scholarly journals EXAMINING FOURTH YEAR ENGINEERING STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF GRADUATE ATTRIBUTE COMPETENCIES: YEAR TWO

Author(s):  
Jillian Seniuk Cicek ◽  
Paul Labossiere ◽  
Sandra Ingram

As the Engineering Faculty at the Universityof Manitoba shifts its curriculum from an input-based toan outcomes-based pedagogy, data from diverse sourcesare being collected. Among them, indirect data are beinggathered from students using a student exit survey. Thesurvey has been developed over the past three years toexplore graduating students’ perceptions of theiraptitudes and their engineering program’s strengths andweaknesses in regards to the 12 CEAB graduateattributes. It is comprised of the 12 attributes, with eachattribute further defined by six indicators. Theseindicators reflect the levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy ofEducational Objectives in the Cognitive Domain:knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis,synthesis and evaluation. The student exit survey was firstadministered to graduating mechanical engineeringstudents at the end of Fall semester 2012 and then at theend of Fall semester 2013. This paper describes thesecond year of the study, and discusses the datacomparatively with the findings from the first year. Thisstudy offers the Engineering Faculty an understanding oftheir Mechanical Engineering students’ experiences withand perceptions of the CEAB graduate attributes. It willbe used to provide feedback at instructor, program andfaculty levels as the University of Manitoba’s Faculty ofEngineering continues to implement its cycle of programdevelopment and improvement.

Author(s):  
Elizabeth Kuley ◽  
Sean Maw ◽  
Terry Fonstad

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.


Author(s):  
Derek Wright

–At the University of Waterloo, 1B electrical and computer engineering students participate in a series of hands-on, open-ended design activities. In particular, a wind-your-own motor activity has been trialed on four occasions. The activity is widely recognized as being fun, but are the students designing or kludging? The Kirkpatrick Model of Training Evaluation was used as a framework to assess student perceptions of the activity and to guide focus group discussions. The activity was iteratively improved to maintain a positive reaction while increasing student learning.


Author(s):  
William S. Owen ◽  
Maria Barichello ◽  
Andrea Prier

As a way to help ease the struggles thatstudents face in the transition from high school intouniversity, the Engineering Faculty at the University ofWaterloo started a reduced load program in 2010. Duringtheir first term at Waterloo, engineering students who arein academic jeopardy after midterms can drop twoprescribed courses to give the students an opportunity tofinish the term on a successful note. The two droppedcourses are taken during the following spring term alongwith a third course, GENE 101 – Strategies and Skills forAcademic Success. After successfully completing thereduced load terms, the students return to a full load.GENE 101 is considered a foundational success course.This paper will look at the curriculum and structure of thecourse and the impact it has had on engineering students.At the time of this writing, two groups of students who tookGENE 101 and the reduced load program have graduatedfrom Waterloo as engineers.


Author(s):  
Jillian Seniuk Cicek ◽  
Douglas Ruth ◽  
Sandra Ingram

Active learning is a pedagogicalmethodology that research has shown both engages andmotivates students. This paper reports on one professor’swork to infuse active learning into his first yearthermodynamics course. Based on the results of a pilotstudy aimed at exploring the use of active learning in afirst-year thermodynamics course to engage students andimprove their learning, a problem-solving learningapproach was designed for a subsequent offering of thecourse. Mini-lectures were interspersed with tutorials,and active learning and pedagogical tools and strategieswere employed with the intent to increase studentengagement and enhance learning. At the conclusion ofthis course, a student exit survey and a student focusgroup were conducted, and students’ course marks werecompared to their cumulative grade point averages toexamine their course performance. Findings showed thatstudents were engaged by the active learning design andevidence of learning was found. This is the second phaseof a practical action research study to turn a traditional,lecture-based course into an active learning arena forfirst year engineering students at the University ofManitoba.


