scholarly journals Creativity in Design Engineers: Attitudes, Opinions and Potentially Influential Factors – Part II

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omid Mirzaei ◽  
Paul Neufeld ◽  
Jade Knoblauch ◽  
Jessica Gerbrandt ◽  
Mark Runco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Influential Factors ◽  
The Other ◽  
Measurement Tool ◽  
Attitudes And Beliefs ◽  
Design Engineers ◽  
College Of Engineering ◽  
The University

.Abstract – In the latter half of 2015, a survey looking at attitudes and beliefs about creativity was distributed on the campus of the University of Saskatchewan. Over 2000 responses were gathered, including more than 200 in the College of Engineering. Initial quantitative results from this study were reported in 2016 in Neufeld et al [2].  In terms of the methods used in the study, as discussed in Neufeld et al [2], an online pilot survey was distributed to students and faculty from a variety of the Colleges at the University. Survey questions probed respondents’ affinity for creativity, their personality characteristics, their opinions on state, trait and skill-based viewpoints on creativity, and demographic details.  The first part of the survey was a validated Creative Attitudes and Values measurement tool (part of the Runco Creativity Assessment Battery (rCAB)© 2012), as discussed in Acar and Runco [1]. This tool consists of 25, 5-point Likert scale items. Of these 25 items, 15 and 10 were indicative and contraindicative items, respectively. Contraindicative items were reverse coded so that they could be used along with the indicative ones. Both past research and our results showed good inter-item reliability scores for this measurement tool.  In Neufeld et al [2] we presented results covering all of the closed-form, quantitative questions along with some correlational calculations with the rCAB scores. The focus of the current paper is on the qualitative results, as well as on a factor analysis of the rCAB questions.  The factor analysis was quite successful. We used SPSS and forced a correlation of items, reducing to three factors. We have just over 29% of variance accounted for, with 10% non-redundant residuals. We have strong anti-correlation between one factor and the other two, and no correlation between the other two. These results will be compared to those of the rCAB authors [3].  As for the qualitative data, we asked several open-ended questions to probe how respondents defined creativity, whether they regarded it as a positive behavior, as well as how they felt about creativity in terms of it being a skill, trait and/or state. For example, pairs of questions asked when creativity is difficult and easy, when it should and should not be used, and when it grows and diminishes. For each of the 9 questions that had open-ended answers, concepts were extracted from individual responses. Concepts were then grouped into themes. Themes and concepts were compared across questions and were aligned. Responses were then coded for concepts and themes. At this point, the text data could be quantitatively examined. This paper presents those results, and discusses the implications of the concepts, themes, and their statistics for how we talk about creativity, and how we can teach it. Comparisons will be made between the results from engineering students and staff versus non-engineers.  This paper completes the first level of evaluation of the results of this initial survey focused on attitudes and beliefs about creativity. Future work will focus on examining correlations between the results of different questions, including the rCAB scores.  

scholarly journals Creativity in Design Engineers: Attitudes, Opinions and Potentially Influential Factors

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Neufeld ◽  
Omid Mirzaei ◽  
Mark Runco ◽  
Sean Maw
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Statistical Tests ◽  
Initial Study ◽  
Influential Factors ◽  
Measurement Tool ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Design Engineers ◽  
Creativity Research ◽  
College Of Engineering

Is creativity important in engineering design? If it is, then why do most undergraduate engineering programs spend so little time teaching creativity? And therefore, as a result of our programs, do our students emerge more creative, less creative or no different compared to when they arrived? If creativity is worth developing, can we accurately measure it in our students, and can we enhance it systematically?These were some of the questions that motivated the initiation of a creativity research program in the College of Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. The assumption was that creativity is important in engineering, especially in design. The intent was to understand how we could assess creativity in our students and then enhance it.The focus of this initial study is a precursor to many of these more applied questions. We had students and faculty from a variety of Colleges, including Engineering, answer an online survey that probed attitudes towards creativity, respondent personality characteristics, opinions regarding conditional influences on creativity, and potential demographic factors influencing the creativity of individuals. As well, we employed a validated creativity attitudes and beliefs measurement tool (rCAB) as an accepted benchmark for assessment.The survey included both closed- and open-ended questions. The results from some of the open-ended questions have been analyzed to determine emerging groups of similar types of answers, and then efforts have been made to relate the groups in a meaningful framework.The results for the Engineering students are emphasized, but they are also compared with students and faculty from other Colleges. Closed questions were analyzed using inferential statistical tests (distributions, means, standard deviations, t-tests, ANOVA, Cronbach’s alpha), while the open-ended responses are compared more qualitatively when they cannot be quantified easily.The survey went through ethics approval and was distributed in the latter half of the Fall 2015 term.

