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1. Supporting Design Capabilities Across the ECE Curriculum, the Role of DAMNED Projects

   Lamparter, M. A. (January 2022, American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exhibition)

   This paper reports on the development of a second-year design course intended to support student design capabilities in a coherent four-year design thread across an Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) curriculum. At Bucknell University students take four years of design starting by building an Internet of Things (IoT) sensor module in first year, a robust IoT product in the second year, using the product to address societal challenges in the third year, followed by a culminating capstone experience in the fourth year. While the first year introduces students broadly to the ECE curriculum, the second-year course reported here is designed to provide students’ abilities in electronic device fabrication and test and measurement, areas students at Bucknell have had little previous exposure to. This course is designed to anchor the remainder of the design sequence by giving all students the capability to independently fabricate and test robust electronic devices. The second-year course has students individually build an IoT appliance—the Digital / Analog Modular Neopixel-based Electronic Display, or DAMNED project—by going through twelve sequential steps of design from simulation through PCB layout, device and enclosure fabrication, to application development. Because this course is most students’ first encounter with electronic fabrication and test and measurement techniques, the course has students build the project in twelve steps. Each weekly step is heavily scaffolded to allow students to work independently out of class. The paper discusses how such scaffolding is supported through design representations such as block diagrams, pre-class preparation, rapid feedback, and the use of campus makerspaces and educational software tools. The paper also shares results of making iterative improvement to the course structure using action research, and early indications that students are able transfer skills into subsequent design courses. 

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2. Adding a “Design Thread” to Electrical and Computer Engineering Degree Programs: Motivation, Implementation, and Evaluation

   Cheville, R. A.; Thompson, M. S.; Thomas, S. (July 2021, ASEE annual conference exposition)

   null (Ed.)

   This article details the multi-year process of adding a “design thread” to our department’s electrical and computer engineering curricula. We use the conception of a “thread” to mean a sequence of courses that extend unbroken across each year of the undergraduate curriculum. The design thread includes a project-based introduction to the discipline course in the first year, a course in the second year focusing on measurement and fabrication, a course in the third year to frame technical problems in societal challenges, and culminates with our two-semester, client-driven fourth-year capstone design sequence. The impetus to create a design thread arose from preparation for an ABET visit where we identified a need for more “systems thinking” within the curriculum, particularly system decomposition and modularity; difficulty in having students make engineering evaluations of systems based on data; and students’ difficulty transferring skills in testing, measurement, and evaluation from in-class lab scenarios to more independent work on projects. We also noted that when working in teams, students operated more collectively than collaboratively. In other words, rather than using task division and specialization to carry out larger projects, students addressed all problems collectively as a group. This paper discusses the process through which faculty developed a shared conception of design to enable coherent changes to courses in the four year sequence and the political and practical compromises needed to create the design thread. To develop a shared conception of design faculty explored several frameworks that emphasized multiple aspects of design. Course changes based on elements of these frameworks included introducing design representations such as block diagrams to promote systems thinking in the first year and consistently utilizing representations throughout the remainder of the four year sequence. Emphasizing modularity through representations also enabled introducing aspects of collaborative teamwork. While students are introduced broadly to elements of the design framework in their first year, later years emphasize particular aspects. The second year course focuses on skills in fabrication and performance measurement while the third year course emphasizes problem context and users, in an iterative design process. The client-based senior capstone experience integrates all seven aspects of our framework. On the political and organizational side implementing the design thread required major content changes in the department’s introductory course, and freeing up six credit-hour equivalents, one and a half courses, in the curriculum. The paper discusses how the ABET process enabled these discussions to occur, other curricular changes needed to enable the design thread to be implemented, and methods which enabled the two degree programs to align faculty motivation, distribute the workload, and understand the impact the curricular changes had on student learning. 

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3. Cultivating a Culture to Foster Engineering Identity

   Han, Y.-L.; Cook, K.; Mason, G.; Shuman, T.R.; and Turns, J. (January 2022, 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   The Mechanical Engineering Department at a private, mid-sized university was awarded the National Science Foundation (NSF) Revolutionizing Engineering and Computer Science Departments (RED) grant in July 2017 to support the development of a program that fosters students’ engineering identities in a culture of doing engineering with industry engineers. The Department is cultivating this culture of “engineering with engineers” through a strong connection to industry, and through changes in the four essential areas of, a shared department vision, faculty, curriculum and supportive policies. This paper reports our continued efforts in these four areas and our measurement of their impact. Shared department vision: During the first year of the project, the department worked together to revise its mission to reflect the goal of fostering engineering identity. From this shared vision, the department aims to build a culture to promote inclusive practices. In the past year during the COVID-19 pandemic, this shared vision continued to guide many acts of care and community building for the department. Faculty: The pandemic prompted faculty to reflect on how they delivered their courses and cared for students. To promote inclusive practice, faculty utilized recorded lectures, online collaboration tools and instant messaging apps to provide multiple ways of communication for students. Although faculty summer immersion had to be postponed due to pandemic, interactions with industry continued in design courses, and via virtual seminars and socials. Efforts were also extended to strengthen connections between the department and recent graduates who just began working in industry and could become mentors for current students. Curriculum: A new curriculum to support the goals of this project was rolled out in the 2019-20 academic year. The pandemic hit right in the middle of the initial implementation of this new curriculum. Therefore, to maintain the essence of the new curriculum that emphasizes hands-on, doing engineering and experiential learning in the remote setting, many adjustments and modifications were made. Although initial evidence indicates the effectiveness of the new courses/curriculum even under remote teaching and learning, there are also many lessons-learned that can be examined for future implementations and modifications of the curriculum. Supportive policies: The department agreed to celebrate various acts of care for students and cares for teaching and learning in Annual Performance Reviews. Faculty also worked with other departments, the college, and the university to develop supportive policies beyond the department. For example, based on the recommendation from the department, the college set up a Student Advocate role who would assist students navigate through any incident that make they feel excluded. The new university tenure and promotion guidelines have just been approved with the support from the faculty in the department. Additionally, the department’s effort of building an inclusive culture is aligned with the university initiative for a reform to emphasize anti-racism curriculum. Details of the action items in each area of change that the department has taken to build this inclusive culture to foster engineering identity are shared in this paper. In addition, research gauging the impact of our efforts are discussed. This project was funded by the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) IUSE/PFE: RED grant through NSF. 