Author(s):  
Jillian Seniuk Cicek ◽  
Paul Labossiere ◽  
Danny Mann

As the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba begins to emphasize outcome based teaching and assessment along with the traditional input-based teaching and assessment, data are being collected in a variety of forms. Some of the indirect data being gathered comes from students in the form of the Student Exit Survey. This survey was developed to measure students’ perception of how well their program prepared them with regards to the CEAB twelve graduate attributes. The survey asked students to consider a large number of indicators for each of the graduate attributes.The indicator list was originally constructed with the intention of sufficiently defining each attribute for the five engineering programs in the faculty while providing variety and choice. Therefore, the list was fairly extensive, and at times iterative and unwieldy. When revisiting the original Student Exit Survey, two factors ascended in importance: student feedback on their personal attribute competencies as developed within their program, and how to define attribute competency levels.To establish competency levels and make indicators more manageable for faculty and students, the indicators for each attribute were revised to reflect the six levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives in the Cognitive Domain: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. This new attribute/indicator format was then developed into theStudent Exit Survey and given to fourth year Mechanical engineering students in Fall 2012. This paper describes that effort and analyzes the initial data from this first pass. This data will be used to inform the continued revision of the Student Exit Survey until it is a reliable and valid instrument for providing feedback at instructor, program and faculty levels as the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Engineering forges ahead with its continual cycle of improvement.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chinweike Eseonu ◽  
Martin A Cortes

There is a culture of disengagement from social consideration in engineering disciplines. This means that first year engineering students, who arrive planning to change the world through engineering, lose this passion as they progress through the engineering curriculum. The community driven technology innovation and investment program described in this paper is an attempt to reverse this trend by fusing community engagement with the normal engineering design process. This approach differs from existing project or trip based approaches – outreach – because the focus is on local communities with which the university team forms a long-term partnership through weekly in-person meetings and community driven problem statements – engagement.


Author(s):  
Stephen Mattucci ◽  
Jim Sibley ◽  
Jonathan Nakane ◽  
Peter Ostafichuk

Abstract – Giving and receiving feedback is a necessary, but often difficult skill for young engineers to acquire. We developed and piloted the delivery of a feedback model as part of the first-year engineering experience at the University of British Columbia. The approach is based on recognizing feedback as a form of professional communication, and that it requires practice to improve. We wove different aspects of communication skill development through two large newly-designed first-year introduction to engineering courses, building towards face-to-face feedback through a staged series of communication experiences. The full feedback model highlighted the nuances of face-to-face communication, and was called the "3×3", since it includes the three components involved in face-to-face feedback (sender, message, and receiver), each with three associated aspects. The sender uses appropriate words and body language, ensures proper interpretation, and is empathetic; the message is objective and non-judgmental, sufficiently detailed, and contains suggestions for improvement; and the receiver remains open and listening, acknowledges to the sender that they are listening, and clarifies to ensure understanding. Students applied what they had learned through an activity reviewing poster presentations from a major course design project. In the activity, they each had an opportunity to craft a feedback message before delivering the message face-to-face to a peer. Students then reflected on the feedback they received by summarizing the message, recognizing how the sender delivered the feedback, and identifying why the feedback was helpful. Student reflections were analyzed for themes from the 3×3 model. Students found feedback from peers particularly helpful when it was delivered in an appropriate and courteous manner, checked for proper interpretation, provided clear suggestions for improvement, and was coupled with praise of something that was done well. Providing students with a structured model allows them to follow a process in both providing effective face-to-face feedback, but also better appreciate why receiving feedback is beneficial in helping them improve.  


Author(s):  
Michael McGuire ◽  
Kin Fun Li ◽  
Fayez Gebali

Design is associated with the invention,planning and building a product. Engineering design, inparticular, takes considerable effort, skills, andintegration of knowledge; hence, it is difficult to teachfreshmen this subject since they have not possessed ordeveloped the proper skill set yet. The Faculty ofEngineering at the University of Victoria has beenteaching engineering design (in two successive courses)to all first-year engineering students. In addition toattending plenary lectures, student teams are working oncompetitive projects in the laboratory, while participatingin highly integrated communication modules. In thiswork, we discuss the curricula of these design courses,model of delivery and share our experience for the pastthree years.


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