scholarly journals A Validity and Reliability Study of the Basic Electronics Skills Self-Efficacy Scale (BESS)

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Özgen Korkmaz ◽  
Makbule Kübra Korkmaz
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
The Self ◽  
Measurement Tool ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Reliability Study ◽  
Sample Group ◽  
Self Perceptions ◽  
High Level

The aim of this study is to improve a measurement tool to evaluate the self-efficacy of Electrical-Electronics Engineering students through their basic electronics skills. The sample group is composed of 124 Electrical-Electronics engineering students. The validity of the scale is analyzed with two different methods through factor analysis and distinctiveness. To evaluate the how much each item that exists in the scale can measure the factor they belong to, item total factor correlations and corrected correlations are calculated on the data. According to the acquired values, each item and each factor in the scale are found to serve to the run-of the scale and the aim of scaling the desired facility, in a meaningful level. Moreover, analyzing the t value related to the differences between the groups of top 27% and bottom 27%, the item distinctiveness’s are researched and it is detected that the distinctiveness of both of the run-of the scale and each one of the items is high level; in other words, it is detected that each item is distinctive in the desired level. The internal consistency coefficients of the scale is calculated using two congruent halves correlations, Cronbach Alpha, Sperman-Brown formula and Guttmann split-half reliability formula. Consequently, it is concluded that the scale is a reliable and valid scale and this scale can be used to determine the basic electronics skills of the Electrical-Electronics Engineering students through their self-perceptions.

scholarly journals Understanding Barriers to Student Success: What Students Have to Say

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Kuley ◽  
Sean Maw ◽  
Terry Fonstad
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
College Of Engineering ◽  
The University

This paper focuses on feedback received from a set of qualitative questions that were administered to undergraduate students in the College of Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan, as part of a larger mixed methods study. The larger study aims to identify what characteristics, if any, can predict or are related to student success; The “start-stop-continue” method was utilized to assess student perceptions about  their success in the college as a whole. The students were asked: Are there any specific things that you can think of that act/acted as barriers to your success in engineering (stop)? What could the college do/change to make first year more successful for engineering students (start)? Is there anything in your engineering degree so far that you feel is done well and helps students succeed (continue)? Students identified the quality of instruction early in their program as well as adjustment to college workloads and self-directed learning as the most significant barriers tostudent success.

scholarly journals Educating Aerospace Design Engineers: Perspectives from Design Creativity Theory

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suo Tana ◽  
Catharine Marsden ◽  
Yong Zeng
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Test Bed ◽  
Skill Sets ◽  
Design Engineers ◽  
Design Creativity ◽  
Aerospace Companies ◽  
Concordia University ◽  
Recent Graduates ◽  
University Level ◽  
The University

When seeking candidates for engineering design positions, aerospace companies usually seek to hire high qualified professionals while overlooking recent graduates from engineering schools. The reason for this is the opinion that most of the engineers graduating from universities do not possess the skill sets the companies are seeking and that it takes too long to train recent graduates in the complexities of the aerospace design process. There is a need to minimize the gap between the needs of the aerospace industry and the training of engineers at the university level and this need cannot be met without the collaboration of aerospace firms, universities and government. In this paper, we propose an approach toeducating undergraduate aerospace engineering students based on design creativity theory. The NSERC Chair in Aerospace Design Engineering (NCADE) at Concordia University will be used as a test bed to implement, validate, improve and promote this educational strategy.

