Enhancing Core Competency Learning in an Integrated Summer Research Experience for Bioengineers

In the summer Research Experience for Undergraduates offered by the NSF‐sponsored VaNTH Engineering Research Center in Bioengineering, core competency instruction in ethics and communication was integrated into students' research experiences outside of formal courses. This paper describes our instructional approach and presents an initial evaluation of its effectiveness. A simple concept mapping assessment used at the beginning and end of the summer suggests that students made gains in both areas. In ethics, students developed greater awareness of key concepts, such as respect for persons (informed consent), beneficence, justice, and integrity. Gains in communication were more modest, but the maps revealed growth in understanding the importance of audience and the multifaceted nature of technical communication. Overall, the study suggests that students can make measurable strides in core competencies without taking formal courses. Future research should consider integrating components of our intervention into other non‐credit experiences for engineering undergraduates.     

Instructor perceptions of engineering ethics education at Chinese engineering universities: A cross-cultural approach

During the past decade, governmental agencies, universities and programs, policymakers, and educators in China have been striving for reforming and “globalizing” the engineering ethics curriculum. Chinese scholars have proposed strategies for improving the teaching effectiveness of engineering ethics that integrate “global forms” derived from the “American-style engineering ethics” into the Chinese context. Nevertheless, limited empirical research is available that examines the alignment of these strategies and the cultures of engineering education in China (e.g., instructor perceptions of engineering ethics education). We argue that understanding how Chinese instructors perceive engineering ethics instruction is critical for designing instructional strategies sensitive to the Chinese sociocultural context. In this study, we reviewed the literature on teaching engineering ethics (primarily after the 2000s) and teased out a set of most “contested” questions concerning American educators since the emergence of engineering ethics education as an academic discipline. By using these questions as a guideline, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 Chinese engineering ethics instructors trained in three different fields: STS and philosophy of science and technology, engineering, and Marxist studies and ethical theories. This paper also briefly discussed how the ways Chinese instructors perceived engineering ethics education are connected to and distinct from the views held by American educators discussed in the literature review section. This paper is expected to shed light on the cultures of engineering ethics education in China and provide insights into formulating effective policies and teaching strategies sensitive to the Chinese context.     

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.     

Efficacy of Interactive Internet‐Based Education in Structural Timber Design

While traditional teaching methods (e.g., real‐time, synchronous lectures) have proven effective for training future engineers, the Internet provides an avenue to reinforce the material and augment student learning, comprehension, and retention of material. This paper presents the integration and assessment of a library of interactive instructional modules specifically for a senior‐level undergraduate elective course in civil engineering. An ongoing, comprehensive assessment process was implemented in the fall 1999 semester. The results of this quantitative assessment indicate that the use of well designed and pedagogically sound Internet‐based supplemental modules provide students with a better understanding of course material. However, when Internet‐based content does not promote critical thinking, little increase in the student performance and understanding of the material is realized. Interactive Web‐based instruction should not be viewed as a “replacement” to traditional instruction, but rather a tool that provides a broader and more dynamic environment for students with a variety of learning styles.     

Engineering Ethics: What? Why? How? And When?

Engineering ethics is professional ethics, as opposed to personal morality. It sets the standards for professional practice, and is only learned in a professional school or in professional practice. It is an essential part of professional education because it helps students deal with issues they will face in professional practice. The best way to teach engineering ethics is by using cases—not just the disaster cases that make the news, but the kinds of cases that an engineer is more likely to encounter. Many cases are available, and there are methods for analyzing them. Engineering ethics can be taught in a free-standing course, but there are strong arguments for introducing ethics in technical courses as well. Engineering is something that engineers do, and what they do has profound effects on others. If the subject of professional ethics is how members of a profession should, or should not, affect others in the course of practicing their profession, then engineering ethics is an essential aspect of engineering itself and education in professional responsibilities should be part of professional education in engineering, just as it is in law and medicine. Probably few engineering educators would disagree with these claims; their implementation in engineering education is another matter. We want to discuss the introduction of engineering ethics into engineering education in terms of four questions: What is engineering ethics? Why should it be emphasized in engineering education? How should it be taught? and When should it appear in the student's education?     

“Engineering Graduate Teaching Assistant Instructional Programs: Training Tomorrow's Faculty Members”

Although there has been increased interest in graduate teaching assistant (GTA) training programs recently, few examples of programs specifically for engineering GTA's are found in the technical literature. A survey of engineering schools in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest region of the United States has been conducted to determine the extent of instructional programs. The results of this survey and the literature indicate that there are large differences in the amount of training that GTA's in different engineering schools receive. While some are involved in extensive training programs, many receive little or no instruction in teaching, and/or inadequate feedback to help improve their teaching skills. These findings are discussed, along with details of innovative instructional programs found in the literature, and suggestions for improving the state of engineering GTA instruction.     

