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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Development Of A Placement Exam To Increase Student Success In A Junior Level Circuits And Systems Class, David Parent Oct 2018

Development Of A Placement Exam To Increase Student Success In A Junior Level Circuits And Systems Class, David Parent

Faculty Publications

In this work, which is intended to be a Full Paper in the Innovative Practice Category, the implementation of an improved placement exam that increased the pass rate in a junior level systems course in the author’s electrical engineering department by 15% is presented. For almost 30 years the author’s EE department has used a face to face exam to place students in a junior level circuits and systems course or into a review workshop. The details of the exam and suggestions about future use in conjunction MyOpenMath analytics to increase student success are also given.


Examination The Impact Of Various Factors On Student Success In An Introduction To Circuit Analysis Course, David Parent Oct 2018

Examination The Impact Of Various Factors On Student Success In An Introduction To Circuit Analysis Course, David Parent

Faculty Publications

In this work in progress, several models to predict student success in a sophomore introduction to circuit analysis class were created based on prior grade point average, grade in a pre-requisite physics class, the semester the pre-requisite physics class was taken, the number of units a student was taking, the number of times a student repeated the circuits class, and the number of times a student repeated any class prior to enrollment. While all models were statistically significant, the model that included prior GPA and the grade in a pre-requisite physics was the most significant for the data collection effort. …


Integration Of An Electrical Engineering Capstone Course With Social Justice And Global Studies, David Parent, Patricia Backer Oct 2018

Integration Of An Electrical Engineering Capstone Course With Social Justice And Global Studies, David Parent, Patricia Backer

Faculty Publications

A four course package (six units total) consisting of two general education (GE) classes and two electrical engineering capstone classes that are taught in a highly integrated manner, that not only meets university GE requirements, but also meets the new ABET criteria in which the need to address a societal need is embedded with design criteria. The prompts for the new integrated GE/capstone Assessment results are also presented, along with methods to increase student motivation for studying GE.


Developing An Evaluation Tool To Examine Motivational Factors Of Non-Student Community Partnership Participants, Julia Thompson, Jinny Rhee Jun 2018

Developing An Evaluation Tool To Examine Motivational Factors Of Non-Student Community Partnership Participants, Julia Thompson, Jinny Rhee

Faculty Publications, Mechanical Engineering

Research of engineering community engagement has primarily focused on the experiences and outcomes of students, yet it is often the faculty, administrators, and community partners who have a long-term commitment to the program’s success. In this study, we are developing and validating an assessment instrument that combines two previously identified aspects of community engagement programs: participant motivation and the nature of engagement relationships. Participant motivation refers to the reasons people stay engaged in the community engagement experience and can be categorized into: student learning and growth, personal and professional development, and benefits to the community organization. The nature of an …


A Study On The Student Success In A Blended-Model Engineering Classroom, Vimal Viswanathan, John Solomon Jun 2018

A Study On The Student Success In A Blended-Model Engineering Classroom, Vimal Viswanathan, John Solomon

Faculty Publications, Mechanical Engineering

One of the primary concern that many engineering educators face is the lack of engagement of students in their classroom. While literature suggests a variety of factors that might negatively influence student engagement, the theory of “Tailored Instructions and Engineered Delivery Using Protocols” (TIED UP) specifically addresses the lack of engagement arising from a weak pre-requisite base. TIED UP is a blended teaching model where the content delivery follows a set of protocols inspired by the brain-based learning approach. In a typical TIED UP classroom, content delivery is performed using short, animated and scripted concept videos that are generated before …


Application Of Brain-Based Learning Principles To Engineering Mechanics Education: Implementation And Preliminary Analysis Of Connections Between Employed Strategies And Improved Student Engagement, Firas Akasheh, John Solomon, Eric Hamilton, Chitra Nayak, Vimal Viswanathan Jun 2018

Application Of Brain-Based Learning Principles To Engineering Mechanics Education: Implementation And Preliminary Analysis Of Connections Between Employed Strategies And Improved Student Engagement, Firas Akasheh, John Solomon, Eric Hamilton, Chitra Nayak, Vimal Viswanathan

Faculty Publications, Mechanical Engineering

In a pilot study supported by NSF, an instructional model that uses brain based learning principles as instructional protocols has been developed and successfully implemented in the course Introduction to Fluid Mechanics at a HBCU. Motivated by that success, we extended a similar intervention to another course, Dynamics, in the same school. In this paper, we report preliminary data from this intervention. The main strategies implemented in this intervention include: organization of the course into specific concepts and sub-concepts, which are concisely presented by short (limited to 2-6 minutes) content-rich lectures (diagrams, animations, narrations), active learning through in-class worksheets, and …


A Protocol-Based Blended Model For Fluid Mechanics Instruction, John Solomon, Eric Hamilton, Vimal Viswanathan, Chitra Nayak, Firas Akasheh Jun 2018

A Protocol-Based Blended Model For Fluid Mechanics Instruction, John Solomon, Eric Hamilton, Vimal Viswanathan, Chitra Nayak, Firas Akasheh

Faculty Publications, Mechanical Engineering

A personalized and media-rich learning framework called “Knowledge and Curriculum Integration Ecosystem” (KACIE) has been developed and implemented in a junior level fluid mechanics course in Fall 2016 and Spring 2017. This model shares characteristics of blended instruction as well as a flipped classroom, with an overall structure that includes the application of established principles emerging from the learning sciences and from cognitive neuroscience. These principles have taken form in the KACIE model as classroom protocols or written instructions to scaffold and guide teaching and learning by faculty and students respectively. In KACIE, the course has been presented as a …


Impact Of First-Year Initiatives On Retention Of Students: Are There Differences In Retention Of Students By Ethnicity And Gender?, Patricia Backer, Joseph Green, Bryan Matlen, Cindy Kato Apr 2018

Impact Of First-Year Initiatives On Retention Of Students: Are There Differences In Retention Of Students By Ethnicity And Gender?, Patricia Backer, Joseph Green, Bryan Matlen, Cindy Kato

Faculty Publications

Project Succeed is a campus-wide initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Its focus is to improve the 5-year graduation and retention rates and close the achievement gap for Under-Represented Minorities (URMs) across all majors at San José State University (SJSU). In addition, SJSU has a high percent of first generation students. We have several thrusts under this project: block scheduling, Faculty/Staff Mentor program, expanding Peer Educators, developing a First Year Experience Program, and developing more student living learning communities. This project is in its fourth year and we have analyzed each project effort with respect to its impact …