Redesigning engineering courses by introducing digital ink technology

© 2013 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.We applied the How People Learn framework (HPLf) in two different higher education contexts. On one hand, a first-year core course on Computer Technology, taught at the Computer Engineering Degree Program at Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain. On the other hand, two Food Chemistry related courses, taught at Universidad de las Américas Puebla, Mexico, as part of food engineering undergraduate and food science graduate programs. The goal of these works was to redesign studied courses at both universities from a lecture-based format to a "challenge-based" format by using Tablet PCs and digital ink. In order to support the studied approach, different inkenabled software tools were utilized. Class sessions were enhanced through the usage of Classroom Presenter, a penbased interaction system that supports the sharing of digital ink on slides between instructors and students. InkSurvey also allowed teachers to pose questions, receive instantly digital ink responses, and provide real-time formative feedback. Some other tools such as PDF Annotator and Ardesia helped instructors to review coursework and assignments and provide formative feedback as well. We studied our approach over the two last academic years by observing classes at both universities, obtaining selected student achievement indicators and conducting surveys with students and instructors.We acknowledge financial support from HEWLETT-PACKARD (HP), through the HP Technology for Teaching Higher Education Grant Initiative for Latin America for the project "High-Quality Learning Environments for Engineering Design: Using Tablet PCs and Guidelines from Research on How People Learn" as well as through the HP Catalyst Grant Initiative for the project “Critical Support Systems to Enhance the Development of 21st Century Expertise in Engineering Students: Using Tablet PCs and Associated Technologies, the Framework for 21st Century Learning, and Guidelines from Research on How People Learn”. Similarly, UPV group received an HP Technology for Teaching High Education Grant Program for Europe, Middle East and Africa in 2008: “Improving effective learning in a first-year Computer Engineering course by using mobile Tablet PC technology”.Benlloch-Dualde, J.; Buendía García, F.; Lemus Zúñiga, LG.; Cano Escribá, JC.; Gutiérrez Cuba, JV.; López-Malo, A.; Palou, E. (2013). Redesigning engineering courses by introducing digital ink technology. IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2013.6684786

Building the University--Community Partnership in Disaster Management

The Center for Defense Integrated Data (CDID) and the Coastal Hazards Center of Excellence (CHC) at Jackson State University have developed the Disaster Response Intelligent System (DRIS) to ensure interoperable communication, rapid data processing for safe and timely evacuations, scenario analysis, and decision support during disaster events. With an increasing occurrence of both natural and man-made disasters, theoretical underpinnings have emerged to address not only how communities respond to disasters but also how they plan for such. Currently, there is a need to expand upon the existing paradigm in the highly specialized, practitioner driven field of emergency response and disaster management. Perhaps there are no better institutions to guide such expansion than institutions of higher education. The DRIS application has, as an extension, an education model wherein the system is installed at universities with disaster management programs or related curricula. Such installation builds on the university’s capacity to foster a multi-disciplinary approach to emergency response and disaster management by incorporating academic areas such as urban planning, computer science, environmental science, social science, geography, and various disciplines of engineering among others

Increasing Access for Economically Disadvantaged Students: The NSF/CSEM & S-STEM Programs at Louisiana State University

Increasing college degree attainment for students from disadvantaged backgrounds is a prominent component of numerous state and federal legislation focused on higher education. In 1999, the National Science Foundation (NSF) instituted the Computer Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Scholarships (CSEMS) program; this initiative was designed to provide greater access and support to academically talented students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Originally intended to provide financial support to lower income students, this NSF program also advocated that additional professional development and advising would be strategies to increase undergraduate persistence to graduation. This innovative program for economically disadvantaged students was extended in 2004 to include students from other disciplines including the physical and life sciences as well as the technology fields, and the new name of the program was Scholarships for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM). The implementation of these two programs in Louisiana State University (LSU) has shown significant and measurable success since 2000, making LSU a Model University in providing support to economically disadvantaged students within the STEM disciplines. The achievement of these programs is evidenced by the graduation rates of its participants. This report provides details on the educational model employed through the CSEMS/S-STEM projects at LSU and provides a path to success for increasing student retention rates in STEM disciplines. While the LSU\u27s experience is presented as a case study, the potential relevance of this innovative mentoring program in conjunction with the financial support system is discussed in detail. © 2011 The Author(s)

Analogue-digital theaching application of new technologies to learning and continous evaluation in technical subjects in engineering and architecture higher education

Teaching technical subjects on Architecture and Engineering has been developed traditionally using lecture and master class methodology. During them, the professor presented the content using the resolution of practical problems as a complement for theoretical reasoning. This sessions were generally support by an analogic resource: the blackboard. In recent years, despite the introduction of new technologies in the classroom, this methodology has become more static. In most cases, explanations have been supported only by slides created with the assistance of computer programs, making into minority the use of the blackboard. This has produced the generalization of “death by PowerPoint” phaenomenon. With regard to evaluation systems, there have been no substantial changes between these two different teaching methods despite the widespread implementation of competency-based learning system introduced by European Higher Education Area (EHEA) since 1999. Learning of students continues being verified by the realization of a final exam about the theoretical and practical contents of the subject. This paper presents a teaching methodology focused on encouraging active student participation both during the course of the class and outside. The application of learning for information and communications technology (ICT) makes its essential basis. Simultaneously, a continuous evaluation system capable of maintaining the attention on the subject has been implemented. The static attendance combined with traditional evaluation systems by a final exam produces an accumulation of information by the student revised and learned just to pass the final exam. This scheme has been changed getting a higher motivation of students to the continuous learning process. This system has been applied since the 2012/2013 academic year in technical subjects of Bachelor in Architecture in the Universities of Malaga and Seville through an Educational Innovation Project financed by University of Malaga. Results obtained by this experience show an increasing involvement of students during the course of the classes as well as a better engagement during the whole semester. In addition the using of this methodology has had a positive impact on the pass rate of subjects being involved usually lower than the average of Bachelor and University degree.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Foreign Science and Engineering Presence in U.S. Institutions and the Labor Force

