Showing papers in "Journal of Engineering Education in 2005"
TL;DR: In this article, the purpose of engineering education is to train engineers who can design, and that design thinking is difficult to learn and difficult to teach, and the most popular pedagogical model for teaching design is Project-Based Learning (PBL).
Abstract: This paper is based on the premises that the purpose of engineering education is to graduate engineers who can design, and that design thinking is complex. The paper begins by briefly reviewing the history and role of design in the engineering curriculum. Several dimensions of design thinking are then detailed, explaining why design is hard to learn and harder still to teach, and outlining the research available on how well design thinking skills are learned. The currently most-favored pedagogical model for teaching design, project-based learning (PBL), is explored next, along with available assessment data on its success. Two contexts for PBL are emphasized: first-year cornerstone courses and globally dispersed PBL courses. Finally, the paper lists some of the open research questions that must be answered to identify the best pedagogical practices of improving design learning, after which it closes by making recommendations for research aimed at enhancing design learning.
2,159 citations
TL;DR: In this article, three categories of diversity that have been shown to have important implications for teaching and learning are differences in students' learning styles (characteristic ways of taking in and processing information), approaches to learning (surface, deep, and strategic), and intellectual development levels (attitudes about the nature of knowledge and how it should be acquired and evaluated).
Abstract: Students have different levels of motivation, different attitudes about teaching and learning, and different responses to specific classroom environments and instructional practices. The more thoroughly instructors understand the differences, the better chance they have of meeting the diverse learning needs of all of their students. Three categories of diversity that have been shown to have important implications for teaching and learning are differences in students' learning styles (characteristic ways of taking in and processing information), approaches to learning (surface, deep, and strategic), and intellectual development levels (attitudes about the nature of knowledge and how it should be acquired and evaluated). This article reviews models that have been developed for each of these categories, outlines their pedagogical implications, and suggests areas for further study.
1,587 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on classroom-based pedagogies of engagement, particularly cooperative and problem-based learning, and present a brief history, theoretical roots, research support, summary of practices, and suggestions for redesigning engineering classes and programs to include more student engagement.
Abstract: Educators, researchers, and policy makers have advocated student involvement for some time as an essential aspect of meaningful learning. In the past twenty years engineering educators have implemented several means of better engaging their undergraduate students, including active and cooperative learning, learning communities, service learning, cooperative education, inquiry and problem-based learning, and team projects. This paper focuses on classroom-based pedagogies of engagement, particularly cooperative and problem-based learning. It includes a brief history, theoretical roots, research support, summary of practices, and suggestions for redesigning engineering classes and programs to include more student engagement. The paper also lays out the research ahead for advancing pedagogies aimed at more fully enhancing students’ involvement in their learning.
1,342 citations
TL;DR: The lack of coherent learning objectives for laboratories and how this lack has limited the effectiveness of laboratories and hampered meaningful research in the area has been discussed in this paper, where a list of fundamental objectives is presented along with suggestions for possible future research.
Abstract: The function of the engineering profession is to manipulate materials, energy, and information, thereby creating benefit for humankind. To do this successfully, engineers must have a knowledge of nature that goes beyond mere theory—knowledge that is traditionally gained in educational laboratories. Over the years, however, the nature of these laboratories has changed. This paper describes the history of some of these changes and explores in some depth a few of the major factors influencing laboratories today. In particular, the paper considers the lack of coherent learning objectives for laboratories and how this lack has limited the effectiveness of laboratories and hampered meaningful research in the area. A list of fundamental objectives is presented along with suggestions for possible future research.
1,176 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the ABET accreditation criteria for process skills and awareness skills are reviewed with an emphasis on how they can be taught, or more correctly learned, citing a number of examples of successful and/or promising implementations.
Abstract: In developing its new engineering accreditation criteria, ABET reaffirmed a set of “hard” engineering skills while introducing a second, equally important, set of six “professional” skills. These latter skills include communication, teamwork, and understanding ethics and professionalism, which we label process skills, and engineering within a global and societal context, lifelong learning, and a knowledge of contemporary issues, which we designate as awareness skills. We review these skills with an emphasis on how they can be taught, or more correctly learned, citing a number of examples of successful and/or promising implementations. We then examine the difficult issue of assessing these skills. We are very positive about a number of creative ways that these skills are being learned, particularly at institutions that are turning to global and/or service learning in combination with engineering design projects to teach and reinforce outcome combinations. We are also encouraged by work directed at assessing these skills, but recognize that there is considerable research that remains to be done.
