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1. Using Mixed Reality and the Three Apprenticeships Framework to Design Head-, Hand- and Heart-focused Learning Experiences for Civil Engineering Students

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--32462  

   London, J. S.; Ayer, S. K.; Wu, W.; Lam, C. K. (June 2019, 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   While the building industry has a major impact on the US economy, it is one that is often criticized for poor productivity and waste resulted from interoperability. Additionally, the impending labor shortage requires that this is industry becomes one that can do more with less in order to remain effective. As part of preparing civil engineering students for careers in this industry and to design/build infrastructure that is responsive to changing societal needs, educators have aimed to replicate the processes associated with real-world projects through design/build educational activities (like the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Solar Decathlon, Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s (SMUD) Tiny House Competition, and DOE’s Challenge Home Competition) as part of helping students situate civil engineering concepts in an authentic learning environment. Unfortunately, not all universities have the financial resources necessary to fund these types of hands-on projects. Thankfully, technology has the potential to mitigate some of these inequities. This paper presents an update on a three-year NSF-funded project that aims to: develop mixed reality (MR) technology aimed at sufficiently replicating physical design and construction learning environments to enable access to students at institutions without sufficient resources; and assess the impact of a MR-facilitated cyberlearning environment on cognitive-, affective-, and skill-based learning that occurs during traditional (in-person) design and construction activities. Human Centered Design principles and the tenets of the Carnegie Foundation’s Three Apprenticeships Model (i.e., learning related to “Head”, “Hand”, and “Heart”) inform the design, development, and assessments in this project. Highlights from the first year and future plans will be discussed. 

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2. Closing the Skills Gap: Construction and Engineering Education Using Mixed Reality – A Case Study

   https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2018.8658992  

   Wu, Wei; Tesei, Aaron; Ayer, Steven; London, Jeremi; Luo, Yupeng; Gunji, Venkata (October 2018, 2018 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE))

   This research work-in-progress paper investigated the application of emerging mixed reality (MR) technology in construction and engineering education. The construction industry is facing a severe shortage of skilled workforce. As the baby boomers are retiring, the younger generation, especially college students, are often criticized for their lack of professional experience and career-specific competency. To close the skills gap and accelerate the transition of college students to competent workforce, this paper proposed a new genre of learning and professional training using MR. The main promise of the MR technology resides in its ability to augment virtual contents on top of the physical reality to facilitate tacit knowledge learning, and simulate learning activities that traditionally can only be obtained from actual professional experience. An undergraduate wood framing lab was designed as a case study to explore how students might perform in this new learning and training environment. Specifically, the case study investigated if MR would facilitate student design comprehension and transfer such understanding into the knowledge and skills needed to build the wood structure. A randomly selected student control group was given traditional paper-based construction drawings to perform the same tasks with other student groups with various visualization technology assistance. Project performance and behavior of student groups were compared to determine if there was a significant difference between the control group and the experiment groups. A pair of pre- and post-survey on MR-intervened learning experience was also conducted to explore student perceptions towards this new genre of learning and training. The research design proposed in this work-in-progress study and its preliminary results could be a good reference and foundation to future research in this arena. 

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3. Student Approaches and Performance in Element Sequencing Tasks Using 2D and Augmented Reality Formats

   https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12040247  

   McCord, Kieren H.; Ayer, Steven K.; Perry, Logan A.; Patil, Karan R.; London, Jeremi S.; Khoury, Vanessa; Wu, Wei (April 2022, Education Sciences)

