Attribution styles as correlates of technical drawing task-persistence and technical college students’ performance

Technical drawing is a means of communicating between the designer and the manufacturers to bring ideas into reality by means of drafting. This study investigated attribution styles as collates of students’ technical drawing task-persistence and academic performance using correlational research design. The population for this study consisted of 864 students of year II and the sample study comprised of 150 (93 males and 57 females) randomly selected from six technical colleges in Edo State, Nigeria. Three instruments, Academic Performance Attribution Style Questionnaire (APASQ), Technical Drawing Taskpersistent Rating Scale (TDTPRS); and Technical Drawing Performance Test (TDPT) were developed and used for data collection. Cronbach Alpha reliability method was used to determine the reliability of the instruments and the results were obtained: SAASQ = .87; TDTPRS=.79; AND TDAT = .85. The findings of the study revealed that the technical drawing task-persistence of students was positively correlated by functional attribution style; and was negatively correlated by dysfunctional attribution style; functional attribution style positively correlated academic performance of students. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that technical drawing teachers should model and teach the students the right attribution style that will enhance their learning of technical drawing

Reduction of seafood processing wastewater using technologies enhanced by swim–bed technology

The increasing growth of the seafood processing industries considerably requires more industrial process activities and water consumption. It is estimated that approximately 10–40 m3 of wastewater is generated from those industries for processing one-tonne of raw materials. Due to limitations and regulations in natural resources utilization, a suitable and systematic wastewater treatment plant is very important to meet rigorous discharge standards. As a result of food waste biodegradability, the biological treatment and some extent of swim-bed technology, including a novel acryl-fibre (biofilm) material might be used effectively to meet the effluent discharge criteria. This chapter aims to develop understanding on current problems and production of the seafood wastewater regarding treatment efficiency and methods of treatment

Motivating Technical Writing through Study of the Environment

Today’s engineers must be more than just technically competent. To be successful in our increasingly global economy in which teamwork and interdisciplinary interaction are the norm, engineers must have excellent communication skills. In recognition of industry needs, the San José State University College of Engineering redesigned its technical communication course to ensure that students graduate with writing and speaking skills that will transfer readily to their career needs and the global arena. The course aims to motivate students through exploring topics that are meaningful to them and using communication formats that they will see in the workplace. Combing technical communication with study of the environment broadens the course to meet multiple ABET outcomes. This paper describes the course goals, organization, management, selected assignments, and assessment. Assessment data indicate that at the end of the semester students, on average, have gained between 0.8 and 1.1 points on a 12-point evaluation rubric, and have gained an appreciation of the unique characteristics of and need for technical writing

ABET accreditation criteria, Outcome h and global competencies in engineering education

The dissertation focuses on one aspect of the accreditation process of engineering programs in the United States, which is conducted under the standards of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Engineering programs seeking accreditation are required to comply with the so called Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC2000), which has been divided into eleven learning outcomes, labeled a through k. The dissertation addresses one of them, Outcome h , which specifically calls for the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context. ;The dissertation examines what engineering departments, from the Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB) area, are doing to comply with Outcome h requirements for accreditation. Thus the purpose of this study is to examine the approaches engineering departments are using to respond to the challenges posed by Outcome h, and what impact this has had in the acquisition of global competencies by engineering graduates, as perceived by chairs of their engineering programs.;The data obtained were analyzed using both inferential and descriptive statistics, which produced significant findings in understanding the situation of engineering departments after the implementation of criteria Outcome h. Although engineering departments have very similar ways of operating, there is no unanimity on what constitutes an adequate response to the challenge posed by Outcome h in engineering. The difficulty comes, in part, from the conceptual confusion about the meaning of international education for engineers and global awareness. However, some contradiction appears as to what constitutes the best way to acquire global competencies

A Process-Based Approach to ABET Accreditation: A Case Study of a Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics Program

ABET accreditation has become a well-known standard for academic programs not only in the U.S. but also across the globe. Instantiating the processes to systematically improve the quality of programs is a daunting task for higher education institutions. In this contribution, we provide a detailed process-based framework that can assist aspiring institutions to embed quality in their processes leading to ABET accreditation. Our contribution is a novel framework for a process-based approach to quality assurance, as most of the published literature is primarily concerned with the experience of ABET accreditation of a solitary program. However, in this paper, we have presented a generic framework that ABET aspiring programs can instantiate in their preparation for ABET accreditation. We have validated these processes in our successful ABET accreditation application of the Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics program. Our existing ABET-accredited programs were following old ABET criteria and the Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics program must apply based on the new criteria proposed by ABET. Another novelty of our contribution is that it is based on our work for the first application cycle for ABET cybersecurity-related programs, so the findings of our contribution may assist other aspiring cybersecurity related academic programs to well prepare in their ABET accreditation pursuit

