Engineering Commons^™

Pltl Develops Scholars For Majors In The Built-Environment​, Shpat Halili, Calvin O. Walters Jr.

Publications and Research

The National Science Foundation S-STEM program at NYC College of Technology (City Tech), Developing an Ecosystem of STEM success for Built Environment Scholars (Award Number 2150432), focuses on supporting and developing scholars in the majors relating to the Built Environment. The proposed project includes the expansion of Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) at City Tech. The PLTL model creates a supportive learning environment and supplements the faculty-centered classroom with student-led and student-oriented workshops. At City Tech, existing workshops provide curricular support in statics and mathematics. The PLTL program benefits promising first-year STEM students, and the S-STEM program utilizes the PLTL model …

Student Use Of Anchors And Metacognitive Strategies In Reflection, Anu Singh, Heidi A. Diefes-Dux

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Context: Self-regulation, a skillset involving taking charge of one’s own learning processes, is crucial for workplace success. Learners develop self-regulation skills through reflection where they recognize weaknesses and strengths by employing metacognitive strategies: planning, monitoring, and evaluating. Use of anchors assists learners’ engagement in reflection. Purpose or Goal: The purpose of this work was to gain insight into students’ use of anchors when reflecting on their learning. The two research questions: (1) To what extent do students link their self-evaluation and learning objective (LO) self-ratings to their reflections? and (2) What dimensions and level of metacognitive strategies do students use …

Student Understanding Of Kinematics: A Qualitative Assessment, Andrew Cashman, Tom O'Mahony

Publications

In engineering, kinematics is widely regarded as a fundamental topic with the literature agreeing that students possess a wide range in understanding of the topic. This study aims to take a second-order approach by understanding and exploring the qualitatively different ways in which students approach solving kinematics problems. Phenomenography was used to collect data through ten semi-structured interviews with early-stage mechanical engineering students. Following data analysis, four distinct categories of students’ approaches were identified; unstructured, framing the problem, strategic, and conceptual. It was found that these categories could be arranged in a hierarchy and were also supported by secondary epistemic …

Reflection Types And Students’ Viewing Of Feedback In A First-Year Engineering Course Using Standards-Based Grading, Heidi A. Diefes-Dux, Laura M. Cruz Castro

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Background: Feedback is one of the most powerful and essential tools for learning and assessment, particularly when it provides the information necessary to close an existing gap between actual and reference levels of performance. The literature on feedback has primarily focused on addressing strategies for providing effective feedback rather than aspects of students’ readiness to engage with feedback. Purpose/Hypothesis: This study investigated whether reflection, as a routine pedagogical intervention grounded in self-regulated learning theory, promotes the frequency with which students view feedback. Design/Method: A quasi-experimental design was employed to examine the relationship between the use of four different reflection types, …

The Primarily Undergraduate Nanomaterials Cooperative: A New Model For Supporting Collaborative Research At Small Institutions On A National Scale, Steven M. Huges, Mark P. Hendricks, Katherine M. Mullaugh, Mary E. Anderson, Anne K. Bently, Justin G. Clar, Clyde A. Daly Jr., Mark D. Ellison, Z. Vivian Feng, Natalia I. Gonzalex-Pech, Leslie S. Hamachi, Christine L. Heinecke, Joseph D. Keene, Adam M. Maley, Andrea M. Munro, Peter N. Njoki, Jacob H. Olshansky, Katherine E. Plass, Kathryn R. Riley, Matthew D. Sonntag, Sarah K. St. Angelo, Lucas B. Thompson, Emily J. Tollefson, Lauren E. Toote, Korin E. Wheeler

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The Primarily Undergraduate Nanomaterials Cooperative (PUNC) is an organization for research-active faculty studying nanomaterials at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs), where undergraduate teaching and research go hand-in-hand. In this perspective, we outline the differences in maintaining an active research group at a PUI compared to an R1 institution. We also discuss the work of PUNC, which focuses on community building, instrument sharing, and facilitating new collaborations. Currently consisting of 37 members from across the United States, PUNC has created an online community consisting of its Web site (nanocooperative.org), a weekly online summer group meeting program for faculty and students, …

Engineering Students' Perceptions Of Their Development Of Professional Skills, Caitriona Depaor, Una Beagon, Aimee Byrne, Darren Carthy, Patrick Crean, Louise Lynch, Dervilla Niall

Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

A Phenomenographic Study Of Academics Teaching In Engineering Programmes In Ireland: Conceptions Of Professional Skills And Approaches To Teaching Professional Skills, Una Beagon

Doctoral

Engineers play a central role in addressing the challenges which face society. However, the influence of globalisation, disruptive technological change and socially complex problems will greatly affect the way engineers work in the future.

