Retention 101: Where Robots Go … Students Follow

At Indiana University—Purdue University Fort Wayne we have developed ETCS 101—Introduction to Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science, a freshman success course for students in the School of Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science. The main objective of this course is to increase retention. The course aims to provide students with sufficient computer and personal development skills and to help them develop the right mental attitude conducive for academic success. Features of the course include projects of software and hardware nature, extensive use of the Internet and Web software tools, and a team‐teaching format. As the main project of this course, small teams of students design, build, program, and test an autonomous mobile robot using LEGO® parts, sensors, and the Robotic Command eXplorer (RCX) controller. This is a multidisciplinary, project‐driven learning process that encourages students to develop problem solving and teamwork skills and fosters their creativity and logic.     

Kirkpatrick's Level 1 Evaluation of the Implementation of a Computer‐Aided Process Design Tool in a Senior‐Level Engineering Course

Computer simulation tools are frequently used in engineering design work, and undergraduates are often trained to use these tools as they learn to design systems. The use of new tools in the learning environment should be evaluated to assure that the students are able to use the tools effectively. This study details and demonstrates the use of a Kirkpatrick's Level 1 Evaluation to assess the effectiveness of an instructional environment in which students learn to use a computer simulation tool to perform engineering design work. Specifically, an evaluation was conducted to look at student perceptions of FOODS‐LIB—a steady‐state food process design tool, its user's manual learning modules, and the implementation of FOODS‐LIB in a senior level design course. This evaluation was triangulated with an instructor's assessment of student products generated as the students used the learning modules and designed an ice cream manufacturing process using FOODS‐LIB.     

The Effect of Social Presence on Affective and Cognitive Learning in an International Engineering Course Taught via Distance Learning

Background Distance learning course formats can alter modes of information exchange and interpersonal interaction relative to traditional course formats. Purpose (Hypothesis ) To determine the effect of a distance course format on the knowledge acquisition (cognitive learning) and satisfaction (affective learning) of students, we investigated student learning responses and social presence during a graduate‐level engineering course taught via traditional (i.e., professor present in the classroom) and synchronous distance‐learning formats. Design /Method Direct quantification of participation, academic performance assessment based on homework and exam scores, and survey‐based assessments of student perceptions of the course were collected. Based on these data, cognitive and affective learning responses to different technological and interaction‐based aspects of the course were determined for each course format. Results We show that while affective learning decreased for students in the distance format course relative to the traditional format, cognitive learning was comparable. Our results suggest that loss of satellite connection and audio losses had a stronger negative effect on student perceptions than video disturbances, and that participation was the most important factor influencing affective learning. Conclusions While our findings do not suggest that cognitive learning is strongly affected by social presence, implementing strategies to enhance social presence may improve the overall learning experience and make distance learning more enjoyable for students.     

The Theme Course: Connecting the Plant Trip to the Text Book

A plant trip provides subjects for team projects and lecture examples in a sophomore chemical engineering course, thus becoming a unifying “theme” for the course. The “theme” structure is intended to improve student mastery of course material by helping students relate different course topics to one another via real equipment and processes. Here, performance in a subsequent junior chemical engineering course by students from the “theme course” is compared with performance by students who took the sophomore course in a traditional lecture‐homework‐exam format. Theme course graduates claim better retention of concepts from the sophomore course, though their scores on exam questions testing their knowledge, comprehension, and application of these concepts did not differ significantly from that of students from the traditional course. Theme course graduates did earn higher grades in the junior course, due to better performance on exam questions requiring higher level skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Students were enthusiastic about the course structure, and expressed excitement about learning from “real life.” Thus the “theme” structure results in early student success in the skills necessary for engineering design, and generates student enthusiasm for engineering.     

Simulation‐based Learning in Engineering Education: Performance and Transfer in Learning Project Management

This paper reports empirical findings on the impact of keeping and reviewing learning history in a dynamic and interactive simulation environment of engineering education. The simulator for engineering project management had two learning history keeping modes: automatic (simulator‐controlled) and manual (student‐controlled), and a version with no history keeping. A group of industrial engineering students performed four simulation‐runs divided into three identical simple scenarios (single project) and one complicated scenario (multi‐project). The performances of participants running the simulation with the manual history mode were significantly better than users running the simulation with the automatic history mode. Moreover, the effects of using the history mechanism with the ability to undo further enhanced the learning process. The findings imply that students' decision when to record the history during their engineering training process can have a particularly strong enhancing effect on learning. In addition, the simulator as educational innovation improves students learning and performance. The practical implications of using simulators in the field of engineering learning are discussed.     

