Bringing Computational Thinking to Nonengineering Students through a Capstone Course

Although the concept of computational thinking has flourished, little research has explored how to integrate various elements of computational thinking into an undergraduate classroom setting. Clarifying core concepts of computational thinking and providing empirical cases that apply computational thinking practices into a real-world educational setting is crucial to the success of software engineering education. In this article, we describe the development of a curriculum for a social innovation capstone course, using core concepts and elements of computational thinking. The course was designed for undergraduate students of a liberal arts college at a university in Korea. Students were asked to define a social problem and introduced to the core concepts and processes of computational thinking aided by Arduino and Raspberry Pi programming environments. After building a business model, they implemented a working prototype for their proposed solution. We document class project outcomes and student feedback to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach

Work in Progress – Building Innovative Curricula for Electrical and Computer Engineering Programs at the University of Mount Union

Background: The University of Mount Union has introduced new programs in Electrical and Computer engineering. In a liberal arts college with unique curriculum requirements, it is challenging to develop a new program in electrical and computer engineering. With several university mandates such as only 4- and 2-credit hours courses only, and Integrative Core liberal arts requirements, designing the new programs in engineering has been challenging.Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the ongoing effort to develop new Electrical and Computer engineering programs at the University of Mount Union. The program curricula are unique as there are no 3-credit hour courses at the Mount Union. Hence, the curricula are content-based as each course content has to be carefully determined.Design and Methods: First, we describe the philosophy we applied in developing the curricula, and then described the curricula themselves using concept diagrams. We point out where the curricula are the same, where they are similar; and where they are distinctly different. Finally, we present the overall plans for developing a comprehensive list of course offerings, course content, acquisition of the necessary laboratory equipment and technologies, teaching software, as well as a time-bound plan for phasing in the new courses every year.Result: The preliminary result is that the first phase of the program\u27s development is complete. Students are currently enrolled in the programs. In the 2019/2020 academic year, all of the first year to junior year courses have been developed and approved by the curriculum committee of the University. The associated laboratories for the new courses are being developed on yearly basis and are nearing completion. With the phased rollout of courses and laboratories, it is expected that all of the laboratories will be fully functional by the 2021-2022 academic year.Conclusion: The ongoing development of Electrical and Computer engineering programs at the University of Mount Union is represented in this paper with the aid of concept maps and course flowgraphs. The roll-out of the programs has been successful and work will continue until the programs are accredited. Meanwhile, the curricula will continue to evolve in response to the rapid pace of technological change, new demands from stakeholders, and new challenges of remote teaching and learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are confident that we can work out any challenges and eventually make the programs successful

Bringing Computational Thinking to Nonengineering Students through a Capstone Course

Although the concept of computational thinking has flourished, little research has explored how to integrate various elements of computational thinking into an undergraduate classroom setting. Clarifying core concepts of computational thinking and providing empirical cases that apply computational thinking practices into a real-world educational setting is crucial to the success of software engineering education. In this article, we describe the development of a curriculum for a social innovation capstone course, using core concepts and elements of computational thinking. The course was designed for undergraduate students of a liberal arts college at a university in Korea. Students were asked to define a social problem and introduced to the core concepts and processes of computational thinking aided by Arduino and Raspberry Pi programming environments. After building a business model, they implemented a working prototype for their proposed solution. We document class project outcomes and student feedback to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach

Career and Technical Education (CTE): A Primer

[Excerpt] Career and technical education (CTE), sometimes referred to as vocational education, provides occupational and non-occupational preparation at the secondary, postsecondary, and adult education levels. As defined in a publication by the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED’s) National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), CTE prepares students for roles outside the paid labor market, teaches general employment skills, and teaches skills required in specific occupations or careers. The definition distinguishes CTE from liberal arts or academic education: the fine arts, English, mathematics, science, foreign languages, and the humanities. A CTE curriculum is often designed to have a post-education practical application and develop broadly applicable skills. Academic educational courses are often designed to develop subject matter knowledge and broadly applicable skills

Faculty Excellence

Each year, the University of New Hampshire selects a small number of its outstanding faculty for special recognition of their achievements in teaching, scholarship and service. Awards for Excellence in Teaching are given in each college and school, and university-wide awards recognize public service, research, teaching and engagement. This booklet details the year\u27s award winners\u27 accomplishments in short profiles with photographs and text

Faculty and student feedback of synchronous distance education in a multi-university learning consortium

The Texas Learning Consortium (TLC) began as a partnership between the foreign language departments at 5 small, private, liberal arts universities, where each specializes in a small number of different world languages to increase the course offerings to their students without the expense of adding additional faculty on every campus. Each university offers their language courses to consortium students in a real-time, interactive, distance education format. In Fall 2017, the consortium expanded beyond foreign languages, and the first engineering course, Statics, was offered in this synchronous, distance format. As background, this paper will provide an overview of the technology used in the classrooms and some of the administrative obstacles that were overcome in scheduling, registration and information technology. The paper will also reflect on the impact of this particular technological implementation on various teaching styles in both foreign language and engineering courses, especially compared to other distance engineering education in the literature, with a purpose of analyzing the model’s suitability for expansion into other engineering courses or a fully accredited consortium based engineering program. Student and faculty satisfaction surveys will additionally provide insight as to whether this distance format is the right fit for campuses used to high-touch learning environments.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Graduate Catalog, 2002-2003

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Graduate Catalog, 2001-2002

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Graduate Catalog, 2004-2005

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Graduate Catalog, 2003-2004

https://scholar.valpo.edu/gradcatalogs/1030/thumbnail.jp