Innovation in Engineering Education
Vinod K Lohani, PhD (Civil)
Email: vlohani@vt.edu
EVALUATE – E Transatlantic Working Conference
Virginia Tech
July 05-07, 2010
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Outline
•  Department of Engineering Education at
Virginia Tech
•  Collaboration between Engineering and
Education faculty
•  Tablet PC initiative
•  PhD research (engineering education)
example
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Engineering Education is
Undergoing a Major Change in the US
Emphasis on:
•
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Developing Student Centered Learning Environments
Learning Theories into Engineering Curriculum
Life Long Learning
Global Perspectives
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Virginia Tech’s Response to
Engineering Education Challenges
•  A New Department of Engineering
Education (EngE) (www.enge.vt.edu)
•  Collaboration between College of
Engineering and School of Education to
improve engineering pedagogy
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Faculty of EngE
Undergraduate
teaching
and advising
(1500+ new
students/year +
communications
topics in ECE,
ESM, MSE)
Research
Graduate
Program
Ware Lab
Affiliates
16 faculty with degrees in English; information,
design, and technology; learning sciences and
technology design; linguistics; mass
communication; mathematics; and 11 different
engineering disciplines
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Major Responsibilities of EngE
•  Conduct a freshman engineering program
•  Offer a PhD program in Engineering
Education
•  Conduct sponsored research in
engineering education
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Examples of Engineering Education
Projects Funded by the U.S. National
Science Foundation (NSF)
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Bridges for Engineering Education
– Virginia Tech (BEEVT) (2003-06)
One key objective was to:
create a contemporary framework for
undergraduate engineering pedagogy,
beginning with freshman engineering
experiences
BEEVT investigators proposed a spiral curriculum
approach and received an implementation grant in 2004
under the Department-Level Reform (DLR) program of
NSF.
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Reformulating General Engineering and
Biological Systems Engineering Programs at
Virginia Tech (NSF/DLR Project)
$1,082,944; September 2004 – August 2009
Participating Faculty
Engineering Education (Six)
Biological Systems Engineering (Five)
School of Education and Academic Assessment (One)
Civil and Environmental Engineering (One)
Mining and Minerals Engineering (One)
Computer Science (One)
Students
Seven PhD (BSE(2), Psychology(1), School of Education(1), CEE (1), and EngE (2))
Two MS (BSE)
Six Undergraduate (CEE, EE, CPE, and BSE)
International component of NSF-DLR Project
Collaboration with National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Goal – NSF/DLR project
To undertake department level reform (DLR) of the General
Engineering (GE) and the Bioprocess Engineering option
within the Biological Systems Engineering (BSE) at Virginia
Tech using a spiral curriculum approach.
BSE
AOE
ChE
MinE
CEE
GE
MSE
CS
ME
ECE
ISE
ESM
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Spiral Curriculum Theory
Basic Elements of the Spiral Concept
•  Authentic engagement
from the beginning
•  Thematic curricular
organization
•  Periodic revisiting of key
topics and themes
•  Increasing complexity
with support
•  Student mastery of
learning process
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Spiral Curriculum
Development
in Biological Systems Engineering
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Steps in Curriculum
Design
1.  Identify outcomes to be achieved by the
students upon graduation
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Spiral Curriculum Development
•  A bioprocess engineer
should be able to:
Outcomes
Identified
–  Design a reactor
–  Design a process and
optimize the process
conditions
–  Select units in the process
and design a plant layout
–  Control the process
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Spiral Concepts for Reactor Design
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Steps
1.  Identify outcomes to be achieved
2.  Develop concept maps
3.  Identify knowledge for each outcome at
different levels
4.  Develop learning objectives
5.  Develop learning modules
6.  Incorporate the modules to existing courses
7.  Develop new courses to include the modules
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Outcome
Outcome
Outcome
Outcome
Learning Objectives
Level II
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Level III
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Level III
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Level III
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Level IV
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ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
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Tablet PC Initiative
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Technology Integration into Instruction:
Timeline
1984
2002
2006
First US public
university to require
engineering majors
to own a PC
Laptops required
Tablet PCs required
•  Tablet initiative has already involved
4500+ students
•  The first and largest public university to
require Tablet PCs in the US.
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Quote from Angelo and Cross (1993)
“Classroom assessment is an ongoing process, perhaps best thought
as the creation and maintenance of a classroom “feedback loop.”
By employing a number of simple Classroom Assessment
Techniques that are quick and easy to use, teachers get feedback
from students on their learning. Faculty then complete the loop by
providing students with feedback on the results of the assessment
and suggestions for improving learning. To check on their
suggestions, faculty use Classroom Assessment again, continuing
the “feedback loop.” As this approach becomes integrated into
everyday classroom activities, the communications loop connecting
faculty to students – and teaching to learning – becomes more
efficient and more effective.”
Source: Angelo, T. A. and Cross, P. K., 1993. Classroom Assessment Techniques, A Handbook for
College Teachers, 2nd Ed., Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco.
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Engineering Exploration – first year course
course
150-300 students
30 students
30 students
30 students
30 students
30 students
Fall 2009; Personnel: 5 faculty, 15 GTAs,
10 graders (~1400 freshmen)
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Technology: Instant Feedback
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Technology: Instant Feedback
Nanotechnology presentation
– Sketch various forces acting
on an airplane.
