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Engineering programs employ a variety of approaches for improving student retention. Often, students leaving engineering cite difficulties in their calculus courses as a major contributor to their attrition. Specifically, students cite that early calculus classes lack practicality and seem disconnected from their engineering majors. Some researchers even argue against the necessity of many calculus concepts for success in later engineering courses. Consequently, many institutions are seeking to redefine and improve calculus experiences to retain engineering students. Indeed, a growing body of literature discusses innovations in calculus content, pedagogy, and/or course formats. A comprehensive review of prior efforts to improve calculus courses is needed to synthesize the effectiveness of available intervention models, as well as identify areas of needed work. A systematic review of ASEE conference proceedings was conducted to identify models for promoting success in undergraduate calculus courses. First, a search of the ASEE PEER database for articles with "calculus" in the title yielded 101 results. Of the 101 papers retrieved from the database, 49 were identified to include a reproducible report of a calculus course innovation. Retained records were synthesized based on several emergent themes: Key Innovators and Innovation Format, Pedagogies Employed, Assessment Tools, and Degree of Reproducibility. Discussion of retained records will be used to provide a set of proven strategies for enhancing student learning of calculus that can be implemented to encourage persistence in engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A student scholarship and enrichment program was established in 2012 to help address the persistent problem of underrepresented minority, female and socioeconomically disadvantaged students enrolled in civil engineering degree programs and corresponding small number of graduates who enter the civil engineering profession. The program was administered within the civil engineering department of a regional undergraduate teaching institution and was made possible by funding from the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program. The S-STEM program at our institution, entitled Excellence in Civil Engineering Leadership (ExCEL), offered scholarships to qualified students, within target demographic groups, to obtain financial and educational support in earning a civil engineering degree. Equally important to financial support, ExCEL faculty provided a variety of program-specific, student support services focused on improving retention, building a supportive learning community, developing principled leaders, and preparing graduates for successful careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every university works extremely hard at recruiting exceptional students. At The Citadel, the honors program has been doing that for over two decades. The honors program does not ensure a scholarship, but provides a curriculum that brings together the best students from programs across the college in honors courses (e.g., Honor 101 - English 101, Honors 103 - History 103, Honors 131 - Mathematics 131 (Calculus I), etc.). The program is supplemented with activities that strengthen a student's connection to the community through diversity, mentorship, and leadership opportunities. A number of these students receive full scholarships. Over the past year, the honors program was expanded to include discipline specific scholars programs and small disciplinary cohorts in order to assist in the recruitment and retention of exceptional students, specifically females and minorities in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). The STEM scholars program will launch in the Fall 2017, but has potential for application at other schools. Current honors and other program data will be presented, analyzed, and best practices summarized. These practices may be modified based on mathematics, science, and engineering departments working together to execute the first year of a STEM scholars program that integrates these program students into a single cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Citadel has a faculty development and training model (conference or workshop travel grants, research grants, presentation travel grants) that not only provides effective mentoring of new faculty, but reinvigorates senior faculty. The model uses the ASCE ExCEEd Teaching Workshop to mentor and enhance teaching effectiveness while providing faculty development funds to enhance external development opportunities, research, and research presentation by the faculty, staff, and students. The program has been used over the past five years and has dramatically enhanced the quality of education based on student assessment, but also has greatly increased the scholarship production of the faculty at a primarily teaching focused school. The data will be presented and analyzed with the result being best practices that can be used at most schools to improve teaching and scholarship production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern descriptions of analog communication schemes are mathematics based using transform theory and block diagrams. This presentation style leaves undergraduate students with the challenge of relating these theories to real world circuit implementations. This is particularly true if the lecture class does not have a complementary laboratory component. This paper attempts to bridge this gap by presenting a basic yet comprehensive project that can be used to demonstrate amplitude modulation and demodulation theory. It is specifically designed to stir the interest of junior or senior level electronics minded electrical engineering students. In this project, a double sideband large carrier waveform is produced using a simple switching modulator circuit. The resulting amplitude modulation (AM) waveform is then demodulated using an envelope detector circuit. The proposed project requests that students perform a circuit simulation as well as an actual circuit implementation. The circuit behavior is studied via both analysis using software tools and measurement using hardware components. The project further requires that the electrical signals are visualized in both the time and frequency domain to enhance concept understanding. The paper outlines an introduction to the modulation theory along with an overview of the necessary circuits and concepts. Additionally, suggested student