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

INSPIRE Newsletter Spring 2022

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Educational Games in Elementary Education: Unlocking the Potentials

The advent of technology has made big strides in the development of humans’ life in different spheres. The integration of technology in education has introduced other teaching methods that could improve and emulate the traditional way of teaching. The use of educational games is a by-product of integrating technology into teaching to enhance teaching methods and students’ performance. This study, hence, aims to evaluate the effect of using educational games in teaching mathematics to second-graders in a Palestinian school using a quasi-experimental approach. Thirty male and female second-graders from Al Aqsa Integrated School, Kuala Lumpur, were the targeted sample. The sample was divided into an experimental group and a control group. A selected educational game was used to explain mathematics lessons, namely addition within 99 or 999, to the experimental group. The same content was taught to the students in the control group using the traditional method. Findings showed that teaching mathematics via educational games was significantly effective in improving students’ achievement in the experimental group compared to the achievement of their counterparts taught via the traditional method. These findings provide evidence that educational games could substantially improve primary second-grade students’ skills in mathematics compared to the traditional teaching method

The AutoDrive Challenge: Autonomous Vehicles Education and Training Issues

Automotive companies are focusing significant research and development efforts on autonomous vehicles. As they do so, they recognize the need for a large, well-trained workforce that is equipped to conduct these research and development projects, particularly in light of the projected shortages of STEM professionals in the United States. Some of these companies have found various ways to engage with professional societies and with universities to encourage the development of this workforce, and to promote themselves to STEM students while they are still in school. One such effort is the SAE / GM AutoDrive ChallengeTM, a new collegiate competition organized by SAE International in collaboration with General Motors Corporation. In this competition, eight teams are working to modify a Chevrolet Bolt to meet the requirements of a Level 4 autonomous vehicle (i.e., a vehicle that is totally capable of driving itself within a certain operational domain). Teams were selected for this competition through a proposal process, with one of the requested components of the proposal focusing on existing courses and the development of new courses at the participating university. In this paper, we will discuss the roles of students and faculty advisors at one of the participating schools, address issues related to education and training of students who want to work in the autonomous vehicle industry, and discuss the benefits of the competition to all of its stakeholders. This discussion will include the skills developed by students, the outcomes of the competition, and the value that is being created for the automotive industry. As part of this discussion, we will focus on the close ties that can be forged between the participating universities and the corporate sponsors of the AutoDrive Challenge, as well as the impact on course development at the universit

Hawaii Space Grant Consortium

The Hawai'i Space Grant Consortium is composed of ten institutions of higher learning including the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, the University of Hawai'i at Hilo, the University of Guam, and seven Community Colleges spread over the 4 main Hawaiian islands. Geographic separation is not the only obstacle that we face as a Consortium. Hawai'i has been mired in an economic downturn due to a lack of tourism for almost all of the period (2001 - 2004) covered by this report, although hotel occupancy rates and real estate sales have sky-rocketed in the last year. Our challenges have been many including providing quality educational opportunities in the face of shrinking State and Federal budgets, encouraging science and technology course instruction at the K-12 level in a public school system that is becoming less focused on high technology and more focused on developing basic reading and math skills, and assembling community college programs with instructors who are expected to teach more classes for the same salary. Motivated people can overcome these problems. Fortunately, the Hawai'i Space Grant Consortium (HSGC) consists of a group of highly motivated and talented individuals who have not only overcome these obstacles, but have excelled with the Program. We fill a critical need within the State of Hawai'i to provide our children with opportunities to pursue their dreams of becoming the next generation of NASA astronauts, engineers, and explorers. Our strength lies not only in our diligent and creative HSGC advisory board, but also with Hawai'i's teachers, students, parents, and industry executives who are willing to invest their time, effort, and resources into Hawai'i's future. Our operational philosophy is to FACE the Future, meaning that we will facilitate, administer, catalyze, and educate in order to achieve our objective of creating a highly technically capable workforce both here in Hawai'i and for NASA. In addition to administering to programs and educating the public in the traditional sense, we also work to facilitate partnerships between other departments (geology & geophysics, engineering, geography, astronomy), state and federal government agencies in Hawai'i, and private industry. In some cases, we are the catalyst for new partnerships between private agency sponsors and education projects or for new joint research and education projects between industry and the University faculty

Developing a positive experience of introductory information systems for women at two Australasian universities

This paper examines how academics can contribute to encouraging greater uptake of IS majors by women. Using a qualitative reflective approach we identify the perceptions and experiences of female undergraduates taking introductory IS courses in two universities, one in Australia and one in New Zealand, and discuss ways in which to improve their learning experience. We examine ways to improve the delivery of introductory IS courses in order to make information systems more relevant and less dreary to women undergraduates. The paper concludes with some recommendations for marketing courses and areas of further research

INSPIRE Newsletter Fall 2020

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Using vertically integrated projects to embed research-based education for sustainable development in undergraduate curricula

Purpose: This paper aims to share the University of Strathclyde’s experience of embedding research-based education for sustainable development (RBESD) within its undergraduate curricula through the use of an innovative pedagogy called Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP), originated at Georgia Institute of Technology. Design/methodology/approach: This paper discusses how aligning VIP with the SDG framework presents a powerful means of combining both research-based education (RBE) and education for sustainable development (ESD), and in effect embedding RBESD in undergraduate curricula. Findings: The paper reports on the University of Strathclyde’s practice and experience of establishing their VIP for Sustainable Development programme and presents a reflective account of the challenges faced in the programme implementation and those envisaged as the programme scales up across a higher education institution (HEI). Research limitations/implications: The paper is a reflective account of the specific challenges encountered at Strathclyde to date after a successful pilot, which was limited in its scale. While it is anticipated these challenges may resonate with other HEIs, there will also be some bespoke challenges that may not be discussed here. Practical implications: This paper offers a practical and scalable method of integrating SDG research and research-based education within undergraduate curricula. Social implications: The paper has the potential to deliver SDG-related impact in target communities by linking research-based teaching and learning with community outreach. Originality/value: The alignment of VIP with the SDG research area is novel, with no other FE institutions currently using this approach to embed SDG research-based teaching within their curricula. Furthermore, the interdisciplinary feature of the VIP programme, which is critical for SDG research, is a Strathclyde enhancement of the original model