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Status of a Summer Faculty Immersion Program After Four Years in Development

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Conference

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

New Orleans, Louisiana

Publication Date

June 26, 2016

Start Date

June 26, 2016

End Date

June 29, 2016

ISBN

978-0-692-68565-5

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

But I'm a Loner! Expanding capability and creativity by examining effective alliances

Tagged Division

New Engineering Educators

Page Count

15

DOI

10.18260/p.25866

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/25866

Download Count

428

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Paper Authors

biography

Juan C Morales Universidad del Turabo

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Dr. Juan C. Morales, P.E., joined the Mechanical Engineering Department at Universidad del Turabo (UT), Gurabo, Puerto Rico, in 1995 and currently holds the rank of professor. Dr. Morales was the ABET Coordinator of the School of Engineering for the initial ABET-EAC accreditation of all four accredited programs at UT. He is currently serving as ABET Coordinator once again for the 2016 ABET visit. Dr. Morales has been Department Head of Mechanical Engineering since 2003. His efforts to diffuse innovative teaching and learning practices derive directly from the outcomes assessment plan that he helped devise and implement as ABET Coordinator.

Address: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universidad del Turabo, PO Box 3030, Gurabo, Puerto Rico, 00778.

Tel. 787-743-7979 x 4182

E-mail: jcmorales@suagm.edu

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biography

Michael J. Prince Bucknell University

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Dr. Michael Prince is a professor of chemical engineering at Bucknell University and co-director of the National Effective Teaching Institute. His research examines a range of engineering education topics, including how to assess and repair student misconceptions and how to increase the adoption of research-based instructional strategies by college instructors and corporate trainers. He is actively engaged in presenting workshops on instructional design to both academic and corporate instructors.

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Abstract

The Summer Faculty Immersion Program (SFIP) concludes its fourth year in strong form. The hypothesis of the study is summarized as follows: Systemic and sustainable change toward creating a classroom environment that engages students with authentic engineering real-world problems may be ignited by an intense one-month summer faculty immersion program in which faculty innovate two courses with inductive and active learning methodologies. The innovative methodologies addressed in SFIP are gaining more acceptance from the faculty as the program matures and the faculty gain more experience in their use. This is demonstrated by the fact that an average of 60% of the class sessions led by SFIP-trained faculty are now being conducted with the inductive methodology. Furthermore, faculty are transforming an average of 44% of the class sessions of courses other than those transformed during the summer. This is a measure of lasting change due to SFIP. The students are also expressing satisfaction with the innovation. Previous to SFIP, 16% - 20% of the senior students regularly complained of courses with “too much theory without real-world context”. After four years of implementation, the comments have been eliminated. SFIP is a five-year, externally-funded faculty development program that aims to train the entire engineering faculty as well as the science faculty that teach Physics I and II. Both new and experienced faculty are invited to participate in SFIP which trains a maximum of seven faculty members per summer session. The program also provides training to generate learning outcomes that are clear, relevant and observable. Diffusion of innovations in engineering education is a challenge that has defied a satisfactory solution for decades. SFIP is proving to be a potential solution for promoting diffusion and for creating lasting change in the faculty in this institution.

Morales, J. C., & Prince, M. J. (2016, June), Status of a Summer Faculty Immersion Program After Four Years in Development Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/p.25866

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