ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Introductory Level Problems Illustrating Concepts in Pharmaceutical Engineering
Author: McIver, Keith
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Engineering Education,Scientific Concepts,Introductory Courses,Pharmacology,Computation,Problem Sets,Undergraduate Students,Undergraduate Study,Chemical Engineering,Pretests Posttests

Textbook style problems including detailed solutions introducing pharmaceutical topics at the level of an introductory chemical engineering course have been created. The problems illustrate and teach subjects which students would learn if they were to pursue a career in pharmaceutical engineering, including the unique terminology of the field, common unit operations, calculations pertaining to drug manufacturing, and some of the specific concerns of the industry such as regulations and testing. Over seventy problems have been created; selected problems have been administered to students and their impact evaluated. Students demonstrated significant gains in knowledge of pharmaceutical engineering topics.
Development of a Supplemental Evaluation for Engineering Design Courses
Author: Livesay, Glen A.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Engineering,Engineering Education,Design,Student Evaluation,Student Attitudes,Statistical Significance,Factor Analysis,Audience Response Systems,Job Skills,Student Evaluation of Teacher Performance,Correlation,Student Projects,College Seniors,College Faculty

Compared to the learning that occurs in most engineering courses, the learning that occurs in design courses is more dependent on students, and less dependent on instructors. Because typical course evaluations are instructor-centric and do not provide information about students' contributions to their learning, we developed a supplemental evaluation to assess student actions and attitudes important to a quality design experience. We detected statistically-significant, logical shifts in self-reported practices and attitudes as student cohorts progressed through design projects. Factor analysis showed that the evaluation questions could be grouped into eight thematic categories, with most of the questions assessing student ability to function independently in uncertain situations, self-perception of maturation and achievement, and acceptance of responsibility for learning. Accepting responsibility for learning and believing that design experiences helps transition from being a student to being a professional were correlated with high student ratings of overall instructor performance and overall learning experience. [A bibliography is included.]
The Invention Studio: A University Maker Space and Culture
Author: Forest, Craig R.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Engineering Education,Intellectual Property,Studio Art,Creativity,Creative Activities,Innovation,Design,Laboratories,Undergraduate Students,Program Descriptions,Program Implementation,Educational Environment,Manufacturing,Models,Educational Benefits,Communities of Practice,Active Learning,Hands on Science,Entrepreneurship,Clubs,Financial Support,Outreach Programs,Safety,Student Surveys,Likert Scales,Outcomes of Education,Alumni,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis

Creativity, invention, and innovation are values championed as central pillars of engineering education. However, university environments that foster open-ended design-build projects are uncommon. Fabrication and prototyping spaces at universities are typically &quot;machine shops&quot; where students relinquish actual fabrication activities to trained professionals or are only accessible for academic assignments to highly trained students. The desire to make design and prototyping more integral to the engineering experience led to the creation of The Invention Studio, a free-to-use, 3,000-square-foot maker space and culture at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Though initially founded specifically for the Capstone Design course, the Invention Studio has taken on a life and culture of its own, far beyond just a capstone design prototyping lab. There, 1000 student users per month create things (using $1 million of capital equipment), meet, and mentor each other for at least 25 courses as well as independent personal projects. The Invention Studio is centrally managed and maintained by an undergraduate student group with support from the university staff and courses. In this descriptive program implementation report, the underlying motivation, organization, facilities, outreach, safety, funding, and challenges are presented in order to guide others in the creation of similar environments. The Invention Studio's primary uses and impacts on students are described. The Invention Studio's facilities, infrastructure, and cultural transformation are demonstrating the value and sustainability of hands-on, design-build education to stimulate innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship in engineering undergraduates.
Use of an Authentic, Industrially Situated Virtual Laboratory Project to Address Engineering Design and Scientific Inquiry in High Schools
Author: Gilbuena, Debra M.
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Engineering Education,High Schools,Secondary School Curriculum,Secondary School Teachers,Student Projects,Teaching Methods,Simulated Environment,Computer Simulation,Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Inquiry,Laboratories,Student Motivation,Cognitive Processes,Epistemology,Laboratory Experiments,Questionnaires,Semi Structured Interviews,Instructional Design,Chemistry,Instructional Effectiveness,Barriers