As a result, there have been calls to embrace transformational change in engineering education, yet the literature reveals that many reform efforts have fallen short. Industry and society will therefore continue to look to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to better prepare engineering graduates with the new skills needed to face the challenges of the future. Notwithstanding the critical and valued role that technical engineering subjects have …

Frontier: Discipline-Based Education Research To Advance Authentic Learning In Agricultural And Biological Engineering, Heidi A. Diefes-Dux

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Discipline-based education research (DBER) is research activity aimed at investigating “learning and teaching in a discipline from a perspective that reflects the discipline’s priorities, worldview, knowledge, and practices” for the purpose of producing research-based evidence to improve education in that discipline. DBER arose out of concerns about the quality of post-secondary science education. Physics, chemistry, engineering, biology, geosciences, and astronomy education each have unique DBER histories in the U.S. that date back to the late 1800s or early 1900s when colleges and university systems were expanding and formalizing. The DBER fields accelerated in the 1950s and 1960s as a result …

Engaging First Year Students With Intellectual Property, Marian G. Armour-Gemmen

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Since intellectual property is so important to engineers, creating enthusiasm from the beginning of their engineering studies is imperative. Since first year students have not learned how to apply technological concepts to real life, demonstrating intellectual property could be a challenge. To engage first year engineering students in the concept and the value of intellectual property, students were introduced to basic concepts and applications. Different concepts were applied to real life examples allowing them to interface with technology from an intellectual property perspective. This paper highlights not only patents, but also trademarks and trade secrets.

The Influence Of Connecting Funds Of Knowledge To Beliefs About Performance, Classroom Belonging, Dina Verdín, Jessica Smith, Juan Lucena

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

First-generation college students in engineering accumulate bodies of knowledge through their working-class families. In our ethnographic data of first-generation college students, we identified tinkering knowledge from home and from work, perspective taking, mediational ability, and connecting experiences as knowledge sources brought to engineering. The purpose of this paper was to understand how first-generation college students’ accumulated bodies of knowledge (i.e., funds of knowledge) support their beliefs about performing well in engineering coursework, feeling a sense of belonging in the classroom, and certainty of graduating. Data for this study came from a survey administered in the Fall of 2018 from ten …

Connecting With Deans And Chairs: Tools And Success Stories, Daniel Christie, Sally Fell, Kari Kozak, Anne E. Rauh

Libraries' and Librarians' Publications

No abstract provided.

Forming Key Partnerships To Enhance Graduate Student Programming, Emily K. Hart, Alex Vincent Jannini, Alexander James Johnson, Katy Pieri

Libraries' and Librarians' Publications

The graduate chapter of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE@SU) and the SU STEM Librarian formed a collaborative and mutually beneficial partnership with the goal of enhancing non-curricular educational opportunities for graduate students in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS). By combining the expertise of both organizations, including strategies for event planning, marketing, and outreach, as well as data garnered through event feedback surveys, significant strides were made toward connecting with and better understanding the needs of the ECS graduate students. The goal of this study is to share lessons learned and recommendations for developing successful graduate …

Board 51: An Initial Step Towards Measuring First-Generation College Students’ Personal Agency: A Scale Validation, Dina Verdín, Allison Godwin

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

This research paper describes the development of a scale to measure how first-generation college students use engineering as a tool for making a difference in their community and world or personal agency. Personal agency is a capability that every individual holds; it is described by Bandura as an individual’s beliefs about their capabilities to exercise control over events that affect their lives through purposeful and reflective actions. Agentic actions allow students to explore, maneuver and impact their environment for the achievement of a goal or set of goals. This study identifies how cognitive processes of forethought, intention, reactivity, and reflection …

Stem And Sustainability: Creating Aviation Professional Change Agents, P. Clark, Doreen Mcgunagle, L. Zizka

Publications

With the evolution of the workforce and the growing needs of the aviation industry, a clear need for concrete sustainability initiatives and actions have emerged. Sustainability in this sense becomes a matter of survival. For this reason, in this chapter, we will attempt to close three gaps in current sustainability studies: Theory vs practice, intention vs behavior, and education vs workplace.

Our purpose is to develop a ‘simple’ strategy for integrating all three pillars of sustainability into STEM HE programs that create authentic engagement and real buy-in from the students that are then replicated in the workplace. Based on the …

Task 10: Research An Alternative Instructional Design Model, Steven Hampton, Jan G. Neal, Luis A. Ramirez, Dustin R. Talkington, Jma Solutions, Inc.