   In civil and construction engineering education research, a focus has been on using 3D models to support students’ design comprehension. Despite this trend, the predominant mode of design communication in the industry relies on 2D plans and specifications, which typically supersede other modes of communication. Rather than focusing on the presentation of less common 3D content as an input to support students’ understanding of a design, this paper explores more common 2D inputs, but compares different visualization formats of student output in two educational interventions. In the first intervention, students document a construction sequence for wood-framed elements in a 2D worksheet format. In the second, students work with the same wood-framed design, but document their sequence through an augmented reality (AR) format where their physical interactions move full-scale virtual elements as if they were physically constructing the wood frame. Student approaches and performance were analyzed using qualitative attribute coding of video, audio, and written documentation of the student experience. Overall, results showed that the 2D worksheet format was simple to implement and was not mentally demanding to complete, but often corresponded with a lack of critical checks and a lack of mistake recognition from the students. The AR approach challenged students more in terms of cognitive load and completion rates but showed the potential for facilitating mistake recognition and self-remediation through visualization. These results suggest that when students are tasked with conceptualizing construction sequences from 2D documentation, the cognitive challenges associated with documenting a sequence in AR may support their recognition of their own mistakes in ways that may not be effectively supported through 2D documentation as an output for documenting and planning a construction sequence. The results presented in this paper provide insights on student tendencies, behaviors, and perceptions related to defining construction sequences from 2D documentation in order for educators to make informed decisions regarding the use of similar learning activities to prepare their students for understanding the 2D design documents used in industry. 

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4. NSF S-STEM Project Update: A Pathway to Completion for Pursuing Engineering and Engineering Technology Degrees

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--35004  

   Bullington, Kim; Tomovic, Cynthia; Jovanovic, Vukica; Dean, Anthony; Landaeta, Rafael (January 2021, ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line)

   null (Ed.)

   This poster showcases the progress of students who are receiving scholarships from the National Science Foundation S-STEM project: A Pathway to Completion for Pursuing Engineering and Engineering Technology Degrees. Thus far, 20 academically high-achieving students who demonstrate financial need have participated in the project. Thirty-six scholarships have been awarded to date, in which a maximum of twelve scholarships are awarded per semester; some students have received scholarships multiple times. Students are from electrical engineering, computer engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, civil engineering technology, and modeling and simulation majors. As part of this S-STEM project, students also receive academic support, mentorship related to the development of professional workforce skills, career search skills, and opportunities to participate in industry-related field trips. Role models, many of whom are practicing engineers with STEM degrees and are military veterans, serve as presenters and share their personal career pathways and answer students’ questions in the required one-hour weekly seminar. Although the students participating in this project meet the strenuous academic criteria set by the project (3.0/4.0), many of the students struggle financially, due to having expended their G.I. benefits, which can impede their academic performance and graduation. While many student success programs focus on freshman and sophomore students, what makes this project unique is its focus on enabling student success at the junior and senior years. This project provides a portfolio of different activities for the more mature student, e.g. financial aid through scholarships, community-based learning opportunities, and academic success strategies that enable stronger retention and student completion rates. Project activities are tailored to veterans and adult learners as this group of students is particularly vulnerable given their need to simultaneously juggle academic, family, and financial obligations. 

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5. Advanced Manufacturing Curriculum Development in Ohio High Schools and Community Colleges

   Sarder, MD (May 2024, IISE Annual Conference 2024)

   There is a huge lack of qualified personnel in advanced manufacturing in the U.S. Midwest stemming from a lack of student interest compounded with a lack of experienced teachers who usually motivate students. This paper describes the findings of an NSF RET project at Bowling Green State University that successfully addresses the common need to produce STEM graduates in the advanced manufacturing area. The NSF-RET project’s unique hands-on research experience combined with local industry collaboration prepare future STEM teachers, who can interject research experience in a classroom learning and tie that with the real-world implementations. The project cements the partnership among BGSU, local high schools, and community colleges in Ohio to address the common need of producing STEM graduates in advanced manufacturing area. This project addresses the workforce needs by producing competent high schools and community college educators, who are capable to blend research with educational activities at their institutions, motivate students for STEM degrees, and build long-term collaborative partnerships in the region. This project focused on two goals: (1) explore a sustainable educational model that connects high schools, community colleges, university, and industry; and (2) play a transformational role in preparing future leaders in advanced manufacturing. This paper explains the need, scope, and nature of the curriculum development process through engaging K-14 educators. This paper will share some of their successful research projects, how they translated their research into actionable curriculum modules, and some lessons learned from implementations. 

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