Students’ sketches
Instructor’s slide
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Technology: Collaborative Problem Solving
First Step:
-Problem statement
-Sharing control with
students
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Technology: Collaborative Problem Solving
Second Step:
Sharing Partial
Solution
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Technology: Collaborative Problem Solving
Third Step:
• Collecting panels
• Displaying correct
student answers
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Technology: Expanding Learning Space
Live presentation from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, March 17, 2008
Using Skype, voice
and image
connection from
Vietnam.
DyKnow Synchronization
Students in TORG 2150
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Technology: Expanding Learning Space
Survey questions (March 24, 2008) after Vietnam presentation (~120
students)
Compared to your average experience with other on-campus
presentations, how satisfied are you with the presentation from
Vietnam?
A. More satisfied 22% B. Equally Satisfied 46%
C. Less
Satisfied 9%
D. I wasn’t present 5%
E. Other 3%
F. No answer 14%
Did Juan’s presentation from Vietnam last week motivate you to
consider study abroad opportunities in coming years?
Thought about it 40% B. Too early to think about study abroad 18%
C. Not Sure 14% D. Not at all 6% E. Other 2% F. No Answer
19%
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Lecture from Anchorage,
Alaska, May 05, 2009
Instructor in
Alaska
Marriott
14th floor
Feedback from students
on VT campus
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Exit Survey Results
I participated in EngE 1024 lecture
session from a remote location with the
help of DyKnow software on one or
more occasions:
Fall ’07-Yes (15%) No (85%) (536 responses)
Spring ’08- Yes (31%) No (69%) (49 responses)
Fall ‘08 – Yes (25%) No (74%) (314 responses)
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Exit survey – fall ‘07 (536 responses)
If you answered “yes” to question 15(a), then can you please cite
some examples explaining the circumstances?
I was extremely sick one day and I logged on to Dyknow from my dorm
room.
I had a doctors appt. for my broken collar bone at the time of the class
and I arrive back to my dorm about 10 minutes before class was
over, dyknow allowed me to get the lecture notes with out hassling
my peers for them.
I was home in Marshfield MA sick with mono and i was able to sign on.
I had to take my boyfriend to the dentist to have surgery and logged on
from the waiting room.
One day I had just flown in from home and I logged in from the airport
where I was waiting for a connecting flight.
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Exit Survey Results –
EngE1024 Course
Did your skills of using the Tablet PC help
you in any manner in other courses?
–  Fall 2006: No 63.7% , Yes 36.3%
(216 responses)
–  Fall 2007: No 49.6% , Yes 50.4%
(536 responses)
-  Fall 2008: No 45%, Yes 54%
(314 responses)
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
PhD Research Example
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Modeling Education as a Closed
Loop Feedback Controller
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Current Knowledge
Assessment Paradigm
Grades based on means, not ends
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Mechatronics Unit
Comprehensive Knowledge Map
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Mechatronics Unit
Comprehensive Knowledge Map
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Concept Inventory (CI)
Mechatronics Unit
•  Questions based on concepts
–  Not computationally intensive
–  Evaluate basic understanding of each concept
•  Pilot inventories deployed
–  Spring 08, Summer 08
–  Free response
•  Common student misconceptions used to
develop multiple-choice answers
•  Full Inventory deployed
–  Fall 2008
–  Questions and Answers Characterized by
Bloom’s Taxonomy
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Example: EngE 1024 Student Map
(Good)
Fall 2008 Data
Knowledge
Understanding
Application
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Publications
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R. Castles, T. Zephirin, V. K. Lohani, P. Kachroo, “Design and Implementation of a Mechatronics
Initiative in a Large First Semester Engineering Course”, accepted to IEEE Transactions on
Education (to appear Aug 2010).
R. Castles and V. K. Lohani “Utilizing Software-Generated Concept Maps Based on Customized
Concept Inventories to Illustrate Student Learning and Knowledge Gaps” in ASEE Annual
Conference and Exposition, Louisville, KY, June 20-23, 2010.
R. Castles, A Knowledge Map-Centric Feedback-Based Approach to Information Modeling and
Academic Assessment, PhD dissertation, submitted to Virginia Tech, Spring 2010.
R. Castles, V. K. Lohani, and P. Kachroo, " Utilizing Hands-On Learning to Facilitate Progression
Through Bloom’s Taxonomy Within the First Semester" in IEEE Frontiers in Education, San
Antonio, TX, October 18-21, 2009.
R. Castles and V. K. Lohani, "A paradigm for comprehensive concept map-based modeling of
student knowledge," in American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and
Exposition, Austin, TX, June 14-17, 2009.
Lohani, V. K., Castles, R., Lo, J. and Griffin, H., "Tablet PC applications in a large engineering
program", Computers in Education Journal, 18, 2008: 52-63
Lohani, V., Castles, R., Johri, A., Spangler, D. and Kibler, D., "Analysis of tablet pc based learning
experiences in freshman to junior level engineering courses", ASEE Annual Conference and
Exposition, Conference Proceedings, Pittsburg, PA, United States, 2008.
Lohani, V. K., Wolfe, M. L., Wildman, T., Mallikarjunan, K. and Connor, J., "Reformulating General
Engineering and Biological Systems Engineering Programs at Virginia Tech", Advances in
Engineering Education Journal August 2009 (2010): (under review)
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Thank you so much!
Questions!
Contact email: vlohani@vt.edu
ENGINEERING
EDUCATION