The Future of Safety and Health in Engineering Education

Despite calls for the integration of safety into engineering curricula and the establishment of ABET requirements for safety-related instruction, few engineering colleges have instituted formal course offerings focusing on safety and health. Impediments include the lack of room for additional coursework in the standard curriculum, the perceived unavailability of qualified faculty and instructional materials, and a widespread conviction among faculty and administrators that safety is not critical to an engineering education. Attempts to address this need by developing special instructional safety modules or enrolling students in full-semester safety courses have met with limited success. An alternative approach is to use safety-related examples and case studies to portray conventional engineering principles. Rather than separating safety instruction into a distinct course or modules, this approach would present safety principles as a fully-integrated part of traditional engineering practice. To make this idea a reality, appropriate examples and cases will need to be developed and disseminated. In addition, industry involvement, government backing, and financial support is required.     

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Computer Tutorials Versus Traditional Lecturing in Accounting Topics

Colleges and universities are continually making efforts to incorporate computers and technology into the varied aspects of their teaching environments. However, it is difficult to distinguish the effectiveness of these machine tutors from their human counterparts. There has been much debate about technology‐based instructional strategies in learning environments. This article addresses one issue of that debate—the effectiveness of teaching undergraduate engineering students using computer‐mediated tutorials versus traditional lecturing. Specifically, this research compared student test scores using computer‐mediated accounting tutorials alone with those of students who received traditional lectures and computer‐mediated tutorials on the same topic. Statistical analyses were performed to determine which was a better instructional method. Based on previous research by the authors and other published research, it was hypothesized that both methods would be satisfactory instructional tools and yield similar educational results. The results indicate that there was no statistically significant difference between the two methods. This was consistent with previous studies. This study concludes that computer‐mediated tutorials could be substituted for traditional lectures without impacting what a student learns—at least for teaching accounting fundamentals.     

Designing and Teaching Courses to Satisfy the ABET Engineering Criteria

Since the new ABET accreditation system was first introduced to American engineering education in the middle 1990s as Engineering Criteria 2000, most discussion in the literature has focused on how to assess Outcomes 3a‐3k and relatively little has concerned how to equip students with the skills and attitudes specified in those outcomes. This paper seeks to fill this gap. Its goals are to (1) overview the accreditation process and clarify the confusing array of terms associated with it (objectives, outcomes, outcome indicators, etc.); (2) provide guidance on the formulation of course learning objectives and assessment methods that address Outcomes 3a‐3k; (3) identify and describe instructional techniques that should effectively prepare students to achieve those outcomes by the time they graduate; and (4) propose a strategy for integrating program‐level and course‐level activities when designing an instructional program to meet the requirements of the ABET engineering criteria.     

Using Academic Integrity to Teach Engineering Ethics

Ethics can be taught by using case studies to which students can relate. Since all students appreciate and understand problems of academic dishonesty, the nature of ethical problems in academics can be used to illustrate ethical problems encountered in professional engineering. If students can be sensitized to the value of ethical behavior while in school, they will carry this understanding over to their profession. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that academic integrity can be used to introduce the basic concepts of professional engineering ethics. A videotape and instructor's manual using this pedagogical technique is described.     

Student Performance and Acceptance of Instructional Technology: Comparing Technology‐Enhanced and Traditional Instruction for a Course in Statics

The College of Engineering at the University of Cincinnati has evaluated the use of instructional technologies to improve the learning process for students in fundamental engineering science courses. The goal of this effort was to both retain more students in engineering programs and improve student performance through appropriate use of technology. Four modes of instruction were used to teach an engineering fundamentals course in statics. A traditional instructor‐led course, a Web‐assisted course, a streaming media course, and an interactive video course were all presented using a common syllabus, homework, tests, and grading regimen. Evaluations of final course grades indicate that use of instructional technology improved student performance when compared with traditional teaching methods. Student satisfaction with technology varied considerably with the Web‐assisted format having the highest student approval rating of the technologies. The results indicate that time on task and interest in content can be improved through the appropriate use of technology.     

Diversifying the Engineering Workforce

Engineering, education to workplace, is not just about technical knowledge. Rather, who becomes an engineer and why says much about the profession. Engineering has a “diversity” problem. Like all professions, it must narrow the gap between practitioners on the one hand, and their clientele on the other; it must become “culturally competent.” Given the current composition of the engineering faculty and the profession's workforce more generally, it behooves engineering education to diversify while assisting current and future practitioners in becoming culturally competent. Programs that work to diversify engineering are reviewed, with research and evaluation‐based findings applied to education and workforce practice.     

