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.     

Hands‐On Laboratory Experiments in Flexible and Distance Learning

The advent of the Internet as a major communication channel has triggered a great deal of interest in real‐time services such as broadcast or interactive audio and video services. In this paper, a further step into the realm of real‐time services over the Internet is presented, namely, synchronous access to remote and distributed laboratory facilities. The proposed approach demonstrates the feasibility of using remote laboratory experiments to complement and enhance traditional as well as on‐line courses in control engineering education. The distributed laboratory effectively enables students to reinforce their learning through hands‐on studies carried out in a flexible environment.     

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.     

Hands‐On CFD Educational Interface for Engineering Courses and Laboratories

This study describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of an effective curriculum for students to learn computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in introductory and intermediate undergraduate and introductory graduate level courses/laboratories. The curriculum is designed for use at different universities with different courses/laboratories, learning objectives, applications, conditions, and exercise notes. The common objective is to teach students from novice to expert users who are well prepared for engineering practice. The study describes a CFD Educational Interface for hands‐on student experience, which mirrors actual engineering practice. The Educational Interface teaches CFD methodology and procedures through a step‐by‐step interactive implementation automating the CFD process. A hierarchical system of predefined active options facilitates use at introductory and intermediate levels, encouraging self‐learning, and eases transition to using industrial CFD codes. An independent evaluation documents successful learning outcomes and confirms the effectiveness of the interface for students in introductory and intermediate fluid mechanics courses.     

Integrated Thermal‐Fluid Experiments in WPI's Discovery Classroom

An integrated experimental‐analytical‐numerical approach to engineering education has been developed in introductory thermal‐fluid courses at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). Central to these innovations is a facility at WPI known as the Discovery Classroom. In this facility the traditional lecture hall has been redefined to combine a multi‐media classroom, an adjoining experimental laboratory, and computational facilities. This approach was designated as the DIANE philosophy: Daily Integration of Analytical, Numerical, and Experimental methods into engineering classes. In this approach, experimental apparatus are demonstrated directly in class during an engineering lecture. Real‐time quantitative data are acquired from the apparatus, and the data are immediately analyzed and compared to concurrently developed theory by the students in class. One objective of this approach is to help students better understand relationships between the physical experiments and theory. Three undergraduate engineering classes were re‐designed: fluid mechanics, heat transfer, and aerodynamics. Student surveys indicate that nearly 90% of 390 students preferred the re‐designed courses to traditional lecture‐oriented courses, while also believing that they gained a better understanding of engineering fundamentals.     

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.     

Use of Distance Learning for Continuing Education of Engineers: Results of an Educational Needs Assessment

A survey was mailed to practicing engineers to determine their interest in distance learning programs and their preferences concerning such programs. The survey included queries regarding availability of computer resources and access to the Internet, preferences for delivery technology, type of educational program of interest, subject areas of interest, and importance of various parameters associated with distance learning programs. Approximately 1,000 surveys were mailed with a response rate of about 15 percent. The survey clearly defined preferences of this population for computer‐based delivery technology and programs related to engineering management, computer science and engineering, and mechanical/manufacturing engineering. The information collected will be used to define the content areas, delivery technology, and pedagogical framework of future distance learning courses and programs.     

Experiences of First‐Year Engineering Students Working on Ill‐Structured Problems in Teams

Background

As engineers solve problems that are ill‐structured and require collaboration, a common goal of engineering programs is to develop students' competencies for solving such problems in teams, often using cornerstone design experiences.

Purpose

With the goal of designing effective learning environments, this study identifies qualitatively different ways that engineering students experienced ill‐structured problems while working in teams.

Design/Method

This phenomenographic study employs interview data from 27 first‐year engineering students. Iterative data analysis resulted in categories of student experiences and their logical relationships.

