Browsing by Author "Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology"

Now showing 1 - 10 of 25
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    Applying Phenomenography to Develop a Comprehensive Understanding of Ethics in Engineering Practice
    (IEEE, 2018-10) Brightman, Andrew O.; Fila, Nicholas D.; Hess, Justin L.; Kerr, Alison J.; Kim, Dayoung; Loui, Michael C.; Zoltowski, Carla B.; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
    This Work-in-Progress Research paper describes (1) the contemporary research space on ethics education in engineering; (2) our long-term research plan; (3) the theoretical underpinnings of Phase 1 of our research plan (phenomenography); and (4) the design and developmental process of a phenomenographic interview protocol to explore engineers' experiences with ethics. Ethical behavior is a complex phenomenon that is complicated by the institutional and cultural contexts in which it occurs. Engineers also have varied roles and often work in a myriad of capacities that influence their experiences with and understanding of ethics in practice. We are using phenomenography, a qualitative research approach, to explore and categorize the ways engineers experience and understand ethical engineering practice. Specifically, phenomenography will allow us to systematically investigate the range and complexity of ways that engineers experience ethics in professional practice in the health products industry. Phenomenographic data will be obtained through a specialized type of semi-structured interview. Here we introduce the design of our interview protocol and its four sections: Background, Experience, Conceptual, and Summative. We also describe our iterative process for framing questions throughout each section.
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    Asking the Right Questions: Reflective Preparation for a Program Review
    (Wiley, 2018-07) Renguette, Corinne; Feldhaus, Charles; Wager, Elizabeth; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
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    A capability approach for online primary and secondary students with disabilities
    (Wiley, 2017-10-06) Stella, Julie; Corry, Michael; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
    A capability approach was used to identify and synthesise research studies about online students with disabilities in primary and secondary school (aged five to 18 years) in an attempt to describe the experience from an empirical perspective. A capability approach is intended to maximise agency and can be used to describe the extent to which individuals are able to use limited resources to build a satisfying and enjoyable life. In this analysis, a derived capability set was used to narrow the larger body of research about primary and secondary students in online education in order to consider only studies that described ways in which students successfully used online education to maximise agency. The derived capability set was: autonomy, judgement, practical reason, affiliation, high school graduation and a desire to help others. A method for deriving the capability set and ways in which a capability approach fails to describe this experience are discussed.
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    Developing an Effective Model of Students' Communities of Practice in a Higher Education Context
    (Wiley, 2018) Kim, Ji Hyun; So, Byung Han; Song, Ji Hoon; Lim, Doo Hun; Kim, Junhee; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
    The purpose of this research is to build an effective model for communities of practice (CoPs) in higher education. This research was designed to a) investigate core factors facilitating organizational learning process among CoP members and b) propose a systematic CoP model for higher education from a learning organization standpoint. A thematic analysis approach was used based on the open‐ended responses of 212 CoP program participants at a South Korean university. The results showed that self‐regulated learning activities, positive learning perception, and self‐participation were found to be core elements for successful CoP activities at the individual level. At the group level, problem‐based learning, facilitator, and collaborative learning environments were revealed as key factors for effective organizational learning. Administrative support, systematic learning support, and overall learning culture were found to be the most important influential environmental factors at the organizational level. The study findings imply that the goals, learning processes, and evaluation systems at the higher education level are fundamentally different from those in industrial settings, and conclude that more customized approaches and supporting efforts should be considered in facilitating CoP activities. Research limitations and future research suggestions are proposed based on the study findings.
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    Developing an understanding of the implementation and impacts of high school pre-engineering programs: Making the case for a benefit-cost analysis
    (IEEE, 2017-10) Sorge, Brandon; Hess, Justin L.; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
    With the ongoing demand for improved K-12 STEM education, a push for dual-credit courses, and the goal of college and career-ready high school graduates, schools have implemented numerous STEM programs including those focused on engineering. Curricular programs, such Engineering by Design, Project Lead the Way (PLTW), and EPICS High are being executed by schools across the country with varied amounts of success as measured by student-level outcomes. Exploring costs of these program implementations and their associated outcomes is vital in deciding the best means for preparing our future engineering workforce. This paper utilizes cost analysis to provide initial insights into the relative impact of one of the most common high school engineering program, PLTW. Specifically, by relying on data reported in select literature, we investigate the impacts versus the costs of implementing PLTW in high schools. Cost data includes select variables such as student section size, school size, and school type. These findings will provide a baseline for understanding cost variations of the PLTW curriculum across contexts, as well as what impact cost variations may have on student outcomes.
