Search

Globally, the aviation industry including the airlines, maintenance, and manufacturing has faced an unprecedented crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aviation training in Indonesia is no exception in experiencing the pandemic's negative impacts, such as disruptions in aviation training, mental health issues, and economic uncertainty. Teachers were forced to adjust instruction from in-person training to online or hybrid learning. This shift increases much concern, especially on the training effectiveness and the quality of its outcome. Perceptions of instructors need to be examined to gain a clearer understanding of the effectiveness and whether there were positive or negative consequences as well as costs from the aforementioned changes. The researchers of this study conducted seven semi-structured interviews with aviation maintenance instructors in Indonesia to determine the challenges of changing teaching methods during COVID-19. Moreover, a questionnaire was collected from 83 students in four maintenance training programs to investigate the COVID-19 learning method changes in their practical skills as learning outcomes. The Incorporation of Technology (T), Individual (I), Pedagogical (P), and Enabling Condition (EC) or 'TIPEC' Framework and Resilience Engineering Framework will be utilized as the basis to develop the questionnaire and to analyze the results of how the students responded to the new learning method. In the end, this study suggested the most effective teaching methods that can improve practical skilled aviation maintenance professionals in Indonesia during the pandemic situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As societies rely increasingly on computers for critical functions, the importance of cybersecurity becomes ever more paramount. Even in recent months there have been attacks that halted oil production, disrupted online learning at the height of COVID, and put medical records at risk at prominent hospitals. This constant threat of privacy leaks and infrastructure disruption has led to an increase in the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, mainly machine learning (ML), in state-of-the-art cybersecurity approaches. Oftentimes, these techniques are borrowed from other disciplines without context and devoid of the depth of understanding as to why such techniques are best suited to solve the problem at hand. This is largely due to the fact that in many ways cybersecurity curricula have failed to keep up with advances in cybersecurity research and integrating AI and ML into cybersecurity curricula is extremely difficult. To address this gap, we propose a new methodology to integrate AI and ML techniques into cybersecurity education curricula. Our methodology consists of four components: i) Analysis of Literature which aims to understand the prevalence of AI and ML in cybersecurity research, ii) Analysis of Cybersecurity Curriculum that intends to determine the materials already present in the curriculum and the possible intersection points in the curricula for the new AI material, iii) Design of Adaptable Modules that aims to design highly adaptable modules that can be directly used by cybersecurity educators where new AI material can naturally supplement/substitute for concepts or material already present in the cybersecurity curriculum, and iv) Curriculum Level Evaluation that aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology from both student and instructor perspectives. In this paper, we focus on the first component of our methodology - Analysis of Literature and systematically analyze over 5000 papers that were published in the top cybersecurity conferences during the last five years. Our results clearly indicate that more than 78% of the cybersecurity papers mention AI terminology. To determine the prevalence of the use of AI, we randomly selected 300 papers and performed a thorough analysis. Our results show that more than 19% of the papers implement ML techniques. These findings suggest that AI and ML techniques should be considered for future integration into cybersecurity curriculum to better align with advancements in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As technologies develop, the tools used in classrooms to support student learning are ever evolving. While this change can provide avenues for new exploration and enhanced educational experiences, critically assessing these developments is essential to ensure that there are added educational benefits to these new technologies and tools. This paper details an electronic notebook that was implemented in select sections of a first-year engineering course to replace the use of traditional paper notebooks. While the implementation seemed successful and there were anticipated benefits to switching from a paper to electronic based system, critical assessment data based on good assessment practices was collected to truly measure the impact of the change and new technology use. In this paper, we report on the electronic notebooks themselves and the assessment results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two different implementations of PBL projects in a fluid mechanics course are presented in this paper. This required junior-level course has been taught since 2014 by the same instructor. The first PBL project presented is a complete design of pumped pipeline systems for a hypothetical plant. In the second project, engineering students partnered with pre-service teachers to design and teach an elementary school lesson on fluid mechanics concepts. The goal of this paper is to present the experiences of the authors with both PBL implementations. It explains how the projects were scaffolded through the entire semester, including how the sequence of course content was modified, how team dynamics were monitored, the faculty roles, and the end products and presentations. To evaluate and compare students' learning and satisfaction with the team experience between the two PBL implementations, a shortened version of the NCEES FE exam and the Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness (CATME) survey were utilized. Students completed the FE exam during the first week and then again during the last week of the semester to assess students' growth in fluid mechanics knowledge. The CATME survey was completed mid-semester to help faculty identify and address problems within team dynamics, and at the end of the semester to evaluate individual students' teamwork performance. The results showed that the type of PBL approach used in the course did not have an impact on fluid mechanics content knowledge; however, the data suggests that the cross-disciplinary PBL model led to higher levels of teamwork satisfaction. Through reflective assignments, student perceptions of the PBL implementations are discussed in the paper. Finally, some of the PBL course materials and assignments are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the fourth year of a cybersecurity-focused research experience for undergraduates programs site in the summer of 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the site operated in a hybrid mode during this summer, after operating entirely virtually during the summer of 2020. The paper compares the results of operating in a hybrid mode with two years of in-person operations and one year of virtual operations. It discusses the lessons learned when operating in the hybrid mode and makes recommendations for future hybrid REU implementations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a world of open knowledge, engineering students expect from an educational program to provide practical experiences in order to get ready for the job market. Hence, design experiences, as a learning experience, are crucial for student growth, retention and engagement. Therefore, it is important to create innovative learning experiences that satisfy the achievement of these goals. In addition, such experiences need to be feasible for implementation and viable for the designer of learning - the educator. In fact, developing a design learning experience is a design task itself. Educators need to understand the student and the context in which the learning takes place in order to develop an innovative concept of a design activity. The overall purpose of introducing the context in the design endeavor is to create better solutions that suit all stakeholders but more importantly promotes inclusiveness, diversity, and equity in education by putting the student at the center of solution development. Additionally, innovation requires putting together different perspectives and knowledge. Therefore, co-designing with stakeholders is a way to spark this innovation. In this paper, we introduce the Context Canvas as a collaborative design tool to help consider the contextual factors early in the process of design learning experience development. This work in progress paper presents an example of use of the Context Canvas for redesigning a project spine course in the engineering program at our institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American Council for Construction Education (ACCE) requires all accredited construction programs to demonstrate a direct assessment of twenty Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs). Before graduation, many construction programs require students to take the American Institute of Constructors (AIC) Associate Constructor (AC) exam, where SLOs will be assessed at the national level. There has been some discussion in the literature regarding an improvement to program-level SLO assessment to increase the overall AC exam score. This paper aims to investigate whether construction programs should