D. L. Evans

The future of engineering education

Thirteen engineering educators and researchers were each asked to choose a particular aspect of engineerings future to address. Each of the authors has contributed a short piece that has been edited into a discussion of the future as we collectively see it. Topics include the stimulating change, the changing university, teaching, learning, research, outcome assessment and technology as well as a look back at predictions for 2000.

ECE curriculum in 2013 and beyond: vision for a metropolitan public research university

In this paper, the authors discuss the anticipated curriculum of electrical and computer engineering (ECE) programs in the year 2013 and beyond for a prototypical metropolitan public research university. Assumptions are made regarding the evolution of the relevant technology addressed by the curriculum, the nature of metropolitan public universities in the next decade, and the nature of the learning environment, technology, and educational focus based on present trends. A 128-credit-hour curriculum is proposed that addresses these challenges.

The concept of the Concept Inventory assessment instrument

The well-known Force Concept Inventory (FCI) instrument has been in use over the last 15 years, and is now credited with stimulating reform of physics education. An instructor can give the FCI as both a pre-test and as a post-test to produce data that can be used in a continuous improvement manner to evaluate the effectiveness of various instructional strategies. This presentation reviews the development and history of the FCI from the standpoint of what makes it so effective for this use. This presentation is a lead-in to four new Concept Inventories, two in thermodynamics (one for a first year course and one for a second year course), one in signals and processing, and one in strength of materials. Other Concept Inventories are known to exist or are being created (e.g., wave phenomenon for electrical engineers and energy principles in physics).

Team-based projects for assessment in first-year physics courses supporting engineering

Two team oriented, project based exercises developed and used for student assessment in an integrated freshman program are described. These projects allow assessment of student progress toward meeting desirable student outcomes such as ability to work in teams, ability to communicate, and able to apply science and engineering to the solution of problems. One project involves measurement of the velocity of a projectile; the other one involves the measurement of the ambient magnetic field strength. Lists of parts supplied to each student team are included, as are photos and sketches of the more complex pieces of equipment. Student comments and faculty roles are also discussed.

Tools for assessing conceptual understanding in the engineering sciences

One of the hindrances to reform in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education is the absence of good assessment instruments that can measure the value added to student learning by new ways of teaching important material. The well-known Force Concept Inventory (FCI) assessment instrument is a good model of an instrument that can be used to check on students understanding of basic concepts in a discipline. This panel session paper discusses work in progress by the panel members and their co-developers to construct FCI-like Concept Inventories in each of the disciplines of thermodynamics, systems and signals, strength of materials, electromagnetics, circuits, materials, fluid mechanics, and transport processes.

Development of an engineering strength of material concept inventory assessment instrument

This paper discusses development of an instrument for assessing undergraduate student understanding of fundamental strength of materials concepts. The instrument was modeled after the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) by David Hestenes and others. Like the FCI, the strength of materials concept inventory is brief requires no computation and should be repeatable across broad student populations. The initial version of the instrument was tested on strength of materials students at the University of Alabama, Texas A&M University and other institutions.

Trendy technology or a learning tool?: Using electronic journaling on WebNotes/sup TM/ for curriculum integration in the freshman program in engineering at ASU

Lately, technology has transformed our world, with millions of users negotiating everything from purchasing goods to accessing research. The pressure to embrace this technology has grown to the point that even in the composition classroom, instructors are exploring ways to most profitably use it. Given the growth and commercialism of the World Wide Web (WWW), it is not always easy to distinguish the hype from the useful. The authors argue that, however, one such worthwhile application is WebNotes/sup TM/ a commercial, WWW-based electronic forum software product that has become a powerful journaling tool for fostering connections, delivering information, and creating an online community in and out of the classroom.

Scaling up Arizona State University's first-year integrated program in engineering: problems and solutions

This paper discusses how scale-up from a pilot of 32 students to 80 students affected the integrated delivery of material in English composition, physics and engineering to a cohort of freshman engineering students. It also discusses how collaborative learning and projects were structured to fit 80 students, the effects of class size on student-to-student interaction and student-to-faculty interactions in and out of the classroom and what modifications were made to the classroom facilities to accommodate these projects. Although there were some detrimental effects accruing to the scale-up, for the most part, student performance was unaffected or slightly improved.

Curriculum integration at Arizona State University

The freshman and sophomore integrated curricula developed at Arizona State University under the auspices of the NSF-funded Foundation Coalition are briefly described. The freshman program is currently in a second generation pilot while the sophomore program is in a first generation pilot. Problems encountered in designing and implementing such curricula are discussed as are possible solutions where they have been found.

An effective peer revision method for engineering students in first-year English courses

Peer revision workshops are a common feature in most composition classes; however, too often students complain that they gain little from having their peers read their writing. They feel that their peers know as little as they do, and although practice shows that peer reviewers are able to identify problematic areas in a paper, student-writers are often unwilling to listen to the advice of their peers. Similarly, some teachers have unrealistic expectations for peer review sessions, some give extensive peer review sheets that take vast amounts of time to complete, and some offer their students little in the way of advice as to how to comment on another students paper. The result can be frustrating for all involved. However, by carefully constructing peer review sheets that match the assignment sheet, grading criteria for the assignment, and the goals for the course, instructors can create effective peer review sessions from which student writers benefit. In this paper, the authors present a guided peer revision tool that can be adapted for any assignment which enables student writers to act as effective peer reviewers.