Engineering Education Commons^™

The Challenge Of Educating Engineers For A Close, Crowded And Creative World, Ela Krawczyk, Mike Murphy

Books/Book chapters

The world that is emerging based on the development and everyday use of new technologies is a world that can be described as close, crowded and creative. Studies have highlighted that traditional curricula and pedagogical methods for engineering education are deficient in terms of developing and nurturing key skills required by engineers to succeed in this world. The challenge for the engineering academic leaders of today is to begin with the end in mind: to begin with a description of the competences that the engineer of the future should have in order to succeed in their aspirations as an engineer, …

A Systems View Of Time-Dependent Ethical Decisions, Hamid A. Rafizadeh, Brad Kallenberg

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Every ethical situation has a "system" characteristic with a group of human and nonhuman elements linked in a variety of interactions and interdependencies. The system allows the elements to act in part or as a whole towards achieving a spectrum of goals, objectives, or ends. The systems view asserts that any local and bipolar understanding of an ethical situation would be deficient as it would neglect certain interactions and interdependencies as well as overlook differing orientations of agents towards different goals and objectives. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the need for a systems-based view of ethics.

The Theological Origins Of Engineering, Brad Kallenberg

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Knowledge of our roots can sometimes help us figure out how we ought to proceed. Many claim that engineering began in ancient antiquity with the Egyptian pyramids, Archimedes' inventions, or the Roman aqueducts. Others give contemporary engineering a more recent history, tracing its origins to the Industrial Revolution or the Enlightenment. Yet what is often overlooked is the fact that contemporary engineering owes part of its identity to medieval monasticism.

The advantage of remembering this history is the bearing it has on the questions "What is engineering for?" and "How ought engineering be practiced?"

Michael Davis makes the claim that, …

Rubric For Assessing Epistemological Understanding Of Students Who Are Learning Design., Shannon Chance

Conference papers

There is an extensive base of literature that attempts to describe how college students understand “knowledge” and their role in generating it. Educators draw from this literature to help students develop increasingly sophisticated ways of using knowledge. Although existing research aims for broad generalizability, it is clear that various disciplines have developed their own unique value systems. Scholars of “hard,” physical science are likely to hold very different ideas about the nature of “fact” and “inevitability” than those in the “softer,” social sciences [1]. Various disciplines conceptualize, use, and generate new knowledge in ways that differ dramatically, yet little research …

Impact Of Stem Focused Project Based Learning Activities On Career Education For K-12 And Community College Students, Alok K. Verma

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Low enrollment and high attrition rates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) based degree programs have created a workforce problem in industries like shipbuilding and repair which are important for national security. Part of this problem can be attributed to pedagogical issues like lack of engaging hands-on activities utilized for science and math education in middle and high schools. Lack of student interest in technical careers can also be attributed to lack of an integrated approach in teaching math, science and technical education. To engage student's interest in the technical career path, it is important that students establish a …

Implement Smart Sensors With Wireless Communication Protocols With Embedded Microcontrollers In A Capstone Project Design, Steve C. Hsiung, Cory T. Gleason, Lacides A. Osorio, Charles H. Mcginn

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Wireless communication has become popular and widely used in our daily lives. Their applications are: Cellular Wireless for telephone systems, data collection, voice communication, and other mobile or extremely remote devices, Bluetooth for low-power applications in short range and moderate date bandwidth, Proprietary ISM (industrial, scientific, medical) protocols used in open frequency bands from 260 to 470 MHz, 902 to 928 MHz, and 2.4GHz, 802.11/WiFi in wireless data communications, 802.15/ZigBee for mesh networks of sensors and controllers, and Z-Wave for low speed wireless protocol of home electronics devices to intercommunicate using reliable protocol that easily travels through walls, floors, and …

Sectionality Or Why Section Determines Grades: An Exploration Of Engineering Core Course Section Grades Using A Hierarchical Linear Model And The Multiple-Institution Database For Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development, George Dante Ricco, Noah Salzman, Russell A. Long, Matthew Ohland

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

No abstract provided.

Low-Ses First-Generation Students’ Decision To Pursue Engineering, Michele L. Strutz, Matthew Ohland

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

The ability of this nation to provide a growing economy, strong health and human services, and a secure and safe nation depends upon a vibrant, creative, and diverse engineering and science workforce” (Blue, et al., 2005, p. 4). To address these global opportunities and challenges, and for the U.S. to remain globally competitive, it is necessary for our engineering workforce to be diverse.Nevertheless, the U.S. cannot claim a diverse engineering workforce, and its engineering student bodies are certainly not diverse despite the legislation and programs put in place to increase racial, gender, and socioeconomic (SES) representation. Programs and resources that …

Exploring Cyberlearning Through A Nsf Lens, Jeremi Shavonda London

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

Phrases like “Let’s Google it” and “Text me” are familiar to the youth of today. Though simple, the phrases speak to a greater reality—the use of computing technology and high-speed communication is ubiquitous. The pervasive use of technology opens up new opportunities for undergraduate STEM education. The NSF Task force on Cyberlearning defines cyberlearning as“the use of networked computing and communications technologies to support learning” (2008,p5). Since the full potential of cyberlearning has not been fully realized in undergraduate education, Program Officers in the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) are interested in exploring the …

Measuring Undergraduate Student Perceptions Of The Impact Of Project Lead The Way, Noah Salzman, Eric L. Mann, Matthew Ohland

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

A survey was distributed to the entire undergraduate student body at a large public university on students’ experiences in Project Lead The Way, a popular middle school and high school technology and engineering program. The survey included demographic questions including academic major, questions on which PLTW classes the students took in high school, and Likert-type ratings of those experiences.Of the responses to the survey (n=575), slightly fewer than half (n=252) indicated that they had participated in PLTW classes in high school. Approximately half of the respondents were majoring in engineering, one quarter in engineering technology, and the rest were distributed …