This paper is intended for engineering educators, high school curriculum designers, and high school teachers interested in integrating authentic, project-based learning experiences into their classes. These types of projects may appear complex, but have many advantages. We characterize the successful implementation of one such project, the &quot;Virtual Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Laboratory Project,&quot; in five high schools. Central to the project is a virtual laboratory that simulates a manufacturing process in the integrated circuits industry. It provides opportunities for students to develop and refine solutions to an authentic engineering task through integration of science knowledge, experimentation, analysis, reflection, and iteration. The flexibility in instructional design and the robust, no-cost access enables versatility. The authenticity of the project is shown both to motivate students and develop their epistemological beliefs. The project is also shown to promote student cognition through knowledge integration, engineering design strategies, and evaluation and reflection. In addition, the project allows for teacher assessment of students' progress towards this type of cognition and enables them to identify opportunities to modify their instructional design to promote learning. Finally, we discuss potential barriers to adoption.
An Interactive Simulator-Based Pedagogical (ISP) Approach for Teaching Microcontrollers in Engineering Programs
Author: Tang, Shensheng
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Engineering Education,Conventional Instruction,Teaching Methods,Instructional Effectiveness,Computer Simulation,College Instruction,College Students,Student Projects,Student Attitudes,Questionnaires,Student Evaluation

Microcontrollers is a required course in most Electrical, Computer, and Mechanic Engineering (Technology) programs at U.S. universities. Most engineering courses (e.g., microcontrollers), by nature, introduce abstract concepts, definitions, and models, and use primarily lectures and readings (words, symbols) to transmit information. This traditional engineering educational method has its unique advantages but also serious shortages. In this paper, we analyze the features of the traditional engineering education method and investigate two major reasons that may cause students not to learn engineering curricula, and try to remedy them by proposing an interactive simulator-based pedagogical (ISP) approach for enhancing the teaching and learning process, without compromising the depth or breadth of course materials. Demonstration examples are presented. The effectiveness of the ISP approach is evaluated from both the questionnaire-based assessment and the outcome-based assessment. The ISP approach can be incorporated into a variety of educational settings.
Evolution of Technical Writing in Senior Design--A Case History
Author: Gnanapragasam, Nirmala
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Technical Writing,Engineering Education,Design,Student Projects,Program Development,Program Implementation,College Seniors,Interdisciplinary Approach,English Departments,Civil Engineering,Industry,Teacher Selection,Adjunct Faculty,Advisory Committees,Feedback (Response),Educational Quality,Program Evaluation,Student Attitudes,Alumni,Partnerships in Education,Communication Skills

Seattle University has an industrially sponsored, yearlong, senior design program that has been in existence for more than 20 years. Students work in teams of three or four under the guidance of a liaison from the sponsoring agency and a faculty advisor. The students prepare a proposal in the fall quarter detailing their plan and a design report in spring quarter. Technical writing is an important component in the design program. For the past two decades the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has partnered with the English Department faculty members and students, technical writers from industry, and engineering practitioners to improve the technical writing component. This paper discusses the evolution and implementation of the technical writing component within senior design, describes the experience and the lessons learned over the years. It also presents the assessment results and/or reflections by the various constituents. The experience shared should be helpful to other senior design programs.
Assessing an Entrepreneurship Education Project in Engineering Studies by Means of Participatory Techniques
Author: Ortiz-Medina, Leovigilda
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Entrepreneurship,Program Evaluation,Student Needs,Teamwork,Networks,Knowledge Economy,Student Attitudes,Agricultural Engineering,Engineering Education,Foreign Countries,Social Networks,Social Support Groups,Teaching Methods,Alumni,Rural Areas,Risk,Student Motivation,Semi Structured Interviews,Participant Observation,Hermeneutics

The new imperatives of the knowledge-based society require engineering students to equip themselves with a broad range of skills, among which entrepreneurship plays a critical role. An academic itinerary was designed with the explicit aim of improving the entrepreneurial attitudes of agricultural engineering students in a state university in southern Spain. Within a wider research framework, this paper focuses on an evaluation of that itinerary using participatory techniques, and on a discussion of the lessons learned in the course of ten years of running the program. The findings highlighted the importance of building a solid support network involving a whole range of aspects and actors, and of carrying out continuous monitoring. The incorporation of this program into the standard curriculum, with a view to ensuring continuity, needs to be combined with other elements such as tutorship, thus providing a flexible response to the students' various needs and demands. Training based on authentic learning, alumni participation and teamwork is recommended. The impact at a personal level is an extra dimension to be borne in mind. The participatory rural appraisal (PRA) methodology proved extremely useful for the purposes of program evaluation, enabling core issues to be identified. The authors would recommend taking the risk of running an entrepreneurship program even if conditions are not entirely favorable. The intensity and enthusiasm of day-to-day work in entrepreneurship education can instill a degree of commitment and motivation in students and academic staff, and inspire them to tackle new challenges.
Efficacy of an Online Resource for Teaching Interpersonal Problem Solving Skills to Women Graduate Students in Engineering
Author: Bekki, Jennifer M.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Graduate Students,Females,Engineering Education,Interpersonal Competence,Problem Solving,Electronic Learning,Doctoral Programs,Instructional Effectiveness,Randomized Controlled Trials,Scoring Rubrics,Statistical Analysis