improve their program-level SLOs assessments to meet the AC exam criteria and whether such improvements will help students pass the AC exam. Data were collected for two groups of students from Spring 2018 to Spring 2020. The first group of students was assessed using the original program-level assessment. The second group of students was assessed using improved program-level assessment developed based on the AC exam guidelines. Descriptive and statistical analysis were conducted and the results indicated that these actions and the improvement to the assessment plan can effectively impact and improve the students' AC exam results. This research provides current construction educators with a new perspective on using and validating the AC exam as an effective assessment tool. It also elucidates correlations between program SLOs and the bodies of knowledge in the AC exam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to an online source [1] in 2021 "the average player plays video games for five hours a day, a 14 percent increase from last year." As participants in the educational system, we might ask how we can make the learning process more like a game? This question leads us to a critical examination of the processes of information transfer prevalent in engineering education. We came to believe that much engineering curricula seek a perpetuation of archaic teaching models where professors are the gatekeepers of knowledge in an age where information is much more readily available than ever before. Game designers have recognized a need to understand how those outside their initial audiences seek pleasure from their game to avoid staleness in an age where information and media is available and consumed in gross quantities. They need to entertain their initial user base and expand beyond it. With a growing desire to make engineering more accessible to a diverse set of individuals, this paper will investigate strategies found in the video gaming industry which have captured the minds of millions of 16- to 26-year-olds. We are using Bartle Player Taxonomy and other reward structures to understand the engagement found in video games with hope that this can be applied to the engineering classrooms to increase student's intrinsic motivation for learning. Because Bartle's Taxonomy does not show up in academic publications, we are also challenging the traditional source of knowledge in academic publications by encouraging innovative approaches found on blogs and video sharing sites. We are not only making educational systems more inclusive but aim to challenge the paradigms about who creates knowledge. To bring this theory-based paper to practice we will include some concrete applications we have experimented with in a virtual reality electrical engineering lab experience at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly, SLO). We seek input from the community about the theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering education in Malaysia has been recognized by the Washington Accord (WA) since 2009. The International Engineering Alliance continuously updates the requirements for the Program Learning Outcomes according to the needs of the current and future global graduating engineers that member countries of the WA must fulfill. Recent requirements emphasize lifelong learning, complex problem solving, engineering activities, and computing and digital tools capabilities geared towards developing engineering graduates ready for 21st century challenges. When brought upon engineering educators, these increasing requirements posed a dilemma because most are not trained to educate students beyond what they have experienced in their previous formal learning processes, which may be irrelevant for today's learners. In a survey conducted by the UK Royal Academy of Engineering, engineering knowledge and skills are the topmost needed challenges to meet the needs of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Thus, to transform engineering education in Malaysia, the gap between the needs of the current and future engineering requirements, with the current engineering education practices, must be determined. Hence, this study aims to identify the gaps in Malaysian engineering education towards preparing 21st century ready educators, study the transition of engineering educators in their attempt to implement innovative education, and finally develop a framework for transforming engineering education through the infusion of innovative teaching and learning to support the development of the future-ready educators. The study uses a mixed-method research design to identify the gaps through document analysis, interviews, questionnaire surveys, and focus group discussions (FGD) among engineering education providers and industry players. The data will be analyzed and triangulated to chart the gaps in engineering education toward preparing 21st century educators. Later, this result will be used to develop the directions, actions, and transformation framework. The findings from this study will be used to formulate Malaysian national policy for transforming future-ready engineering educators who can excel and be on the leading edge of knowledge, innovation, and humanistic values to develop quality engineers in the 21st century. In this work-in-progress paper, only the initial part of the research, which is part of the document analysis, under the training construct, is reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the demand for online learning keeps growing in higher education, developing teaching pedagogies that are effective in online education is of importance. Teaching courses remotely involves challenges such as difficulties in retaining student attention and promoting collaborative in-class activities. These can adversely affect students' motivation for learning, comprehension of new concepts, and application of knowledge in realistic problems. In this study, the efficacy of flipped classroom pedagogy in online classes is investigated, with a focus on student engagement and learning outcomes. An undergraduate fluid mechanics course was reconstructed as an online flipped classroom; the student performance was compared to that of the previous in-person, nonflipped sections taught by the same instructor. The paper discusses three main design aspects in implementing an online flipped classroom: 1) syncing the material delivery paces with assignment deadlines, 2) multi-stage assignments on the same topic at incremental difficulty levels, and 3) web-friendly and well-defined deliverables for group problem-solving activities. In both sections offered as the flipped online classroom format in Fall 2021, remarkably high student participation was observed, with an average of 1.1 students absent out of 88 students throughout the semester. Furthermore, compared to the two previous in-person, non-flipped sections offered in Spring 2018 and Spring 2019, the online flipped classroom students earned a 3.5% higher average score on the same final exams. Overall, improvement in both student engagement and learning outcomes has been observed for the online flipped Fluid Mechanics course. Finally, the paper discusses the advantages, implementation strategies, and limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the impact of various class assignments and activities that build up on each other with the aim of increasing student motivation and student learning in a Quality Analysis course. Scaffolding is an instructional strategy that aims to reduce the amount of cognitive effort that students has to make to learn the materials by breaking down the material into more manageable components. In this study, critical thinking scaffolding is applied in the quality analysis course by structuring several elements to lead students to an assignment that is more complex. At the end of the semester, the impact assessment of critical thinking scaffolding was studied by analyzing student feedback and end-of course surveys, quality of student assignments and course grades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study explores the student perspective on approaches to real-time data collection surveys intended to be completed during classes. Real-time data collection means in the moment, while learning is happening. In focus group sessions with undergraduate students, we used semi-structured questions to gather information about a series of proposed survey tools including social media (e.g., Facebook and Twitter), standard survey software (e.g., SurveyMonkey), and classroom technologies (e.g., such as clickers or tablet computers and interactive software). Focus groups were recorded, transcribed verbatim and coded to identify patterns in preferences and underlying reasons for these preferences with regard to structuring the survey to increase the likelihood of completion of the survey by participants. The primary outcome of this study was that students suggested pen/pencil and paper as a top choice over electronic methods, even though this approach was not among our suggested options. They preferred pen/pencil and paper because the format offers space for free expression and ease of access. They also suggested the impetus to take the survey is greater with pen/pencil and paper. We believe our study makes an important contribution to educational research methods literature by offering research-based design considerations for increasing response rates in real-time data collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While little is known about the enrollment and retention rates of STEM graduate students, studies indicate that the way higher education generally approaches STEM graduate programs overlooks and