Results

Seven categories describing collaborative, ill‐structured problem‐solving experiences emerged: completion, transition, iteration, organization, collaboration, reasoning, and growth. These categories are organized in an outcome space along dimensions we call reaction to ambiguity and use of multiple perspectives that can be used to frame students' perspectives from less comprehensive to more comprehensive.

Conclusions

First‐year engineering students experience team‐based, ill‐structured problem solving in a variety of ways. The resulting outcome space is of practical use to educators who teach courses involving collaborative, ill‐structured problem solving.     

Improving Learning in First‐Year Engineering Courses through Interdisciplinary Collaborative Assessment

This paper describes a feedback process that assessed first‐year engineering student learning using a mastery exam. The results were used to improve learning and teaching in first‐year courses. To design the initial exam, basic knowledge and concepts were identified by instructors from each of the host departments (Chemistry, Math, Physics and Computer Science). In 2004, the 45‐item exam was administered to 191 second‐year engineering students, and in September 2005, the revised exam was administered to the next class of second‐year engineering students. The exam was analyzed using Item Response Theory (IRT) to determine student abilities in each subject area tested. Between exam administrations, workshops were conducted with the four department instructor groups to present exam results and discuss teaching issues. The exam provided a learning assessment mechanism that can be used to engage faculty in science, mathematics, and engineering in productive linkages for continual improvement to curriculum.     

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.     

Effectiveness of an Internet‐Based Graduate Engineering Management Course

This research provides engineering educators analytical evidence as to the effectiveness of Internet‐based course instruction. The research examined the University of Missouri‐Rolla's Internet‐based Advanced Production and Operations Management course, with a focus on determining the effectiveness of the Internet‐based education tools used. Over 100 students in five Internet‐based classes and one traditional, in‐class control group were given three sets of surveys, learning style assessments, a course pre‐test, and a course final examination. Multiple conclusions were drawn from this study based on analyses of the data collected. First, the Internet‐based students performed equally as well as the control group as measured by the difference between pre‐test and post‐test scores. Second, the Internet‐based students were found to have had exaggerated time requirement expectations for taking a course in the Internet environment. Third, the students rated the effectiveness and satisfaction positively for the Internet classroom format. Initially, the Internet‐based students were skeptical of electronic lectures but their experiences were positive.     

An Assessment of In‐Person and Remotely Operated Laboratories

Increasingly mechanical engineering departments are beginning to incorporate remotely operated laboratories into their laboratory curriculums. Yet very few studies exist detailing the extent to which this new medium for laboratory delivery fulfills the educational goals of traditional in‐person laboratories. This paper describes a comparison of educational outcomes between in‐person and remotely operated laboratories in the mechanical engineering curriculum. The study carried out in the 2001 Fall semester was performed using a remotely operated and an in‐person jet thrust laboratory. The laboratories illustrate the fundamentals of compressible fluid mechanics as part of an undergraduate mechanical engineering curriculum. The results from this study indicated no significant difference in the educational outcomes between students who performed the in‐person or the remote experiment.     

Interdisciplinary Laboratory in Advanced Materials: A Team‐Oriented Inquiry‐Based Approach

Few opportunities exist in most undergraduate engineering curricula for students of different disciplines, even within engineering, to work together. This project demonstrates a way to interject such activities by bringing together students across disciplines from otherwise independent courses. In this first phase of activities at Tennessee Technological University (TTU), chemical engineering (ChE) students from a required laboratory course and mechanical engineering (ME) students from a design elective were brought together in a common interdisciplinary‐team inquiry‐based term project. This report summarizes the course objectives and structure, offers a brief synopsis of the outcomes and direction for the project.     