activities, project assignment alternatives, along with detailed mathematical solutions are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the need for civil engineers to develop solutions to society's infrastructure challenges, they must possess a deep understanding of engineering fundamentals so that they can tailor design solutions to meet growingly-complex constraints. Since research suggests that student conceptual development is enhanced through employment of engaging classroom practices, a variety of active pedagogies are being implemented in engineering education. Consequently, there is a need for assessment tools to monitor the learning outcomes of these educational interventions. Concept inventories have emerged as quick tools for examining conceptual understanding in a variety of engineering domains. While a concept inventory has been developed for fluid mechanics, it was designed for application in mechanical engineering classes. Thus, the goal of this project was to complete preliminary steps for creation of a civil engineering fluid mechanics concept inventory. Using an expert panel and student input, concept inventory items were systematically evaluated for applicability in civil engineering courses. The expert panel reviewed items using a modified Delphi-process, while student input and performance on the existing concept inventory were used to validate outcomes from the expert panel. Results generally concurred that topics related to fluid statics, pressure measurement, conservation of mass, Bernoulli's equation, and conservation of momentum were important for civil engineers. In contrast, compressible flow and boundary effects were generally classified as beyond the scope of a civil engineering course. In addition, participants suggested that additional questions related to viscous flow in pipes and open channel flow should be added to a future civil engineering fluid mechanics concept inventory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abbreviated summer class schedule, which results in longer class times, can present several barriers to learning. One significant factor is the lack of time needed for knowledge construction. As students stretch and reform their schemas to synthesize new material, they often generate inappropriate perceptions of critical class material. An effective strategy for addressing this is to provide a variety of active learning techniques that engage students and focus on their different learning styles. In this paper, data from two class sections of engineering economy taught in a compressed summer term were examined to see how well the student's self-assessment of the course objectives compared to direct assessment measures. Teaching techniques used in these classes include incorporating learning objectives directly into the teaching of course material, both student and instructor-generated crossword puzzles, student-generated Pictionary, clickers, starting each class with a song about money, using real money and magnets to illustrate applications of different interest factors, Muddiest Point paper, think-pair-share, individual and group problem solving, brainstorming, case studies, debates, and a number of other useful techniques. The student's self-assessment of learning objectives was measured through a survey and the direct assessment was done through the use of mid-term and final exam questions. To assess the correlation between self-assessment and direct assessment, one-tailed tests at a level of significance of 0.05 with 50 degrees of freedom were performed. A correlation was found to be significant at the 0.01 level and so overall, it appears that the students had an accurate perception of their own course performance. The paper will discuss the student self-assessment of the course objectives, the direct assessment of course objectives, and some of the teaching and learning techniques used to enhance the course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Citadel School of Engineering was challenged by the College President in 2011 to retain and grow the number of engineering students in respective program. The concept of increasing the number of engineering students thereby increasing the number of graduates was analyzed as part of strategic planning for the School of Engineering. Key indicators found during this study were increased marketing, preparedness of the incoming students, retention of those who arrive, and the addition of new programs. This paper will only focus on the retention of those students who arrive each year as freshman. The School of Engineering used a simple suggestion by one of its faculty concerning a well-known concept such as SI, supplemental instruction, to improve retention of engineering freshman by nearly 20%. This paper will establish the conditions prior to the implementation of SI, the challenges in implementing and sustaining SI, and the retention results that are greatly influenced by SI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A student scholarship and enrichment program was established to help address pervasive problems of underrepresented minority, female and socioeconomically disadvantaged students enrolled in civil engineering degree programs and graduates serving in the civil engineering profession. The program is administered in the civil engineering department at The Citadel (Charleston, SC) and is supported through a grant from the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (NSF, S-STEM) program. The program, Excellence in Civil Engineering Leadership for South Carolina (ExCEL-SC), provides scholarships to qualified students, within target demographic groups, who are pursuing a Bachelors of Science degree in civil engineering. Equally important, the ExCEL-SC program furnishes a variety of specific student support services focused on improving retention, developing principled leaders, and preparing graduates for successful careers. This paper presents an overview of program components being used to provide student enrichment, describes student cohort recruitment and selection criteria, presents initial statewide recruitment plan, tabulates student cohort demographics and freshman retention data, summarizes scholarship awards and on-going enrichment activities, presents initial ExCEL-SC program results, and summarizes corresponding program adjustments. Student performance data is analyzed and discussed with respect to trends and characteristics of successful and unsuccessful students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]