Professional Development Workshops
The goal of these workshops is to expose faculty in the Chemical & Biological Engineering department (and more broadly at UNM) to new pedagogical approaches to teaching and to prepare them to engage in the changes being implemented in the department to transform education in the chemical engineering department.
2021
Designing for Student Motivation and Success: Translation of Engineering Education Research into Practice in a Materials and Energy Balances Course
Allison Godwin, Ph.D. This talk describes an ongoing project focused on curricular and pedagogical changes in a second-year materials and energy balances course at Purdue University, CHE 20500: Chemical Engineering Calculations. In this work, we have focused on ways to not only improve students’ academic performance but also their motivation. Motivation is essential for individuals to find energy, mobilize effort, and persist toward a particular goal. This psychological factor is important for student learning and engagement in university classrooms and has been linked to student success and persistence in STEM degrees. The course redesign substantially decreased the failure and withdrawal rate in the course, and this effect persisted in subsequent course offerings. Students also had increased motivation, which positively predicted higher academic success. During the COVID-19 pandemic and switch to online learning affected students, we continued to collect motivation and student success data. We found lower motivation and higher stress levels were related to differences in performance, especially for women. Ongoing efforts include the development of course resources to support self-regulated learning. These ongoing efforts are based on larger engineering-wide research efforts on student success and the translation of those research efforts into effective classroom practices. Lessons learned from these efforts can provide ways to consider not only the curricular content of courses but also how implementation support student outcomes.
Developing changemaking engineers by recognizing engineering as a sociotechnical endeavor
Profs Susan Lord and Alex Meija. Professor Susan Lord and Assistant Professor, University of San Diego, Feb. 24th 2021. How can we educate students to be the most effective engineers in the workplace when they graduate? How can we attract a broader range of students to engineering? These are important questions for engineering educators. In this talk, we investigate a promising approach to transform who participates in engineering education and what they learn: a cultural shift from positioning engineering as a purely technical endeavor to framing it as sociotechnical. As part of an NSF-funded Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) grant, “Developing Changemaking Engineers,” the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering (SMSE) at the University of San Diego (USD) is exploring such issues. We are developing a new Integrated Engineering program that incorporates this perspective. In addition, we are developing modules that emphasize the sociotechnical nature of engineering. In this talk, we will describe the examples of a conflict minerals module in Circuits, a gerrymandering module in Statics, and a “Final Straw” module in Materials Science that includes consideration of accessibility for the disabled community. This talk focuses on engineering but many issues are also relevant for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)
Exploring Anti-racism and Social Justice in Engineering Curricula
Profs Susan Lord and Alex Meija. Professor Susan Lord and Assistant Professor, University of San Diego, March 1st 2021. What do systemic racism, social justice and Black Lives Matter (BLM) mean for engineering faculty in terms of our teaching? Historically, issues of social justice have not been part of the curriculum however engineering practice involves not only technical dimensions but also a recognition of the complex social systems embedded into the profession. It is important for faculty to recognize the opportunities that exist to embrace and integrate the sociotechnical complexity of engineering into our instruction, including the ways in which engineering promotes or prevents injustice through the designed world. We will discuss why we need to do this work, what we do in our courses, and how we can sustain this work. Participants will have the option to choose from several breakout sessions that have been designed to meet participants where they are in this journey.
2020
Communication for Academic Change (Interactive, Hands-on session)
Prof. Julia Williams, Professor of English, Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, January 30, 2020. Prof. Williams in this interactive workshop emphasized the importance of effective and focused communication to affect academic change. She explained that communication is frequently the biggest obstacle to enabling change to occur in organizations such as academic settings. She provided a set of communication tools based on the book “Buy In” by John Kotter to help guide the group in addressing the most resistant elements of change when they occur. Using practical strategies and preparation, we practiced using a variety of real-world, realistic conversational situations, such as presenting your change idea in a department meeting, encountering resistance to your idea from a colleague, being told there are budget and time limitations, being dismissed using non-constructive criticism, and other contexts. This workshop helped attendees develop immediate, practical strategies for creating an inclusive workplace or meeting environment while also promoting and affecting change initiatives.
