2020 has been a challenging year for many across the globe. Universities and colleges were disrupted in the spring, as students were sent home and classes moved online. While this was taxing for all educators and students, community-engagement was particularly challenged, given its reliance on interactions with community partners and often team-based project work This paper documents how one large community engagement program at a large midwestern public university adjusted to the move online in the spring and the new logistical realities of fall. Contacts with many partners were reduced or eliminated all together in the spring while students moved online. Many teams continued their work and adapted to balance student learning and the community-engagement as best they could. In the fall semester, some students in this program returned to campus while others participated online. New restrictions on team meetings and laboratories changed the model for the class. With over 120 active projects and over 50 community partners, the adaptations and impact varied across design teams. Projects with local partners were disrupted in the spring and returned more toward normal in the fall but with more remote communication. National and international projects were also disrupted, with travel to sites eliminated. This paper will share the process used for the year, examine student evaluations and artifacts and the impact on community partners. The data shows that the student experience remained strong, even with the disruptions. Community partners remained committed to program and their partnership with the program.
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6183-045X
Purdue University at West Lafayette
[biography]
William (Bill) Oakes is the Assistant Dean for Experiential Learning, a 150th Anniversary Professor, Director of the EPICS Program, Professor of Engineering Education at Purdue University, and a registered professional engineer. He is one of the founding faculty in the School of Engineering Education having courtesy appointments in Mechanical, Environmental and Ecological Engineering and Curriculum and Instruction. He was the first engineer to receive the U.S. Campus Compact Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service-Learning and a co-recipient of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering’s Bernard Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education. He is a fellow of NSPE and ASEE and elected to the ASEE Hall of Fame.
Paul A. Leidig works in learning and organizational development within the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. He received his B.S. in Architectural Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering, M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Purdue University. Dr. Leidig is licensed as a Professional Engineer in the state of Colorado and has six years of structural engineering consulting experience. He has focused on community-engaged engineering and design for over fifteen years.
Dr. Nusaybah Abu-Mulaweh is a faculty member in the Whiting School of Engineering at The Johns Hopkins University. After earning a BS and MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering, she completed her PhD in Engineering Education at Purdue University. She is passionate about the active process of teaching and learning through authentic real-world experiences that lead students to develop disciplinary knowledge and broad professional skills needed for responding innovatively and responsibly to today’s challenges. Her technical background in electrical and computer engineering and experience in industry coupled with her teaching experience in computing and human-centered design have informed her scholarship, which centers on advancing how engineers design concepts and products that are both innovative and aligned to actual needs through empathic formation.
Andrew Pierce is the Assistant Director of the EPICS Program at Purdue University.
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