engineering graduates, Penn State has instituted a number ofteam‐based, project‐learning courses, including one taken by nearly every first‐year engineering student. To determine the impact of these experiences on our students we have begun a cross‐sectional and longitudinal study of their intellectual development based upon the Perry model. In this paper, we describe the research methodology and results for the initial group of first‐year students interviewed. The results of the study include the effects on intellectual development of the first‐year design course, gender, honors status, and the students' academic ability as indicated by SAT scores and grade point average. Design experience was positively related to enhanced intellectual development. Honors status, gender, and academic ability were not significantly related to Perry rating. We discuss the implications of these findings for instruction and curricular reform.     

Developing an Observation System to Capture Instructional Differences in Engineering Classrooms

In 1999, bioengineering and learning science faculties at four research universities began collaboration on a National Science Foundation‐supported Engineering Research Center. The Vanderbilt‐Northwestern‐Texas‐Harvard/MIT Engineering Research Center for Bioengineering Education and Technology is the first such Center to have a specific focus on postsecondary education. Within this project, educators, learning scientists, and bioengineers collaborated to develop the VaNTH Observation System, an assessment tool to capture quantitatively teaching and learning experiences of the bioengineering classroom. The four components of the instrument address the professor's interaction with students, students' lesson engagement, narrative notes, and research‐based measures of effective teaching. As professors redesigned lessons to incorporate current learning theory as a guide, observers measured differences in bioengineering classroom experiences resulting from these innovations. Results indicate that the observation instrument captures differences in classroom experiences, and these differences relate to a lesson's incorporation of current learning theory.     

Ethics and the Development of Professional Identities of Engineering Students

How do undergraduate students in engineering conceive of themselves as professionals? How can a course on engineering ethics affect the development of an undergraduate student's professional identity? In this project, students responded to questions about the characteristics and responsibilities of professional engineers. The results indicate that students learn about professionalism primarily from relatives and co‐workers who are engineers, and rarely from technical engineering courses. Even before they study engineering ethics, students put honesty and integrity on par with technical competence as an essential characteristic of engineers. In the course, students benefit from cases of actual incidents and from classroom activities that encourage diverse perspectives on moral problems. By analyzing cases in groups and by hearing different perspectives, students build self‐confidence in moral reasoning. By the end of the course, some students understand professional responsibility not only as liability for blame but in a capacious sense as stewardship for society.     

Expanding Participation in Undergraduate Research Using the Affinity Group Model*

The benefits of working in a research group are clear: students develop domain expertise, gain an understanding and appreciation of the research process and its practice, and acquire team, communication, problem-solving, and higher-level thinking skills. Students with this experience are better equipped to make informed judgements about technical matters and to communicate and work in teams to solve complex problems. Clearly, this type of research experience must be made available to a broader population. This paper discusses how the Systems and Software Engineering Affinity Research Group model provides a socialization mechanism and infrastructure that supports the development and management of large research groups that engage undergraduate and graduate students, who have a wide range of skill levels and experiences, in research and projects. This non-hierarchical model, which is based on the cooperative paradigm, integrates students into small research groups and an encompassing large research group, and uses structured activities to develop their research, technical, communication, and group skills.     

Perspectives on an Internet‐Based Synchronous Distance Learning Experience

This paper examines the distance learning process by providing an informed student's perspective as well as the instructor's perspective on an Internet‐based synchronous distance learning experience. Throughout the semester, the student maintained a class‐by‐class journal on his experiences and reactions to the Internet‐based course. This journal served as a crucial resource in the subsequent evaluation of the virtual classroom experience. The analysis provided in this paper, informed by current research on traditional and distance education, suggests that community, interaction, pedagogy, attention, and feedback play important roles in the success of an Internet‐based learning experience. Specific comments by the course instructor, as well as survey results from both students and other instructors for a number of synchronous Internet‐based courses, are also presented. This data further illuminates the student synchronous distance education experience and contributes additional insight into the delivery method and its ongoing evolution. The unique observations and conclusions provided here are useful for both instructors and students interested in participating in synchronous as well as asynchronous computermediated education.     

Advanced Engineering Communication: An Integrated Writing and Communication Program for Materials Engineers

This paper describes the disciplinary program for writing and communications developed by the Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) Department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, which has been integrated into eight required core courses spread across our student's three years of study. Preliminary quantitative assessment of the program indicates positive acceptance by the students and faculty, significant improvement in the quality of writing over three semesters, and significant differences in both the quality and style of writing between senior engineering students who have not participated in our program and our MSE students. We have found a positive correlation between four different indices designed to measure a student's self-assessment of communication skills and a student's grade point average (GPA). Surprisingly, there is no correlation between either student's grades on papers and projects, or our measure of their improvement in communication skills, and their GPA's. This result has important implications for the design and implementation of writing-within-the-discipline programs such as the one described here.     