A Multi-Decade Response to the Call for Change

Engineering and society have always been intertwined, especially with the accepted realization of technology\u27s significant and rapidly increasing influence on the evolution of society. As a profession, engineering has a vital role in sustainably meeting needs and exploring opportunities that are ever changing and evolving. As societal and industry needs have evolved, engineering education itself has raised the call several times for evolving the way engineers are educated; however, the recent history of engineering education is, overall, one of missed opportunities. This was brought to a headline recently as ASEE leadership authored an article entitled “Stuck in 1955, Engineering Education Needs a Revolution.” Those words say it all. We see a need for a revolution in engineering education that looks at developing a whole new engineer that is equipped to operate in the age of information and Industry 4.0. This is vital to not only the field of engineering but for society. This paper parallels the calls for change in engineering education with the development story of a multi-disciplinary engineering education model that is often referred to as a beacon of light for change in engineering education. As is highlighted in the currently ongoing ASEE workforce summit series, the world of engineering is shifting beneath our feet. The world of engineering education must shift with it or face irrelevancy. The future iterations of this program are focused on developing graduates with digital savvy, new skills in innovating and collaborating, problem framing expertise, and horizontal leadership skills, while putting emphasis on the impacts in the economic development of rural regions. In the initial stages, 1990’s–2000’s, the program’s faculty spent time innovating in courses and curricula trying to shift towards the recently released ABET 2000 student outcome criteria in a rural community college setting. The mid-2000’s brought the development of a multi-disciplinary upper division university satellite program that embraced the Aalborg (DK) model of PBL. The new multi-disciplinary program had ABET outcomes at its core, focusing on the development of a whole new engineer, especially developing innovative strategies to intentionally promote growth of the professional person. By 2020, the program had achieved disruption, earning an ABET innovation award and being named an “emerging world leader in engineering education” in the Reimagining and Rethinking Engineering Education report. The latest evolution of the program combines on-line learning and work-based learning for a sustainable model that serves a culturally diverse nationwide audience of community college completers. This is a story of innovative curricula putting team-based project learning at its core. Promising strategies addressed in the paper include ABET outcomes, reflection, identity building, metacognition, teamwork, industry PBL, recruiting, learning communities, and continuous improvement. The conclusion puts a spotlight on where the program and engineering education in the U.S. needs to journey next

Mixed integration of CDIO skills into telecommunication engineering curricula

Spain has been intensively involved in designing engineering curricula for the last two years and next academic year all engineering schools will be deploying all bachelor programs adapted to the EHEA and to the Spanish laws. The different frameworks that set the conditions of the process of drawing up new curricula emphasize the use of competency-based learning and the insertion of certain generic skills within the structure of the new plans. In the school of Telecommunication Engineering of Barcelona, the CDIO initiative (Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate) first developed jointly by MIT and some Swedish Universities, has been chosen as paradigm for new engineering curricula design. We used a mixed approximation to integrate CDIO skills into the study plans. In this paper we will explain the approach to include generic skills when designing new curricula.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Determination of a Predictive Model for the Fundamentals of Engineering Examination

In early 1995, the University of Tennessee at Martin (UTM) sought permission to terminate three existing engineering technology degree programs and replace them with a single Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) degree. As part of the requirements to proceed with the implementation of an engineering program, the University of Tennessee system mandated the program be unique and different from any other engineering program in the state. In compliance with these guidelines, the curriculum was built with no separable majors. In addition, passing the Engineer-in-Training (now the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE)) examination was incorporated as a degree requirement. This examination tests fundamental knowledge of engineering. The requirement to pass the exam was viewed as a means to validate the content and rigor of the program. Also, in view of the fact that the BSE program was developed as a general engineering program, including the passing of the general FE examination was consistent with the goal of graduating engineers who would have a broad understanding of the basic fundamentals of engineering. Using logistic regression, this study identified the factors that influence the first-time pass rate on the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam (FE) at UTM. The study focused on the basic mathematics, science and engineering science courses that are part of the curriculum. Grades received in each course and the number of times each course is taken were considered as the influencing factors. The predictive model was built using SPSS\u27s logistic regression forward stepwise likelihood ratio, backward stepwise likelihood ratio, and enter methods. In order to test the significance of each model developed, the null hypothesis H0: The model can predict was tested using the Hosmer-Lemeshow statistic, with α = .05. For each model developed, the calculated p was greater that .05 resulting in a model that was capable of predicting the pass/fail outcome. The variables remaining in the final model were prior semester GPA and the GPA in engineering economy using all attempts in the course