Environmental Modeling—A Project Driven,Team Approach to Theory and Application

Environmental modeling is an important tool for understanding and managing complex environmental systems. Regardless of discipline, complete modeling includes a number of steps, ranging from conceptualization to application. However, modeling courses often focus on just one, or at most a few, of the steps and frequently are assignment‐driven. Moreover, they often present numerical procedures as recipes, without regard to theory or limitations and without regard to “real‐world” application. In this course, we unify the modeling sequence by exposing students to the full spectrum of modeling (mathematics, physics, and numerical methods) in the context of surfactant‐enhanced remediation of contaminated soils, a technology being developed at the University of Oklahoma. An innovative course structure is used that couples team learning with a project‐driven syllabus (also referred to as just‐in‐time learning) and combines mathematical and physical modeling via data from laboratory and field testing. Other thematic areas can easily be developed in the same framework. We believe the course pedagogy is highly portable and can serve as an example for any modeling course or for many other courses in an engineering curriculum.     

Web‐Based Readiness Assessment Quizzes

Student readiness to fully participate in designed educational activities is often impeded by a lack of individual preparation through assigned readings or study. However, student preparation is rarely treated as an integral part of course design. Consequently, web‐based readiness assessment quizzes were developed for three courses in biological/biosystems engineering, at the freshman and junior levels. The overall goal was to improve student preparatory reading by assessing lower‐level knowledge just prior to the class period when that knowledge is needed for higher‐level learning activities. In this way, a web‐based educational tool was utilized as an integral, rather than just supplemental, part of the course design. The quizzes were designed to simultaneously ensure/assess student preparation and guide the students toward the highest priority topics within a given unit. The quizzes were graded automatically with the results reported electronically to the instructor. Student likelihood to read assigned materials was significantly improved (P < 0.0001), based on ratings from students in three different courses over four years of using these quizzes.     

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.     

Developing On‐Line Homework for Introductory Thermodynamics

Homework in engineering courses is used to develop problem‐solving skills and to provide students with the practice they need in order to achieve mastery of essential concepts and procedures in their disciplines. We describe homework exercises that were developed for introductory thermodynamics and delivered to students via the Internet. Records of student use were created automatically by the computer server. The data revealed students' patterns of software usage in the context of the course; additional data from course instructors revealed the extent to which completing the on‐line homework improved students' in‐class test performance.     

A Comparison of Group Processes,Performance, and Satisfaction in Face‐to‐Face Versus Computer‐Mediated Engineering Student Design Teams

Industry often requires engineers to work in teams. Therefore, many university engineering courses require students to work in groups to complete a design project. Due to the increasingly global nature of engineering, opportunities for students to navigate the issues of distance, time, culture, language, and multiple perspectives associated with virtual teams are becoming particularly desirable. To understand students' experience with virtual teams in a graduate course on principles of lean manufacturing, a group of researchers at a midwestern university compared the project performance, selected group processes, and satisfaction of students randomly assigned to face‐to‐face and computer‐mediated communication design teams. Students in both the face‐to‐face and computer‐mediated communication design teams performed equally well on the final project, and reported similar patterns in group processes with a few exceptions. Students in face‐to‐face design teams were more satisfied with the group experience than those in the computer‐mediated communication design teams; however, all reported an overall positive experience.     

Evaluation of Instructional Design of Computer‐Based Teaching Modules for a Manufacturing Processes Laboratory

Studies concerning student preferences and student learning as a function of the instructional design and delivery of a computer‐based teaching (CBT) module are presented. The studies were conducted in conjunction with the development of twenty‐one CBT modules for an Introduction to Manufacturing Processes laboratory that emphasized metal removal. Study results indicate there is no statistically relevant difference in learning between students using material presented with traditional multimedia (35 mm slides and cassette tapes) and the identical material presented with digital multimedia. Engineering students' preferences for interface design and audio‐visual information presentation are also presented. The most important result is that learning outcomes of a reader‐driven CBT module were found to be statistically lower than those associated with author‐driven CBT module, especially for average and below‐average students. These results suggest that if students must absolutely understand material, e.g., laboratory safety, the CBT should be author‐driven. Based on these results, we speculate that average and below average engineering students are more linear learners. A hybrid scheme, where information presentation transitions from an author‐driven to a reader‐driven environment may help weaker students develop better non‐linear, open‐ended problem solving skills.