Online and Distance Education Commons^™

An Introductory Course In Electrical Circuits And Coding For Deaf And Deafblind Middle School Students, Becca Leininger, Christina Yang, Makayla Quinn, Jeffrey Jalkio, Rahaf Bahajry, Mellissa Ingabire, Annmarie Thomas

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

in is the first Deaf charter school in the United States, opening in 1993. The school serves students in the Twin Cities and Western Wisconsin from ages 2 to 21 who are primarily Deaf, DeafBlind and Hard of Hearing students, often being visual and/or tactile learners. All students who attend have Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and fall under the special education category, defined by the Minnesota Department of Education as students who “have a disability and need specialized instruction” (Minnesota Department of Education, n.d.). At , students are instructed in American Sign Language (ASL) and English is primarily taught through …

Remote Laboratory For Nuclear Security Education, Anthony R. Galindo, Craig Marianno

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Laboratory experiences for online students are very limited. To fill this gap, educators in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M University developed a series of radiation detection experiments for their remote students. Radiation detection is only one piece of nuclear security. The objective of the current research is to describe the development and execution of three online laboratories that investigate the basic application of physical security sensors that use light, ultrasonics, and heat to detect adversaries. This laboratory complements lecture material from the department’s Nuclear Security System and Design course. Using the Remote Desktop Application, students connect to …

Supporting Students With An Autism Spectrum Disorder In Engineering: K-12 And Beyond, Jennifer L. Kouo, Alexis Hahn, Sarah Morton, Jay Gregorio

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Individuals with disabilities, including individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. With the importance of STEM skills in future employment and other disciplines, effective instructional strategies must be identified to enhance early and sustained access to STEM for students with ASD. However, the literature identifying effective STEM-specific supports and practices for this population of students is sparse and regarding engineering, there are no empirical studies that focus on teaching engineering skills to students with ASD. Therefore, the article aims to provide an overview of the available literature on the perspectives …

Exploring The Relationship Between Teamwork Skills And Team Members' Centrality, Francisco Cima, Pilar Pazos, Ana Maria Canto

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The present paper describes an exploratory study of small teams working on a four-month project as part of a graduate engineering program. The research had two primary goals. The first was to utilize the log files from shared repositories used for team collaboration to describe the network structure of the teams. The second was to determine whether the network centrality of any individual team member is associated with their teamwork skills and attitudes towards the collaboration platform. The relationship between teamwork skills, attitudes towards the collaboration technology, and the centrality index was explored using Pearson correlations. A total of 35 …

Scaffolding Project-Based Learning In An Engineering And Education Partnership Using Open-Access Technology, Pilar Pazos, Stacie I. Ringleb, Jennifer Kidd, Rachel Jones

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper describes the use of a freely-accessible open-source platform based on Google Apps for Education that combines Google Sites, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Hangouts and script language in a custom-based interface that supports collaborative service-learning projects for teams of Engineering and Education students. The approach discussed in this paper was successful in promoting collaboration among students from two different disciplines working remotely. The analysis suggests that balanced participation in the team, presence of shared goals and clear roles that emphasized individual and collective responsibilities were key to a successful interdisciplinary project experience. While many students still reported struggling …

An Examination Of Accessible Hands-On Science Learning Experiences, Self-Confidence In One’S Capacity To Function In The Sciences, And Motivation And Interest In Scientific Studies And Careers., Mick D. Isaacson, Cary Supalo, Michelle Michaels, Alan Roth

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

This study examined the potential relationship of accessible hands-on science learning experiences to the development of positive beliefs concerning one’s capacity to function in the sciences and motivation to consider science as a college major and career. Findings from Likert survey items given before and after engaging in accessible hands-on science laboratories show that students who were blind or had low vision (BLV) were more likely to agree with the following items after engaging in accessible science experiences: 1) I plan on enrolling as a science major in college; 2) My educational experiences, so far, have given me the …

Ambiguity In Speaking Chemistry And Other Stem Content: Educational Implications, Mick D. Isaacson, Michelle Michaels

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Ambiguity in speech is a possible barrier to the acquisition of knowledge for students who have print disabilities (such as blindness, visual impairments, and some specific learning disabilities) and rely on auditory input for learning. Chemistry appears to have considerable potential for being spoken ambiguously and may be a barrier to accessing knowledge and to learning. Educators in chemistry may be unaware of, or have limited awareness of, potential ambiguity in speaking chemistry and may speak chemistry ambiguously to their students. One purpose of this paper is to increase awareness of potential ambiguity in speaking chemistry and other STEM fields …

Teaching Laboratory Courses Using Distance Learning Technologies, Steve C. Hsiung, John Ritz

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Conducting laboratory activities is essential for teaching and learning in engineering and technology subjects. This article discusses explorations made by a research team to find solutions to enable the distance-learning delivery of laboratory courses on embedded microcontroller technology topics. In addition, this article includes a review of videoconferencing and course management tools, uniquely designed laboratory equipment and supporting curriculum materials, and statistical evidence showing students can learn technical laboratory content in distance-learning environments.

Asynchronous Use Of Engineering (Materials) Education Videos, Craig Johnson, Arthur D. Morken

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Engineering education delivery is dynamic and increasingly asynchronous. An observation that students had very different levels of knowledge and skills as they progressed through our programs, led the authors to use audio/visual media as a leveling intervention. In this effort the authors collected data to determine if audio/visual media can be used to increase performance in the development of a program related task and guide students to higher levels of learning on Blooms Taxonomy through the development of student created learning aids.

One specific need was reflected in the disparate skills of our majority component of ‘transfer’ students in our …