Workshop A: Thursday 8:30 - 10:00 am
Developing Videos and Support Materials for First-Year Engineering Design Courses
Room: 1011B Annenberg Presidential Conference Center
Ann Saterbak, Rice University
Amber Muscarello, Rice University
Matthew Wettergreen, Rice University
Building on best practices in engineering, faculty at Rice University are creating instructional
materials to enable teaching a first-year multidisciplinary engineering design course using a
flipped classroom model. With the support of an NSF DUE grant (#1244928), the workshop leaders
are developing videos, quizzes, and in-class exercises to be used at Rice University and other
engineering schools. During the workshop, participants will participate in evaluating and producing
video materials. The collective wisdom of the participants will enrich and strengthen the materials,
which will be widely disseminated.
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Workshop B: Thursday 8:30 - 10:00 am
Holistic Advising: Does Your University Have a Safety Net?
Room: 1011C Annenberg Presidential Conference Center
Betsy Willis, Southern Methodist University, bwillis@smu.edu
Eileen Hoy, Southern Methodist University, ehoy@smu.edu
Deanna Tilley, Southern Methodist University, dtilley@smu.edu
Retention of first year engineering students to the second year and onto graduation remains a
challenge. In addition to taking on a rigorous curriculum, students bring outside issues and pressure
with them to college. Students' mental and social well-being can play a significant role in their
academic success and ultimate retention to engineering major declaration and graduation. In 2011,
the Lyle School of Engineering at Southern Methodist University (SMU) recognized the need to
develop a system to identify and track at-risk students. Less than 5% of the engineering
student body is identified as "at risk" in any given semester, but addressing the needs
of these students can require significant time and resources. Therefore, a network of
campus resources is critical to efficiently and effectively assisting these students.
The Office of Undergraduate Advising and Student Records in the Lyle School serves as the
main point of contact and maintains with offices across campus offering additional resources
for students, faculty and staff. In this workshop, participants will explore actual case
studies and have the opportunity to identify and develop their own campus network.
Participants will engage in a discussion of emerging issues and needs of first year
engineering students.
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Workshop C: Thursday 10:30 - Noon
"Design Your Process of Becoming a World-Class Engineering Student" - A Powerful Project for Enhancing Student Success
Room: 1011B Annenberg Presidential Conference Center
Steffen Peuker, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, speuker@calpoly.edu
Raymond B. Landis, California State University, Los Angeles, rlandis@exchange.calstatela.edu
Many students come into an engineering program lacking a strong commitment to stay in an engineering
program and to graduate with an engineering degree. Furthermore, many students lack the attitudes
and behaviors to accomplish the challenging goal of graduating in engineering. To strengthen the
commitment of first-year engineering students and guide them in developing academic-related skills,
academic self-confidence, and personal skills an innovative project has been developed. The project
challenges students to develop their process to become a "World-Class Engineering Student".
Having first-year engineering students design their individually tailored learning process as
part of a semester long project in the setting of a student success focused introduction to
engineering course or any first-year engineering course will have a significant impact on their
academic success by improving the students' skills, confidence and motivation to succeed in
engineering. Implementation of the project at two universities showed a significant impact on
first-year students, e.g. the overall GPA of first-year students increased by 0.5 points. This
workshop will show participants how to implement the "Design your Process to become a World-Class
Engineering Student" into their own introduction to engineering courses. Participants will be
provided with supplemental material to help in the adaptation of the project.
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Workshop D: Thursday 10:30 - Noon
Training Student in Responsibility for Their Own Learning: True Student Centered Learning
Room: 1011C Annenberg Presidential Conference Center
Peter Shull, The Pennsylvania State University, pjs18@psu.edu
This highly interactive workshop is about doing something different-providing faculty with proven
tools that instill student responsibility for their own learning. The workshop will focus on pragmatic
and effective methods that create a clear and common understanding of what is meant by student
responsibility for learning. It will clarify both effective and ineffective behaviors of both
students and faculty, and how to instill these skills. Specific active and experiential lessons
will be presented in a highly animated format. This workshop is for anyone who believes "I know students can do better, I just don't know how to make it happen."
Or for those who simply want to dramatically reduce student complaints or excuses in a positive way.
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Small Group Workshops: Thursday 1:15 - 3:00 pm
RoundTable Small Group Discussion Workshops
Various discussion leaders
We anticipate that the attendees at this years conference will have job describations
such as: Engineering student services staff; Minority engineering program staff;
High school teachers and administrators; Community college engineering instructors;
Communication skills specialists; Engineering faculty - Small 4-year institutions;
Engineering faculty - Large 4-year institutions; Engineering education academic
administrators; Intro to Engineering course instructors - Technical content-focus;
Intro to Engineering course instructors - Team-based engineering design project
focus; Intro to Engineering course instructors - Student development/student success
focus; and Department of Engineering Education - Faculty and administrators. This
interactive session is designed to allow all these attendees to share their insights
into the following topics on First Year Engineering.
- Design in an Introductory Course
- Non-Technical Issues for Engineering Students
- Teaching Strategies for First Year Courses
- Choosing a Major
- Laboratories for a First Year Course
- Technology Enhancements in a First Year Course
- Living and Learning Communities
- Pre-Engineering Programs
- Novel Techniques for Improving a First Year Course
- Student Development Models
- Transition to College & Mentoring
- Including Social Issues in the Curriculum
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