Engineering News, Fall 2021

https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/eng_news/1047/thumbnail.jp

Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Programs: Multidisciplinary Projects with Homes in Any Discipline

A survey of papers in the ASEE Multidisciplinary Engineering Division over the last three years shows three main areas of emphasis: individual courses; profiles of specific projects; and capstone design courses. However, propagating multidisciplinary education across the vast majority of disciplines offered at educational institutions with varying missions requires models that are independent of the disciplines, programs, and institutions in which they were originally conceived. Further, models that can propagate must be cost effective, scalable, and engage and benefit participating faculty. Since 2015, a consortium of twenty-four institutions has come together around one such model, the Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program. VIP unites undergraduate education and faculty research in a team-based context, with students earning academic credits toward their degrees, and faculty and graduate students benefitting from the design/discovery efforts of their multidisciplinary teams. VIP integrates rich student learning experiences with faculty research, transforming both contexts for undergraduate learning and concepts of faculty research as isolated from undergraduate teaching. It provides a rich, cost-effective, scalable, and sustainable model for multidisciplinary project-based learning. (1) It is rich because students participate multiple years as they progress through their curriculum; (2) It is cost-effective since students earn academic credit instead of stipends; (3) It is scalable because faculty can work with teams of students instead of individual undergraduate research fellows, and typical teams consist of fifteen or more students from different disciplines; (4) It is sustainable because faculty benefit from the research and design efforts of their teams, with teams becoming integral parts of their research. While VIP programs share key elements, approaches and implementations vary by institution. This paper shows how the VIP model works across sixteen different institutions with different missions, sizes, and student profiles. The sixteen institutions represent new and long-established VIP programs, varying levels of research activity, two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), and two international universities1. Theses sixteen profiles illustrate adaptability of the VIP model across different academic settings

Volume 1, Proceedings of the Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching and Learning Conference

Full version of volume 1 of the Proceedings of the Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching and Learning Conference

Education in the Crosscutting Sciences of Aerospace and Computing

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140664/1/1.i010193.pd

Listening to High School Students: Purposefully Designed Spaces and the Impact on Students’ Engagement in Learning

Scholars have generally accepted the notion that context and students’ response to the environment influence their engagement in learning. Hence, a qualitative study was conducted to explore the impact purposefully designed learning spaces have on student engagement in a career-inspired high school. Focus groups were conducted before and after the move to a new high school. Through the group interviews, students engaged in discourse about the impact purposefully designed learning spaces have on their engagement in learning. The findings indicate that the students recognized the instructional importance and the impact of their new spaces. The student voices provide educators and architects insight into the design elements students value. For educators, the student voice informs educational processes and has implications for curricular design and delivery, leveraging purposely designed learning spaces and student preferences to achieve the best education possible. For architects, and other design professionals, these student voices detail the types of spaces that should be incorporated in order to ensure learning efficiency, learning preferences, and interdependenc

What We Want, Why We Want It: K-12 Educators' Evidence Use to Support their Grant Proposals

This study analyzed educators’ requests for grant funding to purchase desired educational resources or services. Specifically, it examined to what extent, and how, educators utilized research and other forms of evidence to support their decision-making. References to research were sparse, though applicants sometimes referred to local data or small-scale trials. Conceptual research use likely also lurked beneath certain statements. Applicant educators also showed special concern for certaintopics, including student engagement/motivation and enhancing the cultural relevance of programming. The proposals varied considerably in terms of the robustness of underlying theories of action. This line of inquiry contributes to understandings both regarding a) educators’ use of research and other knowledge sources to support their professional decision-making; and b) the nature of evidence use in education

Fairfield University Magazine - Fall 2016

In this Issue: Letter from the President, pg. 4 University News, pg. 5 A Soldier’s Story, by Meredith Guinness, pg. 12 Reaching Out, by Alan Bisbort, pg. 14 A Floating Food Forest for New York, by Susan M. Cipollaro, pg. 16 The Master Plan, by Alistair Highet, pg. 20 The Grand Slam, by John Torsiello, pg. 26 Grants & Gifts, pg. 29 Reunion 2016, pg. 30 Donor Profile: RecPlex Brings Friends Together to Honor Classmates, pg. 33 Alumni Notes, pg. 34 Kathleen Murphy ’84: Leading the Way for Fidelity, pg. 35 John Pagano MBA’04, MS’06: Meet the New Alumni Association President, pg. 37 Calendar of Events, pg. 40https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/fairfield-magazine/1024/thumbnail.jp