excludes individuals with dis/abilities. This research examines the experiences of STEM graduate students with non-apparent (also called "invisible") dis/abilities as related through the lens of critical dis/ability theory. In this paper, we review the findings from the first phase of a larger study through the lens of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). We used Harvey's interview process to explore the experiences of two STEM graduate students who selfidentify as having "invisible" dis/abilities or "different abilities" through a progressive series of interviews. In this paper, we review a selection of the participant's experiences and provide recommendations on how UDL can be implemented to overcome the barriers graduate students may be facing in their coursework, research, and advising. We provide these recommendations in an effort to create a more inclusive and welcoming environment for all graduate students. Further, we hope that our research findings help individuals serving university students at any level in any discipline ask what opportunities they have to create a more inclusive and welcoming environment through the tenants of UDL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Complete Evidence-Based Practice paper will present the launch of an innovative discipline-specific, first-year discovery studio within an undergraduate engineering program amid pandemic-related turbulence. This paper will outline how the originally conceptualized course was adapted for online-hybrid instruction, lessons learned executing studio-style instruction asynchronously, and best practices for first-year engineering education developed as a result of ECE Discovery Studio's unintended multimodal launch year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of capstone design project courses is to provide graduating senior students the opportunity to demonstrate understanding of the concepts they have learned during their studies. As with many computer science and engineering programs, students of the electrical engineering program at Utah Valley University (UVU) conclude their degree programs with a two-semester capstone design experience. The intent is for students to utilize competencies developed in the first three years of the curriculum in the solution of a complex design problem. This paper will elaborate the detail content of the curriculum for our new electrical engineering program as well as the two-semester long capstone design courses. The paper also presents the primary experiences of teaching capstone I and II to our electrical engineering students. The description of these courses is first given, including course contents, learning outcomes and instruction approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anyone who examines the websites of engineering colleges and degree programs can easily see that many of them articulate aspirations like those included in the National Academy of Engineering's The Engineer of 2020: Visions for the New Century (2004) and the statement from the MIT online course catalog reproduced above. To the extent that these aspirations have been realized, they justify public support for and investment in engineering education and research. The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) commissioned the study that culminated in the Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century (2000), which provide ample evidence of "the power and promise of engineering." NAE president Bill Wulf emphasized the impact and human significance of these achievements when he introduced them: "if any of [the achievements on the list] were removed our world would be a very different place-and a much less hospitable one. The main criterion for selection was not technical 'gee whiz,' but how much an achievement improved people's quality of life" (Wulf, 2000). Combined with the aspirations of The Engineer of 2020, the Greatest Achievements present the appeal of an engineering career as extending far beyond the promise of lucrative employment. While the engineering achievements and their positive impact are well-established, it is not at all clear that engineering curricula systematically prepare graduates to develop and manage "complex technologies and products," "contribute directly to the betterment of humanity," or avoid unintended "negative results of technology [such as] Pollution, global warming, depletion of scarce resources, and catastrophic failures of poorly designed engineering" (2020, p. 48). The qualification "systematic" is particularly important here for two reasons. First, it takes into account the innovative pedagogical strategies and curricular designs that prepare some engineering students to achieve the vision of the Engineer of 2020. The proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), the Journal of Engineering Education, and numerous other publications document the quality and impact of these strategies and designs. These innovative programs, many of which have existed for long periods of time, demonstrate the feasibility of the kind of education envisioned for the Engineer of 2020. Second, the qualification "systematic" is also important because engineering education (including accreditation) is an enterprise permeated by the systematic articulation and maintenance of curricular standards that guarantee demonstrated competencies in all graduates. The research reported in this paper gathered detailed information from the websites of topranked engineering institutions and used it make an initial determination of the extent to which these aspirations are shared across a select group of elite institutions, the 10 best undergraduate engineering schools as ranked by U.S. News and World Report for 2020. We found that these aspirations are shared and align closely with the aspirations of The Engineer of 2020. We then gathered evidence about the curricula of the institutions to determine the extent to which the content of the curriculum aligns with the aspirations. The evidence that we gathered (and present in its entirety in the appendix to this paper) suggests that very few top-ranked institutions require exposure to the humanistic dimensions of engineering by integrating coursework that helps students understand the role engineers play in shaping the world, how they interact with other stakeholders, or what it takes to succeed in engineering practice. All of the institutions require courses in the humanities and social sciences (HSS) and specify distribution requirements across disciplines that could contribute to equipping engineering graduates to lead, manage, and shape the world, but these requirements are almost never directly related to engineering. After offering an overview of the origins of these themes and establishing why the term "humanistic" is appropriate, this paper describes the methods we used to reach these conclusions and discusses some of their implications before offering recommendations about future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This complete research paper emphasizes the importance of students' engagement from two perspectives. These perspectives vary based on students' interaction with learning activities or content and their interaction with the educational applications introduced in the class. This paper examines the relationship between these two engagement perspectives, i.e., students' engineering course engagement (Course_Eng) and students' application engagement (App_Eng) in a mobile technology-mediated learning environment. A CourseMIRROR mobile application was introduced in the first-year engineering (FYE) course, which prompted students to write their reflection on lectures' confusing or interesting points after each class. To collect the data on students' course engagement, we administered a validated survey at the beginning and the end of the semester (pre-post manner). Students self-reported their course engagement on four dimensions of engagement: behavioral, social, cognitive, and emotional. We calculated the number of times students submitted their reflections for the app engagement in a semester. One hundred and twenty students from a required first-year engineering course participated in this study by self-reporting their course engagement and interaction with the application. We hypothesize and explore whether students' course engagement has a relationship with their app engagement or not. We analyzed the data using Pearson product-moment correlation to understand the relationships between pre-course engagement, post-course engagement, and app engagement. Furthermore, we conducted linear regressions to understand the relationship between 1) course and application engagement and 2) changes in students' course engagement and app engagement. The study results indicate that students' pre-behavioral and pre-cognitive engagement significantly correlate with students' app engagement. Also, the study highlights the insignificant relationship of students' social engagement, emotional engagement, and app engagement posts using the application. Further, both students' pre-behavior and pre-cognitive engagement are predictors of students' app engagement, while changes in students' cognitive engagement (from pre to post) also significantly predict students' app engagement. We discuss these results in light of implications, limitations, and future directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Next Generation Science Standards [1] recognized evidence-based argumentation as one of the essential skills for students to develop throughout their science and engineering education. Argumentation focuses students on the need for quality evidence, which helps to develop their deep