997 citations
TL;DR: The Sloan Consortium's quest for quality, scale, and breadth in online learning, the impact on both continuing education of graduate engineers as well as degree-seeking engineering students, and the future of engineering colleges and schools as worldwide providers of engineering education are discussed in this paper.
Abstract: The emergence of worldwide communications networks and powerful computer technologies has redefined the concept of distance learning and the delivery of engineering education content. This article discusses the Sloan Consortium’s quest for quality, scale, and breadth in online learning, the impact on both continuing education of graduate engineers as well as degree-seeking engineering students, and the future of engineering colleges and schools as worldwide providers of engineering education.
437 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a review of programs that work to diversify engineering is presented, with research and evaluation-based findings applied to education and workforce practice, with the goal of assisting current and future practitioners in becoming culturally competent.
Abstract: Engineering, education to workplace, is not just about technical knowledge. Rather, who becomes an engineer and why says much about the profession. Engineering has a “diversity” problem. Like all professions, it must narrow the gap between practitioners on the one hand, and their clientele on the other; it must become “culturally competent.” Given the current composition of the engineering faculty and the profession's workforce more generally, it behooves engineering education to diversify while assisting current and future practitioners in becoming culturally competent. Programs that work to diversify engineering are reviewed, with research and evaluation-based findings applied to education and workforce practice.
382 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, student success and persistence within the major and university were examined through hierarchical linear and logistic regression analyses for two cohorts of engineering students, based on theoretical and empirical evidence and included both cognitive and noncognitive variables.
Abstract: Student success and persistence within the major and university were examined through hierarchical linear and logistic regression analyses for two cohorts of engineering students. Indicators of success and persistence were based on theoretical and empirical evidence and included both cognitive and noncognitive variables. Cognitive variables included high school rank, SAT scores, and university cumulative grade point average. Noncognitive factors included academic motivation and institutional integration. Outcome variables included grade point average, enrollment at the university, and status as an engineering major. Gender differences also were evaluated. Several significant relationships among the variables were found. For instance, increased levels of motivation were significantly related to continuing in the major. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
321 citations
TL;DR: A review of recent developments in the assessment of engineering education and the events that have inspired change can be found in this article, where the authors highlight examples of sound and rigorous assessments in engineering education.
Abstract: This article examines the current state of assessment in engineering education in the United States as reflected in the Journal of Engineering Education. We begin with a brief review of recent developments in the assessment of engineering education and the events that have inspired change. Next, we explore assessment methodologies that have been used repeatedly in the evaluation of engineering courses, curricula, and research investigations as well as some methods that have not been used extensively but are likely to be informative. We conclude with a discussion of the importance of establishing collaborations between researchers in engineering education and educational research. Throughout this paper we highlight examples of sound and rigorous assessments in engineering education.
320 citations
TL;DR: Integrated curricula have connections to a larger movement in higher education, which help learners to build interdisciplinary links and social links within a community as discussed by the authors, and have provided concrete assessment data on retention and student performance to augment research on learning communities.
Abstract: Increasing emphasis on interdisciplinary research and education requires researchers and learners to build links between distinct disciplines. In engineering education, work on integrated curricula to help learners build connections between topics began with three programs in 1988. Integrated curricula have connections to a larger movement in higher education—learning communities, which help learners to build interdisciplinary links and social links within a community. Integrated engineering curricula have provided concrete assessment data on retention and student performance to augment research on learning communities. While innovators in both movements have offered many prototypes and gathered many data, goals and results from programs implemented to date are not sufficiently well defined to guide the design and implementation of programs at other institutions. This paper discusses the importance of integration, reviews accomplishments to date, draws conclusions by analyzing those accomplishments, and suggests future initiatives.
311 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, multiple choice questions were devised to probe students' ability to use concepts in isolation, and a test instrument comprising such questions, as well as psychometric analyses of test results of 245 students at five universities was described.
Abstract: A quantification of conceptual understanding of students in statics was undertaken Drawing on a prior study identifying the fundamental concepts and typical student errors in statics, multiple choice questions were devised to probe students' ability to use concepts in isolation This paper describes a testing instrument comprising such questions, as well as psychometric analyses of test results of 245 students at five universities
TL;DR: The Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC2000) as discussed by the authors was developed by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) and its stakeholders to encourage the development of innovative programs to reflect changing needs of practice.