Interpersonal problem solving skills allow engineers to prevent interpersonal difficulties more effectively and to manage conflict, both of which are critical to successful participation on teams. This research provides evidence that the &quot;Career&quot;WISE online learning environment can improve those skills among women in engineering graduate programs. In a randomized controlled trial, N = 128 female doctoral students were randomly assigned to treatment and wait-list control (WLC) groups; treatment consisted of interacting for at least five hours with an online learning environment with comprehensive instruction in problem-solving applied to common interpersonal situations in the academy. A scenario- based assessment instrument measured participants' ability to describe how they would apply that problem solving to a fictional scenario, and a rubric was used to score the responses. Results showed that treatment group members had better knowledge of interpersonal problem solving steps and were better able to describe how they would apply problem-solving skills to a relevant scenario.
Design and Validation of a Web-Based System for Assigning Members to Teams Using Instructor-Specified Criteria
Author: Layton, Richard A.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teamwork,Cooperative Learning,Computer Software,Validity,College Faculty,Measures (Individuals),Internet,Undergraduate Students,Undergraduate Study,Engineering,Engineering Education,Mathematics

A significant body of research identifies a large number of team composition characteristics that affect the success of individuals and teams in cooperative learning and project-based team environments. Controlling these factors when assigning students to teams should result in improved learning experiences. However, it is very difficult for instructors to consider more than a few criteria when assigning teams, particularly in large classes. As a result, most instructors allow students to self-select teams, randomly assign teams, or, at best, balance teams on a very limited number of criteria. This paper describes the design of &quot;Team-Maker,&quot; a web-based software tool that surveys students about criteria that instructors want to use when creating teams and uses a max-min heuristic to determine team assignments based on distribution criteria specified by the instructor. The &quot;Team-Maker&quot; system was validated by comparing the team assignments generated by the &quot;Team-Maker&quot; software to assignments made by experienced faculty members using the same criteria. This validation experiment showed that &quot;Team-Maker&quot; consistently met the specified criteria more closely than the faculty members. We suggest that &quot;Team-Maker&quot; can be used in combination with the &quot;Comprehensive Assessment of Team-Member Effectiveness&quot; (&quot;CATME&quot;) peer evaluation instrument to form a powerful faculty support system for team-based and cooperative learning and for a variety of research purposes. Internet access to both the &quot;Team-Maker&quot; and &quot;CATME&quot; systems is freely available to college faculty in all disciplines by selecting the &quot;request faculty account&quot; button at https://www.catme.org.
SENSE IT: Teaching STEM Principles to Middle and High School Students through the Design, Construction and Deployment of Water Quality Sensors
Author: Hotaling, Liesl
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Middle School Students,High School Students,STEM Education,Water Quality,Measurement Equipment,Faculty Development,Program Evaluation,Environmental Education,Middle School Teachers,Secondary School Teachers,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Information Technology,Workshops,Design,Interviews,Teacher Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Correlation,Algebra,Energy,Science Tests,Mathematics Tests,Scores,Socioeconomic Status,Institutional Characteristics,Engineering Education

This paper describes the structure and impact of an NSF-funded ITEST project designed to enrich science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education using educational modules that teach students to construct, program, and test a series of sensors used to monitor water quality. During the two years of the SENSE IT project, over 30 teachers across New York State were provided with equipment and professional development, and then implemented the modules in their classrooms with over 1,700 middle and high school students. Project evaluation results indicate that the curriculum was well received by teachers and students, could be integrated into several different subject areas and types of courses, and was effective for a wide range of students.
Haptic Paddle Enhancements and a Formal Assessment of Student Learning in System Dynamics
Author: Gorlewicz, Jenna L.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: College Instruction,Laboratory Equipment,Undergraduate Students,Engineering Education,Robotics,Middle Schools,High Schools,Electronics,Design,Teaching Methods,Simulated Environment,Computer Simulation,Hands on Science,Mechanics (Physics),Technology Uses in Education,Computer Software,Multiple Choice Tests,Student Evaluation,Concept Formation,Instructional Effectiveness,Pretests Posttests,Lecture Method

