Frederick C. Berry

The future of electrical and computer engineering education

The authors will briefly describe how some of todays innovations and advancements might provide potential for improving the efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of contemporary teaching methods. A model curriculum proposed in this paper merges the disciplines of mathematics, science, engineering, and computing. It also addresses the growing need for exposing aspiring engineers to the human, cultural, and professional aspects of their emerging careers.

Calibrated peer review/sup TM/ and assessing learning outcomes

The need for more focused and less-labor intensive assessment practices has brought new challenges, both for institutions and for individual educators. We elaborate on Calibrated Peer Review™ (CPR™) - an end- to-end computer-mediated learning environment that seamlessly integrates writing as a vehicle for critical thinking into a technical or content course. Developed as a tool to help incorporate writing into the teaching of science, CPR™ moves well beyond the scope of most web-delivered educational software. We draw from experiences using CPR™ in two courses offered at Rose -Hulman Institute of Technology, RH131 (Rhetoric and Composition) and ECE 360 (Principles of Engineering Design). We focus on four questions. First, what is CPR™ ? Second, how does CPR™ improve student learning? Third, how can CPR™ measure learning outcomes appropriate for an ABET-style assessment? And fourth, does the system serve as a de facto electronic portfolio in engineering education?

Work in progress - graduate exchange program in microelectronics system engineering

In todaypsilas world, where new technologies emerge and advance at a very fast pace every year, many professional societies are discussing moving to a Master level program as a ldquofirst professional degreerdquo, anticipating graduates with advances skills for tomorrowpsilas demanding and advanced industry. In this context, the education at the master level is becoming more and more important. Another key issue in todaypsilas world is the impact of globalization process (needs of multinational corporations). The engineering education must address the impact of global hiring. The graduates entering the global workplace must possess besides the essential technical skills, also cultural, social and communication skills, enabling them to work and interact in international environments, bringing creativity and innovative development in multi-cultural groups. In this context, exchange programs between different universities, located in different countries and continents are flourishing, the universities trying to integrate study-abroad components in their programs. This paper is presenting as a ldquoWork in Progressrdquo, the first steps related to an exchange program at the graduate level in the area of Microelectronics, between two prestigious universities located in USA (Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, IN) and Sweden (Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm). A Joint Degree or Dual Degree program at the Master Level is envisaged in the near future.

Asynchronous learning environment for integrating technical communication into engineering courses

This work-in-progress describes a collaboration between two faculty members at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (USA) to build a Web-supported integration of technical communication into a sophomore-level course in engineering practices. The collaboration was begun in the summer of 1998. While the integrated delivery environment is still in its formative stages, the authors believe this presentation is appropriate for FIE because it covers two timely issues for engineering education: (1) the efficacy of asynchronous modules for course delivery; and (2) the meaningful integration of technical communication at early levels in the engineering curriculum.