A Learning Community of University Freshman Design,Freshman Graphics,and High School Technology Students: Description,Projects, and Assessment

A learning community was developed to enhance the teamwork and communication components of a freshman design course. The learning community was comprised of students from a freshman design course, a freshman graphics course, and a high school technology course. Design teams were formed by combining three to four students from each of these courses. These teams were required to research, design, build, and test a specified product. The high school and university students communicated only using e‐mails and Internet conferencing. This paper outlines how the learning community is implemented, describes three design projects, and presents the assessment methods. Assessment reveals that university students who participate in the learning community have a better understanding and confidence in the technical aspects of the design project than the students who do not participate in the learning community. It also reveals that high school participants display notable interest in the engineering design process.     

A Longitudinal Study of Engineering Student Performance and Retention: I. Success and Failure in the Introductory Course

A profile of 124 students enrolled in an introductory chemical engineering course has been assembled. The information collected includes data on family and educational backgrounds, profiles on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory, and responses to a questionnaire regarding attitudes and expectations. Student performance in the introductory course was correlated with the assessment data. The results suggest several significant predictors of success or failure in the introductory course, and by extension, in the chemical engineering curriculum.     

Comparison of Student Learning in Physical and Simulated Unit Operations Experiments

Industries are tending toward computer‐based simulation, monitoring, and control of processes. This trend suggests an opportunity to modernize engineering laboratory pedagogy to include computer experiments as well as tactile experiments. However, few studies report the impact of simulations upon student learning in engineering laboratories. We evaluated the impact of computer‐simulated experiments upon student learning in a senior unit operations laboratory. We compared data on control and test groups from three sources: 1) a comprehensive exam over the course; 2) a questionnaire answered by students regarding how well the areas of ABET Engineering Criterion 3 (a‐k) were met; and 3) oral presentations given by the students. Our results indicate that student learning is not adversely affected by introducing computer‐based experiments. We therefore conclude that, while the tactile laboratory should remain in the engineering curriculum, the pedagogy can reflect the increasing use of information technology in the manufacturing industries without compromising student learning.     

Integrating Design Education,Research and Practice at Carnegie Mellon: A Multi-disciplinary Course in Wearable Computers

The Engineering Design Research Center (EDRC) at Carnegie Mellon University has created a two-semester design course that integrates research and education through industrially-sponsored design projects. Over the six semesters that the course has been taught, teams of undergraduate and graduate students have designed and fabricated five new generations of wearable computers. These computers have been delivered to industrial and government customers for use. The Wearable Computer Design course at the EDRC is cross-disciplinary and inter-departmental, drawing students from four colleges in nine disciplines including five engineering departments (chemical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, electrical and computer engineering, mechanical engineering, and engineering and public policy), architecture, computer science, industrial administration and industrial design. Students in this course learn about design theory and practice, participate in research, and successfully deliver products to sponsors. The students are exposed to the design cycle from concept, to multi-disciplinary design tradeoffs, to manufacturing, and finally to customer satisfaction and user feedback. This class also serves as a testbed for learning about the needs of a multi-disciplinary design team, for anticipating the needs of geographically-distributed design teams, for reflecting on the interplay between product design and design process, and for evaluating the design tools and design methodologies that have been developed at the EDRC.     

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.     

Creating a Student Centered Learning Environment at the University of Denver

A team of faculty members at the University of Denver changed the learning environment in key courses in the Department of Engineering from predominately teacher centered to student centered. Through this funded project new grading methods were implemented, classrooms were renovated and wired with studio layouts to facilitate learning, the Engineering Circuits Laboratory was rewired and instrumented for automated data acquisition and reporting, and two new pedagogical approaches were developed. At the onset of the project, six goals were established related to student learning. The introduction of industry standard hardware and software provided students with unprecedented hands‐on experience and project related activities stimulated faculty innovations in other current and future courses. Assessment results indicate that the new grading system improved the clarity of expectations for students before assignments were given resulting in increased reported motivation for learning in many courses. Even though course GPAs did not always reflect higher achievement on graded work, faculty members firmly believe that deeper understanding was achieved because more complex material was assimilated.     

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.     

Computer simulation for quality and reliability engineering

Computer simulation has been used widely in many industries for many applications. A simulation model mimics a real world system, enabling an investigation of its operation. More recently simulation models have incorporated a visual display and interactive features to aid understanding and enhance the investigation. Computer simulation has many potential uses in quality and reliability engineering, for instance, modelling equipment failures, quality control strategies, maintenance requirements and operational logistics. A case study shows how simulation has been used to study the throughput, flexibility and robustness of a manufacturing plant design. Alternative simulation software packages are briefly discussed.     