The haptic paddle is a force-feedback joystick used at several universities in teaching System Dynamics, a core mechanical engineering undergraduate course where students learn to model dynamic systems in several domains. A second goal of the haptic paddle is to increase the accessibility of robotics and haptics by providing a low-cost device for middle and high school teachers and students, a goal which has been hindered to date by the lack of low-cost electronic solutions for motor control and computer interfacing. Prior assessments of the learning enabled by the paddles at the college level have been qualitative, consisting of anecdotal case studies illustrating student and educator belief that they enhance learning and increase student enthusiasm. In this paper, we describe haptic paddle design enhancements and provide a formal assessment of student learning when interacting with haptic paddles. Design enhancements seek to enable broad dissemination and improve the student experience by making the paddle less expensive (less than $100 for a complete system including electronics) and easier to use. Our formal assessment quantifies if and when learning occurs in a System Dynamics course featuring haptic paddle laboratories, via multiple choice quizzes presented at various time points to measure learning in the lecture, in the lab, during lab report writing, and at the end of the semester.
Preliminary Assessment of the Emporium Model in a Redesigned Engineering Mechanics Course
Author: Rais-Rohani, Masoud
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Engineering,Engineering Education,Mechanics (Physics),Educational Change,Models,Teaching Methods,Comparative Analysis,Blended Learning,College Students,Class Activities,Laboratory Experiments,Computer Uses in Education

A lecture-based engineering mechanics course (Statics) is redesigned using the Emporium model. Whereas students study the material outside of class via asynchronous online delivery of the content and instructional videos, they do all the other activities (e.g., assignments, tests) either individually or in groups inside the classroom. Computer- and experiment-based assignments are used to engage students in active and collaborative learning. While supervising all the in-class activities, the course instructor and the learning assistants offer guidance to students as requested. Following a successful pilot study in spring 2009, all sections of the course were converted to the Emporium model and coordinated by the same instructor. The learning outcomes in the Emporium-based Statics and student grades in two subsequent courses are compared to those using the lecture-based approach. Details of the course redesign, learning outcomes, and student perceptions are presented to reveal opportunities and challenges in adoption of this model in other engineering courses.
Tools for Large-Scale Data Analytic Examination of Relational and Epistemic Networks in Engineering Education
Author: Madhavan, Krishna
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Engineering Education,Information Systems,Information Retrieval,Social Networks,Concept Mapping,Mathematics,Computation,Time,Intervals,Data Analysis,Models,Visualization,Literature Reviews,Data Collection,Design,Program Implementation

The proliferation of digital information technologies and related infrastructure has given rise to novel ways of capturing, storing and analyzing data. In this paper, we describe the research and development of an information system called Interactive Knowledge Networks for Engineering Education Research (iKNEER). This system utilizes a framework that combines large-scale data mining techniques, social network mapping algorithms, and time-series analysis, to provide a mechanism for analyzing and understanding data about the engineering education community. We provide a detailed description of the algorithms, workflows, and the technical architecture we use to make sense of publications, conference proceedings, funding information, and a range of products derived from research in EER (also known as knowledge products). Finally, we demonstrate one possible application of iKNEER by applying topic modeling techniques to a subset of the data to identify the emergence and growth of research topics within the community thereby illustrating the unique epistemic value of this knowledge platform. The system can be found at http://www.ikneer.org.
Observing Engineering Student Teams from the Organization Behavior Perspective Using Linguistic Analysis of Student Reflections and Focus Group Interviews
Author: Kearney, Kerri S.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Engineering Education,Group Activities,Observation,Reflection,Focus Groups,Computer Science Education,Organizational Theories,Group Dynamics,Group Behavior,Case Studies,Qualitative Research,Undergraduate Students,Computational Linguistics

This paper investigates group/team development in computer engineering courses at a University in the Central USA from the perspective of organization behavior theory, specifically Tuckman's model of the stages of group development. The investigation, conducted through linguistic analysis of student reflection essays, and through focus group interviews, also presents STEM education researchers with a method to obtain nuanced information about interpersonal skills issues such as how groups and teams function. A third contribution of the paper is a review of the organizational behavior literature on teams and groups with a concern for its application to modern engineering education.