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4. From Resistance to Readiness – Building Capacity to Pilot and Scale Co-requisite Calculus for First-Year Engineering Gateway Courses

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--46866  

   Olsen, Darlene; Supan, Karen; Johnson, Liz (June 2024, Gardening outdoor living)

   Norwich University, the oldest Senior Military College in the nation and the first private U.S. institution to teach engineering, has a residential program for approximately 2,100 primarily undergraduate students in both the Corps of Cadets and civilian lifestyles. Norwich secured a National Science Foundation S-STEM award in the beginning of 2020 to develop a program to attract and retain highly talented, low-income students in STEM. One of the aims of the project was to support students who enter college with less experience in mathematics as these students were significantly less likely to graduate with a STEM degree. In the fall of 2020, as a result of the S-STEM award, the mathematics department offered a pilot corequisite calculus course to STEM majors requiring calculus their first semester but placed into precalculus by the mathematics departmental placement test. The corequisite calculus course includes content from precalculus into a one semester calculus course that meets daily for 6 contact hours rather than a standard 4 credit hour calculus course. The Norwich University Civil, Electrical and Computer, and Mechanical Engineering programs are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, placing restrictions on the 8-semester engineering degree pathway. The added credits to the first semester corequisite calculus course fit the constraints of the first semester engineering course load and this course has enabled engineering students that place into precalculus to complete an on-time degree plan without taking summer courses. The corequisite course has been approved by the university curriculum committee and is a regular offering at the institution. The initial offering of the corequisite course occurred during the COVID pandemic necessitating the use of additional instructional technology. There was also an increase in low stakes assessments to encourage students to engage in the material. The added credits also increased the regularity of student interacting with calculus. Since the implementation of this pilot course, there have been several similar changes in other courses required by engineering majors. The pilot corequisite course has become institutionalized and even is now scaling, with the engineering department requesting the course to be offered each semester to benefit students who are out of sync with the intended curriculum pathway. This project examines how the corequisite calculus course may have influenced changes in the general education courses and engineering first year sequence. Outcome harvesting as well as process tracing are used to determine the strength of evidence linking the corequisite course to institutional change. Qualitative and quantitative data will be examined as well to understand how the S-STEM award contributed to breakdown of the resistance to curriculum change and the readiness to implement and scale corequisite courses in other areas. It is important to understand the mechanisms used for building capacity at the institution to transform STEM education in higher education 

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5. Engaging Civil Engineering Students through a “Capstone-like” Experience in their Sophomore Year

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--34539  

   Sarasua, Wayne; Kaye, Nigel; Ogle, Jennifer; Benaissa, Mehdi; Benson, Lisa; Putman, Bradley; Pfirman, Aubrie (June 2020, 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference)

   null (Ed.)

   Many university engineering programs require their students to complete a senior capstone experience to equip them with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed after graduation. Such capstone experiences typically integrate knowledge and skills learned cumulatively in the degree program, often engaging students in projects outside of the classroom. As part of an initiative to completely transform the civil engineering undergraduate program at Clemson University, a capstone-like course sequence is being incorporated into the curriculum during the sophomore year. Funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation’s Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) program, this departmental transformation (referred to as the Arch initiative) is aiming to develop a culture of adaptation and a curriculum support for inclusive excellence and innovation to address the complex challenges faced by our society. Just as springers serve as the foundation stones of an arch, the new courses are called “Springers” because they serve as the foundations of the transformed curriculum. The goal of the Springer course sequence is to expose students to the “big picture” of civil engineering while developing student skills in professionalism, communication, and teamwork through real-world projects and hands-on activities. The expectation is that the Springer course sequence will allow faculty to better engage students at the beginning of their studies and help them understand how future courses contribute to the overall learning outcomes of a degree in civil engineering. The Springer course sequence is team-taught by faculty from both civil engineering and communication, and exposes students to all of the civil engineering subdisciplines. Through a project-based learning approach, Springer courses mimic capstone in that students work on a practical application of civil engineering concepts throughout the semester in a way that challenges students to incorporate tools that they will build on and use during their junior and senior years. In the 2019 spring semester, a pilot of the first of the Springer courses (Springer 1; n=11) introduced students to three civil engineering subdisciplines: construction management, hydrology, and transportation. The remaining subdisciplines will be covered in a follow-on Springer 2 pilot.. The project for Springer 1 involved designing a small parking lot for a church located adjacent to campus. Following initial instruction in civil engineering topics related to the project, students worked in teams to develop conceptual project designs. A design charrette allowed students to interact with different stakeholders to assess their conceptual designs and incorporate stakeholder input into their final designs. The purpose of this paper is to describe all aspects of the Springer 1 course, including course content, teaching methods, faculty resources, and the design and results of a Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) survey to assess students’ learning outcomes. An overview of the Springer 2 course is also provided. The feedback from the SALG indicated positive attitudes towards course activities and content, and that students found interaction with project stakeholders during the design charrette especially beneficial. Challenges for full scale implementation of the Springer course sequence as a requirement in the transformed curriculum are also discussed. 

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