Scaffolding Undergraduate Engineering Design Education With The Wellbeing Framework, Lindsey Anne Nelson

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

Increasingly, engineering design educators articulate wanting to embed social sustainability into student projects. Some educators observe that global calls, such as the Grand Challenges of Engineering and the Millennium Development Goals, foster social consciousness while supporting open innovation environments. Using a broad social goal like “poverty alleviation” to frame a course design challenge can help students connect engineering design processes to messages that proclaim engineering as a socially engaged profession [1]. Yet scaffolding student learning in engineering design for poverty alleviation should involve more than a simple directive to create a device for a poor person. The purpose of this …

Knowledge-Enabled Engineering Design: Toward An Integrated Model, Michael Fosmire, David Radcliffe

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Librarians and engineering faculty have long understood that design is one of the defining processes of the engineering profession. In an increasingly knowledge-driven society, students need to efficiently locate, assess and integrate relevant information into their design process so that they can develop innovation solutions to emerging complex, global grand challenges. Increasingly, engineering curricula are incorporating design as early as the first year, but a question remains as to how effectively information literacy is being integrated into these early experiences of design. For example, the Engineering Change study found there has been very little improvement to lifelong learning skills in …

A Retrospective Study Of The Elementary School Experiences, Influences, Skills, And Traits Of Talented Engineers, Michele L. Strutz

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

No abstract provided.

Access And Definition: Exploring How Stem Faculty, Department Heads, And University Policy Administrators Navigate The Implementation Of A Parental Leave Policy, Corey T. Schimpf, Marisol Mercado Santiago, Alice L. Pawley

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

Access and Definition: Exploring how STEM Faculty, Department Heads and University Policy Administrators Navigate the Enactment of a Parental Leave Policy A key feature in various reports exploring women’s persisting underrepresentation in STEM faculty positions in the US is the need to disseminate policy information to all stakeholders involved in issues relating to women STEM faculty underrepresentation and retention. Indeed, the National Academies of Science Beyond Barriers and Bias: Fulfilling the Potential of Women Academic Science and Engineering (2007) and the AAUW’s Why so Few?(2010) identify institutional policies, like parental leave, as a way to address an outmoded institutional structure …

Automation Laboratory Development Focusing On Industrial Hands-On Experience, Simulation Software, And Application Research Projects, Cheng Y. Lin, John R. Hackworth

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

This paper describes the development of an Automation Control Lab in the Department of Engineering Technology at the University. The lab facility includes pneumatic actuators/sensors, electrical relays/switches, and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC). The major goal of the development is to help students gain hands-on industrial experience by conducting simple projects during the lecture hours and more advanced projects during the lab hours. Simulation software is also applied to reduce implementation time when developing complicated pneumatic circuits and PLC programs. In addition, three examples of industrial automation projects using PLC from the Technology Application Center (TAC) are also introduced to students …

Feasibility Analysis Of Estrification Systems With Entrainers, Kang Wook Lee

Dissertations and Theses

(Ethyl Acetate) and IPA (Isopropyl Acetate) production systems are studied in terms of the feasibility analysis. It is not feasible to retrieve pure products by a simple reactive distillation for IPA production system because CCR (Critical Composition Region) covers the entire desired binary edge for IPA system. On the other hand, even though CCR does not cover the entire desired binary edge of the EA system completely, internal reflux ratio (IRR) analysis does not allow the production of the pure product via reactive distillation for EA production system. To overcome the restraints, external entrainers are utilized to take advantage of …

Open-Ended Project Learning Experience In Graphical Communication, Lulu Sun, Christopher Grant

Publications

This paper includes the implementation of Bloom’s taxonomy in the introduction to graphical communication course and shows how students are moved up Bloom’s taxonomy by changing previous guided individual final project to open-ended projects. Instead of following the instructor’s direction to complete the model design, students are required to research the product they want to design, and build the model by themselves. The open-ended projects enable and challenge students to work on higher level of Bloom’s taxonomy by emphasizing design creativity, exploring real engineering design problem, and enhancing their oral and written skills.

Economics, Innovations, Technology, And Engineering Education: The Connections, John M. Ritz, P. Scott Bevins

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Throughout history the success of economies around the world has in large part been influenced by technological growth and innovations. Along with such growth and innovations came higher living standards and an improved quality of life for citizens residing and participating in those economies. However, not all countries were able to grow and develop at the same rate, resulting in considerable differences in economic welfare across populations. As nations around the world address the 21st century, economic growth and prosperity for some nations will depend upon how well their citizens are equipped and motivated to seek new technological discoveries and …

Creating Multi-Layer Animations In Flash: Two Tutorials A Butterfly Animation And Filling A Glass, Jerome Casey

Instructional Guides

No abstract provided.

A Teaching Practice Review Of The Use Of Multiple-Choice Questions For Formative And Summative Assessment Of Student Work On Advanced Undergraduate And Postgraduate Modules In Engineering, Aidan O'Dwyer

Articles

This paper reflects on, reports on and evaluates the use of multiple-choice questions, in both formative and summative assessment modes, on control engineering modules taken by advanced undergraduate and postgraduate engineering students, over four academic years. The material covered by the modules is analytical in nature. The rationale for examining the assessment strategy was the poor performance by students in a closed book traditional terminal examination on one of the advanced undergraduate modules over some years. The change in assessment strategy has improved student learning, as measured by assessment data; student feedback on the assessment methods is broadly positive. The …