[Excerpt] The increased presence of foreign students in graduate science and engineering programs and in the scientific workforce has been and continues to be of concern to some in the scientific community. Enrollment of U.S. citizens in graduate science and engineering programs has not kept pace with that of foreign students in those programs. In addition to the number of foreign students in graduate science and engineering programs, a significant number of university faculty in the scientific disciplines are foreign, and foreign doctorates are employed in large numbers by industry. Few will dispute that U.S. universities and industry have chosen foreign talent to fill many positions. Foreign scientists and engineers serve the needs of industry at the doctorate level and also have been found to serve in major roles at the masters level. However, there are charges that U.S. workers are adversely affected by the entry of foreign scientists and engineers, who reportedly accept lower wages than U.S. citizens would accept in order to enter or remain in the United States. NSF data reveal that in 2005, the foreign student population earned approximately 34.7% of the doctorate degrees in the sciences and approximately 63.1% of the doctorate degrees in engineering. In 2005, foreign students on temporary resident visas earned 30.8% of the doctorates in the sciences, and 58.6% of the doctorates in engineering. The participation rates in 2004 were 28.5% and 57.3%, respectively. In 2005, permanent resident status students earned 3.8% of the doctorates in the sciences and 4.5% of the doctorates in engineering, slightly above the 2004 levels of 3.7% and 4.2%, respectively. Many in the scientific community maintain that in order to compete with countries that are rapidly expanding their scientific and technological capabilities, the country needs to bring to the United States those whose skills will benefit society and will enable us to compete in the new-technology based global economy. The academic community is concerned that the more stringent visa requirements for foreign students may have a continued impact on enrollments in colleges and universities. There are those who believe that the underlying problem of foreign students in graduate science and engineering programs is not necessarily that there are too many foreign-born students, but that there are not enough native-born students pursuing scientific and technical disciplines. Legislation has been introduced in the 110th Congress to attract foreign students in the scientific and technical disciplines. H.R. 1645, the Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act of 2007, would provide, among other things, an expansion of the types of individuals who would no longer be subjected to the annual limits on legal immigrants. Included in this group would be those who (1) hold an advanced degree in science, mathematics, engineering, or technical fields and who have been working in the United States in a related field for three years on a nonimmigrant visa; and (2) been awarded a medical specialty certification based on post-doctoral training and experience in the United States

Cracking the Code on Stem: A People Strategy for Nevada\u27s Economy

Nevada has in place a plausible economic diversification strategy—and it’s beginning to work. Now, the state and its regions need to craft a people strategy. Specifically, the state needs to boost the number of Nevadans who possess at least some postsecondary training in the fields of science, technology, engineering, or math—the so-called “STEM” disciplines (to which some leaders add arts and design to make it “STEAM”). The moment is urgent—and only heightened by the projected worker needs of Tesla Motors’ planned “gigafactory” for lithium-ion batteries in Storey County. Even before the recent Tesla commitment, a number of the more high-tech industry sectors targeted by the state’s new economic diversification strategy had begun to deliver significant growth. Most notable in fast-growing sectors like Business IT Ecosystems (as defined by the Governor’s Office for Economic Development) and large sectors like Health and Medical Services, this growth has begun to increase the demand in Nevada for workers with at least a modicum of postsecondary training in one or more STE M discipline. However, there is a problem. Even though many available opportunities require no more than the right community college certificate, insufficient numbers of Nevadans have pursued even a little STEM training. As a result, too few Nevadans are ready to participate in the state’s emerging STEM economy. The upshot: Without concerted action to prepare more Nevadans for jobs in STEM-intensive fields, skills shortages could limit growth in the state’s most promising target industries and Nevadans could miss out on employment that offers superior paths to opportunity and advancement. Which is the challenge this report addresses: Aimed at focusing the state at a critical moment, this analysis speaks to Nevada’s STEM challenge by providing a new assessment of Nevada’s STEM economy and labor market as well as a review of actions that leaders throughout the state—whether in the public, private, civic, or philanthropic sectors—can take to develop a workforce capable of supporting continued growth through economic diversification

Engineering at San Jose State University, Winter 2014

https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/engr_news/1012/thumbnail.jp

Multinational perspectives on information technology from academia and industry

As the term \u27information technology\u27 has many meanings for various stakeholders and continues to evolve, this work presents a comprehensive approach for developing curriculum guidelines for rigorous, high quality, bachelor\u27s degree programs in information technology (IT) to prepare successful graduates for a future global technological society. The aim is to address three research questions in the context of IT concerning (1) the educational frameworks relevant for academics and students of IT, (2) the pathways into IT programs, and (3) graduates\u27 preparation for meeting future technologies. The analysis of current trends comes from survey data of IT faculty members and professional IT industry leaders. With these analyses, the IT Model Curricula of CC2005, IT2008, IT2017, extensive literature review, and the multinational insights of the authors into the status of IT, this paper presents a comprehensive overview and discussion of future directions of global IT education toward 2025

Education and Training Funded by the H-1B Visa Fee and the Demand for Information Technology and Other Professional Specialty Workers

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