Engineering Concepts and Communication: A Two‐Quarter Course Sequence

Together the departments of engineering and English designed and implemented a course sequence that sustains first‐year enrollment in engineering while teaching engineering design and fundamental communication skills. The sequence integrates the goals of four formally separate courses: Critical Reading and Writing, Argument and Research, Engineering Concepts I and II. Linking the courses did not detract from the original course goals nor burden the limited time resources of the participating faculty. We found that the linked courses have increased our first to second year retention rate by up to 30 percent.     

Hands‐On,Minds‐On Electric Power Education*

ABET Engineering Criteria 2000 has encouraged changes in engineering education. The deregulation of the electric power industry is also causing changes in the types of jobs power engineers take upon graduation. This paper describes efforts by power faculty at Kansas State University to provide students more hands‐on active learning experience with power systems and machinery. A summary of the power curriculum is provided. The courses affected include an energy conversion course required of all electrical engineering students, and a new power laboratory course required of students taking the electric power option. Examples of student assignments are provided. Observations and discussion of the in‐class experiences are provided. The paper describes work done and in progress to convert the traditional power courses into studio‐type courses in which instruction can flow from lecture to laboratory to computer demonstration formats with ease. Future plans for the project are also discussed.     

Writing Across the Chemical Engineering Curriculum at the University of North Dakota

In order to prepare engineering graduates with the written and oral communication skills needed in their professional careers a coordinated writing across the curriculum (WAC) program has developed in the chemical engineering department at the University of North Dakota. The students practice and develop their skills with writing assignments in both lecture and laboratory courses from the first-year level through the fourth-year capstone design course. The coordinated approach, especially in the four-semester laboratory sequence, allows the students to develop their skills by building on communication experiences in previous courses. The WAC program at UND including writing and public speaking assignments is described.     

Developing Criteria for an On‐Line Learning Environment: From the Student and Faculty Perspectives*

The research literature abounds with articles about distance learning from the perspectives of students, faculty, and administrators. Most of these articles discuss the details of transitioning to on‐line learning environments. Research is beginning to pay attention to quality issues in distance learning. This article discusses a three‐phase developmental study conducted in a graduate school. Students were asked to brainstorm and develop a set of quality indicators. These indicators were ranked by a second group of students. Then the indicators were given to a group of faculty for another ranking. In this study it was shown that there was a very great agreement on the relative importance of the various potential indicators of quality in courses delivered via an on‐line medium.     

Using the Affinity Research Group Model to Involve Undergraduate Students in Computer Science Research*

The Affinity Research Group model is an attractive vehicle for involving undergraduates in research, retaining them, and fostering their interest in higher education. Using this model, students are given opportunities to develop, employ, and integrate knowledge and skills required for research with knowledge and skills required for cooperative work. Potential adopters of the model often inquire about the feasibility of applying the model in a field like computer science, in which it often is the case that a student must have a solid academic foundation in order to be involved in research. This paper addresses this question by illustrating how the model has been applied to computer science research projects that involve students with different skill levels and experience. In particular, the paper presents example structured tasks and related activities that demonstrate how students develop domain expertise, gain an understanding and appreciation of the research process and its practice, and acquire technical, team, communication, problem‐solving, and higher‐level thinking skills.     

Cooperative Learning Instructional Activities in a Capstone Design Course

In developing our capstone design course, we decided to include instruction in design methodology, project management, engineering communications, and professional ethics, along with a comprehensive design project. As this course evolved over a number of years, we found that active and cooperative learning was critical for effective instruction in these topics and we developed a series of instructional activities using this methodology. These activities consisted of short presentations (mini‐lectures) with interspersed team exercises. We describe our course, these instructional activities, and some evaluation data showing that our students found them effective and important. Our experiences convinced us that the cooperative learning approach both enhanced our students' understanding of these topics and encouraged them to incorporate the associated skills into their working skill set. Including team exercises that dealt with various steps in the design process provided a “jump‐start” on these unfamiliar activities in a structured, short duration exercise environment in class. Listening to presentations by other teams and reviewing and discussing another team's results as a part of the team exercises provided an opportunity to see and think about different formulations of the problem they just considered.     