Publications

Under authority of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Center of Excellence (COE) Technical Training Human Performance (TTHP) Task 10 research team has prepared a comprehensive technical report and an executive summary for the Air Traffic Organization (ATO) concerning the instructional development (ID) of occupational education and training for Air Traffic (AT) controllers and Technical Operations (TO) technicians. Research included:

• Front-end analysis of available FAA courses and government furnished information (GFI), including course-development documentation and associated guidance, policies, and regulations.

• Structured and semi-structured data-gathering techniques in cooperation with Instructional Systems Specialists (ISS), ISS Managers, and Requirements personnel.

• …

An Engagement Strategy For Teaching Computing Concepts, El Sayed Mahmoud

Publications and Scholarship

The research work in this paper investigates a new teaching strategy that uses active learning through play to increase students’ uptake of learning computing concepts. The strategy promotes student engagement through playing a customized Jenga game. The game consists of a set of blocks, one side of each block is covered with a piece of dry-erase tape to allow erasing and writing on the blocks. This allows instructors to reuse this editable Jenga for developing their own game-based learning activities. The editable Jenga can be used without writing if needed. Three sample activities with writing have been developed and conducted …

Panel: Teaching To Increase Diversity And Equity In Stem, Helen H. Hu, Douglas Blank, Albert Chan, Travis E. Doom

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

TIDES (Teaching to Increase Diversity and Equity in STEM) is a three-year initiative to transform colleges and universities by changing what STEM faculty, especially CS instructors, are doing in the classroom to encourage the success of their students, particularly those that have been traditionally underrepresented in computer science.Each of the twenty projects selected proposed new inter-disciplinary curricula and adopted culturally sensitive pedagogies, with an eye towards departmental and institutional change. The four panelists will each speak about their TIDES projects, which all involved educating faculty about cultural competency. Three of the panelists infused introductory CS courses with applications from other …

Computer Science Technology Education: An Incredible Explosion, Iwasan D. Kejawa

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

This paper explore what computers are, their usages and their functionalities. Computers can be used to learn or comprehend the understanding of all subjects, be it physics aerobics, swimming, biology, mathematics, agriculture, chemistry, business administration or commerce, just to name a few. In education, computers are used to project information to individuals in the classrooms or anywhere education is taking place, in churches, homes, schools, conference halls and so on. It is also used to convey the logic of a subject or behind a topic. Computers play an important role in educating our mind. With the usage of computers, we …

An M-Learning Maturity Model For Universities And Higher Educational Institutes, Luiz Fernando Capretz, Muasaad Alrasheedi, Arif Raza

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

An m-learning maturity model is put forward in this research to assess the mobile technology adoption rates in universities and higher educational institutes. The model is derived from Capability Maturity Model (CMM), which has been widely used in organizations to gauge the adoption of various new processes. Five levels of m-learning maturity are specified including preliminary, established, defined, structured, and continuous improvement. Each of these maturity levels is gauged through nine critical success factors (CSFs) in assessment questionnaires. The CSFs used in measuring instrument of the model are adopted from three of our previous empirical studies. Using an assessment questionnaire …

Graduate-Level Civil Engineering Transportation Course Development – Oregon Tech, Roger Lindgren, David Thaemert, Charles Riley

TREC Final Reports

Three civil engineering professors at the Oregon Institute of Technology (Oregon Tech) undertook a project during the 2014-15 academic year to develop a series of transportation-related graduate courses and to modernize Oregon Tech’s Traffic Engineering Laboratory. Courses were developed in the areas of transportation water resources, transportation structures and traffic engineering. At the completion of this project, Oregon Tech is now capable of increasing the number of students educated in three key civil engineering sub-disciplines that are directly related to transportation. This project, therefore, contributes to all three U.S. Department of Transportation University Transportation Center (UTC) purpose statements: Advance transportation …

Multimodal Transportation Planning Curriculum For Urban Planning Programs, Kristine M. Williams, Tia Claridge, Alexandria Carroll

TREC Final Reports

Integrated multimodal transportation and land use planning is critical to advancing mode choice, public health and safety, and livability objectives. Communities across the U.S. are seeking to redefine their planning process accordingly. In response, university graduate urban planning and engineering programs are beginning to address multimodal planning and sustainable transportation, but most do not yet offer a robust curriculum on these topics. To help address this need, the University of South Florida (USF), Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) developed a curriculum for a course on multimodal transportation planning and its role in advancing livability and related objectives. The course …

Advanced Gis: Smart Transportation, Christopher Bone, Ken Kato, Jacob Bartruff, Marc Schlossberg