understanding of content [2]. Argumentation has been studied extensively, both in mathematics and science education but also to some extent in engineering education (see for example [3], [4], [5], [6]). After a thorough search of the literature, we found few studies that have considered how teachers support collective argumentation during engineering learning activities. The purpose of this program of research was to support teachers in viewing argumentation as an important way to promote critical thinking and to provide teachers with tools to implement argumentation in their lessons integrating coding into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (which we refer to as integrative STEM). We applied a framework developed for secondary mathematics [7] to understand how teachers support collective argumentation in integrative STEM lessons. This framework used Toulmin's [8] conceptualization of argumentation, which includes three core components of arguments: a claim (or hypothesis) that is based on data (or evidence) accompanied by a warrant (or reasoning) that relates the data to the claim [9], [8]. To adapt the framework, video data were coded using previously established methods for analyzing argumentation [7]. In this paper, we consider how the framework can be applied to an elementary school teacher's classroom interactions and present examples of how the teacher implements various questioning strategies to facilitate more productive argumentation and deeper student engagement. We aim to understand the nature of the teacher's support for argumentation--contributions and actions from the teacher that prompt or respond to parts of arguments. In particular, we look at examples of how the teacher supports students to move beyond unstructured tinkering (e.g., trial-and-error) to think logically about coding and develop reasoning for the choices that they make in programming. We also look at the components of arguments that students provide, with and without teacher support. Through the use of the framework, we are able to articulate important aspects of collective argumentation that would otherwise be in the background. The framework gives both eyes to see and language to describe how teachers support collective argumentation in integrative STEM classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remote laboratory courses have the challenging task of trying to provide students with an equally effective learning experience as in-person laboratories. The primary focus of this paper is a framework for teaching a communication systems laboratory remotely and in real-time. A secondary focus is the discussion of analog and digital communication laboratory exercises using Simulink. The remote laboratory is run through Zoom where the students are placed in Zoom breakout rooms with a lab partner. In this setting the lab partners can work as a remote team on completing the Simulink based communication exercises. The instructor can move between the breakout rooms to interact with the students. Student responses to survey questions at the end of the course indicated a positive overall learning experience from the remote laboratory exercises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work in progress paper describes the impact of using a coaching strategy to promote learning about engineering and funds of knowledge. Preliminary analysis of the data indicated that strategies used throughout the research were effective primarily because the teachers constantly received immediate feedback. In addition, recognizing teachers as experts was important for the development of productive and asset-based collaborations. Teachers indicated that they valued the tools provided to them, which served to mediate their learning of and about engineering. This research indicates that confianza is fundamental to create spaces that foster collaborative work with teachers' communities of practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Work in progress (WIP) study, we discuss the impact of the comprehensive shift in the modes of instruction since the onset of Covid-19. The need for variant modes required the instructors to be creative and flexible in their teaching methods. The designers of the engineering courses had to be creative to retain student attention and add flexibility based on changing needs. This research study was a timely need as it identifies the impact of various modes of instruction, i.e., emergency remote instruction (ERI), online instruction, and HyFlex (Hybrid+flexible) through a technical design course. The evaluation of varying methods of instruction and their impact on learning and student performance is a timely necessity. This study statistically analyzes the implication of the changes in instruction modalities, which happened to make imparting education a possibility. In this paper, we have studied the relationship between student performances and the modes of instruction. For this purpose, data has been collected throughout different semesters from 236 students in an AutoCAD design course. For this year-long study, we have used regression analysis to understand the impact of the different modes of instruction on students' performances. We also conducted ANOVA to compare the mean difference in students' performance during different modalities. The results indicate that students in emergency remote instruction (ERI) outperform students in online instruction and HyFlex (Hybrid+flexible) modality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Evidence-based Practice paper examined the effectiveness of instructional interventions that aimed to improve students' self-and-peer written feedback entries in an undergraduate capstone course. Students were required to use CATME (Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness) to evaluate their performance and their peers' performance by using a rating scale and also offering their written feedback entries. A previous study found that students' written feedback merely focused on one dimension and was not specific. Two instructional interventions were implemented in 2021 to improve students' written feedback entries. To determine the effectiveness of the interventions, 951 students' self-and-peer written feedback entries captured in 2019 and 1245 written feedback entries captured in 2021, were analyzed and categorized by two researchers based on CATME's five dimensions. The findings suggested that the instructional interventions positively impacted students' written feedback entries. Although students in both years focused on the same dimensions in their written feedback, students were more likely to address multiple dimensions in 2021. A Chi-square statistical test showed that the differences were statistically significant. Additionally, the data showed that students used more CATME verbiage in their written comments in 2021, which to some extent implied that students had incorporated the recommended techniques in their written feedback entries. These positive results observed in 2021 inspired the authors to continue to improve the instructional interventions by including time for students to practice providing and receiving feedback. This paper may be of interest to instructors and researchers focused on teambased learning and assessment of instructional interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning Assistants (LAs) are students trained to facilitate discussion among student groups for socially mediated learning. They are distinct from teaching assistants and tutors in that they receive additional pedagogical training based on constructivist models of teaching and learning (e.g., sociocultural theory [1]). Their role in the classroom is to facilitate and guide, often through questioning, in ways that will help students reach understanding on their own. Studies on the Learning Assistant model have demonstrated numerous benefits, such as increased conceptual understanding; an increase in positive affective dimensions such as belonging; and an increase in well-trained and enthusiastic future STEM teachers. While existing education research has illustrated positive impacts on students in STEM classrooms, less work has focused on the personal and epistemological development of the LAs themselves. In this paper we provide an analytical lens through which to assess epistemological development of LAs. This is critical to understanding and promoting LA development, but has been relatively overlooked to date. We define epistemology as the beliefs, ideas, and conceptions one has about the justification, nature, and source of knowledge. Within the Learning Assistant program, there are many avenues for participating LAs to reflect on and potentially rearrange their epistemology. To analyze LA epistemological development, we turn to Baxter Magolda's Epistemological Reflection Model, which describes student epistemological stances for the role of learners, peers, and instructors. In this paper, we adapt the model to account for the unique role of LAs in educational settings. Through analysis of semi-structured interviews and written assignments with LAs before and after participation in the LA program, we find that the role of the LA as narrated by the participants is orthogonal to that of peers, learners, and instructors in the classroom. Further, the role of the LA evolves over time, often as a result of incidents in the classroom that prompt LAs to confront and reorganize their beliefs about teaching, learning, and knowledge. Here, we operationalize the Role of the LA within the context of the Epistemological Reflection Model to articulate the ways LAs are distinct from both instructors and peers and discuss how instructors