An Assessment Analysis Methodology and Its Application to an Advanced Engineering Communications Program

An assessment of a discipline‐specific advanced engineering communications program initiated over a decade ago and those assessment strategies that best measure the success of the program are described. Novel ideas for the visualization and interpretation of the data are presented. These techniques are conducive to an “assess‐revise‐assess” strategy for curriculum improvement since they can efficiently assist in defining an appropriate and rapid response to program needs and constituency expectations. Based in part on the assessment results, additions and extensions to the original program have been made. These include instruction in interpersonal communications, teamwork, engineering research and professional ethics, management and professional development skills, critical and creative thinking, and engineering design and are described briefly to place the current program in proper context for assessment. Positive correlations show that the program continues to be highly regarded by students, faculty, the college administration, alumni, and industry.     

Student Learning of Criterion 3 (a)‐(k) Outcomes with Short Instructional Modules and the Relationship to Bloom's Taxonomy

Engineering accreditation criteria require that engineering graduates demonstrate competency with a set of skills identified in Criterion 3 (a)‐(k). Because of a scarcity of instructional material on many of these topics, a team of engineering instructors developed and tested a set of short modules for teaching these skills. Using before and after module surveys, the students indicated their confidence in their ability to do specific tasks derived from the module's learning objectives. Data also were obtained with a control group not receiving the instruction. In comparing pre‐ and post‐module data, 33 percent of the comparisons were significantly different at the 0.05 level. In comparing control and post‐module data, the corresponding value was 44 percent. These results indicate that instruction with these short modules produced a significant effect on student learning.     

Ethics Instruction in Engineering Education: A (Mini) Meta‐Analysis

What are the objectives of engineering ethics? How is it being taught and how might instruction be more effective? The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) annual conference proceedings (1996–1999) contain 42 papers that treat engineering ethics as a coherent educational objective. Some of these papers disclose small components that seem to be part of a larger ethics curriculum. Other papers discuss engineering courses that are clearly the department's major ethics commitment. While it would be inappropriate to assume that the 42 papers represent the only means by which engineering students receive ethics instruction, these papers do present a variety of more‐or‐less defensible approaches and certainly the major intentional approaches of engineering curricula. This paper will develop an analysis of the 42 articles, including a discussion of where ethics is being taught (from both a chronological, and disciplinary perspective), and the six pedagogical approaches used to transfer an understanding of ethics to the student. These approaches include professional codes, humanist readings, theoretical grounding, ethical heuristics, case studies, and service learning. These six approaches will also be analyzed in terms of their promise to develop the ethical competencies needed by engineers.     

Collaborating with a Medical School to Assess Occupational Health and Safety Content in an Engineering Curriculum

A research center in the College of Medicine assisted the Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Department in the assessment of occupational health and safety instruction in the undergraduate agricultural engineering curriculum. An interdisciplinary team developed a questionnaire to explore three facets of health and safety instruction: 1) content and placement in the curriculum, 2) reasons for teaching occupational health and safety, and 3) adequacy of teaching resources. The questionnaire was pilot tested using agricultural engineering faculty and technicians from a large land grant university. Responses to the questionnaire revealed strengths and weaknesses in the curriculum regarding occupational health and safety instruction. The questionnaire will be expanded and further tested with a broader subject base. This cooperative effort demonstrates that medical schools can be a valuable resource to engineering schools who are looking for ways to improve occupational health and safety instruction in their curricula.     

Eco‐efficient Value Creation: An Alternative Perspective on Packaging and Sustainability

The classical sustainability perspective on packaging is to reduce the environmental impact or eco‐burden of the packaging, using life cycle assessment to evaluate different design alternatives. Simultaneously, the classical marketing perspective on packaging is to generate value through differentiation, for instance, by providing additional convenience. These two perspectives often conflict. In business reality, there is currently no established method to deal with these conflicts. Life cycle assessment is methodologically incapable of incorporating the difference in convenience. This article uses the eco‐costs/value ratio (EVR), as a method for dealing with the environmental assessment of packaging design alternatives with such unequal ‘soft’ functionality. The article reviews the current debate on packaging and sustainability, highlighting some of the shortcomings of the methods currently applied. Subsequently, the EVR model is introduced and applied to five examples. These examples consist of pairs of products, where the product, the amount, the brand and the retail outlet are identical and only the packaging design and the value differ. The examples illustrate how the EVR model fits better to design decision making in business reality than classical life cycle assessment. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Role of Collaborative Reflection on Shaping Engineering Faculty Teaching Approaches

Over the last several years, engineering faculty and learning scientists from four universities worked in collaboration to develop educational materials to improve the quality of faculty teaching and student learning. Guided by the How People Learn (HPL) framework, engineering faculty worked in collaboration with learning scientists to develop learner‐centered, student‐focused instructional methods. In consultation with learning scientists, engineering faculty carried out educational inquiry in their classrooms aimed at investigating student learning and enhancing instruction. In this paper we discuss the extent to which faculty engaged in these collaborative endeavors and how their teaching approaches differed as a result of their level of engagement. Study findings reveal the role that collaborative reflection plays in shaping teaching approaches. Results from this study provide insights for researchers and other practitioners in engineering and higher education interested in implementing engineering faculty development programs to optimize the impact on teaching.