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This evidence based study is derived from other work in progress related to the history of engineering education in the UK. Its interest lies in the fact that in 1955/56 the British government created a sub-system of higher technological education in England and Wales that had as its objective, the education of highly qualified engineers and applied scientists for manufacturing industry. This sub-system came to an end in 1964/5. While it could have been the subject of an official evaluation, it was not. However, fortuitously, it was established during a period increasing interest in research in higher education, and several researches addressed various aspects of the system that, accidentally, make a retrospective, but partial informal evaluation possible. The discussion is presented in two papers because of the structure of the conference, and the need to provide the detailed explanation of the cultural system in which the development took place which would be of substantial length. That is the purpose of this, the first paper. Together these papers have a secondary function of showing factors that contributed to the success and failure of a major innovation in order that the mistakes made will not be repeated in the future: that is to foster learning of the collective past. Their final purpose is more international collaboration among engineering educators and its research fraternity. Since the social forces (attitudes, beliefs and values) at work in society ultimately determine the success or failure of educational innovations, part 1 (this paper) shows the importance of social class in what is valued and not valued in the English educational system. The academic is preferred to the vocational. Grammar schools and universities are associated with the academic. Technical and further education colleges with the vocational. The antecedent philosophy driving this innovation in degree level technological education, as expressed in the 1945 report of the Percy Committee on Higher Technological Education placed the Colleges of Advanced Technology (CATs) created in 1955/6 firmly in the vocational sector. The results of the investigations carried out in the CATs reported in part 2 (the second paper) showed that schoolteachers and their pupils tended to view the CATs as second class citizens: that most students had good experiences of industrial training although many believed it could be improved, and that the curriculum offered tended to model that found in the universities. The Robbins Committee believed that the curriculum offered was of degree level standard and recommended that the CATs be given university status, which they were in 1964/5. For the convenience of the reader part 1 is preceded by a list of abbreviations, and a time line. The research for the papers summarised in part 2 took place between 1960 and 1965. A note on problems of presenting studies about non-American systems of engineering and technological education at ASEE conferences is included in the introduction to part 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present-day higher education institutions offering undergraduate engineering programs need to prepare their students for a world filled with complex global challenges. Such preparation requires the acquisition of multidisciplinary knowledge and the application of multidisciplinary methodologies. A pilot initiative was launched in Fall 2017 for an elective three-year (sophomore to senior year) cross-departmental multi-disciplinary undergraduate engineering program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) named New Engineering Education Transformation (NEET). The program has three cross-departmental pathways across STEM disciplines and technical domains. The program has completed its fourth year of operation and has grown to become the fourth-largest undergraduate academic cohort at MIT. This paper is divided into two parts: the first part describes the revision of program requirements and their implementation during Fall 2019-Fall 2020. The second part describes the launching of a new single-themed program titled Climate & Sustainability Systems, which took place and was implemented during Summer-Fall 2021. Both initiatives responded to issues and changing circumstances raised by students, faculty, and instructional staff, with the aim of affording students more flexibility, reducing the additional workload beyond their chosen majors, enhancing their educational experience, and increasing their engagement with the program-wide community. In January 2020, following feedback collected from MIT students, faculty, instructional staff, and senior administration, we began a systematic process of reviewing the program's academic requirements. Data collected includes student questionnaires and specifications of program requirements throughout the study period. The revised requirements were published toward the end of the Spring 2020 semester, serendipitously around the same time as the COVID-19 mandated university-wide pivot from inperson on-campus teaching to emergency remote teaching and were implemented in Fall 2020. Since the publication of these new requirements, enrollment in the program has increased substantially year-on-year across all program threads. Subsequent data collection during Spring 2020 and Spring 2021 showed that word-of-mouth about the program has grown stronger, with 'current students' and 'other first-years' being two of the most-cited sources as to how first-years get to know about NEET. This paper explains the impetus for changing the program requirements, describes how the new requirements were formulated and implemented, and outlines what we have learned from implementing the revised requirements. We also describe how we collaborated with various stakeholders in the planning, design, and implementation of the revised requirements. For the second part of the paper, we describe how we launched a new climate and sustainability pathway based on our three-year experience of introducing pathways connected to energy, manufacturing ands materials, and sustainable development of cities, and on the growing interest amongst students in combating climate change in a sustainable manner. We describe how the process of consolidation was planned out and designed, how we collaborated with various stakeholders and how initial implementation has undergone. It should be emphasized that the approach we have