bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Enhancing Engineering Students' Communication Skills Through Multimedia Instruction
Authors: Vest David , Palmquist Michael , Zimmerman Donald 
Published: January 2013

AbstractAfter discussing the communication requirements in the engineering work place and what universities have done to prepare students for this environement, this article describes a project aimed at developing multimedia, interactive courseware for use by engineering students and faculty. This courseware is being designed to maximize student exposure to pragmatic communication processes and problem‐solving without requiring engineering faculty to diminish the technical content of their courses. The article discusses design criteria, implementation issues, evaluation processes, and the time table for project completion.
Measuring the Retention Strategies of a Minority Engineering Program: A Service Quality Perspective
Authors: Hermond Douglas 
Published: January 2013

AbstractMinority Engineering Programs (MEPs) use several strategies designed to retain underrepresented minorities in engineering disciplines. It is necessary to evaluate MEPs to determine which strategies contribute to the effective recruitment and retention of minorities in engineering disciplines. One method of measuring program effectiveness is to solicit the opinion of minority students about program effectiveness since they use the MEP services. This article discusses the development and administration of an instrument to assess the quality of service minority engineering freshmen received from an MEP. The results indicate that students were generally satisfied with the quality of service they received from the seven retention strategies the institution employed. These results lend further credibility to the best practices used by MEPs and is an additional piece of the evaluation puzzle that provides empirical evidence to support the effectiveness of MEP retention strategies.
Building a World View: A Course in Environmental Literacy for Undergraduates
Authors: Nix Stephan J. , Hirtzel Cynthia S. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThis paper presents a description and discussion of a course developed and implemented with an explicit objective of fostering technical literacy, on the subject of the environment, in non‐engineering students. The course, entitled “Energy, Environment and Ecology”, was an introductory‐level course designed for a diverse audience of non‐engineers. The course provides an exploration and investigation of some of the fundamental ways in which our sources of energy, our environment and ecological systems are related and interrelated. On a broader scale, we believe that this course presents one example of the ways in which engineering colleges and their faculty can help to raise the technical literacy of all students and contribute to the centrality and quality of the universities of which they are a part.
Writing‐Across‐the‐Curriculum in an Engineering Program
Authors: Manuel‐Dupont Sonia 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThis article describes a Writing‐Across‐the‐Curriculum (WAC) approach to technical communication in the Civil and Environmental Engineering program at Utah State University. First, a brief survey of other WAC programs utilizing a general education approach, a multi‐year sequence approach, and an intensive single‐course approach are reviewed. Objectives, staffing, funding and continuity issues associated with starting and maintaining these WAC programs are examined. Then USU's WAC program is profiled. USU has a set of linked engineering and writing courses, taught over the course of two quarters, by permanent faculty in Engineering and English. The goals, course objectives, and procedures for the Professional Writing/Introduction to Environmental Engineering component and the Scientific Writing/Fluid Mechanics component are given in detail.
Engineering Ethics: What? Why? How? And When?
Authors: Harris Charles Edwin , Davis Michael , Pritchard Michael S. , Rabins Michael J. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractEngineering 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?
Developing Business Awareness and Team Skills: The Use of a Computerized Business Game
Authors: Chapman Graham M. , Martin John 
Published: January 2013

AbstractEngineering graduates are expected to be not only technically proficient, but also to exhibit a sound commercial awareness and the ability to participate effectively as part of an integrated management team. This paper examines the way these important interpersonal skills can be developed with the use of a computerized business game. In particular it will focus on the way participation, as a team member, in the business game can facilitate the development of these vitally important personal skills.
Student Learning and Gender
Authors: Tonso Karen L. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractUsing a qualitative research design and an anthropological theory of learning, I studied a sophomore design class to investigate how teams of women and men student engineers acquired and shared scientific and technical knowledge while developing solutions to real‐world problems for government and industry clients. The course provided a forum where women and men students not only learned technical information critical to their project, but also learned how to function as engineers on a team. The design class improved some women students' experiences, but these opportunities did not exist for all women in the class or in all settings on the campus. In spite of its notable successes, some facets of the organization of the course, its implementation by the faculty, and students' beliefs that their work was “basically useless” detracted from collaborative aims. These findings suggest classroom practices to create and maintain an environment where all students can participate and learn.
Poetry in Engineering Education
Authors: Millan Harriet Levin 
Published: January 2013