Abstract: For more than 70 years, accreditation has provided quality control for engineering education in the United States, seeking to assure that graduates of accredited programs are prepared for professional practice. However, by the 1980s, the accreditation criteria had become increasingly prescriptive, inhibiting development of innovative programs to reflect changing needs of practice. In response, ABET (formerly Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) and its stakeholders developed revised criteria, Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC2000), which emphasize learning outcomes, assessment, and continuous improvement rather than detailed curricular specifications. These criteria, together with international agreements among engineering accrediting bodies, facilitate mobility of an increasingly global profession. To assess the utility of the new criteria, ABET has commissioned a multiyear study of the impact of EC2000 on U.S. engineering education. Initial results from the study are encouraging and, as more results emerge, should support continuous improvement of the accreditation process, itself.
TL;DR: This article found that even before they study engineering ethics, students put honesty and integrity on par with technical competence as an essential characteristic of engineers, and they benefit from cases of actual incidents and from classroom activities that encourage diverse perspectives on moral problems.
Abstract: How do undergraduate students in engineering conceive of themselves as professionals? How can a course on engineering ethics affect the development of an undergraduate student’s professional identity? In this project, students responded to questions about the characteristics and responsibilities of professional engineers. The results indicate that students learn about professionalism primarily from relatives and co-workers who are engineers, and rarely from technical engineering courses. Even before they study engineering ethics, students put honesty and integrity on par with technical competence as an essential characteristic of engineers. In the course, students benefit from cases of actual incidents and from classroom activities that encourage diverse perspectives on moral problems. By analyzing cases in groups and by hearing different perspectives, students build self-confidence in moral reasoning. By the end of the course, some students understand professional responsibility not only as liability for blame but in a capacious sense as stewardship for society.
TL;DR: In this article, a conceptual framework for becoming a professional engineering educator is presented, where the authors explore approaches to effective professional development and provide case studies that illustrate the possibilities when faculty and academic leaders join together in addressing calls for change.
Abstract: Engineering education faces significant challenges as it seeks to meet the demands on the engineering profession in the twenty-first century. Engineering faculty will need to continue to learn new approaches to teaching and learning, which in turn will require effective professional development for both new and experienced instructors alike. This article explores approaches to effective professional development and provides a conceptual framework for responding to the challenge of becoming a professional engineering educator. The “cycle of professional practice” is introduced as a prelude for identifying what individual professors and their institutions can do to generate more powerful forms of engineering education. The article concludes with two case studies that illustrate the possibilities when faculty and academic leaders join together in addressing calls for change.
TL;DR: This paper identified post-enrollment attitudes and perceptions that influence students' decisions to remain in an engineering curriculum and found that self-reported confidence in college-level math/science ability and the belief that an engineering degree enhances career security at a respectable salary were significant predictors of both short-term and longterm persistence in engineering.
Abstract: This study identified post-enrollment attitudes and perceptions that influence students' decisions to remain in an engineering curriculum. Non-cognitive factors including expectations and perception of the engineering profession, assessment of personal attributes, and subject-matter confidence were investigated. Discriminant analysis functions were developed to distinguish among three mutually exclusive groups: those who remained in the engineering school, those who remained at the university in a different school, and those who left the university altogether. Self-reported confidence in college-level math/science ability and the belief that an engineering degree enhances career security at a respectable salary were found to be significant predictors of both short-term and long-term persistence in engineering.
TL;DR: In this paper, the Defining Issues Test was used to compare the improvement of a student's moral reasoning ability in each class as compared to a control class and found that although the ethics course showed improvement when compared to the module, it was not significantly different from the control class.
Abstract: The paper assesses two approaches for delivery of engineering ethics: a full semester ethics course and an engineering course that includes an ethics module. The Defining Issues Test was used to compare the improvement of a student's moral reasoning ability in each class as compared to a control class. Our findings were that the module approach used did not provide any improvement in moral reasoning. In addition, although the ethics course showed improvement when compared to the module, it was not significantly different from the control class. We also found that there was little distinction between males and females and no distinction by age, although education level did have an impact. The results suggest that to improve a student's moral reasoning and sensitivity to ethical issues, engineering ethics must be integrative, delivered at multiple points in the curriculum, and incorporate specific discipline context.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated student perceptions of institutional and personal/social campus climate factors to determine how these perceptions influence academic performance and institutional graduation rates, and found that students at higher of the academic selectivity categories had higher graduation rates.
