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| February 2011 | Subscribe |
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In This Issue:
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I. Databytes |
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Master's Degree Growth Set to ContinueMaster's degrees have increased by 4.5 percent since the 2003-04 academic year. The fields listed below have led this growth. Enrollment trends indicate that growth in these fields will continue. Overall master's degrees are also set to increase significantly in the near term.
Other data trends can be viewed at www.asee.org/colleges.
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III. TEACHING TOOLBOX |
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GREAT COMMUNICATORSHow engineering instructors adapt to the needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing students Eight students are having an animated discussion about automated systems, but the room is almost soundless. One of them asks a question, using only hand movements and facial expressions. Then instructor Scott Bellinger responds and breaks the silence, interspersing spoken words with American Sign Language and its more rigid cousin, signed English. Welcome to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and its problem-solving approach to overcoming the educational disadvantages faced by students who are deaf or hard of hearing (d/hh). Part of the Rochester Institute of Technology, the 1,200-student NTID is America's only technical college for d/hh students. Before joining its teaching faculty seven years ago, Bellinger, an assistant professor of engineering who is not deaf, spent a year mastering the complicated, vision-based ASL and signed English. But he and other instructors know that more is required of them if d/hh students are to get a cutting-edge STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education. Many of the school's students struggle with reading comprehension, in part because of the differences between ASL and spoken or written English. An added challenge is the disparity in educational backgrounds among the students, who come from across the country. Dino Lauria, an NTID alumnus who now heads its engineering studies department, says some students grew up in "mainstream sectors," where they may not have had enough access to appropriate services and tools needed for d/hh students. Conversely, some may come from state-sponsored schools for the deaf, where the right tools are available but where STEM education is severely hindered by a lack of funding. In addition, states vary in high school graduation requirements, resulting in students arriving at NTID with drastically different needs and skills. NTID students bring different gradations of deafness and competence in signed English and ASL. That's why Bellinger and other hearing instructors use the two sign languages and also their voices, facing the class so their lips can be read. They're also careful to calibrate the pace of their classes. They know, for instance, that students can't follow what a teacher is saying and view a PowerPoint at the same time. In all teaching of d/hh students, "the challenge is to maintain the communication" and maintain a lively class, Lauria says. Every detail of the classroom experience should be d/hh accessible, instructors say, and teachers need to familiarize themselves with different assistive technologies, such as cochlear implants and teletypewriters. Knowledge of social norms within deaf culture, such as rules of etiquette for gaining attention, and getting into and leaving conversations, is also important. Because of inadequate preparation in math and English, many NTID students struggle to master word problems and understand the written instructions for other math assignments. Bellinger, who spent two decades in industry as an automation and robotics engineer, has devised a solution. Called the StepWise method, it's a step-by-step guide to solving scientific, technological, or mathematical word or story problems. If the student comes up with an answer that is wrong or doesn't make sense, or if the units don't match what was expected, students return to the formula-picking step and go through the process again. The method was first tested in Bellinger's Mechanical Devices and Systems class last year and has since been used in other NTID classes. Students compared across two classes did 16 percent better with StepWise worksheets than those without. After Bellinger and several colleagues presented a research paper on his method at the 2010 ASEE Annual Conference, other educators embraced it as suitable not only for d/hh learners but hearing students as well. NTID recognizes a need for one-on-one mentoring of students, including continuous academic advising and support from a department chairperson; technical, math, and English faculty members; and an academic counselor. But Bellinger finds hands-on projects outside of class to be effective as well, and has incorporated a personal hobby into his teaching. "I've been building and riding electric bikes since 1979," he says. He formed NTID's first electric bicycle club, which has participated in a contest every year since 2006, something Bellinger calls a "win-win" for both the students and himself. He and Ronald Till, chairman of NTID's industrial and science technologies department, served as interpreters for the students. In order to keep up with all the commands, communication had to happen quickly and efficiently. Bellinger found that his signing ability improved. "It's a fabulous experience," he says. In 2006, NTID's team won first and second place in the student division of the $10,000 Around Town Vehicle Competition, which judges teams on practicality, acceleration, handling, range, good fuel efficiency, and low climate-change emissions. That same year, the team also won second and third place overall in the international Tour de Sol electric bicycle competition, held in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. NTID's entry into Tour de Sol, which is volunteer-run and sponsored by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association, marked the first time in the contest's 18 years that a d/hh team had competed. Contest organizers made some modifications to accommodate d/hh contestants. For example, other riders now use flags to signal d/hh competitors when a horn is sounded as a warning. Similarly, the engineering studies faculty members participate in the FIRST robotics regional competition with a local school for the deaf. According to Lauria, "This sets several examples of faculty sharing contents, providing in-class mentorships, and volunteering [for] school-based activities simultaneously." Believing that early outreach is key, Bellinger works with middle and high schools to draw d/hh students into STEM fields. He sits on a panel for high school students that focuses on career plans. Through the Board of Cooperative Educational Services Program, which provides shared educational resources, Bellinger has reached out to high school students, both d/hh and hearing, to bring engineering to them as a possible career path. This role also allows him to determine what about outreach education has and has not worked in recruiting students. The education of d/hh students may require unique skills and approaches, but in one respect it's no different from teaching any other group of students. When an instructor obviously cares about getting his students to learn, they tend to react the way that Ethan Young, an automation technology major, did after taking a Programming Logic Controllers class taught by Bellinger: "He's a good teacher."
