Active Learning Model as a Way to Prepare Students for Knowledge Integration
- Conference
- Location
-
Salt Lake City, Utah
- Publication Date
-
June 23, 2018
- Start Date
-
June 23, 2018
- End Date
-
July 27, 2018
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
-
Educational Research and Methods
- Page Count
-
16
- DOI
-
10.18260/1-2--29749
- Permanent URL
-
https://strategy.asee.org/29749
- Download Count
-
526
Paper Authors
Sourajeet Roy
Colorado State University
orcid.org/0000-0002-9860-3242
Sourajeet Roy received the B.Tech. degree from Sikkim Manipal University, Gangtok, India, in 2006, and the M.E.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Western University, London, Canada, in 2009 and 2013, respectively, all in electrical engineering.
Dr. Roy currently serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA. His current research interests include modeling and simulation of high-speed circuits, signal and power integrity analysis of electronic packages, and uncertainty quantification of microwave/ RF circuits.
Dr. Roy is a recipient of the Vice-Chancellors Gold Medal at the undergraduate level in 2006, the Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology in 2012, and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship in 2012. He currently serves as the reviewer for IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY and IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS I: REGULAR PAPERS. He also serves as an associate editor for IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY.
Branislav M. Notaros Colorado State University
Branislav M. Notaros is Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Colorado State University, where he also is Director of Electromagnetics Laboratory. He received a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1995. His research publications in computational and applied electromagnetics include more than 150 journal and conference papers. He is the author of textbooks Electromagnetics (2010) and MATLAB-Based Electromagnetics (2013), both with Pearson Prentice Hall. Prof. Notaros served as General Chair of FEM2012, Colorado, USA, and as Guest Editor of the Special Issue on Finite Elements for Microwave Engineering, in Electromagnetics, 2014. He was the recipient of the 1999 Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) Marconi Premium, 2005 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) MTT-S Microwave Prize, 2005 UMass Dartmouth Scholar of the Year Award, 2012 Colorado State University System Board of Governors Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, 2012 IEEE Region 5 Outstanding Engineering Educator Award, 2014 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Colorado Professor of the Year Award, 2015 American Society for Engineering Education ECE Distinguished Educator Award, 2015 IEEE Undergraduate Teaching Award, and many other research and teaching awards.
Ali Pezeshki Colorado State University
Ali Pezeshki received the BSc and MSc degrees in electrical engineering from University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran, in 1999 and 2001, respectively. He earned his PhD degree in electrical engineering at Colorado State University in 2004. In 2005, he was a postdoctoral research associate with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Colorado State University. From January 2006 to August 2008, he was a postdoctoral research associate with The Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics at Princeton University. In August 2008, he joined the faculty of Colorado State University, where he is now an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the Department of Mathematics. His research interests are in statistical signal processing, coding theory, applied harmonic analysis, and bioimaging.
Tom Chen Colorado State University
Tom Chen received his Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh. After spending 4 years with Philips Semiconductors in Europe, he joined the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Colorado State University. Prof. Chen published more than 180 journal and conference papers in the areas of analog and digital VLSI design and CAD for VLSI design. Prof. Chen served as the General Chair of 2015 IEEE Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems, and as the Guest Editor of IEEE Trans. on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits
and Systems Special Issue on Design Quality and Design Closure: Present Issues and Future Trend", 2005. He also served as the Guest Editor of the Microelectronics Journal on Quality Electronic Design, 2005. His research interests include VLSI circuit and system design, CAD methodology for VLSI design, and bioelectronics.
Thomas J. Siller
Colorado State University
orcid.org/0000-0002-0567-0631
Tom Siller is an associate professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University. He has been a faculty member at CSU for 30 years.
Anthony A. Maciejewski Colorado State University
Anthony A. Maciejewski received the BS, MS, and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from Ohio State University, Columbus
in 1982, 1984, and 1987, respectively. From 1988 to 2001, he was a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University, West Lafayette. He is currently a professor
and head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Colorado State University. He is a fellow of IEEE. A complete vita is available at: http://www.engr.colostate.edu/ ~aam.
Laura B. Sample McMeeking Colorado State University
Laura B. Sample McMeeking is the Associate Director of the CSU STEM Center. She earned a Master of Science degree in Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology and a Ph.D. in Education and Human Resource Services from Colorado State University. In her current role as associate director for the STEM Center at Colorado State University, she collaborates with faculty and staff inside and outside the university to develop and implement high-quality research and evaluation in STEM education. Her primary research focuses on STEM professional development at multiple levels, including preservice and inservice teachers, university undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty. Specifically, she is interested in understanding how professional development leads to changes in knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviors in STEM, particularly with regards to instructional and professional practice.
Abstract
This work in progress describes an active learning classroom model developed by the authors as a key element of electrical engineering education. The three pillars of electrical engineering coursework are electronics, signals and systems, and electromagnetics. These courses are usually taught concurrently without any reference to the many interconnections between them. As a result, students learn the key concepts in these courses in isolation. That is why the authors of this paper, as part of a National Science Foundation Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (NSF RED) grant, are developing a new pedagogical framework where the emphasis is on connecting key concepts across these three courses. This framework is referred to as a knowledge integration (KI) framework. In this KI framework, the instructors of these courses collaborate together to guide student learning in such a way so that the students themselves can recognize the interconnectedness between the concepts of these courses. Such a framework properly contextualizes the concepts in these courses to make the student learning more meaningful. However, in order to achieve this benefit, students need to have the skills of analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating new knowledge – higher level learning skills which are not traditionally emphasized in the undergraduate classroom. This is where an active learning classroom model can prove to be very beneficial. The active learning model of this paper consists of three parts. In the concept introduction part, students are introduced to relevant course concepts via a variety of learning tools such as relevant textbook passages, lecture videos, and Powerpoint presentations with voice-over, all provided through the course webpage. These different tools support the varied student learning styles. Classroom time is devoted to concept exploration where 15 minute mini-lectures sessions are interspersed with 5 minute group discussion and problem-solving sessions. In effect, the classroom is repurposed into a ‘knowledge workshop’ where students inquire about the material and test their application and cognitive skills through hands-on activities. In addition, some of the mini-lectures are delivered by students themselves as a peer instruction exercise. This exercise forces students to abandon their passive learning roles and encourages them to communicate their unique personal learning methods with their peers. Finally, in the concept reflection stage, students provide a brief online reflection statement at the end of every class describing the clearest and muddiest point of that class. These statements serve as daily feedback to the instructor regarding how best he/she can refine the classroom model to meet student’s needs. This classroom model uses a variety of assessment tools such as quizzes, peer instruction exercises, and group assignments that together get a composite picture of the student learning process. These assessment tools are used by the instructor to better gauge student comprehension, cognition, and creativity than traditional examinations and assignments. Moreover, because of the high frequency of these assessment exercises (once every class) as opposed to traditional examinations, the instructor is able to identify the at-risk students and provide them support early in the semester before they slip through the cracks.
Roy, S., & Notaros, B. M., & Pezeshki, A., & Chen, T., & Siller, T. J., & Maciejewski, A. A., & Sample McMeeking, L. B. (2018, June), Active Learning Model as a Way to Prepare Students for Knowledge Integration Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--29749
ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2018 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015