taken here is largely qualitative and based primarily on how students and other key stakeholders responded to, engaged with the NEET program, and helped to evolve it. NEET leadership commissioned a systematic programmatic evaluation starting from Spring 2021, and we will be guided by their assessment of the changes as we look to the future. This paper is intended for institutional leadership, departmental leadership, faculty, and academic staff seized by the need to create and implement relevant and engaging cross-departmental multi-disciplinary undergraduate engineering programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the experiences of two STEM outreach specialists as they prepared two rural middle school teachers with limited STEM backgrounds to implement a 3-part grade level specific engineering design elective course at their schools. This work is part of an Innovative Experiences for Teachers and Students (ITEST) project designed to provide community-based engineering design experiences for underrepresented middle school students (grades 6-8) from rural N.C. The course engages students in authentic STEM design experiences situated in the advanced manufacturing industry in an effort to improve their STEM content knowledge and career awareness and their self-efficacy, identity and interest in STEM careers, particularly engineering. The outreach specialists experienced a number of challenges as they worked with the teachers, many of which were exacerbated by the on-going pandemic. In response to social distancing requirements imposed by COVID-19, the specialists adopted a just-in-time (JIT) approach to teacher professional development (PD) where the content, pace, and scheduling of PD sessions were based on each individual teacher's prior content knowledge, comfort level and work schedule. This paper focuses on the process of skill preparation of the middle school teachers in the execution of the 6th grade course in the 2020-21 school year. Additional aspects to be discussed include a sampling of best practices, an overview of lessons learned and implementation strategies during the second iteration of the 6th grade course and the first implementation of the 7th grade course during the 2021-22 school year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the first two phases of an on-going, multi-year project that seeks to create an integrated ethics curriculum for undergraduate Biological Engineering (BE) majors at a large, public university. Our objective is to create an exemplar process that encourages engineering faculty members to contribute to, and develop ownership of, the ethics curriculum. Literature in engineering education research has called attention to faculty buy-in as one of the key indicators of successful educational innovation. Scholars of ethics education also note engineering faculty's attitude as a crucial factor in meaningful integration of ethics in the engineering curriculum. Informed by the findings of engineering education and engineering ethics literature, our project team engages the BE faculty in an ethics curriculum development initiative with five phases: 1) need assessment interviews, 2) faculty workshops, 3) curriculum design, 4) curriculum implementation, and 5) project assessment and improvement. This paper reports in detail the first two phases of this on-going project. First, one of the authors conducted semistructured interviews with instructors of BE courses to understand their present approaches to ethics education and the perceived need for improvement. Second, authors of this paper organized three interactive workshops, in which the BE faculty and our project team explored frameworks of ethical reasoning, pedagogy for ethics education, and ethics-related learning objectives. These engagement activities resulted in a list of 11 ethics related learning objectives agreed upon by the BE faculty; these learning objectives formed the basis of an ethics-across-the-curriculum experience for BE students. Informed by the interview findings and the list of ethics learning objectives, the authors continue to work with a team of BE instructors to develop appropriate course contents, instructional materials, and delivery methods in four successive courses that spread across the junior and senior years of the BE curriculum. The design, implementation, and assessment of the ethics curriculum will be reported in future publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Broadening participation in entrepreneurship is an important topic and critical challenge that continues to gain attention and intervention programs within the STEM entrepreneurial ecosystem. However, the challenges of people of color in STEM entrepreneurship are amplified in technology intensive and the high-growth space of STEM innovation. Researchers, practitioners, academic scholars, and policy-makers have focused on training entrepreneurs of color in an inclusive way that considers both similarities and the uniqueness of the individuals that may be interested in a career as an entrepreneur. The National Science Foundation I-Corps is one such training program. Established in 2012, the I-Corps program brings NSF-funded researchers and industry expert together in an entrepreneurship and innovation training course. The expectation is that the training will lead to a growth in the translation of "deep tech" and in the creation of entrepreneurial ventures. The I-Corps program consists of both regional training as well as a national training program. Participation in the national program requires the formation of a team that consists of a Technical Lead, Entrepreneurial Lead, and a Business Mentor. Under-represented Groups (URGs) and women participation in I-Corps has been relatively low since inception. In this paper, we use survey data to explore the relationship amongst the differing roles and their perception as a participant in the national I-Corps training program. We consider demographics and gender identity to explore the experiences of the National I-Corps program participants. Additionally, we explore the impact of the engagement of the I-Corps staff with the participants and the perception of inclusivity and biasness within the training program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work-in-progress paper details preliminary results from a qualitative study exploring faculty developers' interactions with and perceptions of engineering instructional faculty (EIF) at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). One potential resource for supporting EIF's educational innovation efforts is their institutions' center for teaching and learning (CTL). Through CTLs, and similarly named offices, faculty developers provide EIF and other faculty with professional development opportunities, such as pedagogy workshops, consultations, and seminars. By engaging in services provided by faculty developers, EIF can draw on new ideas, energy, and perspectives for instruction that they can incorporate into their beliefs and practices [1]. This is particularly relevant at HSIs, which play a crucial role in enhancing the education of Latinx engineering students. This study aims to understand HSI faculty developers' perceptions of EIF's motivation to participate in professional development programming around instruction. Leveraging the self-determination theory of motivation, our preliminary results suggest that faculty developers recognize how extrinsic and intrinsic factors play an important role in EIF's decisions to engage in instructional development programming. Based on our preliminary results, we encourage the faculty development community to leverage the identity of EIF as problem-solving engineers, identify and correct misconceptions about the role of faculty developers, and be intentional about how their programming responds to the factors intrinsically and extrinsically motivating EIF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an innovative teaching model in which industry practitioners are engaged with the teaching of courses that are part of a Construction Management program curriculum in the College of Engineering. The model is put into practice to bridge the gap between academia and industry by addressing recurrent problems observed in guest speaker talks such as complex topics, students' lack of interest, and misalignment with class content. The Industry Advisory Board and statewide industry associations helped select industry practitioners whose expertise aligned with the topics covered in each course. To assist industry practitioners in preparing their classes, contact information of previous participants and guidelines for delivering a class in academia were provided. When physical presence in the classroom was not possible, videoconferencing technologies were used to deliver the course. In addition, interactive activities such as class discussions, group work, and virtual tours were implemented to enhance the students' learning on the practice of the profession. To ensure students' participation, content covered in these classes are part of the students' evaluation in the form of exams, quizzes, and homework. Survey results collected showed that students had positive feedback on the overall quality of this teaching model. Many were able to learn about real life examples and practices in the industry, thanks to the reliable organization among program administration, industry practitioners, and instructors of record. The feedback collected from the instructors of record was also positive. Many dedicated their time to prepare for the class and complimented on the supportive materials that were provided. Nevertheless, some wished that more classes were conducted face-to-face, and more time made available for each class. As this innovative teaching model is in progressive improvement, these challenges will be addressed in the future to better prepare the students for their future professional careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Connect Grants were established in 2013 as part of an institutional transformation effort at a large private university to increase the faculty representation and career advancement of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE Institutional Transformation (IT) program (award 1209115), the effort's goal is to remove barriers to resources that support career success and create new interventions and resources to facilitate success. The project [1] incorporates a multi-faceted strategic approach designed to enhance recruitment, retention and advancement opportunities for women faculty from diverse ethnic, social, and cultural backgrounds in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines which include social and behavioral science (SBS). The program, called the AdvanceUniX project, combines research with programming and policy/practice enhancements to drive long-term changes that will transform University X's culture, promote innovation, and expand the representation of women on our faculty and among our campus leadership [2]. As part of the overarching AdvanceUniX project, the Connect Grants are designed to broaden opportunities for women faculty and enhance plans of work associated with tenure and promotion preparation and overall career advancement. The goal is to drive discovery and learning within an environment that supports the development of project proposals and the process of peer review. These mini-grants encourage leadership and career development, mentoring, networking and research collaboration, while enhancing and advancing the university's multifaceted initiatives and scholarship infrastructure. In support of the overarching institutional transformation project, successful grant proposals are also required to align with one or more of the AdvanceUniX project goals. In addition to directly supporting career advancement with funding, the grant design and structure also supports this effort. By modeling the grants after the NSF's process, faculty are presented with an opportunity to experience a competitive proposal and award process in preparation for future grant proposal writing and work. This paper chronicles the Connect Grants since their inception in 2013, describing the rationale, the design and implementation and the evaluation process within the context of mirroring and modeling an external funding process, such as that of the NSF. Implications and considerations for moving forward are also discussed, with the overarching goal that this career building grant program may serve as a model for other universities striving for similar career advancement for women faculty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent dramatic advancements in neuroscience have coincided with the computer revolution. The computer revolution has generated numerous key innovations that are applicable to the neuroscience field. That is, inexpensive and powerful microprocessors, accessible