The engineering curriculum at XXXX University includes a sophomore level two-course sequence (required for engineering students in all disciplines) in which the primary learning outcomes are engineering design and technical communication. These courses are team-taught by faculty from Engineering and from Communications, specifically, Writing Arts in the fall and Public Speaking in the spring. Historically, the fall course has featured three major course deliverables: (1) a “research sequence” consisting of a rhetorical analysis, and annotated bibliography and a literature review, (2) a humanities assignment in which students explore the impact of technology on societal needs, and (3) laboratory and design reports stemming from hands-on engineering projects completed in lab.
During the summer of 2019, the faculty team re-designed each of these three major course deliverables, with the goal of fostering an Entrepreneurial Mindset in students and leveraging synergies between the Entrepreneurial Mindset and the existing goals of the course (engineering design and technical communication). In particular, the faculty team created a new linkage between the research sequence and the humanities assignment. The research sequence is built around the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals; each student chooses one of the goals to explore through their individual rhetorical analysis, annotated bibliography, and literature review. The humanities assignment is a team project in which students explore solutions to sustainability problems on the campus of XXXX University. Different sections of the course will use different engineering projects, but the faculty team has crafted a set of guidelines for the projects to ensure some uniformity of experience and expectations across the sections. The faculty team also developed rubrics that will be used to evaluate student performance on these re-designed assignments. The new assignments are being integrated into the Fall 2019 offering of Sophomore Engineering Clinic. This paper will give a detailed description of each of the assignments and how they are designed to align with the goal of fostering an Entrepreneurial Mindset. The paper will also present assessment data that will be collected throughout the Fall 2019 semester.
Kevin Dahm is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Rowan University. He earned his BS from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (92) and his PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (98). He has published two books, "Fundamentals of Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics" and "Interpreting Diffuse Reflectance and Transmittance." He has also published papers on effective use of simulation in engineering, teaching design and engineering economics, and assessment of student learning.
Dr. Scott Streiner is an assistant professor in the Experiential Engineering Education Department (ExEEd) at Rowan University. He received his Ph.D in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, with a focus in engineering education. His research interests include engineering global competency, curricula and assessment; pedagogical innovations through game-based and playful learning; spatial skills development and engineering ethics education. His funded research explores the nature of global competency development by assessing how international experiences improve the global perspectives of engineering students. Dr. Streiner has published papers and given presentations in global engineering education at several national conferences. Scott is an active member in the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) both locally and nationally, as well as the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE).
Dr. Bodnar is an Associate Professor in the Experiential Engineering Education Department at Rowan University. Her research interests relate to the incorporation of active learning techniques such as game-based learning in undergraduate classes as well as integration of innovation and entrepreneurship into the engineering curriculum. In particular, she is interested in the impact that these tools can have on student perception of the classroom environment, motivation and learning outcomes. She was selected to participate in the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Frontiers of Engineering Education Symposium in 2013, awarded the American Society for Engineering Education Educational Research Methods Faculty Apprentice Award in 2014 and the Raymond W. Fahien Award for Outstanding Teaching Effectiveness and Educational Scholarship presented by American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Chemical Engineering Division in 2017.
Kaitlin Mallouk is an Assistant Professor of Experiential Engineering Education at Rowan University. Prior to beginning that role, she spent five years as an Instructor in the Mechanical Engineering and Experiential Engineering Education Departments at Rowan. Kaitlin has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University and an MS and PhD in Environmental Engineering in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois.
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