employing LAs or other near-peers may productively engage with their LAs' epistemological development. This study constitutes an extension on previous work and serves as a jumping-off point for further study on the affordances of pedagogical training for near-peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life-span career educational needs of professional working adult learners are premised on a selfperspective that is multi-faceted. At the lowest level are underlying foundational needs of motivation; this given there is an expected and desired outcome from an applied level of effort. As careers progress, there is an acute awareness of the remaining opportunities available for professional pursuit; this frequently is referred to as having "a short runway", and, is the underlying basis for pursuing educational opportunities correspondingly aligned. Aside from the many fleeting opportunities attendant to an aged career, there are numerous life phase motivators, as well as those attendant to biological, psychological and cognitive changes that have a direct impact on desire and/or willingness to exert energies toward educational pursuits. This paper frames the professional working adult learners' perspective and subsequent educational needs as they progress through their career life spans. Additionally, this paper addresses administrative organizations in meeting these many needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated learning is fundamental in the current era of STEM education. However, articulating evidence of learning in such complex learning environments can be a challenge. This is especially true in elementary grades where developmentally-appropriate practices are not fully defined and understood yet. One of the newest additions to the integrated STEM discussion is computational thinking (i.e., STEM+C). The purpose of this research is to explore computational thinking practices in one Kindergarten classroom during the implementation of an integrated unit. Student artifacts were collected, deidentified, and analyzed for understanding of computational thinking. Using artifact analysis, student worksheets and prototypes designed were examined for evidence of computational thinking competencies prompted by the STEM+C lesson units. This paper provides evidence of how kindergarten students engage with computational thinking through analysis of student work. Students successfully convert an existing color pattern into letters but have difficulty writing a complete pattern with repeatable units. Students also reveal difficulty with pattern abstraction as evident from prototypes designs that mismatched with their selected patterns design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports some results of an ongoing engineering education project funded by the NSF TUES-Type 1 program. Research has shown that conceptual understanding plays a critical role in students' problem-solving performance. Assessing conceptual understanding is important in order to design the most appropriate pedagogy to improve students' problem-solving performance. The conventional way to assess conceptual understanding is to conduct assessment tests (such as the Concept Inventory Test) and/or interviews. In the present study, which involves student learning in a foundational engineering dynamics course, conceptual understanding was assessed through student-generated concept maps. Guided by active learning theory, students developed their own concept maps after they had learned an engineering dynamics theme (i.e., a chapter in a dynamics textbook). Student-generated concept maps were closely examined. This paper presents a representative set of concept maps generated by students who took an engineering dynamics course in a recent semester. The results show that student-generated concept maps provide a significant amount of information on students' understanding and/or misunderstandings of relevant concepts, and can be used as a supplemental tool to assess students' conceptual understanding in this foundational engineering course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Fall 2013, the First Year Engineering Program at Northeastern University opened a new 1600 ft 2 Learning Center that was designed to provide first-year engineering students with: (1) a collaborative teaching and learning space that fosters communication, teamwork, applied active learning and self-directed learning, (2) a dedicated workshop setting with accessible hand tools to facilitate their hands-on design projects, (3) a central office and meeting location in which to engage with their first-year instructors for office hours, extra help and advising, and (4) an academic resource and community center including a bank of computers and 3D printers to support their first-year engineering courses. In order to track students' activities in the new Engineering Learning Center and their perceptions of the Center's effectiveness with respect to their engineering coursework, qualitative and quantitative data regarding the Center's first academic year of operation were collected from students who were currently enrolled in at least one first-year engineering course. These measures included online surveys, observations by faculty, and recorded headcount data of students using the Center. Results indicate that over 80% of the responding students who visited the Learning Center at least once during the Fall 2013, Spring 2014, or Fall 2014 semesters believed that the Center and its resources were "important" or "essential" to their academic success in their first-year engineering course(s). In addition, the majority of students' activities in the Learning Center that supported their engineering coursework included working on team design projects, using the network computers, attending a special first-year class, using the 3D printers, using hand tools to build a project, using the space to meet with classmates, and getting help from teaching assistants and faculty members. Qualitative analyses revealed that students generally valued the resources in the Learning Center but remarked -not surprisingly- that the Center's actual operational space, which is only 700 ft 2 of the total 1600 ft 2, was too small to handle the high usage demand during certain weeks of the semester when various design projects were due across multiple course sections. One of the primary outcomes of this initiative was learning that the faculty and their educational objectives were generally aligned with the students' impressions and needs. At the same time, there were some areas of opportunity where this alignment could be improved and challenges could be pre-empted by defining the space to the students with clarity and intention. The lessons learned from this initiative indicate that our college's Learning Center is being used as intended, and while it is small for the given population of over 700 first-year students, the original design elements and planning efforts have paid off. The research demonstrates that even with limited resources and space, one can create a centralized area designed to help students succeed in their first year of engineering. The purpose of this paper is to guide others who might be thinking about developing a first-year engineering learning center or questioning the value of creating a seemingly too-small space for their students due to limited resources. The paper will outline adjustments made and lessons learned that can be incorporated into the planning process of other educators and administrators who may be looking to provide a modest "makerspace" and hospitable centralized community area for undergraduate engineering programs and perhaps even for a high school, museum, or informal engineering education program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is focused on the logistics and unique learning opportunities present in supervising a Unit Operations laboratory course. Specifically, the paper outlines some best practices that have been used to effectively manage the course. It is not a broad assessment or review of how different institutions run the lab, but rather highlights the unique features of the Unit Operations Laboratory at the author's institution. The goal of this paper is to provide chemical engineering faculty who will manage laboratory courses with proven best practices that are used in support of the Unit Operations Laboratory. This paper is geared to faculty who will lead or assist with chemical engineering laboratory sessions. The expected outcome for faculty includes an understanding of the how these learning objectives are realized in the course through a variety of student assessments. Faculty who manage similar laboratories will be able to identify tools and techniques that have proven effective in the Unit Operations Laboratory. This is particularly important as the dual pressures of increasing enrollment and tight budget pressures combine to increase the challenge to running an effective undergraduate laboratory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doctoral education is often described by faculty and graduate students as "a journey", "a learning process", and "a transformative experience". These descriptions speak to the experiential nature of doctoral education which aims at bringing about some change in students to prepare them for their future career. In the research literature, the path and process of becoming an engineering education researcher is an emerging field. In this paper, we present the framing of a co-operative inquiry project to explore our personal growth as graduate students. Co-operative inquiry is a research method in which multiple people share and explore a topic from their own perspectives through collective dialogue, reflection, interrogation, and transformation. Our co-operative inquiry group consisted of the authors of this paper as coresearchers and co-subjects and is situated in our shared interest in graduate education and learning. While we are at different stages of the doctoral program, we have the mutual experience of completing the first year of the program at the same institution. We engaged in cooperative inquiry sessions, focused on learning within ourselves and with others, to make new meaning from our experiences. Reflections during the formative first year of doctoral training were explored as well as reflections and memos generated as part of the inquiry process. Through the co-operative inquiry process, this study offers insight into opportunities for peer-topeer mentorship and learning enrichment in graduate studies. Our insight may support graduate students in discovering and charting their own personal journeys of learning and development in engineering education research. Our future work will be guided by our co-operative inquiry process and structure, with a focus on delving deeper into the aspects that make up our personal and collective story. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we provide a discussion on implementation of Autodesk MoldflowTM Software for enhancing and promoting teaching activities and enhancing course content offered as one of mandatory courses in Manufacturing Engineering curriculum of one of the Higher Education Institution in United States. The target audience of the course is undergraduate students at junior or senior level. In the paper, implementation of Autodesk MoldflowTM as an instructional tool for promoting a dynamic interactive classroom environment and providing seamless integration of classroom activities such as traditional classroom teaching, computer simulation of manufacturing process, and actual physical laboratory experience related with the process. In that regard, Autodesk MoldflowTM is used as one of the tools that would be used for promoting positive outcomes associated with the student learning. Autodesk MoldflowTM is used for modeling and simulating of the plastic injection molding process. During computer simulation laboratories, specific examples of Autodesk MoldflowTM is introduced for providing ideas to students on how the manufacturing process would be improved by employing the tools based on computer simulation of associated process. In that regard, corresponding examples on discovering potential manufacturing problems that might arise are introduced. Role of software for providing visual aid for understanding filling, packing, and cooling stages of the manufacturing process is emphasized. In order for promoting active learning experience, and providing association between classroom teaching, physical laboratory demonstration, and computer simulation of plastic injection molding process, required references are made. Feedback obtained from the oral communication and Student Evaluation of Instruction Report indicate that suggested approach help achieving learning outcomes and promote a classroom environment conducive to engaged student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a plausible solution using brain based learning principles as instructional delivery protocols to address the issue of lack of academic engagement among the upper level engineering students. The study was conducted at Tuskegee University, an HBCU and can be implemented universally in other institutes due to its foundation on brain based learning principles. Although student engagement issues inside engineering classrooms have several components, we focus our attention in this paper mainly on two issues: the dis-engagement arising due to the lack of understanding of pre-requisites and insufficient mathematical skills of students reaching junior and senior engineering classes. A previous pilot study confirmed that a large fraction of students who reach junior and senior level classes require repeated review of pre-requisite concepts and need assistance in reviewing their basic and essential mathematical skills before they can successfully engage in their classes. To address these issues, an instructional delivery framework titled "Tailored Instructions and Engineered Delivery Using PROTOCOLs" (TIED-UP) has been designed and explored, where mandatory brain-based learning procedures were used along with a media rich online delivery strategy. This paper summarizes the efforts currently undertaken to develop this framework based on brain-based learning theories to address some of these issues. In this framework, each course concept is broken down to interconnected sub-concepts. Short conceptual videos that use a number of mandatory instructional protocols were developed for the instruction of each of these concept and sub-concept. The study shows that such an intervention has significantly increased students' academic success as measured by grades and caused a substantial decline in their failure rate, when compared against a control group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurement of student learning outcomes is one of the key academic activities that higher educational institutes employ to ensure accountability and assess what knowledge and skills students acquire form their academic work. Such activities are also important for maintaining accreditation with recognized accreditation organizations. Savannah State University (SSU), a SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) accredited higher educational institute, measures six Institutional Student Learning Outcomes (ISLOs) each academic year. Thus, all degree awarding programs at SSU obligatorily assess these six ISLOs every year. In addition to measuring the six ISLOs, Engineering Technology Department faculty members at SSU are also required to assess the ABET a-k Student Outcomes (SOs) as a part of the accreditation requirement. Assessment of the ISLOs and ABET SOs in two different platforms are sometimes reparative, time consuming, and might be cumbersome for some faculty members. Therefore, Engineering Technology Department of SSU has been implementing an assessment process that utilizes only one platform to measure both the ISLOs and ABET SOs. This process has led to the development of an exemplary format of annual assessment report. The main focus of the paper is to describe how the implementation of the direct assessment takes place in one platform that serves both SACs and ABET. This paper will also highlight how the assessment culture in the department plays a big role in the continuous improvement of the programs offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Evidence-based practice paper describes a learning process developed and used in several STEM courses. Learning is a process unique to each individual and can be accomplished by watching, reading, doing, experiencing, repetition and even teaching. Learning according to [1] is a two-step process where the first step is to receive information and the second is to process. This study is an active learning method that combines these two steps in a repetitive process that encourages engagement and collaboration in the classroom. Memory related research has identified and confirmed the power of repetition on the recall ability. Repetition has a profound impact on the event related brain potential eliciting a longer recall period and has been reported to speed up the learning process [2,3,4]. In addition, paired learning combined with paired testing has been proven to enhance learning more than it would in paired learning combined with individual testing [5]. This paper discusses a pedagogy that combines the above mentioned theories. This pedagogy aims to maximize learning in within a short time frame. Students learn while creating questions and answers to these questions, preparing for the quiz, taking the quiz and finally grading the quiz. The students work with a partner or in a group throughout the process of the quiz. The paper also discusses the modifications done to accommodate for the change in a classroom size. It also gives the feedback gathered from the students while implementing this pedagogy in a small and a large classroom setting and what improvements have been done in addressing students' concerns. 