coding languages, and electronic components that are both affordable and modular. The field of neuroscience has benefited from these advances in several ways. Alzheimer's is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases, often affecting people over the age of sixty five. Although there is still no cure for this disease, many studies over the years have shown that brain exercises can help maintain basic cognitive skills for Alzheimer's patients. While there are many different brain exercises that already exist, most of them either don't offer many levels of difficulty, are difficult to carry, or are not accessible for some patients. This paper proposes a design for the Brain Trainer: an educational gaming device for Alzheimer's patients, that is portable, engaging, and easy to operate. It has three different types of cognitive exercises, all of which have different levels of difficulty, which can help maintain cognitive function. The exercises also display scores and changes in performance. Furthermore, the results could be compared to existing tests to gather data on the exercises' effectiveness. While there is room for improvement in terms of cost and durability, the Brain Trainer met our goal of providing an effective braintraining game for Alzheimer's patients. In addition, this project teaches students to master various skills, such as research, persistence, design, construction, and technical writing. The skills learned by this project were invaluable and important experiences within engineering. This Brain Trainer project not only provides students with more valuable information about engineering design process, but also is capable of educating the everyday person about the basics of engineering as well as the importance of an innovative approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past, the engineering education community has focused primarily on developing evidencebased best practices and fundamental theories of teaching and learning. An emerging focus, embodied in initiatives like the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) program, is on achieving systemic, sustainable, and scalable change, that is, the translation of theory to impact practice. Current models for engineering education units within universities have achieved goals to develop fundamental theory, making engineering education into a viable discipline. Alternative institutional models for engineering education are beginning to emerge that explore new avenues for achieving widespread, transformational impacts on educational practice. This paper describes a novel, next generation approach to translating theory to practice, and transforming an institutional culture through an integrated focus on building community and shared capacity around the scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL) and educational research in a college of engineering. When organizing a departmental or programmatic effort, logistical decisions can dominate and obscure the underlying organizing theory for the effort. Consistent with NSF's calls for a greater understanding of theories of change, we connect the explicit and implicit organizing philosophies underpinning the innovative approach to enacted institutional plans and approaches. We draw on Henderson's theoretical models of Institutional Change in higher education to clarify the chosen approach to transformation. We also draw on a complex systems perspective as a guiding philosophy to conceptualize change in the interconnected human, institutional, and social structures of our engineering college, and on boundary spanning to address the ways that communication across knowledge domains can be enacted and supported. The anthropologically inspired methodology explores institutional artifacts, structure, and guiding philosophies for their explicitly stated or implicitly enacted theories. As a collaboration between insiders (founders and longtime participants) and relative outsiders (a new participant), the innovative approach could be both described from experience and examined anew, and could explore both planned intentions and enacted realities. Guiding principles, made explicit in PROGRAM founding documents and written reflections of organizers, include "plant a lot of seeds" and "people are the drivers of change." An organizing structure includes administrative and faculty roles with dual focuses on developing research and translating to practice. Several opportunities for engagement between researchers and practitioners are structured as regular events and forums. We connect the guiding theories to specific aspects of PROGRAM to clarify the purpose and implicit assumptions embedded inside institutional practices. For example, the events and forums can be understood as a form of boundary spanning, while the underlying goal of investing in people is consistent with Henderson's "developing reflective practitioners" model for institutional change. We highlight PROGRAM's approach to engineering educational transformation, substantiated by guiding theories. In so doing, we hope to provide greater insight into one approach, show contrasts with other approaches, and suggest a parallel theoretical clarification as a generative activity for other efforts at institutional change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation is rapidly emerging as a critical competency for all types of organizations to ensure future success and prosperity. It is often included among the top strategic priorities for corporate leaders. This increased attention continues a trend of the last several years that highlights the importance of innovation as an organizational priority and suggests that engineering graduates must be prepared as skilled innovators in order to be successful in the technical workplace of today and the future. This paper presents ideas, models, and new directions in engineering education. The paper proposes the types of educational processes envisioned to most appropriate to instilling the innovation competencies in engineering graduates. It is proposed that the innovation competencies are best taught and learned through a new and rebalanced combination of the teaching of content and an expanded concept of experiences. Characteristics and examples of these expanded experiences are presented using modeling concepts from the field of systems engineering where experiences are represented as learner interactions. These proposed experiences must be carefully