Catalyzing Climate Change in Engineering Education
Prof. David DiBiasio, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and former Department Head of ChE at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, January 30, 2020,. This seminar focused on effective methods to help students retain knowledge and apply it in different real-world contexts by integrating liberal arts topics and engineering technical content. Prof. DiBiasio presented WPI's experiences with the design, implementation, and assessment of an integrated learning program that combines history, culture, and introductory engineering science. In a traditional classroom setting, students role play the industrial boom of 19th century Worcester, MA and argue practical approaches to wastewater engineering. Other students explore the technological and cultural implications of fog water harvesting in Southwest Morocco. These course examples illustrate how practical, realistic, and solution-driven learning experiences can be an integrated part of the curriculum. Hybrid courses like these can produce students who are empathetic and understand the relationship between people and technology.
Student Experience Project: Student Experiences in STEM
Prof. Pamela Cheek, Associate Professor of French and Associate Provost Curriculum & Assessment, University of New Mexico, February 24, 2020. Prof. Cheek was invited by the FACETS group to discuss her research on improving educational environments to promote retention of all students, especially those who are underrepresented in STEM. She explained that the problem of retention is complex and student drop-out rates are highly correlated to demographics and financial standing. Students who drop out of STEM tend to have high financial stress, be Pell grant recipients, first generation students, male, underrepresented minorities, and transfer students. She offered many approaches to help address these challenges including: revising syllabi and websites (making sure information about course requirements on university websites is very clear and easy to access); improving the language written in probation letters; developing faculty growth mindset interventions; creating parallel tracks for students to easily transition into another STEM or non-STEM major; and offering a 1st year experiences course to help students learn how to study and navigate college. We discussed with Prof. Cheek approaches for implementing these interventions at a departmental level.
Design Techniques for the Revolution
Prof. Tom Martin, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Director of Strategic & Creative Initiatives, the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology, Virginia Tech University February 26, 2020. In this workshop, Prof. Martin discussed approaches and challenges to implementing innovative curriculum changes in a large electrical engineering department, especially focusing on the importance of achieving long-term success beyond the term of the grant. He discussed the goals of shifting faculty perspectives about students and the traditional electrical engineering curriculum which had remained largely unchanged for over 50 years. Prof. Martin shared the approaches taken by his RED team to emphasize the importance of attracting and retaining diverse students to prepare them for careers which include management and company leadership, not just traditional careers such as coding. Prof. Martin led us through some of the exercises used with their faculty, advisors, and industrial advisory board, including the exploration of "student personas" and how their department examined the program structures of aspirational peers.
Radically Re-designing an Engineering Department
Prof. Tom Martin, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Director of Strategic & Creative Initiatives, the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology, Virginia Tech University, February 26, 2020. In this seminar, Prof. Martin shared with us the complexities and challenges of redeveloping a curriculum to address the learning and career needs of a very broad and large pool of electrical engineering students in his program. He discussed the process of transforming a department with two narrow curricular paths that had been attracting and producing traditional engineers to one with greater flexibility and multiple pathways so that students have greater choice in their professional preparation. Prof. Martin addressed the added complexity of navigating these changes when first year student enrollment in the college increased by over 1000 and the university was tasked with graduating 333 more electrical engineering and computer engineering graduates per year. He explained some of the changes which enabled this adaptation including a complete revision of the first and second year courses to include design challenges, developing an interdisciplinary program which allows students to interface with companies, and hiring a Director of Undergraduate Programs who works exclusively for the department, among other changes.
2019
Writing in the Curriculum
Prof. Cristyn Elder, Director of Writing Across the Curriculum at UNM, January 11, 2019. Prof. Elder discussed the research of Kuh involving High Impact Educational Practices such as writing intensive courses, among other approaches. She emphasized the importance of identifying what students should master, what they should be familiar with, and what enduring understanding they should have. She delineated the differences between low- and high-stakes writing assignments and how writing was successfully introduced in UNM’s MATH 129 course. She suggested introducing writing throughout the curriculum by including self-reflective writing, writing for an audience beyond the professor, and writing on alternative discipline-specific research projects. As these approaches are implemented, Prof. Elder emphasized the importance of providing students with clear guidelines for writing, a template, and the opportunity to peer review and revise their writing. She also emphasized the importance of not grading anything that isn’t specifically taught in an engineering course, such as grammar, as this favors and promotes white male privilege.