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    The Engineering-science Intellectual Property (ESIP) Project: A Novel Method for Promoting Innovation
    (ASEE, 2018-06) Piroozi, Hamid R.; Hess, Justin L.; Feldhaus, Charles; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
    In the idea economy, intellectual property (IP) is valued higher than other assets such as factories and equipment. Affirmation of this valuation is often observed when a company’s IP advances or declines which causes a seismic shift in its stock price. IP law, however, is complicated and is evolving. As a result, new engineering and science graduates take many years, if ever, before they are familiar with the process of securing IP. Lack of such familiarity often results in IP being an after-thought in design processes. While others have attempted to discuss IP as part of a larger entrepreneurship setting in the form of a brief introduction of various IP vehicles, a solid understanding of what is protectable requires more than familiarity with IP concepts. This paper describes the development and underlying theory of a novel educational program titled Engineering-Science Intellectual Property Project (ESIP-Project). This project includes three degree-counted elective courses that together create an IP concentration in an engineering BS curriculum. The intent of the project is to generate within students a deep understanding of IP requirements for creating novel, nonobvious, and non-infringing designs. In addition, the ESIP-Project is designed to teach IP concepts as they relate to engineering design, as well as critical thinking skills and innovation. More specifically, students will be prepared to engage in prior art review, identify what is needed to obtain enforceable designs, and apply strategies to avoid infringement of existing patents. At the culmination of ESIP-Project, students will be prepared to pass the patent bar examination and become certified to practice patent law before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Hence, graduates of the ESIP-Project will have new career options including choices for becoming patent engineers and patent agents, in addition to traditional technical career choices. This paper includes an overview of the three-course sequence, as well as evaluation results of the implementation of the first course. A survey was designed by the investigators and implemented pre and post course. The survey included three constructs: Knowledge of IP Concepts, Innovative Product Design, and Careers in Patent Law. Following reliability testing procedures, student responses to these constructs were compared before and after course implementation. Despite the small sample size (15 students), comparative analyses suggested students experienced strong, positive gains in each construct. These positive changes in student responses from participation in just one of three IP courses is encouraging to our team. We hope that the ESIP-Project model, and our evaluation of the model as we scale it up, will provide a pathway for other educators to follow, particularly those who are interested in promoting entrepreneurship and innovation among their students.
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    An Evaluation of a Research Experience Traineeship (RET) Program for Integrating Nanotechnology into Pre-College Curriculum
    (2017-06-24) Hess, Justin L.; Feldhaus, Charles; P.e, Maher E. Rizkalla; Agarwal, Mangilal; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
    Nanotechnology has become a national focus throughout the United States with more than 24 billion USD of cumulative federal support towards nanotechnology research and development since 2001. In the last 20 years, R&D in this space has led to a number of revolutions in electronics, photovoltaics, manufacturing, medicine and much more. One of the primary goals of this federal funding, as described by the inter-governmental body, the Committee on Technology Subcommittee on Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology (NSET), has been to develop educational resources that will ultimately lead to a skilled workforce who will continually advance the state of the art of nanotechnology. This study explores the impact of one summer’s implementation of an NSF-funded Research Experiences for Teachers professional development K-12 program designed towards this end. Specifically, the Research Experiences for Teacher Advancement in Nanotechnology (RETAIN) program at a large public Midwestern University was designed to provide 30 K-12 teachers (10 per year, primarily high school level) from high-needs, urban school districts with research experiences and shared activities designed to increase their understanding of the challenges and demands of nanotechnology, as well as college and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. In addition to these research experiences, our multi-disciplinary team sought to lead participants in the creation of 15 hands-on inquiry-based teaching modules (5 per year) that integrate multiple STEM disciplines, convey scientific-process skills, and align with Indiana Academic Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards. We frame this study as research evaluation, as our initial focus was on evaluating programmatic outcomes with the intention of improving the program itself through a cyclical process of research to practice. In this paper, our scope extends to the broader scholarly community: here we build on our evaluation results, with the aim of extending the body of knowledge pertaining to STEM professional development opportunities similar to this one
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    Experiential Learning, Action Research, and Metacognitive Reflection in the Senior Capstone
    (ASEE, 2019-02) Feldhaus, Charles; Buckwalter, John; Wager, Elizabeth; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
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    Exploring Ethical Development from Standard Instruction in the Contexts of Biomedical Engineering and Earth Science
    (ASEE, 2019-06) Hess, Justin L.; Fore, Grant A.; Sorge, Brandon H.; Coleman, M. A.; Price, Mary F.; Hahn, Thomas William; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
    Ethics continues to be required in the accreditation of engineers. However, ethics is seldom the core focus of departmental instruction. Yet, standard instruction may have myriad impacts on students' ethical development. This study explores students’ ethical formation when ethics is a peripheral or non-intentional aspect of instruction in departmental courses in Biomedical Engineering and Earth Science. The research question that we seek to address is, “In what different ways and to what extent does participation in departmental engineering and science courses cultivate STEM students’ ethical formation?” To address our research question, we disseminated a survey to students before (pre) and after (post) their participation in one of 12 courses offered in Earth Science or Biomedical Engineering during the Fall 2017 or Spring 2018. The survey included four instruments: (1) the Civic-Minded Graduate scale; (2) the Interpersonal Reactivity Index; (3) two relational constructs developed by the authors; and (4) the Defining Issues Test-2. Results suggest that current Earth Science curriculum, overall, positively contributes to students' ethical growth. However, the Biomedical Engineering courses showed no evidence of change. As the Earth Science courses do not explicitly focus on ethics, one potential explanation for this trend is the community-engaged nature of the Earth Science curriculum. These findings will be beneficial locally to help direct improvements in departmental STEM instruction. In addition, these findings pave the way for future comparative analyses exploring how variations in ethical instruction contribute to students' ethical and professional formation. © 2019 American Society for Engineering Education
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    Impact of Sustainability Study Abroad Course on Students
    (ASEE, 2018-06) Fox, Patricia; McIntyre, Charles; Sorge, Brandon; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
    The School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) has offered a short study abroad course, called GO GREEN, on sustainable practices in businesses, industries and municipalities in Germany for the past 15 years. Over 150 students have participated in the course since its inception in 2003. A survey was conducted to determine what these students had ascertained from the course and to see if any of these students were using the skills acquired in this class in their work or daily lives. The survey, consisting of 23 questions, was designed to determine how students have used the interdisciplinary subject matter of sustainability in their lives and careers after taking the course, as well as, questions about key elements of the course. Some of the results of the survey will be discussed in this paper/presentation.