Embedding Enterprise in Engineering

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 263-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Handscombe ◽  
Elena Rodriguez-Falcon ◽  
Eann A. Patterson
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Business Schools ◽  
The Other ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Teaching Programme ◽  
Strong Emphasis ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

A great deal of enterprise teaching is carried out in business schools and has been for many years. The challenge of the UK's Science Enterprise Challenge was to extend enterprise teaching more thoroughly to science and engineering students. While some of the centres launched under the initiative developed the activity of business schools, there were notable exceptions. This paper focuses on the attempts to implement the challenges of teaching enterprise to engineering students in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sheffield. This was one of the most successful departmental interventions of the White Rose Centre for Enterprise (WRCE), formed in 1999 as part of the UK Science Enterprise Challenge initiative. WRCE's remit, like that of the other science enterprise centres, was to increase enterprise learning and entrepreneurship, thus bringing about a ‘cultural change’ in those universities involved in the collaboration. WRCE's approach was to embed enterprise in the teaching programme of the science and engineering departments. The general propositions of WRCE are reviewed in the light of the activities within the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Some detailed qualifications of those propositions arise, with strong emphasis on the importance of pedagogic approaches and sequence of content.

Innovative Educational Collaboration between Colleges to Improve Disabilities and Enhance Learning

2011 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-116
Author(s):  
MOLLY L. MCCLELLAND ◽  
DARRELL K. KLEINKE
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Students ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽  
Assistive Devices ◽  
Multidisciplinary Teams ◽  
Collaborative Education ◽  
Detroit Area ◽  
Physically Challenged ◽  
College Of Engineering ◽  
The University

ABSTRACT Interdisciplinary collaboration in higher education can produce valuable learning experiences beyond that of a single discipline approach. The University of Detroit Mercy College of Engineering and College of Health Professions have effectively collaborated yielding results that benefit not only the student but physically challenged individuals living in the Detroit area. Teams of engineering students and nursing students work together on projects to build assistive devices that improve the lives of people in need. This paper describes the techniques, goals and objectives used in multidisciplinary collaborative education. Students who have completed the course have described an enhanced understanding of how to effectively collaborate with members of other disciplines. Clients who have worked with the multidisciplinary teams have benefited by receiving assistive devices that have significantly improved their activities of daily living.

scholarly journals EMBEDDING LIBRARIANS IN ENGINEERING PROGRAMS: THREE CASE STUDIES WITH ENGINEERING STUDENTS

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Figueiredo ◽  
Helen Power ◽  
Kate Mercer ◽  
Matthew Borland
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Formal Structure ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Embedded Model ◽  
College Of Engineering ◽  
The University ◽  
Information Landscape

As the information landscape becomes increasingly complex, librarians must adapt accordingly. With information so readily available, students overestimate their research skills and lack awareness of how the library can help. However, librarians’ academic training makes them ideal resources to support students’ complex information needs - whether students know it or not. In this paper, we argue that embedded librarianship is the solution to this disconnect between librarian and user. Specifically, this paper provides case studies at two Canadian universities of librarians approaching embedded librarianship from different directions. At the University of Waterloo, two engineering librarians worked toward an embedded model of librarianship where this was not yet an established model in the Faculty of Engineering. At the University of Saskatchewan, a librarian was hired with the intention of the new position being embedded, without a formal structure or precedent for this within the College of Engineering.  The term “embedded librarian” describes a service model where an academic librarian participates in an academic course or program on a continuing basis in order to understand the learning objectives and determine which resources best support them. In order to “do this, the librarian has to be familiar with the work and understand the domain and goals. Doing this, the librarian becomes an invaluable member of the team” [1]. The variables associated with embeddedness include location, funding, management and supervision, and participation [1]. To this end, the authors explore how each of these variables contribute to the success of moving towards this embedded model: how moving out of the library influences overall connection, how they acquired funding to grow a new collection, how management supports the overall goal, and how sustained participation in the program grows new opportunities.  At both universities, librarians have seen most success embedding in programs with a strong emphasis on integrated STEM education where the focus is on providing real-world context with the aim of graduating well-rounded engineers [2]. The authors will discuss how programmatic learning outcomes and trends in integrated and interdisciplinary education have allowed them to stretch beyond the traditional boundaries of academic librarianship to demonstrate value to the Engineering departments in new ways.  This paper reports on the experiences, advantages, and lessons learned in moving toward this model, and provides concrete examples for adapting these concepts to programs at other institutions. Through an intrinsic case study [3] the authors aim to understand how librarians’ embeddedness can adapt and change to support student learning in different contexts. This session is targeted towards practicing engineering librarians and engineering faculty members and educators. Attendees will leave the session with ideas on how to stimulate new partnerships between their library and Engineering programs.  

