Robert Garrick

Creating Technology Rich Learning Environments for the Classroom

This chapter reviews student engagement and learning over of a six year study period (>500 students) in a technology rich learning environment. The technology rich learning environment in this project consists of tablet PCs for each student (1:1 environment), visually immersive multiple projection screens, and collaborative digital inking software. This chapter reviews the education problem being addressed, and the learning theory used as a lens to focus specific active learning pedagogical techniques to address the educational problem. From this problem-based learning theory grounded approach, the features desired in a technology rich learning environment were developed. The approach is shared in this chapter with specific detailed examples to allow others to implement technology rich learning environments with active learning pedagogical approaches to address specific education problems in their institution. The technology rich learning environment implemented and studied includes multiple hardware/software pieces to create a system level solution versus a single device or single app solution.

Comparison of new ultrasonic and hot wire thermo-anemometer gas flow meters

This paper reviews the comparison of a newly developed ultrasonic gas flow meter with a standard hot wire thermo-anemometer flow meter. The flow meters are compared utilizing a wind tunnel to induce flow through the meters. The ultrasonic gas flow was been developed and demonstrated under a NAVAIR-sponsored program. The ultrasonic meter uses acoustic pulse trains to measure gas flows through pipes or tubes in a wide range of configurations and conditions while maintaining a useable large dynamic. The demonstrated performance in the wind tunnel testing is over a large magnitude of flow and shows an extremely linear output measurement. The ultrasonic gas flow meter is bidirectional, and non-intrusive. The demonstrated performance of the ultrasonic meter is very promising to the other commercially compared flow meters.

Using Self-Determination Theory to build communities of support to aid in the retention of women in engineering

ABSTRACT Diverse perspectives are required to address the technological problems facing our world. Although women perform as well as their male counterparts in math and science prior to entering college, the numbers of women students entering and completing engineering programmes are far below their representation in the workforce. This paper reports on a qualitative, multiyear study of the experiences of women students in an Engineering Technology programme. The project addressed some of the unique, fundamental challenges that female students face within their programmes, and the authors describe a programmatic framework based on Self-Determination Theory as an intervention for the recruitment and retention of female engineering students. Data from focus groups and interviews show how students were supported in their undergraduate experiences and how inclusive learning environments are needed to further improve outcomes. Conceptual issues and methodological considerations of our outcomes are presented.

Modern Tools for Communication in Concurrent Engineering

The increasing complexity of products and the need for delivering the best design in the shortest possible timeframe have driven many companies to use multidisciplinary teams to conceive and develop new products. Multidisciplinary product teams have the benefits of increased skill diversity and often a corresponding increased level of creativity due to the diverse nature of the team members. However, in order for teams to be highly effective members must be able to communicate with each other even if they are in different locations and work at different times. A key part of team communication is constant access to up to date information. An effective way of facilitating team communication is internet based communication tools. They provide a means for team members located around the world to have instant access to pertinent information while allowing team leaders to maintain control of information flow. In this paper the authors document the adoption of four internet based communication tools, Google Documents, Google Spreadsheets, Google Calendar, and SolidWorks Enterprise PDM by the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Baja SAE® racing team and the effect they had on team communication and effectiveness. The RIT Baja SAE® race team is an excellent example for demonstrating the effectiveness of internet based tools because members of the team have diverse backgrounds, have varying schedules, and need to work from a variety of locations. The implementation of internet based tools resulted in the RIT Baja SAE® team increasing the number of on time design completions, lowering production costs due to the reduction of subsystem interferences, and an improved showing at the competitions the team attended.