93% of the students - found the process of creating the questions for the quiz to be helpful in reviewing the material learned in the class and the process of taking the quiz to be helpful in learning the material; 93% of the students indicated that they learned from their classmates; and 13% of the students preferred lecture only class. The project is a result of an international collaboration with professors from two different universities across three different disciplines in STEM including Civil Engineering, Computer Science and, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Slight variations of the method was employed based on the specific nature of the class. The project consists of the students working in groups to create questions and answers related to a topic briefly described in class. The questions and answers are presented in an online forum monitored by the class instructor for all the students to see. The students are then quizzed on questions from the pool asked by them online. The project was implemented in a range of class sizes from 20 students to 120 students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of video games in teaching can be more productive than traditional educational techniques such as reading books/notes and assigning homework. Implementing course content and assignments in video games can be an effective way of engaging students, especially students of generations Generation Z and Generation Alpha, because they already grew up in the era of technology, spending hours each day on their computers or phones. Implementing games for teaching civil engineering courses such as Soil Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics and Statics have the potential of improving learning and retention among students. Thus, a team of faculty and students from civil engineering and computer science at the authors' university collaborated on an interdisciplinary project titled "Design of Educational Game for Fluid Mechanics" to be used within the civil engineering curriculum at the authors' University. The game consists of a character who tries to escape from a warehouse. To accomplish this task, the main character moves from one room to another by solving fluid mechanics related problems. By nature, fluid mechanics problems, such as energy equilibrium, head loss, pump power, and buoyancy can easily be integrated as part of the storyline in a video game. The faculty and student of civil engineering major narrated scenarios, and the computer science faculty and students implemented the scenario using Unity 3D and C programming interface. This videogame helps students to practice and learn various aspects of fluid mechanics in a more engaging and enjoyable environment. In addition, by playing the game, the student can visualize the real-life application of fluid mechanics. The original prototype was improved through iterative refinement after testing with a few play testers. The game was then used for augmenting the teaching of Fluid Mechanics course among civil engineering students in authors' University in Fall 2021 Semester. The design process of this game, initial evaluation results, and lessons learned from the perspective of civil engineering is discussed in this paper. This paper intends to provide a framework and testbed for related civil engineering educational games in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work-in-progress paper examines the relationship between students' preparation in flipped class and their learning. In engineering education, flipped course design is getting more attention among instructors of STEM courses. Flipped classroom model emphasizes student-centered learning, where much of students' learning is connected to their preparation before coming to the class using videos and other study material. As the model is highly dependent on students' self-preparation, it is crucial to capture the trends of students' preparation and its impact on students' learning for effective course design and continuous improvement. This study presents the preliminary results of an online flipped C++ programming course and evaluates the relationship between undergraduate students' class preparation and learning. Data were collected from 66 students for the whole semester, comprising 15 weeks. For preparation, students were encouraged to watch two videos for the flipped class: 1) description of programming construct and concept and 2) instructor emulation of a live coding session. For measuring students' class preparation, we recorded the video analytics indicating the time spent by each student to watch both videos respectively in each week. In addition, we used students' final scores in the course to measure students' learning and evaluated the relationship between students' class preparation and learning. Furthermore, we examined the trends of time spent on video watching for each week. Preliminary analysis was conducted using multiple regression and repeated measures ANOVA. The results indicate a significant relationship between students' preparation (time spent on videos) and their learning (final score). Further, the trends in repeated measures highlight the weeks where students spent the most time preparing. This work-in-progress paper relates the study results with the course design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This evidence-based practice paper will assess the impact of reflecting on student learning levels as compared to typical assessments of understanding (quizzes) in a fluid mechanics course. Problem solving skills are critical to becoming an effective engineer. With minimal application opportunities for upper-level course material in the typical engineering curriculum, students are often not sufficiently prepared to accomplish rigorous design projects in industry immediately following graduation. Having the requisite knowledge is only one part of the task; being able to effectively utilize and apply prior knowledge requires more advanced learning outcomes. Fluid mechanics is a lecture-based course in which deep understanding of the material is required to comfortably approach new problems. It is also generally considered to be one of the harder and less intuitive engineering courses in the mechanical engineering (ME) curriculum. Reflections encourage students to understand the problem, analyze their problem-solving strategies, identify areas of improvement, and correct themselves, thus encouraging a higher level of learning. Introducing post-assessment reflection in the classroom could improve student understanding of the course material and encourage higher levels of learning. Bloom's Taxonomy categorizes levels of problem-solving and learning in a tiered system, the bottom of which is the most basic level of learning and the highest is the most complex and critical level of learning. Using Bloom's Taxonomy to code student quiz reflections, the level of understanding the students employed while completing different tasks in the assessment and during the reflection process can be identified. To conduct this study, post-assessment reflections written by 54 students in a fluid mechanics class have been coded sentence-by-sentence for each tier of Bloom's Taxonomy to characterize levels of learning. Using keywords, sentences coded under each category were then sorted depending on whether they indicated a student reflecting versus the student's assessment performance alone. Based on preliminary analyses, we hypothesize that students achieved higher levels on Bloom's Taxonomy during the reflection assignment than during the quiz assessment. In this paper, we will describe the assessment, reflection assignment, and coding scheme, and use coded student data to test this hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Complete Research Paper presents quantitative findings from an analysis of first-year engineering students' responses to weekly reflections on their learning objective performance and plans and actions to improve their learning. Building capacity for metacognition is necessary for success in engineering studies and the profession. To prepare engineering students to be skilled professional engineers, it is important to understand how first-year students approach challenges in their learning. Studies show that many first-year students, even high performing students, struggle to develop metacognitive strategies that will enhance their learning. The goal of this study was to compare high and low performing students' perceptions of their learning relative to their demonstrated proficiency levels as well as their metacognitive strategies relative to their learning plans and actions. Results demonstrate that higher performing students have a moderately better grasp than low performing students of their abilities, though all students struggled to complete reflections with an adequate level of metacognition to improve their learning. This study shows that students of any ability level can benefit from learning how to properly employ metacognitive strategies to develop and enhance problem-solving skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Project-based course experiences enhance the student learning atmosphere through the application of lesson content and may prove as an advantageous educational technique in developing engineering students into trusted professionals, better prepared to serve the profession immediately after graduation. Applied action in Project-Based Learning (PBL) coursework extends lessons beyond the technical content of the course and creates professional skills development, ideally offering a more holistic training platform for junior engineers. Projects often require students to collaborate with one or more peers, therefore introducing applications of teamwork, leadership, project management, and communications components. Personal development in time management also tends to be introduced in project-based course assignments because of the duration and process of work required to satisfy the comprehensive series of tasks. The opportunity for professional skills development cannot come at the expense of technical skills development. Ideally, not only will the project enhance technical competency, but students completing project-based work should be more capable of solving ill-defined problems and complex problems. Considering project-based learning as an opportunity for the wholesome development of engineering students as trusted professionals, this study collects student perceptions of enhanced learning in professional and technical skills through PBL coursework. Students were surveyed across two distinctly different institutions so comparisons could be drawn between the unique populations. The U.S. West Point Academy was selected to include populations of students seeking professional military careers and supported by curriculum experiences formalizing learning in many professional skills such as teamwork and leadership. The University of Tennessee Knoxville population includes students pursuing civil engineering careers and