crafted to be team based, focus on exploration and experimentation, and include interaction among multiple entities including a practice innovation system. These concepts have implications for both educators and business leaders in developing innovation competencies in both graduates and engineering professionals. Instead of differentiating between experiences in school versus professional practice, the educational system described here extends from school days into professional practice, serving practicing professionals as well as students. This paper relies upon models of three distinct types of systems to provide an enhanced environment for education about and practice of the Innovation Competencies. The first of these are the Targeted Systems: the real, laboratory, or practice systems subject to innovation by learning students or practicing engineers, modeled by them as a central part of the Innovation Competencies. The second is the System of Education (itself a target of innovation), a model of which is summarized in this paper as a configurable reference model to illustrate the implied changes and advancements in different situations. The third is the System of Innovation, a model of which is referenced to understand the underlying framework in which all innovation occurs (effective or not; human-performed or not). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This year, Stanford University's Clayman Institute for Gender Research launched a new initiative to address the glaring underrepresentation of girls and women in STEM--science, technology, engineering, and mathematics--fields. Motivated by the critical imperative of better understanding and addressing the gender biases that inhere early on in the STEM pipeline, this initiative aims to provide innovative training and support to young women in STEM as they transition through high school and college to successful technology careers. This initiative is distinct from traditional pipeline projects because it does not focus on the technical skills and education of STEM. Instead, the project takes an interdisciplinary approach to STEM education, infusing students' technical training with leadership training through a lens of gender inequality--bringing together key components of feminist pedagogy, community engaged learning, and experiential education to create a transformational learning experience. This is achieved by employing three core strategies: research-based education, a train-the-trainer model, and cohort-based learning. Our initiative launched this fall with approximately 100 participants: 17 undergraduate student leaders focusing on or interested in STEM, paired to co-lead 9 high school partner groups (each with 6-8 students). Our high school partnerships are with groups or organizations focused on STEM and vary in their context of socioeconomic advantage and learning setting (e.g., in-school and after-school). We are working in close partnership with Stanford's Community Engaged Learning program and the Haas Center for Public Service to build both an educational program and research agenda that emphasize the value of reciprocity, partnership, reflection, evaluation, and respect for diversity. In this paper, we present the lessons learned from our pilot year, including: the results from our feasibility evaluation, an assessment of our partnership model, and our approach to scaling. Assessment of the students and their progress is ongoing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper describes the study of how instruction in the use of an idea generation heuristic may differently influence the creativity performance of first year, third year, and postgraduate students from the same institution. Innovation and creativity are increasingly becoming important skills for engineers, but some students suffer design fixation and are unable to effectively produce solution ideas. An experiment was devised whereby students received instruction in use of an idea generation heuristic, and then spent time generating ideas to a real-world engineering-related problem. Results showed that first year students performed better than third year students, who in turn performed better than postgraduate students. These outcomes suggest that if idea generation heuristics are to be introduced to curriculum, they may be most effective if introduced in first year of study when students may be more willing to accept and utilise such creativity techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beyond engineering skills, today's graduates are expected to have a number of professional skills by the time they enter the working world. Increasingly, innovation is one of the arenas where professional engineers should be adept at operating. However, in order to educate our students for contributing to innovation activities in their organizations, we need a better understanding of the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are relevant for early-career engineers in their development efforts. As a starting point to add to this understanding, we start by asking: what does meaningful engineering work look like in the eyes of early career engineers? We then go on to consider engineering work that is not only meaningful but also innovative, asking: What does innovative work look like in the eyes of early career engineers? Finally, we consider: How do innovative work and engineering work more generally compare?. Based on qualitative in-depth semi-structured interviews, this paper analyzes the work experiences of 13 young engineers in their first years of work after graduating from universities in the United States. Interviewee-reported critical incidents of top and bottom moments, as well as experiences in creating, advancing and implementing new ideas in work, were coded into different dimensions of learning experiences according to Mezirow's [1] transformative learning theory in order to understand better what these experiences comprise. Many positively experienced innovation efforts were related to implementing new features or components to products or process improvements, and collaboration and feedback played an important role in these efforts. Negatively experienced innovation efforts, in contrast, were related to a lack in implementation, solutions and resources. Top and bottom moments were strongly tied to the social dimension of work: top moments were typically related to camaraderie with peers or recognition coming from managers, and