Applying Innovative Frameworks to Foster Inclusive Learning in Engineering Students
Prof. Joe Ledoux, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Dr. Wendy Newstetter, Director of Learning Sciences Research from Georgia Tech, January 16, 2019. In this two hour workshop, Prof. LeDoux and Dr. Newstetter discussed their NSF-funded Revolutionizing Engineering and computer science Departments (RED) project: Transforming for Inclusion: Fostering Belonging and Uniqueness in Engineering Education and Practice. Their project aims to construct an inclusive curriculum, motivated by two goals: to help students develop their knowledge, skills and dispositions to engineer inclusively and to embed inclusive practices in the department, courses, and research labs. Participants were exposed to new ways to think about, measure, and increase inclusion in engineering departments, classrooms, and research labs. This workshop was open to a broad audience of engineering educators (e.g., faculty, academic advisors, curriculum designers, instructional developers, etc.). Given the breadth and importance of interpersonal interactions that engineers encounter in their educational and professional careers, the topics were of significance to engineering education.
Problem-driven learning: Why we’ve mostly given up on lecturing!
Prof. Joe Ledoux, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Dr. Wendy Newstetter, Director of Learning Sciences Research from Georgia Tech, January 16, 2019. Prof. LeDoux and Dr. Newstetter shared a number of theoretical frameworks they use to guide problem development and course structure. They outlined some of the characteristics of Problem-Based Learning, Problem-Driven Learning, Problem-Infused Learning, and a Problem-Driven Laboratory. These approaches focus on the inherent nature of authentic, ill-structured, and complex problems where students link to their personal knowledge to individual inquiry and learning. The approaches are part of the inclusive strategies embodied by the curriculum of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University which helps stakeholder fully realize the positive impact provided by high-functioning diverse and inclusive teams.
Continuous Curriculum Improvement through Experimentation
Prof. Karla Sue Marriott, Department of Chemistry, Savannah State University, September 11, 2019, This workshop explored the process and challenges of improving and revising course offerings to focus on student-centered learning. Prof. Marriott emphasized numerous critical steps to successful innovative course development including: understanding who your students are; educating students and families on the outcomes of the degree; having students help you develop a course plan; the importance of having students make a prototype or create something interesting in the class; protecting your ideas from negative feedback in the beginning; and pushing through the point of ruination to complete the project, analyze data, reflect, and revise. This workshop led to a fruitful discussion of departmental-specific issues including what our graduates look like and whether they are working in the field they wish to work, how we can change our design challenges to make them less recipe-like, and how we can change our quiz/assessment process in graduate level courses.
Creating and Developing a High Impact Program
Prof. Karla Sue Marriott, Professor, Department of Chemistry, Savannah State University, September 11, 2019. In this seminar, Dr. Marriott shared how she helped found and develop the Forensic Science Program at Savannah State University, a degree program where enrollment increased 17-fold in the span of 8 years. The curriculum structure involves significant hands-on learning, centered around Crime Scene 1 and 2 courses which feature paintball simulations of crime scenes, facial reconstruction (creation of a physical, life-sized sculpture of a crime victim's head), deconstruction of a blood splatter experiment, recreation of a two gun suicide crime scene, among other teaching modules. Prof. Marriott discussed the department's offering of a virtual forensic science certificate program which is 18 credit hours, and the opportunity for students to immersively learn in the Halo Screen Room, which is a virtual reality experience used for laboratory and hands-on learning.
Implementing and Assessing Cooperative, Hands-on, Active, Problem-based Learning
Prof. Bernie Van Wie, Voiland School of Chemical Engineering & Bioengineering, Washington State University, September 18, 2019. In this experiential workshop, Prof. Van Wie demonstrated numerous hands-on modules used to teach fluids and transport courses. Faculty working in small teams during the workshop set up and ran small, inexpensive, desktop learning modules using simple expendable materials such as batteries, hot water, and food-dye colored water. These miniature experiments help with the teaching of concepts like pressure drop, Bernoulli equation conservation, heat exchange between two fluids, and other topics. Prof. Van Wie explained that these desktop modules can be used by instructors as demonstration tools in class, as hands-on activities in large lecture rooms, or in the laboratory setting to tie, in real time, the concepts being taught in the course to actual equipment. Prof. Van Wie presented conceptual and motivational assessment components and data from past and current implementations.