Implementation of Interdisciplinary Group Learning and Peer Assessment in a Nanotechnology Engineering Course

Nanotechnology is an inherently interdisciplinary field that has generated significant scientific and engineering interest in recent years. In an effort to convey the excitement and opportunities surrounding this discipline to senior undergraduate students and junior graduate students, a nanotechnology engineering course has been developed in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University over the past two years. This paper examines the unique challenges facing educators in this dynamic, emerging field and describes an approach for the design of a nanotechnology engineering course employing the non‐traditional pedagogical practices of collaborative group learning, interdisciplinary learning, problem‐based learning, and peer assessment. Utilizing the same nanotechnology course given the year before as a historical control, analysis of the difference between measures of student performance and student experience over the two years indicates that these practices are successful and provide an educationally informed template for other newly developed engineering courses.     

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.     

A Comparative Assessment of Students'Experiences in Two Instructional Formats of an Introductory Materials Science Course

An educational experiment at Worcester Polytechnic Institute is described in which the instruction of the Introduction to Materials Science course (ES2001) was modified to incorporate active and cooperative learning. The overall goal was simultaneously to enhance educational quality and faculty productivity. Aspects of the course modification included use of “active” rather than traditional lectures, assignment of students to cooperative learning teams, introduction of a “product dissection project,” and a “teacher as manager” approach to instruction, in which undergraduate Peer Learning Assistants and the graduate Teaching Assistant took on responsibilities as part of the instructional team. Data were gathered from 382 students in three traditional course offerings and two active/cooperative offerings, using various survey instruments to measure students' learning and performance, attitudes about learning, interest in materials science, and their satisfaction with the course.     

团队学习、团队有效性及其影响因素研究

在探讨团队学习的影响因素中,以往研究对团队结构变量的关注较多,但对团队认知变量关注较少。该研究以现场实验的方法,将来自浙江大学某学院选修市场调查与分析课程的84名学生以自愿的方式组成3—5人的共22个项目学习团队,并对其学习过程进行了研究。结果发现,团队信任与团队学习策略对团队学习行为具有显著正效应,团队信任与团队学习策略对团队有效性具有显著正效应,团队学习行为在团队信任与团队学习策略对团队有效性的影响中具有中介作用。     

Two Way Integration of Engineering Education through a Design Project

Horizontal and vertical integration of engineering education is achieved through an early‐design project where students get acquainted with Total Quality Management (TQM) principles and design processes from year‐one of their University education. The project is embedded in the undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum as an activity that involves horizontally several first‐year subjects and vertically a fourth‐year Project Management Practice course and a related Project Management subject. An assessment of the integrated design project indicates that effective teaching and learning spreads through the curriculum, with fourth‐year students acting as project managers and experiencing engineering practice. These management and leadership training processes include a shared responsibility in the organization and in the development of the project, which are key factors for the success of the integrated activity. They are also a first step towards the ETSEQ goal of becoming a sustainable student‐centered educational system.     

The Effects of Personality Type on Engineering Student Performance and Attitudes

The Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI) was administered to a group of 116 students taking the introductory chemical engineering course at North Carolina State University. That course and four subsequent chemical engineering courses were taught in a manner that emphasized active and cooperative learning and inductive presentation of course material. Type differences in various academic performance measures and attitudes were noted as the students progressed through the curriculum. The observations were generally consistent with the predictions of type theory, and the experimental instructional approach appeared to improve the performance of MBTI types (extraverts, sensors, and feelers) found in previous studies to be disadvantaged in the engineering curriculum. The conclusion is that the MBTI is a useful tool for helping engineering instructors and advisors to understand their students and to design instruction that can benefit all of them.     

Renewal of a Flagging Environmental Engineering Program: Start at the Beginning

Abstract Environmental engineering is in popular demand with students and employers. Despite the demand, the environmental engineering program at the University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR) had declined in recent years. A concerted effort is now being made to improve the attractiveness and quality of UMR's program, beginning with the introductory environmental engineering course offered by the Civil Engineering Department. An experimental section of the introductory course offered in the 1994 spring semester used a semester-long design project, team exercises, field trips and imaginative demonstrations, active learning strategies, and extensive discussions of environmental engineering practice to improve student learning and interest. Results were encouraging. Students performed well and gave the course good evaluations; interest in the environmental program appears to be on the upswing.