Abstract: African American undergraduate engineering student perceptions of institutional and personal/social campus climate factors were investigated to determine how these perceptions influence academic performance and institutional graduation rates. Data collection was accomplished through use of a quantitative and qualitative survey instrument administered to a national sample of subjects. The research discovered wide variation in individual institutional African American graduation rates and differences in rates among groups of institutions categorized by their academic selectivity or their designation as a Historically Black College and University. Students at institutions in the higher of the academic selectivity categories had higher graduation rates. However, students enrolled in the Historically Black Colleges and Universities category had more favorable perceptions of their college experience and had higher grades than students attending other institutions. After controlling for institution category, higher graduation rates were associated with students' lower perceptions of racism and discrimination and with students' greater institutional commitment.
TL;DR: The E-SHIP minor as discussed by the authors is designed for undergraduate students majoring in engineering, business, or information sciences and technology who aspire to be innovation leaders for new technology-based products and companies.
Abstract: A primary goal of The Pennsylvania State University's new Engineering Entrepreneurship (E-SHIP) Minor is to build students' life skills so they can succeed within innovative, product-focused, cross-disciplinary teams. The E-SHIP Minor is designed for undergraduate students majoring in engineering, business, or IST (Information Sciences and Technology) who aspire to be innovation leaders for new technology-based products and companies. This paper outlines five E-SHIP program components to meet this mission: the core courses for the minor, E-SHIP competitions in which students exhibit their products and ideas, the E-SHIP Event Series, student organizations to support out-of-classroom entrepreneurial interest, and team projects for local industry and Penn State researchers. Penn State's engineering entrepreneurship program is reviewed, summarizing both quantitative and qualitative assessment data to date, previewing future assessment plans, and providing a summary of lessons learned during the development and implementation of this program.
TL;DR: In a longitudinal, qualitative study including three types of schools, undergraduate women engineers named Type III spotlighting due to women in engineering (WIE) programs as the direct or indirect cause of their primary gender-bias difficulties as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: “Spotlighting” is the singling out of women by gender in ways that make them uncomfortable. It has three forms: Type I is singling out with the intention to harm (overt sexism); Type II is doing so with neutral intentions (tacit sexism); and Type III, a new type of gender bias, is singling out women with the intention to help them. In a longitudinal, qualitative study including three types of schools, undergraduate women engineers named Type III spotlighting due to women in engineering (WIE) programs as the direct or indirect cause of their primary gender-bias difficulties. Two changes to WIE programs are suggested to reduce Type III spotlighting: (1) offer their benefits either to all students or based on academic, not demographic, criteria, and (2) expand WIE programs to “conduct in engineering” programs that would emphasize pre-emption of non-professional behavior, and would be more inclusive of other biases.
TL;DR: In this article, a cross-sectional study of students in the first through final years of study showed that their SDLRS scores are significantly correlated with academic year of study and with grade point average, but not with gender.
Abstract: Two studies related to readiness for self-directed learning of engineering students were performed using the Self-directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS). A cross-sectional study of students in the first through final years of study showed that their SDLRS scores are significantly correlated with academic year of study and with grade point average, but not with gender. However, neither academic year of study nor grade point average is a good predictor of SDLRS scores; together they account for less than 5 percent of the observed variance. A second study investigated the effect of a problem-based learning experience on students' readiness for self-directed learning. It showed that the average readiness for self-directed learning increased significantly for students in the problem-based learning courses. However, investigation of the changes for individual students revealed that only nine of eighteen students showed significant increases in their SDLRS scores, and two showed significant decreases. Potential underlying causes are explored.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared three peer evaluation instruments tested among students in undergraduate engineering classes: a single item instrument without behavioral anchors, a ten item instrument, and a single-item behaviorally anchored instrument.