Cooperative, Hands-on, Active, Problem-based Learning – Ideas & Insights for the Classroom
Prof. Bernie Van Wie, Voiland School of Chemical Engineering & Bioengineering, Washington State University, September 18, 2019. This seminar focused on team-based, cooperative hands-on, problem- or project-based learning (CHAPL) that Prof. Van Wie has implemented in courses for the past 27 years. He described implementing in a fluids and heat transfer course hands-on stations through which teams would rotate using a jigsaw cooperative method where each team member became an expert on two stations. Each team would then design a complex process which incorporated all of the fluids and heat transfer concepts explored in the course. This work ultimately led to the development of low-cost, hands on chemical transport desktop modules. Prof. Van Wie presented a theoretical framework and supporting data which demonstrated the efficacy of these approaches for learning chemical engineering concepts.
How to Improve Institutional Climates in Engineering
Prof. Mala Htun, Professor of Political Science, co-PI and deputy director of ADVANCE, University of New Mexico, October 21, 2019. Prof. Htun was invited by the FACETS group to discuss her research on improving instructional and engineering workplace climates. In her talk, she shared that there isn’t a lot of evidence-based research on effective approaches to improve climate or curb harassment, even though engineering is the most gender-segregated professional field in the US economy and is significantly affected by subversive climate and harassment. She explained that while media attention is placed on sexual assault, gender harassment is by far the more prevalent, yet least talked out, type of harassment. Prof. Htun outlined solutions including using effective Bystander® training, engaging leaders by involving them in activity and making them change agents, and developing norm-based marketing to promote positive behaviors that need to become normalized. We plan to collaborate with Prof. Htun to explore these approaches further and implement them on a departmental level.
Teaching Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing
Prof. Mike Matthews, Professor of Chemical Engineering, Senior Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs, Vice Dean, University of South Carolina, October 31, 2019. In this workshop, Prof. Matthews described approaches to helping students develop high quality, high impact journal publications using understandable, repeatable, flexible, cost-effective, and practical approaches for both students and engineering faculty. Prof. Matthews described his two 1-credit hour courses which focus first on critical reading and analysis of research literature, and secondly, critical writing through the practice and completion of a journal paper or other research product. He described the theoretical framework of critical thinking within both courses, initially developed and promoted by Richard Paul and Linda Elder through the Foundation for Critical Thinking. Prof. Matthews also shared valuable prompts and instruments he developed for leading students through this critical reading and writing process, along with guidelines on how to provide effective feedback on student writing.
2018
Education Research Opportunities and Peer Observation of Teaching
Prof. Aeron Haynie, Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at UNM, August 18th, 2017. Prof. Haynie spoke about her center’s Teaching Fellows program. This project is open to faculty and graduate students to implement changes in the classroom and disseminate findings through the literature. She described the Center’s program of peer observation of teaching, where faculty observe each other’s courses multiple times and provide objective data, feedback, and professional observations.
Teaching Large Classes
Prof. Matt Libertore, University of Toledo, January 24th, 2018. Prof. Libertore presented best practices for teaching a course of 60-70 students: making sure there are enough instructors in the class during class time, making students sit in assigned seats, instructors interacting with students during class (walking around and answering questions), conducting office hours in the student lounge, writing exams which make cheating difficult, submitting assignments online, making students write their own exam solution, getting to know each student by name, humanizing the instructor and describing what he/she does besides teaching that course, and making sure to listen to students, collect feedback, and make changes when appropriate.
Reading Analytics When Using An Interactive Textbook
Prof. Matt Libertore, University of Toledo, January 24th, 2018. Prof. Libertore in this talk presented research which demonstrated that students over the past 25 years have rarely read textbooks, even though their greatest learning and long term memory gains come through visual learning. This problem can be addressed by implementing a flipped classroom environment where students read an interactive textbook before class (such as Material and Energy Balances, available through zyBooks), answer questions and solve problems from the interactive textbook interface, and come to class prepared to ask questions, interact, work on problems, and discuss concepts in teams.
Peer Observation of Teaching
Prof. Aeron Haynie, Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at UNM, January 12th, 2018. Prof. Haynie presented the benefits and process of conducting peer observation of teaching. This program, facilitated and guided by the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), involves faculty observing each other’s courses multiple times. Faculty pairs can provide requested data, feedback, professional observations, discussion points, and a sounding board for ideas and concerns. She emphasized the importance of objective collection of observations, including how faculty speak to and interact with students in a classroom environment.