experiencing fewer structured learning experiences in typical professional skills topics. The data collected shows positive student perceptions towards project-based learning courses which supports this pedagogy as applicable in training trusted professionals. Some variations were observed between the two populations, but general trends showed agreed positive value to professional skills and technical skills development through PBL experiences. This paper includes a brief contextual definition for PBL, a summary of student populations and course structures captured in this study, and a summary of survey responses. Conclusions identifying trends in student perceptions of their learning, competency, and confidence as influenced by PBL are shared and comparisons across the two institutions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper provides a case study of a large Engineering Science program, with a particular focus on perceptions and practices related to first principles thinking from alumni, faculty and students. As part of a broader project designed to realign program goals, practices and outcomes, this study included semi-structured interviews and focus groups, designed to understand how program stakeholders conceptualize first principles thinking, and how they perceive the benefits or utility of such an approach. Through the historical analysis of the engineering curriculum, a key tension identified is the focus on foundational mathematics and science, which is contrasted with a focus on professional practice and the applications of engineering work. An interest in emphasizing mathematics and science led to the launch of a number of undergraduate and graduate programs around the world in Engineering Science, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, and the persistent inclusion of a comprehensive foundation in mathematics and science in engineering programs. This foundation has enabled a focus on first principles as part of the teaching and learning discourse in some engineering programs. More recently, first principles thinking has also been discussed in the popular technology discourse as connected to innovation. Here, it is described as a method used to identify and reason from the most fundamental truths in our knowledge base to support problem solving and innovation. While many stakeholders have a vague awareness of first principles thinking as a philosophy of knowledge construct, there is a gap in conceptualizing this in the engineering and education literature. Thematic analysis was used to identify several key findings. First, while some stakeholders viewed first principles thinking as a learning and problem solving strategy, others tied the practice to the disciplinary knowledge itself, for example, key theories and equations and their derivations. While these two conceptualizations are related, the latter provides less room for transfer to the engineering problem solving process, and stakeholders expressed an interest in building this opportunity to transfer the skill to other engineering contexts. Second, different stakeholders viewed the utility of the approach differently; for example, while alumni articulated the benefits of building first principles reasoning as a skill, students felt that the practice was more tied to a career in research and less useful in other engineering settings. Third, students in particular noted the challenge in maximizing the learning benefits associated with first principles thinking with the heavy workload and knowledge base in engineering. These results provide some avenues for the examination of first principles thinking in engineering education, particularly in considering the interplay between disciplinary knowledge and learning skills, and the need to balance first principles thinking with other considerations in the curriculum. We hope this work will open the door to future inquiry about the value of first principles thinking in the development of life-long learning and innovation in engineering. Furthermore, reconciling the historical focus on fundamental math and science in engineering with a more contemporary view on first principles thinking should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work in progress paper reports on part of a larger project examining engineering students' learning experiences, sense of belonging, motivation, and engineering identity, specifically focusing on how the COVID-19 pandemic affected these attributes and students' connection to others. A survey was distributed in Spring 2021 to engineering students (n = 1565) at a land grant institution in the southeastern U.S. that included open-ended questions about how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the students' learning experiences and sense of belonging. Likert-type questions asked students to rate the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic affected their learning experiences, sense of belonging and connections to others (peers, instructors, TAs, other engineering groups). Our analysis of the qualitative data (open-ended survey responses; n=815) used inductive, emergent coding to categorize students' responses. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the quantitative data (close-ended responses) to help visualize emerging themes. Analysis with respect to gender and race/ethnicity revealed significantly lower connections to peers for Hispanic/Latino students when compared to White students. Analysis also found that female students reported statistically higher effects of online learning on their sense of belonging in engineering compared to male students. First year students felt less connected and more stressed than they had prior to the pandemic. First-year and senior students reported lower connections with their TAs than sophomore and junior students. Some students said they relied on technology, such as social media platforms to connect with other students and groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Emerging Engineering Education (3E) transformation has been implemented in China to meet the society's needs of high-quality talents in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The transformation has stimulated some new forms of engineering learning which were organized in communities of practice such as engineering studio, engineering laboratory in some universities. However, little is known about the characteristics of engineering learning in communities of practice. In the paper, we would like to bridge this gap and make some deep explorations about these new forms of engineering learning under the guideline of situated engineering learning framework. Following the principles of the purposeful and theoretical sampling method, We selected four different types of engineering communities of practice at Zhejiang University. We made some iterative semi-structured interviews with students in these communities and used an inductive as well as constant comparative approach to analyze the qualitative materials we gathered from interviews. At last, we identified four salient themes about the characteristics of engineering learning in communities of practice from our analysis: (a) authentic-task driven, (b) collaborative inquiry, (c) reflective-design process, (d) engineering identity. Future we will build on this study and develop some valid instruments to measure these characteristics in order to clarify the relationship between community of practice and engineering students' learning effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present the approach we took to the development of a new undergraduate major in human-centered design and development. The paper's contributions are twofold: first, we illustrate how we adapted the user-centered design process and used it to help us create the vision, conceptual framework, and new curriculum. We hope that this process, lead by the development of a vision persona, can help other groups as they work to create new programs. Second, we present the vision and curriculum framework of the new major, which we offer as a step towards growing UX education in the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a new concept of an integrated Hardware And SOftware Book (iHASOB). The proposed iHASOB platform aims at increasing subconscious or habit learning to supplement declarative learning2,3 through the addition of hardware capabilities to electronic books that run on Tablet PCs. The iHASOB would integrate traditional text book information, hardware capabilities to collect external data relevant to the educational topic and software capabilities to provide simulations and analysis of the collected data. The proposed platform utilizes a tablet with enhanced capabilities through external hardware including data acquisition and sensors. iHASOB could be thought of as a new format for educational books, especially scientific or engineering books that may require additional modalities to explain abstract concepts such as filters for example. Such concepts may be better taught through simulations and display and manipulations of data from an accompanying measuring hardware. The paper discusses relevant pedagogical models and issues related to the development of an early prototype of the iHASOB concept with a focus on teaching programming of C language. The embodiment of the idea utilizes an iPad tablet interfaced to an Arduino microcontroller acting as data acquisition system interface to external sensors. Although the idea has not been utilized in an actual classroom at this point, the paper intends to share the concept of iHASOB and practical issues associated with the creation of the early prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]