bottom experiences with an absence of social connections in addition to falling short of one's own expectations. The results suggest that managers should be cognizant of the importance of social connections and feedback cycles with their young engineers who are looking for guidance and validation of their efforts. For educators, the results highlight the importance of equipping our graduates with skills suited to navigate this active, social landscape of engineering practice. There are more challenges to tackle in today's educational settings to prepare students for the collaboration, people-coordination, presentation, and community-building skills they will need in their professional lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does engagement in high impact practices such as technical internships and undergraduate research influence engineering students' career decisions and future plans? And how is learning that comes from these high impact practices related to "school learning"? These high impact educational practices have been shown to increase the rates of student engagement and retention in higher education. While access to and participation in these activities is often unsystematic across various institutions, these practices have been shown to benefit college students with diverse backgrounds and learner qualities. This paper establishes a context for understanding the characteristics and attitudes of students who participate in internships and undergraduate research by drawing from analyses of the first administration of the Engineering Majors Survey (EMS), a longitudinal study designed to examine engineering students' career objectives related to creativity and innovation, and the experiences and attitudes that might influence those goals. In addition, using interview data from product development interns at a single engineering firm, we add insights into the specific skills that interns identify as learning in their internship and suggest connections between school-and-work learning. The more general picture of the impact of internship and research experiences (from the EMS), complemented with a "deep dive" into the learning that happens in internship experiences (from the interviews) provides a solid starting point for future exploration of how high impact practices such as internships and research experiences might be better integrated into a student's educational development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to innovate is essential in the rapidly evolving technological landscape. Many efforts have been made in engineering education to support student innovation (e.g., innovation and entrepreneurship programs and targeted courses). Yet, research on how engineering students approach and experience innovation has been limited. In this CAREER project we conducted a series of empirical studies using interviews, think-aloud protocols, and surveys to examine engineering students' innovation skills, views of the innovation process, and experiences that supporedt their development of innovative competencies. Informed by these studies, as well as the broader body of literature, we developed a framework for engineering student innovation that can guide instructional practices to support student innovation. In this paper, we present this framework with supporting evidence from recent and ongoing studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurship is increasingly being recognized as an important part of engineering education. However, it is also seen that establishing of a traditional business plan that was taught to engineers, is not considered as "the cutting edge" of doing entrepreneurship. Despite the business plan being a core element of most engineering entrepreneurship curricula, there are new concepts in entrepreneurship such as "The Lean Startup" which are being increasingly talked about. Along these lines, the faculty in The College of Engineering and Computer Science at California State University, Northridge are working with industry leaders and professionals to continuously improve the entrepreneurship curriculum being taught to the engineers of today & tomorrow. One of the challenges that engineers have is to think outside the box and be innovative. As part of this effort to instill innovation and creative thinking in engineers as well as update the entrepreneurship curriculum, the authors have implemented various topics on innovative thinking into the curriculum. These topics include Lateral Thinking as well as 6 Thinking Hats Applications. These topics were included in the Fall 2013 entrepreneurship syllabus and have received positive feedback from the students. In this paper, the authors will talk about what aspects were included in the curriculum and how they can provide value by being included in the curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding, evaluating, and promoting individual innovativeness is a critical step in cultivating engineering leaders for the future. As a means of evaluating the gaps in current research related to innovativeness assessment, this paper analyzes ten measures and models of innovativeness through two lenses: (1) their internal vs. external point of reference (i.e., attribute vs. action); and (2) their relationship to key elements of cognitive function (i.e., cognitive level, style, and affect). From this review, it is clear that a comprehensive, rigorously validated psychometric instrument does not yet exist to assess the aptitudes, skills, knowledge, personal traits, and behaviors that are indicative of an innovative engineer. This work highlights the potential for such an instrument to help transform engineering education by enhancing student insights about innovation across programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the design, development, and delivery of a multidisciplinary MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on creativity, innovation, and change. Our aim was to provide students with concepts and tools to help them realize their creative potential, support innovative behavior, and promote positive change in the world. Details of the course structure and its operations are discussed in relation to essentials of problem-based learning, patterns of student engagement, extent of experiential learning, and the use of social media. We also review the demographics of our 124,000+ MOOC students, who represented nearly 200 countries and over 35 academic disciplines, as well as statistics related to their enrollment, retention, and course completion. Finally, we discuss the implications of MOOCs for engineering education in both face-to-face and online formats, our recommendations for the development of MOOCs, the challenges and limitations of our work here, and our plans for future research in this domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focusses on design based research inspiring middle school students to pursue science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education and STEM occupations in future. Topics include constructivism, robotics learning and its phases: robot chasis, drive mechanism, transducers, robot motion and programming, and educational intervention.