Teaching Students Effective Teamwork Skills
Dr. Marina Miletic, January 12th, 2018. Dr. Miletic conducted a workshop during the department faculty retreat in response to CBE faculty concerns of managing time-consuming and exhausting conflicts between students working in groups. She emphasized strong student teamwork skills are developed through proactive teaching of effective teaming so conflicts are inherently limited or avoided. She explained four steps in fostering effective student teams: make sure students know each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and working styles; students establish team rules; teach students qualities of effective team members; as part of their grade, students evaluate themselves and their teammates.
Problem Based Learning
Prof. Margot Vigeant, Bucknell University, February 7, 2018. Prof. Vigeant led a workshop on how problem based learning (PBL) can be implemented in chemical engineering. PBL is a student-driven learning process, which centers learning course objectives and content around one or more problems. She provided examples of problems. The benefits of a PBL-based classroom extend far past the course, as students learn how to work in teams, communicate their learning to others, and effectively frame and solve engineering problems.
Repairing undergraduates’ Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer Misconceptions
Prof. Margot Vigeant, Bucknell University, February 7th, 2018. Prof. Vigeant showed how students can learn Thermodynamics more effectively, especially through demonstrations, gaming, and conceptual understanding. She explained that many students pass a typical chemical engineering Thermodynamics course, but do not understand many fundamental concepts, such as ice melting. She discussed her Concept Inventory for Heat Transfer, effective chemical engineering classroom demonstrations, and her approach to bringing students into the lab whenever possible to validate (or contradict) their predictions.
Modeling success for underrepresented students in STEM
April 18th, 2018. Prof. Irene Vásquez, UNM's American Studies department and Dr. Ricardo Griego, former Dean of Graduate Studies and former Department Chair from the Department of Mathematics, UNM. This talk explored the basic assumptions in approaching success for underrepresented students in STEM. The authors discussed some successful, model programs, strategies for supporting STEM students, and UNM’s role in the process. This talk is based on the work of the authors in directing several programs aimed at increasing the participation of low-income and under-represented groups in higher education and STEM careers.
Connecting Knowledges in STEM Fields: Honoring Student Epistemologies and Decolonizing Western Pedagogies
Prof. Leola Tsinnajinnie," UNM's Native American Studies Department, May 2nd, 2018. This workshop focused on the students who are from the 22 sovereign nations that are part of New Mexico and pedagogical approaches that honor their funds of knowledge. Prof. Tsinnajinnie discussed the importance of a curriculum that connects students to their community and to the values which matter most to them: family, love, respect, compassion, faith, balance, and service. Her talk explored the most effective approaches to supporting Native and underrepresented students as they navigate STEM fields such as providing support for students immediately when they arrive on campus, providing peer and community support, recruiting students early in their academic careers, providing career pipeline mentorship, and nurturing relationships and involvement with Native American groups on campus.
In school I learn from A to H, but the world is A to Z: Promoting community-engaged learning for critical Indigenous consciousness
Prof. Tiffany S. Lee, UNM Professor and Chair of Native American Studies Department, August 17th, 2018. In this talk, Professor Lee shared lessons and observations from her decades of experience teaching Native American youth and young adults in New Mexico and conducting education research. She discussed how community-engaged learning encourages students’ motivation and promotes their success in any grade or year in college. She discussed critical Indigenous consciousness, a state of awareness that activates students to utilize their knowledge for the benefit of their Native communities. Professor Lee presented many approaches to help Engineering faculty better understand the culture and history of Native students and best practices for engage Native students in courses.
2017
Conceptual Understanding and Meaningful, Consequential Learning
Prof. Milo Koretsky, Oregon State University. May 8, 2017. This workshop highlighted how curricular changes drawn from research on how people learn can be used to transform a chemical engineering department. Prof. Koretsky discussed the powerful AIChE Concept Warehouse website, a valuable repository of chemical engineering conceptual questions and interactive student learning modules.
Active Learning
Prof. John Falconer, University of Colorado Boulder. March 21, 2017. As has been demonstrated in the natural sciences through a multitude of studies, active learning is more effective than traditional lecture. While less established, these methods also work in chemical engineering. In this workshop, attendees learned about Screencasts, ConcepTests and interactive simulations, and how they can contribute new resources.
How To Study
Prof. John Falconer, University of Colorado Boulder. March 21, 2017. In this workshop for both faculty and students, John discussed the latest research on the most and least effective ways to study. Methods for developing long term retention, understanding, and memory were emphasized.
