Board # 140 : Re-Situating Community and Learning in an Engineering School

James D. Sweeney; Milo Koretsky; Michelle Kay Bothwell; Susan Bobbitt Nolen; Devlin Montfort

Download Paper | Permalink

Conference: 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Publication Date: June 24, 2017
Start Date: June 24, 2017
End Date: June 28, 2017
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topic: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--27753
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/27753
Download Count: 447

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

James D. Sweeney Oregon State University

visit author page

James D. Sweeney is Professor and Head of the School of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 1988 and 1983, respectively, and his Sc.B. Engineering degree (Biomedical Engineering) from Brown University in 1979. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a Senior Member of IEEE and AIChE.

visit author page

biography

Milo Koretsky Oregon State University

visit author page

Milo Koretsky is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Oregon State University. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from UC San Diego and his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, all in Chemical Engineering. He currently has research activity in areas related engineering education and is interested in integrating technology into effective educational practices and in promoting the use of higher-level cognitive skills in engineering problem solving. His research interests particularly focus on what prevents students from being able to integrate and extend the knowledge developed in specific courses in the core curriculum to the more complex, authentic problems and projects they face as professionals. Dr. Koretsky is one of the founding members of the Center for Lifelong STEM Education Research at OSU.

visit author page

author page

Michelle Kay Bothwell Oregon State University orcid.org/0000-0002-4501-8533

biography

Susan Bobbitt Nolen University of Washington orcid.org/0000-0003-2240-4447

visit author page

Professor of Learning Sciences & Human Development

visit author page

biography

Devlin Montfort Oregon State University

visit author page

Dr. Montfort is an Assistant Professor in the School of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University

visit author page

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

In this paper we present early results and ongoing work in re-situating the faculty/staff/student community, and curricular/co-curricular student learning experience in the School of Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University. Our work is centered on creation of a holistic, inclusive, and professionally-based learning environment for our students. We have a keen focus on addressing social inequality through implementing engineering educational systems and interpersonal interactions that are professionally and personally life-affirming for all of our constituents. We are working to promote change through establishing a culture of inclusion and a shift in student learning environments from highly sequestered activities to more realistic and consequential work that is inspired by that of the actual engineering workplace. These efforts require an important and concurrent shift in unit culture (e.g. values, norms, policies and procedures).

In this second year of our project our work is especially focused on: (1) implementation of curricular redesign in three second-year studio classes to include more realistic, consequential work via the pedagogy of model-eliciting activities (as a first step towards eventual redesign of 9 middle-years courses); (2) advancing faculty and staff capacity to engage issues of equity and inclusivity under the leadership and efforts of a new faculty/staff working group; (3) initial implementation of student professional development ‘Pods’, self-forming student teams structured to be highly inclusive and where students can convene to better understand their curricular and co-curricular experiences in relation to future professional practice; and (4) implementing a system for change in faculty/staff personalized position (job) descriptions in order to recognize less-traditional work that values and advances diversity, equity, inclusion, student success, and school community.

This work is supported by the National Science Foundation program Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) that is aligned with the NSF Engineering (ENG) Directorate’s multi-year initiative, the Professional Formation of Engineers, to create and support an innovative and inclusive engineering profession for the 21st Century.

Citation
Format

Sweeney, J. D., & Koretsky, M., & Bothwell, M. K., & Nolen, S. B., & Montfort, D. (2017, June), Board # 140 : Re-Situating Community and Learning in an Engineering School Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--27753

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - In this paper we present early results and ongoing work in re-situating the faculty/staff/student community, and curricular/co-curricular student learning experience in the School of Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University. Our work is centered on creation of a holistic, inclusive, and professionally-based learning environment for our students. We have a keen focus on addressing social inequality through implementing engineering educational systems and interpersonal interactions that are professionally and personally life-affirming for all of our constituents. We are working to promote change through establishing a culture of inclusion and a shift in student learning environments from highly sequestered activities to more realistic and consequential work that is inspired by that of the actual engineering workplace. These efforts require an important and concurrent shift in unit culture (e.g. values, norms, policies and procedures).  

In this second year of our project our work is especially focused on: (1) implementation of curricular redesign in three second-year studio classes to include more realistic, consequential work via the pedagogy of model-eliciting activities (as a first step towards eventual redesign of 9 middle-years courses); (2) advancing faculty and staff capacity to engage issues of equity and inclusivity under the leadership and efforts of a new faculty/staff working group; (3) initial implementation of student professional development ‘Pods’, self-forming student teams structured to be highly inclusive and where students can convene to better understand their curricular and co-curricular experiences in relation to future professional practice; and (4) implementing a system for change in faculty/staff personalized position (job) descriptions in order to recognize less-traditional work that values and advances diversity, equity, inclusion, student success, and school community.

This work is supported by the National Science Foundation program Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) that is aligned with the NSF Engineering (ENG) Directorate’s multi-year initiative, the Professional Formation of Engineers, to create and support an innovative and inclusive engineering profession for the 21st Century. 

AU  - James D. Sweeney
AU  - Milo Koretsky
AU  - Michelle Kay Bothwell
AU  - Susan Bobbitt Nolen
AU  - Devlin Montfort
CY  - Columbus, Ohio
DA  - 2017/06/24
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Board # 140 : Re-Situating Community and Learning in an Engineering School
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/27753
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--27753
ER  -