Mary K. Pilotte

Mini workshop — Aligning content, assessment, and pedagogy in the design of engineering courses

The purpose of this workshop is to introduce participants to the integration and alignment of content (or curriculum), assessment, and pedagogy (or instruction) for learning module, course, and program design and provide some essential methods for designing courses and curricula in this way. Rather than treat each of these areas separately, this workshop strives to help participants consider all three elements together in a systematic way. The workshop framing is an engineering design approach, that is to say, it begins with requirements or specifications, emphasizes metrics, and then evolves into preparation of prototypes that meet the requirements. Participants interested in developing rationale, and learning and practicing a model of how to align course content with assessment and pedagogy that they can use to inform the design or re-design of engineering courses are encouraged to attend.

Building bridges – identifying generational communication characteristics to facilitate engineering collaboration and knowledge transfer across field-practicing engineers

As engineers of the Baby Boom generation retire from their career posts, novice engineers are entering the workplace. Workforce transformation and loss of strategic corporate knowledge underscore the need to generate understanding regarding engineering norms aiding or impeding knowledge transfer. While research exists regarding how Millennials learn, utilize technology for learning, and engage in social learning, no research exists utilizing generational categories as a means for analyzing behaviors that might support knowledge transfer .Using quantitative action research, this exploratory study investigates themes of engineering culture, communication, and generational norms. It begins by soliciting viewpoints of Baby Boom and Millennial engineers, comparing each generations’ communication preferences. Findings suggest that while communication differences do exist between the two engineering generations, similarities also abound. This paper discusses how revealing understanding and leveraging the generational communication similarities can be one means for fostering knowledge sharing within the culture of practicing engineers.

Engineering person-thing orientation: Comparisons between first-year students and practicing engineers with implications for retention and professional placement

Academics, industrial leaders, and policy makers seem to agree that the United States can improve its ability to attract and retain engineering talent. Efforts aimed at addressing this need vary broadly from increasing the publics awareness of the problem, to re-framing the identity of engineering, de-emphasizing its less glamorous aspects, and orienting engineerings future toward solving the worlds greatest problems facing humanity. In doing so, it is suggested that engineering would be a more appealing profession to groups that are historically under-represented. The fundamental assumption of these efforts is that an improved image of engineering as a socially engaged helper of humanity will result in greater initial and prolonged interest in engineering. Research investigating engineering as a profession has found few examples of specific engineering disciplines considered socially sensitive. This may suggest engineering is a career choice better aligned with individuals who prefer working with things rather than people. This exploratory study will utilize the Graziano, Habashi, & Woodcock (2011) Person and Thing Orientation Scale to examine how these things versus person tendencies appear in engineering college students and practicing engineers. It aims to identify potential sources of differentiation for these preferences within and across the sample populations.

Autism spectrum disorder and engineering education - needs and considerations

Universities are experiencing an increase in enrollment of high-functioning students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Even though many students with ASD do not attend college, it is reported that students with this diagnosis who do, often come from well to do families, and select STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education areas at rates above both the general population, and other differently-abled groups. While students classified with this diagnosis may hail from privileged educational exposures and demonstrate higher cognitive abilities, they often lack the ability to empathize and experience difficulty to socially connect with others. This includes an inability to decode informal social cues, which can impact the ability to communicate ideas during classroom situations. Concurrent to this notable shift in STEM student demographics, the landscape of engineering education is also changing. Greater emphasis is placed on providing an engaging and interactive student learning environment, bolstered by research demonstrating improved learning outcomes and higher retention rates. This work in process is the development of an emergent literature review, looking for the intersection between this student diagnosis, and the impact on the engineering education classroom and related stakeholders. Our work is an important first step in informing and guiding faculty and staff engagement on this unique and growing student population, especially in light of a national focus on STEM education, and dynamic changes in engineering education.

Words or Images: Insights on How Engineering Students and Engineers Communicate in Practice

This paper examines the use of language (text and verbal communication) across school and work settings. The participants of the study are from two distinct pools — 380 first-year engineering students and 355 industry professionals. To test the study predictions and interpret the results the individual data sets from both studies were reviewed and analyzed. Data suggests that for the professional engineering population, face to face communication was the preferred communication mode for sharing engineering evaluation, communicating difficult concepts, and describing their work product. Email and file sharing were also utilized communication options, but to a lesser extent. Data from students facing a simulated professional assignment (produce a fabrication instruction for assembling a mechanical object) indicated that 94% of the students’ chose to use language to produce fabrication instructions, compared to only 6% of students who used another tool of engineering representation in the form of sketches. Data investigation and outcomes are discussed in terms of prevalence and importance of language in engineering education.Copyright

Understanding the Impact of INDOT Projects on Automotive Industry Cluster Logistics Costs: A Case Study of the Honda Plant

This study focuses on understanding the impact of INDOT projects on the Honda, Greensburg plant’s supply chain. The goal of the study was the following: (a) Identify approaches for INDOT to be an active partner in facilitating supply chain effectiveness; (b) Maximize the economic impact of INDOT projects on the Honda affiliated automotive Cluster in South Central Indiana; (c) Create a framework for INDOT to utilize in the future, when prospective economic partners are in discussions with the state. Detailed data analyses for many of the decisions regarding Honda’s supply chain required identification of possible future evolutions of the supply chain. As part of this study the existing supply chain at Honda’s plants in Ohio and Toyota’s plant in Indiana were mapped out. Approximately 51 managers including Honda officials, competing OEM locations, academic publications, supply chain participants, economic development officials, INDOT personnel and consultants were interviewed to develop a fact base and for research input. The authors obtained data regarding planned “Major Moves” projects already approved and in the region of interest. Finally, the authors developed strategic choices and grouped associated projects into strategic bundles that could be used by INDOT to better understand their link to Honda’s supply chain competitiveness in Indiana. A summary of the results of this study includes possible strategic choices being grouped under three different categories the authors termed “Shared Supply Focus”, “Hoosier Automotive Focus” and “Reclamation Focus”. A summary of the results are as follows: (a) Speed counts - Reprioritizing existing projects can provide the difference between being viewed as an economic development leader, or a support service follower; (b) It’s not too late -INDOT has 12-24 months yet to plan and execute improvements that would benefit economic development; (c) Evaluating projects strategically can have a significant impact on economic development outcomes in the future. The authors believe that the results of this focused study suggest that a strategic approach to projects can enable INDOT to enhance its role as a contributor to industrial supply chain competitiveness in Indiana.