AbstractAn important element of integrating disciplines and enhancing creativity in Drexel University's engineering curriculum is an assignment which combines poetry and engineering. For this assignment, students choose an artifact, research it, create a one‐page annotated visual explaining how it works, and then write an original poem about it. Although the poetry instruction, based on a transactional model, takes place in the Humanities classroom, student poems become a component of a concurrent engineering assignment and are read aloud in an engineering lecture, attended by humanities faculty, designated as the “Poetry Reading.” Short in length and having a distinct design on the page, poetry is a particularly suitable literary medium for engineering students to explore. Students relinquish stereotypes about engineers when they see their engineering professor endorse poetry. They also begin to broaden their educational and professional goals.
Engineering Curriculum Reform at Aalborg University
Authors: Luxhøsj James T , Hansen Poul H.K. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractAalborg University in the north Jutland region of Denmark was chartered in 1974 and represents an innovative educational experiment with project‐based teaching concepts. The University opened with approximately 900 students and currently enrolls an estimated 10,000. This paper examines how project‐based teaching at Aalborg University has led to major engineering curriculum reforms. The Danish education initiatives are also compared to recent National Science Foundation efforts to integrate the teaching of design and economics in the United States.
SpaceStation©—Computer Simulation Tool Demonstrating Biological Systems
Authors: Pitts Marvin J. , Davis Denny C. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractA computer‐based SpaceStation© simulation program written to introduce first‐year college students to concepts in biological systems engineering was tested in two freshman engineering courses. The program modeled the interactions among a human crew, fish, microbes, and plants in a closed environment with fixed amounts of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water. Students were asked to rebalance the system after a significant percentage of the crew left or entered the station. The experience gained through working with the simulation helped the students discuss interactions within the system. The simulation and related discussion about the project were well‐received by students. Presentations made by the students demonstrated creative involvement, awareness of interactions in biological systems, and increased awareness of the profession. The simulation developed only introductory levels of design skill in the students.
Student Cooperative Learning Workshops Go Mainstream: UMR's Excel Program
Authors: Haynes W. Lance , Riordan Catherine A. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractWe 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.
A Learning Experience: The Technology Innovation Program
Authors: Jackson Barrie , Gordon John R. M. , Chisholm James D. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThe Technology Innovation Program (TIP) is a cooperative educational venture between the Department of Chemical Engineering and the School of Business at Queen's University at Kingston, Canada. First incorporated into the curriculum of senior year business and chemical engineering students in the 1994–1995 school year, TIP provides an invaluable opportunity for these students to work together in multi‐disciplinary teams on real projects for industry clients. An academically rigorous exercise, TIP uses non‐traditional instructional means such as problem‐based learning, multi‐disciplinary teams, and self‐directed project work to create a learning environment paralleling that of the professional engineer or business person. Although it is still evolving, the Technology Innovation Program provides a model for other educational ventures seeking to bridge engineering and business, and to establish valuable links between the university and industry, while simultaneously easing the graduating student's transition into the workplace.
Advanced Engineering Communication: An Integrated Writing and Communication Program for Materials Engineers
Authors: Hendricks Robert W. , Pappas Eric C. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThis 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.
The Heroic Engineer
Authors: Broome Taft H. , Peirce Jeff 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThis paper is about the adjustment between real life and the growing knowledge of life. Real life refers here to the life of the good person and good citizen of a free society. The growing knowledge of life refers mainly to formal engineering education, but also to such informal mentoring as may be witnessed in engineering practice. What character traits in engineers compel them to care about others and enable them to live principled lives? How can engineering faculty help engineering students develop these traits? Our response to the first question relies on the scholarly viewpoint that immaturity in adults is a national problem for U.S. Americans. Our response to the second question relies on Joseph Campbell's antidote for immaturity in adults—the mythic hero's journey. Cases are studied wherein engineering teachers help engineering students achieve heroism: inwardly, by telling them stories of heroism in the practice of engineering; outwardly, by conditioning their learning experiences for heroism.
Quality Improvement in a College of Engineering Instructional Program
Authors: Benefield Larry D. , Trentham Landa L. , Khodadadi Karen , Walker William F. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThis paper summarizes one institution's efforts to develop an ongoing strategy for gathering and analyzing data from constituents for use in appraisal and improvement efforts in its instructional programs. Although a large number of different constituents were identified, for logistical reasons it was decided to focus on five groups: undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, alumni and industry. The primary emphasis of this paper is on the results from the alumni and industry surveys. Demographics of these two groups are given and the influence of these characteristics on responses to survey questions is noted. Comparisons drawn among the two groups show that alumni and industry responses are virtually identical on the importance of specific attributes associated with newly graduated engineers. A short discussion is also given which compares the responses of all five constituent groups on certain instructional program attributes.
Combining Kolb Learning Styles and Writing to Learn in Engineering Classes
Authors: Sharp Julie E. , Harb John N. , Terry Ronald E. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThis article combines Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) assignments and the learning styles theory of David Kolb to enhance learning through writing in engineering education. Writing assignments are categorized by their appeal to each of four types of learners: divergers (Type 1), assimilators (Type 2), convergers (Type 3), and assimilators (Type 4). Specific WAC assignments are related to educational objectives in each of the four basic quadrants of the Kolb Learning Cycle, and examples are provided. Our purpose is to describe the Kolb Learning Cycle as a guide to using specific WAC writing assignments in engineering classes and to encourage a diversity of teaching styles.
The Role of Spatial Reasoning in Engineering and the Design of Spatial Instruction
Authors: Hsi Sherry , Linn Marcia C. , Bell John E. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractMany believe that spatial reasoning and visualization contribute to success in engineering. To investigate this view, we a) studied how students in engineering and engineers in professional practice solved spatial reasoning problems, b) designed and implemented spatial strategy instruction, and c) characterized the impact of spatial instruction on engineering course performance. In the span of 4 years, over 500 students have used our spatial strategy instruction that includes hands‐on activities, innovative computer courseware, and problem‐solving assessments. We studied 153 students in an introductory engineering course. Overall, students made significant progress in spatial reasoning. In addition, gender differences in the ability to generate orthographic projections on the pre‐test disappeared on the post‐test. Spatial reasoning ability was a significant predictor of overall course grade, and strong spatial skills were necessary for success on the course exams. Spatial strategy instruction helps students build a repertoire of approaches for engineering problem solving and contributes to confidence in engineering, especially for women. We recommend starting instruction on spatial strategies used by practicing engineers in introductory engineering courses and building on these skills throughout the curriculum.
A New Graduate Educational Program in Electronic Packaging and Reliability (EPAR)
Authors: Joshi Yogendra , Barker Donald B. , Ojalvo Morris S. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractA new specialization, at the graduate level, in Electronic Packaging and Reliability (EPAR) at the University of Maryland is described. This program was initiated to meet the growing industrial need for interdisciplinary expertise in the area of electronic packaging. Currently, a framework of appropriate coursework, examinations, and research projects leading to M.S. and Ph.D. degrees is in place. In order to meet the coursework requirements for these degrees, new introductory and specialized courses have been developed at three levels. The first level core courses serve as the entry points into the graduate program. More focused courses are offered at the second and third levels. Students in the EPAR program are generally required to take half of the academic credits from these courses and the other half as traditional engineering core courses in mechanics, vibrations, reliability, thermal engineering, and computer aided design. In order to respond effectively to the evolving nature of the field, the EPAR courses are kept current by strong industrial participation. Many of the specialized graduate courses include guest lectures by industrial experts. In addition to the full semester graduate courses, a number of shorter educational modules have also been developed for use in a just‐in‐time fashion in existing traditional courses and curricula. Currently, approximately twenty students are enrolled in the EPAR program.
A Comparative Evaluation of World Wide Web‐Based and Classroom Teaching
Authors: Wallace David R. , Mutooni Philip 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThis paper investigates the hypothesis that the World Wide Web (WWW) presents a new opportunity to interactively present and disseminate curricula. The WWW appears to have the flexibility needed to let students order the material and choose the presentation format that best suit their preference. The objective of this paper is twofold: to develop a general web‐lecture structure that provides such flexibility, and to compare its efficacy with a classroom style lecture. The average grade performance of the students receiving web instruction was higher than for those receiving traditional classroom instruction. An achieved significance level of 0.063 provides reasonably strong evidence to reject the hypothesis that the two groups performed equally. Analysis of web‐lecture use patterns revealed that the web‐group students spent roughly the same amount of time on‐line as the classroom group spent in lecture.However, the web group typically covered the materials in three short 30 minute sessions as opposed to one 90 minute lecture. Different students in the web group showed different preferences for either video or text‐with‐image presentation of materials. In a focus group, web students indicated that they valued the ability to pace their learning and review materials as needed. The positive results of this preliminary study raise the question of how teaching could change to exploit information technology and provide more effective and economical engineering education. Primary learning might take place individually through a medium such as the WWW, thus liberating classroom time for experiential activities.
Taking Another Look at Educating African American Engineers: The Importance of Undergraduate Retention
Authors: Reichert Monty , Absher Martha 
Published: January 2013