scholarly journals From "knowing" to "not knowing": Critical global citizenship education for engineering partnerships

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-184
Author(s):  
Nora Pillard Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Educational Goals ◽  
University Administrators ◽  
Global Citizenship Education ◽  
Global Service Learning ◽  
College Of Engineering ◽  
The University

This article was part of a larger study that explored community participants’ perspectives in [Municipality, Country] about the long-term global service learning (GSL) partnership with [Name of university] University’s College of Engineering (Author, year). This article explores the question: From the community participants’ perspectives, what are their educational goals for the university engineering students in this partnership? While I intentionally centered this article on the community participants’ perspectives, I also explored areas of alignment and areas of difference between the different stakeholder groups’ perspectives about learning and knowledge. Although global citizenship surfaced in interviews with both community and university participants, the community participant perspectives push farther than the university administrators/ faculty and call for critical global citizenship education (Andreotti, 2006).

scholarly journals Villanova Engineering Service Learning

2014 ◽  
pp. 334-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Ermilio ◽  
Garrett Clayton ◽  
Mahmoud Kabalan
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Learning Program ◽  
Service Projects ◽  
History Of ◽  
Large Water ◽  
College Of Engineering ◽  
The University ◽  
Villanova University

The College of Engineering at Villanova University has a long history of providing technical services to support humanitarian initiatives. For over twenty years, engineering faculty and students have been participating in engineering outreach activities, which are commonly referred to as Engineering Service Learning. In 1991, a small group of engineering students and faculty traveled to work with the Cheypo-Bayano Mission in Panama. Students who graduate were excited to return to Panama to see their projects through to completion, which included a large water supply distribution system and a bridge for a small remote community in the region. At that time, the concept of service-learning did not exist, but due to the Augustinian Heritage at Villanova University, these types of activities have been strongly encouraged. In fact, the idea of ministry has been a strategic part of the university’ mission since 1979, and at the present time, there are an estimated 800 students and advisors who travel annually to over 40 locations globally (including the US) to volunteer on service projects. These projects include engineering and non-engineering activities, but the success of the engineering service learning program has been significantly influenced by the culture of service that exists at Villanova University and the Augustinian values which are routed in service to society.

MEMS Curriculum Development in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liwei Lin
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Curriculum Development ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
University Of Michigan ◽  
Entry Level ◽  
Undergraduate Study ◽  
New Graduate ◽  
College Of Engineering ◽  
The University

Abstract MEMS curriculum development in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan is presented. A course curriculum structure that integrates both mechanical and electrical engineering courses is proposed for mechanical engineering students who are interested in MEMS research. The proposed curriculum starts from undergraduate study and finishes at the Ph.D. level. Two new graduate-level MEMS courses are proposed. They are “Introduction to MEMS” for senior and entry-level, graduate students and “Advanced MEMS” for graduate students. The first course has been experimentally taught at the University of Michigan for the past three years and the class assessments are summarized and analyzed in this paper. It is clear from the student responses that for more advanced MEMS courses should be offered. The vision of the future MEMS curriculum development has also been discussed with the suggestion of the development a new undergraduate-level MEMS course in the college of engineering.

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