Using Senior Peer Mentoring for Experiential Learning of Core Chemical Engineering Topics

Mariajose Castellanos; Neha B. Raikar

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Chemical Engineering Division (ChED) Technical Session 10: Teaming and Professional Skills
Tagged Division: Chemical Engineering Division (ChED)
Page Count: 10
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--44582
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/44582
Download Count: 74

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Paper Authors

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Mariajose Castellanos University of Maryland, Baltimore County

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Dr. Castellanos is a full-time Principal Lecturer in Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. She has taught core and elective courses across the curriculum, from Chemical Engineering Problem Solving and Experimental Design Lab and Thermodynamics to Biochemical Engineering and Process Engineering Economics and Design II (capstone) and graduate courses. Her research interests include metacognition for independent learning and team-based learning, and in-class collaborations between student cohorts in engineering courses.

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Neha B. Raikar University of Maryland, Baltimore County

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Dr. Raikar is a Lecturer at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in the Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering department. She has taught both undergraduate and graduate-level courses. Dr. Raikar also has 3 years of industry experience from working at Unilever Research in the Netherlands.

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Abstract

Experiential learning has the potential to aid student understanding by providing opportunities for real-world applications. Typically internships related to the study area are means for achieving this goal. Unfortunately, not all students are able to secure an internship or undergraduate research experience. To provide an alternative we connected two core courses in our curriculum. We hypothesize that having peers to guide through the process enriches the student experience. In this work, we combine the merits of peer mentoring with experiential learning to provide a novel interaction between the final-year students and the cohort below. The two courses selected for this experience were Capstone Design and Process Control and Safety. As part of the process control project, students enrolled, typically juniors are hired as interns working alongside the senior design teams. The recruitment process mimics the typical hiring process. Interested students submit resumes, and undergo interviews with all the design teams. Both parties submit preferences on matching, based on resume evaluation and interview outcome. Instructors for both courses utilize the information and optimize placement for both parties. The junior interns are provided with a unique project prompt by their respective mentor teams. The typical timeline for project completion is three weeks. The deliverables consist of a five to ten minutes video presentation of the work along with all the supporting documents (codes, slides, auxiliary files). The interns are graded (utilizing a rubric) by the mentoring design team and the two instructors. The categories for grading are: Content, Presentation, Effort, Interaction & Professionalism, and Cooperation. From the qualitative feedback received from both groups, interns, and design teams we conclude that students valued the opportunity to participate in a project prompt with real-world applications.

In the future, we will perform qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the effectiveness of this effort. We want to revise the timeline for the project to have more intermediate deliverables to keep both parties on track.

Citation
Format

Castellanos, M., & Raikar, N. B. (2023, June), Using Senior Peer Mentoring for Experiential Learning of Core Chemical Engineering Topics Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--44582

TY - CPAPER
AB - Experiential learning has the potential to aid student understanding by providing opportunities for real-world applications. Typically internships related to the study area are means for achieving this goal. Unfortunately, not all students are able to secure an internship or undergraduate research experience. To provide an alternative we connected two core courses in our curriculum. We hypothesize that having peers to guide through the process
enriches the student experience. In this work, we combine the merits of peer mentoring with experiential learning to provide a novel interaction between the final-year students and the cohort below. The two courses selected for this experience were Capstone Design and Process Control and Safety. As part of the process control project, students enrolled, typically juniors are hired as interns working alongside the senior design teams. The recruitment process mimics the typical hiring process. Interested students submit resumes, and undergo interviews with all the design teams. Both parties submit preferences on matching, based on resume evaluation and interview outcome. Instructors for both courses utilize the information and optimize placement for both parties. The junior interns are provided with a unique project prompt by their respective mentor teams. The typical timeline for project completion is three weeks. The deliverables consist of a five to ten minutes video presentation of the work along with all the supporting documents (codes, slides, auxiliary files). The interns are graded (utilizing a rubric) by the mentoring design team and the two instructors. The categories for grading are: Content, Presentation, Effort, Interaction &amp;amp; Professionalism, and Cooperation. From the qualitative feedback received from both groups, interns, and design teams we conclude that students valued the opportunity to participate in a project prompt with real-world applications.

In the future, we will perform qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the effectiveness of this effort. We want to revise the timeline for the project to have more intermediate deliverables to keep both parties on track.

AU - Mariajose Castellanos
AU - Neha B. Raikar
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Using Senior Peer Mentoring for Experiential Learning of Core Chemical Engineering Topics
UR - https://strategy.asee.org/44582
DO - 10.18260/1-2--44582
ER -