Concept Inventories as an Assessment Tool – experiences from a materials science and engineering department
Prof. Nikolai Kalugin, New Mexico Tech. March 2, 2017. This workshop discussed the application of Concept Inventories as a powerful program-level assessment tool. While concept inventories are well known and used in the physical sciences, their use is still nascent in engineering. As a result, some programs create their own measures as exit exams, findings good practical value for the department: (1) as a tool for faculty development in the area of assessment; (2) as a tool for making program decisions; and (3) as a tool for predicting student success.
2016
The Potential of Open Badges and Microcredentials to Improve Learning and Engagement and Badge-a-thon: Creating Your Microcredentials
Prof. Rick West, Brigham Young University. December 13, 2016. This workshop discussed Open badges as a form of micro credential that can enable acknowledgment of learners’ skills, knowledge, and abilities outside of traditional credentials such as degrees and diplomas. Open badges were defined and explained as a potentially disruptive concept for education. The potential for micro credentials to improve student learning and engagement was also discussed. Faculty in attendence engaged in a hands-on experience designing and conceptualizing badges for the instructional environments of the participants.
Teaching Problem Solving, Troubleshooting and Entrepreneurship
Prof. H. Scott Fogler, University of Michigan. October 20, 2016. While many core chemical engineering content courses include problem solving, few teach strategies for problem solving, especially for dealing with open-ended problems. Prof. Fogler outlined methods to incorporate creative problem solving strategies, troubleshooting, change adaptation, and real-world case studies into core engineering courses.
Connecting Engineering Design Challenges to Funds of Knowledge: Insights in Developing Culturally Responsive Engineering Education
Prof. Joel Alejandro Mejia, Angelo State University, San Angelo, TX. May 11, 2016. Dr. Mejia discussed the concept of Funds of Knowledge as the distinctively accumulated historical and cultural bodies of knowledge, skills, and practices within different communities. Through the lens of culturally responsive pedagogy, this talk examined how funds of knowledge can be used to integrate students’ interests into the curriculum at a meaningful level. The objective is to use culturally responsive teaching as a medium for creating engineering design challenges that excite the interests of students from a variety of ethnic, linguistic, economic, and cultural backgrounds.
Digital badges in Chemical Engineering
Prof. Darrell Velegol, The Pennsylvania State University. May 2nd, 2016. Prof. Velegol introduced the idea of digital badges as a replacement for traditional course completion and testing. Digital badges were presented as a powerful tool to assess and document student performance and learning objectives. A project- or learning objective-based curriculum can therefore take the place of traditional closed lecture degree program.
Microcredentialing & Digital Badging
Prof. Rick West, Brigham Young University. March 31st, 2016. Attendees were introduced to the concept of microcredentialing of mastery-based skills in courses. Dr. West presented research including emphasis on how badges should be designed to promote learning. Faculty drafted initial ideas for badges. In day two of the workshop, Dr. West worked closely with Dr. Svihla and her graduate assistant, providing guidance on choosing a digital badging system and characteristics needed for particular systems. Dr. West provided detailed information based on his survey of programs using digital badging.
2015
Additive Innovation: An Educational Ecosystem of Making and Risk Taking
Prof. Jennifer Bekki and Prof. Nadia Kellam, from the ASU RED project leadership team. November 19, 2015. This workshop presented components of the ASU RED project. Faculty attendees identified catalysts and barriers to implementing new approaches in their classrooms as well as potential supports structures that might mitigate the impact of those barriers. Attendees developed test cards documenting educational innovations to be used in their own classrooms and worked with the facilitators to discuss how to evaluate the impact of their proposed innovation. The workshop closed with a discussion of how the activities completed by the attendees illustrate several components of the ASU team’s educational revolution.
Transforming Chemical Engineering with an NSF RED project
Prof. Jim Sweeney, Oregon State University. November 17, 2015.
Towards a scenario- and problem-based chemical engineering curriculum
Prof. Eva Sorensen, University College London. November 13, 2015. Professor Sorensen described her experience at UCL in developing a scenario- and problem-based chemical engineering curriculum with emphasis on experimentation and computation and supported by eLearning. She focused on the challenges (5 week part-time projects) and scenarios (1 week full time projects) they introduced for first and second year students. She shared what is required by the faculty and the department to undergo such curriculum restructuring. Prof. Sorensen also discussed the difference between UK- and U.S.-based college systems, tenure systems, and professional societies.