E‐Mentoring: A Longitudinal Approach to Mentoring Relationships for Women Pursuing Technical Careers

In recent years, the number of formal mentoring programs has increased dramatically. Mentoring programs that target individuals in underrepresented groups or groups of individuals who, statistically, are not likely to succeed are especially effective. These programs are effective because the mentors provide the protégés with a common community and help them anticipate future decisions. The purpose of this paper is to present an electronic mentoring (E‐Mentoring) program designed and established at Northeastern University to provide long‐term mentoring experiences for pre‐college and college female engineering students. Participants from four different age groups join E‐Mentor clubs and develop relationships through regular e‐mail communication. Networking socials, scheduled 3–4 times a year, provide the participants an opportunity to interact “face‐to‐face.” The E‐Mentoring program began as a pilot program in the Fall of 1996 within the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and has grown to a college‐wide program with approximately 250 participants in the Spring of 1999.     

Enabling Engineering Performance Skills: A Program to Teach Communication,Leadership, and Teamwork*

A minor in Engineering Communication and Performance is being created at the University of Tennessee in conjunction with the engage Freshman Engineering Program. This minor provides engineering undergraduate students with formal training and a credential in complementary performance skills necessary for success in today's workplace. This interdisciplinary program is designed to improve the ability of engineering graduates to work on teams, to be effective communicators, to be socially adept, and to be prepared for leadership roles . Five courses compose the minor. Three of these courses are new and custom‐prepared for engineering students, while the other two may be selected from a limited list of courses that provide in‐depth training on supervision, cultural diversity, and interpersonal interaction. This multi‐disciplinary program takes a novel approach in the subject matter presentation and in the method of coaching students to use these skills. In the custom courses, students receive instruction and are placed in mini‐practicums. To complete the minor, students participate in a full practicum in a social service setting. This paper discusses assessment; course development; program basis and development; strategies for implementation of this new program; integration between engineering, counseling psychology, and human services; and student, faculty, and industry response to the program. The collaboration makes this program transportable to other institutions as it is dependent on having institution expertise in the disciplines of counseling and human services rather than having engineering educators with expertise in these fields. Our experience with establishing this collaboration will also be discussed.     

Student Cooperative Learning Workshops Go Mainstream: UMR's Excel Program

We offer cooperative learning workshops to all students enrolled in our largest lower division math and science courses where failure rates are high. Participation in the workshops is related to retention and higher academic achievement among engineering students of various abilities. In the tradition of workshops developed for disadvantaged students in mathematics, science, and engineering, our students meet outside of class in structured group meetings. Our contributions to this tradition include application to a broader range of courses, the inclusion of all types of students, and enhanced training of workshop facilitators in small group communication methods and modern leadership techniques. Our approach is readily adaptable to most institutions.     

Panoscopic Silicon—A Material for “All” Length Scales

Silicon is the “veteran” semiconductor in the management of electrons. The recent quest for optoelectronic and photonic materials suggests that new architectures of silicon structured over multiple length scales may still be the optimum material for the transition from electron‐based to photon‐basped computers and communication systems. This Research News article is focussed on recent research accomplishments in fabrication and self‐assembly methods of shaping elemental silicon over nanometer to micrometer length scales for applications in electronics, optoelectronics, and photonics.     

New Curriculum Reforms in a Geological Engineering Program

Recent curriculum revisions to the geological engineering program at Queen's University at Kingston in Canada have led to a more streamlined program incorporating modern engineering education practices. Following a carefully designed program philosophy, the emphasis in the core curriculum changes through the entire four‐year program in three progressive stages, from the acquisition of knowledge, to integration and analysis, and finally to synthesis and design. This is reflected in an increased concentration of mathematics and basic science courses in first and second year, engineering science courses in third year, and engineering design courses (capstone courses) in fourth year. Two tools which concisely illustrate the course curriculum and curriculum content are: (1) the flow sheet, which can contain a wealth of information, such as showing linkages between courses (e.g. how upper‐level courses can build on lower‐level courses through course prerequisites), the timing of various courses, courses taught within the home department (vs. other departments), and courses taught by professional engineers; and (2) the ternary phase diagram, which is a quantitative method of displaying engineering content within individual courses or an entire program and can clearly show patterns and trends in curriculum content with time. Such tools are useful for academic engineering programs which may have to undergo an accreditation review and are readily adapted to any other engineering fields of study. Other engineering elements woven throughout the program include strong interactions with professional engineering faculty, the use of student teams, enhanced communication skills, and exposure to important aspects of professional engineering practice such as engineering ethics and law. To ensure that the curriculum is kept current and relevant, formative evaluation instruments such as questionnaires are used in all years of study, and are also sent to recent graduates of the program. External reviews of the revised program have been positive, indicating that the program goals are being achieved.