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IV. JEE Selects |
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TO ADVANCE, WE MUST CHANGEA special centennial issue explores rigor in research, diversity promotion, and integration of disciplines
To mark 100 years of the Journal of Engineering Education, a special January issue reflects on the emergence of engineering education as a research-based discipline and explores what the future holds. The six papers presented are intended to encourage thinking that reaches beyond preparing students for the profession. They address key challenges in the field, examine ways that engineering education might be advanced through research, and explore recent and exciting developments in engineering education research. We hope they will inspire innovation and stimulate needed change. The papers underscore the point that education research and practice are mutually dependent. Efficient and effective advances in practice require the same quality of research design and intellectual rigor that underpin technological advances. We look forward to a time when, as in industry, new practices arise from an intentional research-and-development cycle.
A recurrent theme is the need to promote and sustain diversity in engineering practice, education, and education research. The connotation used here implies tolerance of and respect for difference and, even more, a desire to embrace and celebrate variety. Diverse, even oppositional voices can be found in these papers as researchers and thinkers both in the field and outside are invited to "converse." We note that while our engineering education research community is drawn from different disciplines and traditions, it is still very Western centric. As we move forward, we need to address how we can embrace a broader community of researchers, teachers, students, and engineers, and what we can do to bring in different cultural traditions and ways of thinking and being. A less overt theme, but one that inherently pervades any discussion of the past or the future of engineering education, is a trend toward interdisciplinarity and integration, and even toward establishment of novel disciplinary formulations. New subdisciplines such as materials science, bioengineering, and environmental engineering, to name three, challenge the boundaries of historically distinct practice communities. We hope that this special issue will appeal to a diverse range of readers from many countries, including academics, administrators, and researchers across all disciplines related to engineering education. All the papers included make clear that for either instructional practices or engineering education research to advance, engineering educators will need to change some of their perspectives and behavior. Change, however, does not come easily or automatically. We anticipate that the new insights offered by the authors will inspire action and innovation based on research and scholarship utilizing diverse perspectives and coming from multiple voices. In turn, we hope the arguments raised here will enable and empower engineering faculty and administrators to tackle major challenges in their particular historical, socio-political, and cultural context. We further hope this leads to more active, interdisciplinary, and international collaborations between engineering educators and engineering education researchers and scholars in advancing engineering, however we define it, and engineering education, wherever and however we practice it. Caroline Baillie is Winthrop Professor and chair of engineering education at the University of Western Australia; Edmond Ko is director of the Center for Engineering Education Innovation at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Wendy Newstetter is director of learning sciences research in the Coulter biomedical engineering department at the Georgia Institute of Technology; David Radcliffe is Kamyar Haghighi Head of Engineering Education at Purdue University. This article is adapted from the Guest Editors' Foreword in the January 2011 Journal of Engineering Education.
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V. JOBS, JOBS, JOBS |
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Job-hunting? Here are a few current openings:1. Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering -- 1 opportunity 2. Electrical Engineering -- 2 opportunities 3. Electronic Engineering -- 1 opportunity 4. Structural Engineering -- 1 opportunity Visit here for details:
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VI. COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS |
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Free Webinar for ASEE Members
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NEW! Fun Rhyming Book for Kids!
"If I Were an Engineer" is ASEE's fun, colorful rhyming book that introduces engineering to kids from ages 5 to 8. Click the link to check out sample pages as well as our new introductory kit (one book, one mag, a pack of cards & poster). Limited quantities, so get 'em while they're hot! Sample pages
Buy the kids' book or intro kit
New CASEE Website for High School and Middle School Students!
"An Engineering Education Makes a World of Difference" is a new CASEE website that highlights role models who have used an engineering education to innovate products, processes, and services that improve human health, welfare, and happiness. Twice a week for each week from Monday, January 31 through Thursday, July 14, a new video will be posted which can be "pushed" to individual cell phones. Site visitors can upload their own videos of role model engineers to be considered for addition to the site. Visit - http://eemawod.org/
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ASEE's Eighth Annual Workshop on K-12 Engineering Education
ASEE's eighth annual Workshop on K-12 Engineering Education will be held on Saturday, June 25, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada one day before the opening of the annual conference. This daylong program for teachers and engineering educators from both Canada and the United States will provide a fast-paced, interactive, results-oriented overview of engineering education for the K-12 classroom. Attendees will discover valuable best practices, new contacts for collaboration, and the latest take-away tools for effective teaching about engineering education.
Please visit http://teachers.egfi-k12.org/workshop
Call for Proposals are now being sought by the Proposal Committee for the K-12 Engineering Education workshop. Those interested in submitting a proposal are invited to go to:
http://teachers.egfi-k12.org/2011-workshop-call-for-proposals/
Deadline for submission: March 18, Friday, 5PM EST.
An overview of the workshop is available at:
http://teachers.egfi-k12.org/workshop
NOTE: Workshops should prominently feature hands-on classroom activities, provide take-home or classroom-ready materials and be designed to engage participants in interactive exercises. Workshops that offer tangible material to attendees, in addition to written material, are specifically solicited.
For any additional information, please feel free to contact Libby Martin at:
K12workshop@asee.org
VII. COMING ATTRACTIONS |
Upcoming in March's Prism MagazineCOVER STORY: A profile of Subra Suresh, National Science Foundation director. Feature One: Is time running out for Moore's Law, the theory that integrated circuits double their performance approximately every one to two years? Feature Two: Project ENGAGE aims to boost retention with proven, research-based classroom strategies.
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VIII. SOUND OFF! |
Do you have a comment or suggestion for Connections? Please let us know. Email us at: connections@asee.org. Thanks.
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