Propagation is a widespread goal for educational innovations. If an innovation is effective in one environment, developers usually desire to share it with other instructors and institutions to have a larger impact and improve education more broadly. Additionally, funding agencies like the National Science Foundation require a "broader impact" component in all grant proposals. One aspect commonly missing when an innovation is shared is a reflective, evidence-based description of the process as the innovation moves from the home institution to other institutions with different faculty, different students and a different culture. E.M. Rogers put forth a theory, Diffusion of Innovations, that offers one framework with which to examine this process. In this context, Rogers describes diffusion as "the process in which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system." We report on the first two years of propagation of the AIChE Concept Warehouse (CW), a database-driven website developed to support the chemical engineering education community's use of concept-based pedagogies. We focus on examining the diffusion networks and how they change over time. We identify opinion leaders who appear to have played a key role in the innovation's propagation. We also discuss instances where the tool appears to have been promoted without active involvement on the part of the developers. Our purpose is to highlight aspects of diffusion that other innovators may want to consider, provide an example of how these aspects can be examined in the early stages of an innovation's life, and learn how we can further support propagation of this innovation. We ask the following research questions: Through which diffusion networks has the Concept Warehouse been propagated? Who are the opinion leaders influencing its propagation and how do they promote this tool? AIChE Concept Warehouse instructor applicants (N>300) were asked, "How did you hear about us?" Network analysis was performed using network diagrams representing different points in time as visual representations of the network connections and how they changed. Further analysis of the most recent sociogram was used to identify instructors who referred this tool to four or more other users. These instructors are termed opinion leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AutoCAD is a professional tool used by engineers, architects, designers, and other professionals worldwide. Particularly in mining engineering, AutoCAD has been used to facilitate the teaching quality of the specific content of modeling, design of geological anomalies, tunnels, ramps, and plan readings. In addition, used in university settings, it can be an excellent tool for collaborative learning and developing social skills that involve students. This contribution investigates the perception of mining engineering students on AutoCAD in their courses regarding its value as a computational tool and its intense use of digital resources. We used a Likert-type survey of mining engineering students from a large private university in Chile to collect the data. The results show that the acceptance given by students to the use of AutoCAD as a design and three-dimensional modeling tool is very favorable. AutoCAD tools facilitate students' management and construction of knowledge since they can progress at their own pace. Course results show a lack of training in technological skills by students. We recommend strengthening students' digital literacy with activities in previous courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering is a creative profession where diverse perspectives of both men and women are crucial to the field. The importance of better understanding the pipeline of female students into engineering, and the path to their success in the major is evident. In 2017, women comprised approximately 20% of engineering graduates, up from 18% in 1997, and 15% never entered the engineering workforce. In 2019, women comprised 48% of the workforce, 34% of the STEM workforce, and only 16% of practicing engineers, a 3% increase from 2009. In an effort to better understand these disparities, this mixed methods research investigated the creative self-efficacy (CSE) of women engineering majors and their beliefs about creativity in relation to lived experiences and explores the research question: In what ways do undergraduate women engineering students describe their creativity and how their lived experiences influenced their decision to major in engineering? The researchers investigated the lived experiences of women engineering students before they entered the engineering major in relation to the way they described themselves as creative. A survey of CSE and beliefs about creativity was administered to 121 undergraduate women engineering students who volunteered for this study. Interviews were conducted of 15 participants selected from survey results with different levels of CSE who met the researcher's criteria for success in the engineering major. The findings of this study lead to several conclusions: (1) students' descriptions of themselves as creative corresponded more with the arts than to innovation in engineering; (2) students who described themselves as less creative: (a) had a lower level of CSE; (b) had a greater exposure to engineering in high school through engineeringcentered courses and clubs; (c) had a family member who worked in the profession; (d) described more negative classroom experiences at all educational levels that involved intimidation, isolation, and gender-bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Project based learning (PBL) is an effective student-centered method to improve students' understanding. However, most PBL learning