AbstractIn this paper we identify the engineering schools that either graduate large classes of African Americans or that retain relatively high percentages of African American students in engineering; point out that modest improvements in student retention would significantly affect the total number of bachelors degrees earned annually by African Americans in engineering; examine the measures implemented by some schools that are particularly effective at retaining African Americans in engineering; and present our views on the future of diversity efforts in engineering. The message we wish to emphasize is that at the very least colleges and universities should endeavor to retain those under represented minority undergraduates who have decided to pursue an engineering education. Frequently used abbreviations EWC — Engineering Workforce Commission, HBCU — historically black college or university, MEP — minority engineering program, MES — minority engineering society, MRR — minority retention rate, NACME — National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, TWI — traditionally white institution
Faculty Perceptions of Academe's Evaluation System
Authors: Lee Jo Ann , Castella Dawn M. , Middleton Silvia G. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThis study examined faculty views of the academe's reward system. The study sought to investigate faculty perceptions of the current evaluation system and “how it should be.” Five hundred six engineering faculty at seven universities responded to a questionnaire regarding the methods used to evaluate teaching, the amount of emphasis placed on research, service and teaching and the flexibility of the present system. The results indicate that faculty perceive discrepancies between the current system and what they prefer. They tend to favor a more flexible system that rewards not only research but also teaching and service activities. Open‐ended comments focused on including broader measures of research activities in the evaluation process and improving the quality of teaching. It is hoped that these findings can serve as a model for many institutions considering changes in the faculty reward system.