Best Practices in Engineering Education
ASEE SE Section 2006 Annual Conference

Workshops
Sunday, April 2, 2006
The University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL

Effective Use of Internet Resources for Teaching, Learning and Research

Workshop Leader: Fred O'Bryant, Applied Sciences Librarian, The Charles L. Brown Science and Engineering Library, The University of Virginia, email: obryant@virginia.edu

Day and Time: Sunday 4/2 – 1:00 to 5:00pm

Join an experienced engineering librarian and fellow workshop participants in exploring ways you can improve your productivity and effectiveness when searching and using online databases, web search engines, online reference sources, technical reports, government and military information sources, ethics resources and other internet tools essential to engineers. This workshop will help you improve your own information-gathering skills and show you how to incorporate these resources into powerful, class-specific teaching and learning tools that complement lectures and assignments, help students produce better papers and projects, and prepare them to be effective, life-long information literate engineers.

Workshop participants will:

•  Learn how to use online resources more efficiently and effectively to solve real-life information needs.

•  Prepare a “knowledge tool” you can use to improve student research and learning in one or more classes at your home institution.

•  Work through hands-on discovery exercises to reinforce your own searching skills.

•  Discuss with the workshop instructor and other participants issues and experiences relating to information gathering in engineering disciplines.

•  Receive an information-rich workbook to take home for future reference.

Participants are encouraged to submit in advance of the workshop one or more questions or problems from their own classes or information-seeking experiences to be used as possible workshop examples.

Experiential Learning Activities for Engineering Education

Workshop Leaders : Jessica O. Matson and Kenneth W. Hunter, Sr. ( Tennessee Technological University)

Day and Time: Sunday 4/2 – 1:00 to 3:00pm

Experiential learning activities provide an innovative method for presenting engineering concepts in a way that more closely models real world problem complexity. Such activities support the concept of active learning and have proven to be especially effective for developing teamwork and leadership skills. This hands-on workshop will take participants through a series of experiential exercises to demonstrate the types of activities available, the variety of engineering topics that can be addressed, framing options, and facilitation techniques. Reference materials and example activities complete with scenario scripts and facilitation guides will be provided. Participants should wear comfortable clothing.

Illustrating Design Using K'NEX

Workshop Leaders: Paul J. Palazolo, Charles V. Camp, and Stephanie S. Ivey (The University of Memphis )

Day and Time: Sunday 4/2 – 3:00 to 6:00pm

At the University of Memphis , we have used K' NEX as a manipulative in a number of courses in civil engineering and in a number of engineering outreach programs for middle and high school students. The ease with which K'NEX can be manipulated and the varieties of forms that can be developed allow the illustration of a broad scope of design principles. In this workshop, the participants will see examples of the ways in which K' NEX have been used and will participate in three different design competitions using the K' NEX as manipulatives. The format will be open and will allow for the sharing of ideas of how to use both K' NEX and other readily available “toys” in the support of teaching engineering design concepts. Come prepared to build and participate in active competitions with other participants!