techniques rely heavily on a sequence of activities which require interaction with other humans or components and equipment in the laboratory. For many years, this method has proven effective and reliable particularly in STEM education. During the year when COVID-19 hit the world, PBL based education was implemented in the same exact manner as previous years to teach a course in electronics to senior students in high school. However, remarkable deterioration was observed in students' performance within this STEM course during this unusual year of the pandemic. The only change in educational practices was that all PBL steps were carried out using remote tools and in a social distance setting. The change in results raised many questions regarding the resilience of the used methods and techniques as well as its level of reliance on circumstances as significant factors in its effectiveness. These observations triggered this study where the target was of twofold: First, the study targeted understanding the factors influencing PBL effectiveness reflected by students' performance deterioration and identifying the subgroup of factors which were altered by the COVID-19 situation. Second, based on findings from the first part, the target was to propose corrective strategies that will improve the resilience of current interventions or reduce its dependence on circumstances which might change, such as what occurred during the pandemic. Students' performance was monitored and assessed in an electronics course at a high school during the pandemic using different assessment tools. Results were compared to similar sets collected when the course was conducted before the pandemic time. Results showed that students' performance in PBL decreased as instruction moved from face-to-face to remote mode. Timely interaction was mostly affected by this sudden change within a short time reflecting a need for better preparation, communication, and innovation to improve the independence of PBL from circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program, undergraduates earn academic credit for their participation in long-term, large-scale, multidisciplinary project teams that are created at the request of faculty to assist them with their research and other innovative activities. The students contribute their disciplinary skills to the project, collaborate with students from other disciplines, and learn and practice many professional skills. A key to launching and maintaining productive VIP teams is having students participate for multiple semesters, sometimes up to six semesters. This allows students to develop deeper expertise and take on increasing levels of responsibility. Academic departments have established a range of credit-use policies for VIP courses, with some departments incentivizing multiple semesters of participation, with different incentives and varying thresholds for each policy. Beyond curricular policies, the number of semesters students participate in VIP may be affected by matches/mismatches between students and their instructors' departments, as well as student academic rank in their first semester of VIP. This study describes policies for the four academic units with highest enrollments in VIP at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and examines the number of semesters students (N = 869) participate in VIP by policy, by academic rank, and by matches-mismatches between student and instructor departments. In a secondary analysis, persistence rates are compared for a degree program before and after an incentivizing credit-use policy was established (N = 45). Results show correlation between higher persistence and two policies: 1) allowing all VIP credits to count as in-major electives after a minimum number are earned; and 2) allowing students to fulfill a design sequence requirement through VIP, with no additional planning/requirements beyond the normal design sequence. The study employed chi-square analysis for all but one analysis, because assumptions for analysis of variance were not met. These findings will be of use to existing and prospective VIP Programs, as well as institutions and departments seeking to increase student persistence in undergraduate research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One strategic initiative at Clemson University is to promote innovation and entrepreneurship among faculty and students. One of the channels for introducing students to innovation and entrepreneurship at Clemson University is a course offered through the General Engineering program, ENGR 2200: Evaluating Innovations: Fixtures, Fads, and Flops. This general education course was designed to actively engage students in deep thinking about the relationships between innovation and society. The goals of this class are two-fold: 1) students gain an understanding of how societal and technological trends drive innovation, and 2) students learn and apply critical thinking techniques to critically analyze the impact of innovations on society and identify opportunities for innovation. The course content introduces engineering students to foundational theories of innovation, product development, and consumer behavior which are used to analyze the success of consumer products and other technological innovations. A SCALE-UP (Student-Centered Activities for Large-Enrollment Undergraduate Programs) environment is utilized in this course. SCALE-UP is a highly collaborative, hands-on classroom format where the primary emphasis is on learning by guided inquiry rather than by traditional lecturing. Student engagement is fostered using this approach as students are able to work together in small groups to uncover their own thought and biases before discussing difficult or controversial topics surrounding engineering innovation with the class as a whole. While the course is taught specifically with engineering design in mind, the course has attracted students from varying majors which has fostered collaboration and creativity in idea generation. The combination of critical thinking methodology with innovation concepts has led students to not only expand their knowledge of potential applications of engineering, but has lead several students to initiate communication with faculty members regarding their ideas for research opportunities, innovation competitions, and initiated their own projects via applying for University Innovation Fellows program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]