Abstract: This paper presents comparisons of three peer evaluation instruments tested among students in undergraduate engineering classes: a single-item instrument without behavioral anchors, a ten-item instrument, and a single-item behaviorally anchored instrument. Studies using the instruments in undergraduate engineering classes over four years show that the use of behavioral anchors significantly improves the inter-rater reliability of the single-item instrument. The inter-rater reliability (based on four raters) of the behaviorally anchored instrument was 0.78, which was not significantly higher than that of the ten-item instrument (0.74), but it was substantially more parsimonious. The results of this study add to the body of knowledge on evaluating students' performance in teams. This is critical since the ability to function in multidisciplinary teams is a required student learning outcome of engineering programs.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the role of individual differences and early employment experiences on learning outcomes and subjective well-being for first-term cooperative education students and found that early warning signs of lack of adjustment are related to both motivational anxiety and lack of initial social contacts during socialization.
Abstract: In this study, we examine the role of individual differences and early employment experiences on learning outcomes and subjective well-being for first-term cooperative education students. By tracking students through their first semester work assignment, we were able to follow student adjustment and demonstrate the linkages to important ABET learning outcomes. Data were collected during pre-employment, mid-semester, and post-employment surveys. The results suggest that there are some early warning signs of lack of adjustment that are related to both motivational anxiety and lack of initial social contacts during socialization. However, mid-semester reports of proactive behavior by the student had a significant impact on both learning outcomes and well-being.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present twelve studies and analyze these studies across aspects of knowledge, level of experience, and research approach to identify trends in the existing research and opportunities for future research.
Abstract: What could we know about engineering student knowing? The answer to this question represents a form of scholarship of discovery in engineering education and a valuable complement to scholarship of teaching work in the field. To illustrate the state of this scholarship, we present twelve studies and analyze these studies across aspects of knowledge, level of experience, and research approach. We then use these analyses to identify trends in the existing research and opportunities for future research.
TL;DR: The evolutionary trajectory of curricular design efforts over four years using Problem‐based Learning in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech is followed, elucidating the activities, mistakes, realizations and the progressive refinements instituted towards the development of learning theory in the context of biomedical engineering.
Abstract: This article explores challenges involved in developing effective and workable models for engineering education that emphasize the development of student cognitive skills over the delivery of specific course content. It chronicles efforts to systematically design engineering learning environments based on cognitive and learning science studies and then to optimize those environments through “design-based research.” It follows the evolutionary trajectory of curricular design efforts over four years using Problem-based Learning (PBL) in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech, elucidating the activities, mistakes, realizations and the progressive refinements instituted towards the development of learning theory in the context of biomedical engineering. It argues for the need to scaffold students in the development of model-based reasoning throughout the engineering curricula.
TL;DR: In this paper, a group of researchers at a midwestern university compared the project performance, selected group processes, and satisfaction of students randomly assigned to face-to-face and computer-mediated communication design teams.
Abstract: Industry often requires engineers to work in teams. Therefore, many university engineering courses require students to work in groups to complete a design project. Due to the increasingly global nature of engineering, opportunities for students to navigate the issues of distance, time, culture, language, and multiple perspectives associated with virtual teams are becoming particularly desirable. To understand students’ experience with virtual teams in a graduate course on principles of lean manufacturing, a group of researchers at a midwestern university compared the project performance, selected group processes, and satisfaction of students randomly assigned to face-to-face and computer-mediated communication design teams. Students in both the face-to-face and computer-mediated communication design teams performed equally well on the final project, and reported similar patterns in group processes with a few exceptions. Students in faceto-face design teams were more satisfied with the group experience than those in the computer-mediated communication design teams; however, all reported an overall positive experience.
TL;DR: The Research Communications Studio (RCS) as mentioned in this paper ) is a structured approach for teaching undergraduate researchers to do authentic written, oral, and graphical communications tasks while they are learning to do research.
Abstract: This paper describes the Research Communications Studio (RCS), a structured approach for teaching undergraduate researchers to do authentic written, oral, and graphical communications tasks while they are learning to do research. In the RCS, small groups of undergraduate researchers meet weekly with a communications faculty member, an engineering graduate student mentor, and a communications graduate research assistant. The project is built upon social constructivist theory that recognizes the interdependence between communication, cognitive development, and metacognition. It investigates knowledge construction within a small-group context of distributed cognition, the concept that each group member's expertise is available to other group members. Data from surveys indicate that engineering faculty members, graduate student mentors, and undergraduate participants were very positive about the progress participants made in cognitive development and communications abilities. Analysis of participants' reflective writings shows the development of metacognitive abilities necessary for self-directed, life-long learning.