A Liberal Education
"Ideally, a liberal education produces
persons who are open-minded and free from
provincialism, dogma, preconception, and
ideology; conscious of their opinions and
judgments; reflective of their actions; and
aware of their place in the social and natural
worlds.”
Is that what we do?
Selected ABET Outcomes
(a) an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science,
and engineering
(e) an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering
problems
(f) an understanding of professional and ethical
responsibility
(g) an ability to communicate effectively
(h) the broad education necessary to understand the
impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic,
environmental, and societal context
How do we do that?
Bloomfield’s Taxonomy
Rasmussen’s Skills, Rules, Knowledge
Ericsson and Deliberate Practice
Question
• Given the ABET requirements and the three
models above, what should we see in our
successful (or perhaps the majority of our)
students?
A Vision of Students
• Students who understand physical relationships (e.g.,
physics and chemistry) and seek to explain the world from
these principles.
• Students who can apply mathematical concepts to flesh out
their design insights.
• Students who create and innovate by connecting technical
ideas together
• Students who argue logically and coherently
• Students who demonstrate autonomous interaction and
mastery of selected engineering tools with the same
fluidity they demonstrate with facebook or their favorite
phone apps (e.g., skill-based behavior)
• Students who demonstrate the principles of deliberate
practice.
Desire Idea Network
Why Can’t Jonny Operate?
• Too few opportunities to practice
• Inefficient practice
• Lack of feedback
Traditional Techniques
• Content delivery -> recitation of facts,
associations
• Demonstration of techniques and procedures
• Assess students in their reproduction of those
techniques
Bloomfield’s Taxonomy
Rasmussen’s Skills, Rules, Knowledge
Ericsson and Deliberate Practice
Why Lecture?
• Passive listeners
• Condense material to bullet points
• Relatively few connections are built among
the concepts
• Lecturer is focused more on himself or herself
than the learners
What Message Do We Send?
Professors as Ticket Sellers
• Engineers Make Money
• Take optional math courses in high school and get
good (average) grades
• Do lots of homework in college (not hard, but
long hours)
• Answer the questions on the tests (not difficult
conceptually)
• E.g., Pay the price, get the ticket.
• Get your job
• Collect $$$
This Leads to the Following Model of
Efficiency
• Standardize classes (e.g., content, topics)
• Emphasize quality control (e.g., number of
questions answered correctly)
• Increase class size to limit without changing
quality
• Maximize profit
Therefore
•
•
•
•
•
•
Videotape lectures
On-line quizzes
Automated feedback
Mega courses
Rote and repetition
Standardized experience
Resulting Idea Network
My Goals
• Teach things that matter
• Explain things that are relevant to the
students’ world
• Make them read to gain knowledge
• Get to know them as people a little
• Make them in charge of their learning
• Hold them personally accountable
What I Did
• Wrote essays for each class (usually about 5
single-spaced pages twice a week)
• On-line quizzes to validate that they understood
the content
• Simple, direct applications of the material
• Optional, open-ended opportunities for learning
• Weekly 10-minute one-on-one meetings with
quiz
• Group projects
• Occasional, informal classes
• Engaged students in the grading process
Sample essay
Sample Online Quiz
In-Person Quizzes
• Usually filled out in the chair directly outside
my office while I spoke to the student in front
of them.
• Graded in person. Usually leading to a
discussion of things they missed.
• Always asked about other questions in the
class
Classes
• Many class sessions involved the TA and I
walking around, helping students with their
individual homework or upcoming projects.
• Often the individual sessions led to questions
about homework or projects
General Outcomes
• Most students liked the process, but not all.
• The radical change was hard on those who
depend on the structure to succeed and also
on those who habitually procrastinate.
• Lots of positive, enthusiastic feedback
• Many complaints about slow grading
turnaround, many assignments due at various
time was confusing.
Interesting Outcomes
• First time I caught cheaters myself (not through
TA)
• First time I caught a student being high
• Many talks about the silliness of trying to BS
through an assignment
• Several discussions about teamwork and
contributing
• Quality of students knowledge REALY increased –
obvious in the success of the projects
Why I’ll Do It Again
•
•
•
•
I enjoy teaching
Less egoistic – more focused on the students
Nice to know the students and their strengths
I feel like I much better understood what
confuses the students.
• I felt much more like a teacher and less like a
fraud or a dancing monkey
• I had more energy afterwards
Bloomfield’s Taxonomy
Rasmussen’s Skills, Rules, Knowledge
Ericsson and Deliberate Practice
A Liberal Education
"Ideally, a liberal education produces
persons who are open-minded and free from
provincialism, dogma, preconception, and
ideology; conscious of their opinions and
judgments; reflective of their actions; and
aware of their place in the social and natural
worlds.”