TREC Final Reports

As sensors have become cheaper and more common, they have found an increasingly important role in transportation. However, curriculum to prepare students who will be working with these technologies as developers and planners has not developed at the same rate. The goal of this project was to develop a college course focused around sensors and smart transportation to be offered to undergrad and graduate students at the University of Oregon. The class focused on the practical application and the theoretical consequences of these developments. The class was offered in the spring term of 2015 to a group of undergraduate and …

Assessment Of Engineering Writing At Western Washington University, Sura Al-Qudah, Nathan Romond

Writing Research Fellows

Effective writing skills are crucial to the transfer of knowledge and information in all fields. In Engineering, writing skills are the key to communicating the results and findings of engineering analysis, since this analysis is not only represented by graphs, plots, equations, etc. but is also presented in technical reports, lab reports, proposals, and articles. Engineering programs emphasize the importance of teaching students effective writing skills by implementing some writing proficiency courses in their curriculum. However, these programs are usually concerned with how to prepare and assess their students to have effective writing skills to help them in their professional …

Simulation To Application. The Use Of Computer Simulations To Improve Real-World Application Of Learning, Wendi M. Kappers, Stephanie L. Cutler

Publications

Simulations have been used in training and education for years to aid students in gaining the skills needed to complete a task in a low risk environment. However, students can have trouble connecting the skills used in the simulated working environments to skills that are needed to be applied in the real-world environment, referred to as adaptive transfer. The simulations referred to in this study are simulated environments that mirror students kill application, not a simulation of an event that is meant to aid students in the development of concept knowledge around the demonstrated event. This study examines students' ability …

Enhancing Freshman Engineering Instruction With In-Class Interaction Systems And E-Books, Branimir Pejcinovic, Phillip K. Wong

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Electrical engineering students in our department take a year-long series of courses which introduces electrical engineering as a discipline and provides good grounding in engineering problem solving and programing. We have recently attempted to make the second course in the sequence more engaging by applying active learning techniques, including assigned reading and exercises prior to lectures, in-class exercises using a classroom interaction system, and programming exercises during lectures. Our results are mixed: while we think that students have learned more than if we had not used these techniques, we have not completely won over our students. While using an e-book …

Development And Uses Of Iterative Systematic Literature Reviews In Electrical Engineering Education, Branimir Pejcinovic

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

It is expected that most, if not all, graduate students will posses skills necessary for doing literature reviews. It is less clear how to teach these skills most effectively especially to students who are area novices and unfamiliar with review process. Systematic literature reviews offer a solid instructional framework which can be implemented across curriculum and offer an opportunity to teach course material differently so that student learn not just the literature review technique itself but also some segment of the course material. Our pilot study investigated issues related to practical implementation of systematic literature reviews in two classes, with …

Poll Everywhere! Even In The Classroom: An Investigation Into The Impact Of Using Polleverwhere In A Large-Lecture Classroom, Wendi M. Kappers, Stephanie L. Cutler

Publications

Over the past several years, there has been a call in higher education to move from traditional lecturing to a more active classroom. However, many faculty members face multiple challenges when attempting to make a large lecture (over 100 students) an active learning environment. One way researchers have suggested engaging a large lecture is through Concept Tests and Peer Instruction, which can require additional resources to be purchased by students, such as electronic response systems or "clickers." This study will investigate the applicability of utilizing the free software PollEverywhere, which can be accessed using student cell phones (Text messages and …

Mathematics: Creating Value For Engineering Students, Eileen Goold

Conference Papers

While students’ attainment in mathematics and their attitudes about mathematics are strongly inter-related, value is an important concept in mathematics education. It is arguable that lecturers, especially in engineering faculties, know little about the relationships students form with mathematics; for example what value do engineering students place on mathematics learning? Mathematics is often perceived as a difficult subject and it is associated with certainty and with being able to get the right answer. However the narrowness of the assessment process overshadows predictors of achievement behaviour: expectancy (am I able to do the task?) and value (why should I do the …

An Integration Of Pc Hardware & Software In Teaching Engineering Technology Courses, Steve Hsiung, Richard Jones

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

As technology advances, the price of a PC drops dramatically. This trend has resulted in PCs that are complex, powerful, and very affordable. Today's PC is a popular and essential tool in teaching software programming course(s) in C, C++, Visual Basic, or Java, running commercial software supporting courses in circuit simulation/design or circuit board layout, and acting as a workstation to gain access to the Internet or LAN networks. In most Engineering Technology curricula there is a limited amount of linkage between those PC applications. The actual effort to merge the hard-gained knowledge of hardware & software concepts together through …