scholarly journals Creating Learning through Service Opportunities for Engineering Students: Lessons Learned from a Primarily Undergraduate Liberal Arts Institution

2014 ◽  
pp. 240-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew T Siniawski ◽  
Jose A Saez ◽  
Jeremy S Pal ◽  
Sandra G Luca
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
International Service ◽  
Undergraduate Institutions ◽  
Liberal Arts Institution ◽  
Service Projects ◽  
University Support ◽  
Service Oriented

The challenge of creating impactful and long-lasting service opportunities for engineering students lies in how to best implement programs in the unique setting of each academic institution. This paper presents a critical reflection of two different models of learning through service opportunities for engineering students that have evolved over the past six years at Loyola Marymount University. In particular, we highlight the history and lessons learned from four different case studies involving both extra-curricular international service projects and course-based service-learning opportunities for engineering students. Overall lessons learned that emerged from our experience include: 1) Students should receive course credit for participating in engineering-oriented service projects; 2) Opportunities for student participation should be vertically integrated throughout the curriculum; 3) Develop and sustain long-lasting relationships with your community partners; 4) Obtain university support for long-term success; 5) Start to conduct assessment of your stakeholders; and 6) Utilize the resources at your institution in order to promote cooperation. We hope that our lessons learned can be used to help guide other primarily undergraduate institutions in implementing service-oriented engineering projects.

scholarly journals 5-Year Evaluation of a Course Model for Student-Initiated Engineering Service Learning

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather N. Bischel ◽  
Eric R. Sundstrom
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Underserved Populations ◽  
Course Evaluation ◽  
Course Structure ◽  
International Service ◽  
Unit Design ◽  
Service Projects

Student-initiated projects in engineering service learning represent an opportunity to educate engineering students on topics of sustainability, motivate new engineers to work on humanitarian focused projects, and provide impact on projects for underserved populations in partnership with community organizations. Based on iterations of an engineering design course operated by student participants of Engineers for a Sustainable World at Stanford University, we provide an analysis and discussion of the structural and operational components of a student-initiated engineering design course created to support international service projects. Course ratings demonstrate overall improvement through time in student satisfaction, indicating continued improvement of the course structure and execution despite yearly turnover in personnel. The current two-part course model consists of a one-unit lecture series followed by a three-unit design course, with classroom components complemented by opportunities for international service including project and community assessments and a summer internship program. Overall, course evaluation results were comparable to or better than faculty-led engineering design courses in mechanical, civil and environmental engineering at Stanford. While concerns over consistency persist, overall performance demonstrates successful integration of student-initiated design into the engineering curriculum.

Dreaming in green: Service learning, global engagement and the liberal arts at a North American university

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Cororaton ◽  
Richard Handler
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
North American ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Development Studies ◽  
Global Development ◽  
American University ◽  
Global Engagement ◽  
Service Projects ◽  
Undergraduate Programme ◽  
Global Profile

This article documents and analyses the uneasy, if not contradictory, relationship between service learning and liberal arts thinking in an undergraduate programme in Global Development Studies (GDS) at a North American University. As an undergraduate, Cororaton participated in a service-learning project to build a greenhouse in Mongolia; at the same time, the curriculum of her major (GDS, a programme directed by Handler) was developing a critique of such service projects, focusing on their lack of political self-consciousness. The authors contextualise the story within the university's ongoing attempts to enhance its global profile.

scholarly journals Global Engineering Leadership – Design and Implementation of Local and International Service Learning Curriculum for Senior Engineering Students

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Croft ◽  
Paul Winkelman ◽  
Alaya Boisvert ◽  
Kristin Patten
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Leadership Capacity ◽  
Leadership Education ◽  
Global Awareness ◽  
International Service Learning ◽  
International Service ◽  
Design And Implementation ◽  
Global Engineering ◽  
Elective Course

Engineering students are typically well- prepared with technical knowledge and skills that are prerequisite to solving problems. However, recent changes to the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board recognize that contributions made by engineers to our society also depend upon proficiency in key non- technical areas, including teamwork and leadership capacity, service, and global awareness. In this paper, we argue that service-learning pedagogy addresses many desired graduate attributes required for accreditation. We then discuss the design and implementation of a new service-learning elective course series aimed at providing students with leadership education and service experiences that address these attributes in both local and global contexts. Finally, we reflect on the short term, qualitative outcomes of the course series that has run in pilot form for the past two years with approximately 20 students per year, and has recently been approved as an ongoing part of the UBC engineering curriculum.

scholarly journals The Challenge of Including Customer Satisfaction into the Assessment Criteria of Overseas Service-Learning Projects

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Camille George ◽  
Ashley Shams
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Assessment Criteria ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Student Groups ◽  
International Service Learning ◽  
International Service ◽  
Service Learning Projects ◽  
Learning Projects

There has been a dramatic increase of student groups participating in international service learning projects. For engineering students it is not difficult to identify meaningful educational objectives. The students improve their analytical and problem solving skills. They design and build something that fulfils a list of engineering specifications; they execute a solution to some problem. However, these projects have a human dimension. Service-learning involves changes in peoples’ beliefs, attitudes and values; impacting both the students and the recipient community. It is important for the academic community to develop assessment criteria that includes perspectives from all stakeholders engaged in the experience. It is imperative to assess not only the technical success but also the sustainability of the project and its larger effect. In courses involving service-learning, assessment needs to occur on three levels: the traditional evaluation of the student’s knowledge of the technical content, the assessment of the experiences impact on the students’ broader more humanistic “soft skills”, and the customer’s satisfaction. The paper examines the obstacles and opportunities in assessing project success from multiple international service-learning programs, and compiles insights and reflections that could serve to inform future projects.

“How Do We Know What They Need?”

2011 ◽  
pp. 124-128
Author(s):  
Theresa Dolson
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Institutional Commitment ◽  
Community Needs ◽  
Campus Leaders ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Liberal Arts Institution ◽  
Community Based Learning ◽  
The University

The University of Richmond, a mid-size liberal arts institution, had a longstanding institutional commitment to civic engagement. Campus location and curricular issues once made the popular model of service-learning, direct service to fellow citizens in need, too restrictive, and not a good fit for many of the university’s courses. Campus leaders wanted to create community partnerships that would accommodate the wide range of pedagogical needs on campus, connect to every discipline, and still maintain healthy and sustainable partnerships in the community. This case study describes their collaboration with community leaders to launch ConnectRichmond, a network hub with many Web 2.0 features. This innovation has created a large online community that facilitates a variety of course models and has helped to support the development of a major program for community-based learning. ConnectRichmond allows UR to move beyond talking about meeting community needs to working in true reciprocity with fellow Richmonders.

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