Dr. Nick Eror
University of Pittsburgh
Telephone: (412) 624-9761
Fax: (412) 624-8069
E-mail: eror@engrng.pitt.edu
New Book from Discovery
Press
(Available Fall, 1998)
Studying
Engineering Technology
by Dr. Steven R. Cheshier
Discovery Press is proud to announce
the publication of a new book, Studying Engineering
Technology by Dr. Steven R. Cheshier. The book is
being adapted from Studying Engineering by Ray
Landis and will be available for adoption for Fall, 1998.
The book is designed for use in Introduction to
Engineering Technology courses at both the Associate
Degree and Bachelors Degree levels.
Organized into eight Chapterers, this
pioneering book will support engineering technology
departments across the nation in improving the academic
performance and retention of their students. The eight
Chapterers are:
Chapter 1. Introduction to Engineering
Technology
Chapter 2 . The Technological
Spectrum/The Industrial Environment
Chapter 3. Academic Success Strategies
Chapter 4. Orientation to the
Engineering Technology Education System
Chapter 5. Becoming an Engineering
Technician (2-yr programs) or an Engineering Technologist
(4-yr programs)
Chapter 6. Enhancing and Broadening
Your Education
Chapter 7. Developing Yourself
Personally
Chapter 8. Preparing for Lifelong
Learning
Dr. Steven R. Cheshier has an ideal
background to author this text. His distinguished 35-year
career in engineering technology includes 10 years on the
faculty of Electrical Engineering Technology at Purdue
University, serving six years as head of the department,
and seventeen years as president of Southern Polytechnic
State University in Marietta, Georgia. He is currently
Institute Professor and President Emeritus of that
institution. Dr. Cheshier has served as Chair of the
Engineering Technology Council and as a member of the
Board of Directors of the American Society for
Engineering Education (ASEE). In 1980, he was the first
recipient of the National Distinguished Service Award
from Tau Alpha Pi, the Engineering Technology Honor
Society, and he received the ASEE 1984 James H. McGraw
Award as Engineering Technology Educator of the Year.
Anecdote
Wisdom
Beyond Her Age
One of my greatest pleasures in
traveling to universities around the country is the
opportunity to meet "special" students. While
at the University of Michigan in Spring 1996, I met a
wonderful young woman named Christine Avila. Christine
was president of the Society of Minority Engineering
Students, an umbrella organization over all minority
engineering student organizations at the University of
Michigan. When I met her she was nearing graduation and
I’m sure she is now working successfully as a
practicing engineer.
Christine was heavily into motivational
quotes and shared some of her favorites with me both when
I was visiting there and later by e-mail. She told me:
"A lot of people don’t realize that their
thoughts, conscious or unconscious, affect all aspects of
their lives. They don’t realize that they have to
control their thoughts in order to control their
actions." She asked me to share her quotes with
others, so here are some of her best:
Many of life’s failures are
people who did not realize how close they were to success
when they gave up. - Thomas Edison
It’s a funny thing about life:
if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very
often get it. - W. Somerset Maugham
The ancestor of every action is a
thought. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thinking is the hardest work there
is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.
- Henry Ford
If you do what you’ve always
done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.
- Anonymous
Man is not the creature of
circumstances. Circumstances are the creatures of men.
- Benjamin Disraeli
Good timber does not grow with ease;
the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees. - J.
Willard Marriott
They can because they think they
can. - Virgil
Our doubts are traitors, and make us
lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.
- William Shakespeare
Nothing has any power over me other
than that which I give it through my conscious thought.
- Anthony Robbins
The mind is its own place, and in
itself can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of
Heav’n. - John Milton
Whatever kind of word thou speakest,
the like shalt thou hear. - Greek Proverb
This is only a portion of the quotes
Christine shared with me. And because she is guided by
them, I am confident she will achieve great success. I
would urge you to follow Christine’s wisdom. Share
these quotes with your students. Have the students
discuss the quotes and/or write about them.
Ray Landis
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Building Student Commitment to Engineering
(Note: This was excerpted from R. B.
Landis, "Building Student Commitment to
Engineering," Proceedings of 1996 ASEE Annual
Conference, Washington, D.C.)
Active participation in engineering
student organizations can contribute to building
students’ commitment to engineering study. In fact,
engineering student organizations are an effective
vehicle for students to accomplish for themselves much of
what you are trying to accomplish in your Introduction
to Engineering course.
Typically, engineering student
organizations provide benefits to their members in five
areas:
Social interaction
Professional development
Academic development
Personal development
Service to the college and the
community.
Note, in fact, that this list is the
same as the five key themes of [an Introduction to
Engineering] course . . .
Discuss these benefits with your
students. What could be better than having your students
interact socially with other engineering students rather
than with students from other majors or friends from high
school? Through participation, students will gain a sense
of community and of belonging that can be highly
motivational.
Tell your students about the important
skills they will develop through participation in
engineering student organizations. Emphasize that the
leadership, organizational, and interpersonal skills they
will gain will be extremely important to their success as
an engineering professional. And let them know that the
professional development activities of an engineering
student organization such as speakers, field trips to
industry, and career day programs will complement what
they are getting from your Introduction to Engineering
course.
Make it easy for your students to join
these organizations. Provide them with information about
how to join and about upcoming meetings. You could even
assign them the task of attending a meeting and writing a
critique of what happened there. Invite leaders of these
organizations to speak to the class to inform them about
the activities of their organization. Make sure they
emphasize why they got involved and what they get out of
that involvement.
Testimonial
WHO NEEDS THESE
HEADACHES? - REFLECTIONS ON TEACHING FIRST-YEAR
ENGINEERING STUDENTS
by Richard M. Felder, North Carolina
State University
In the period from Fall 1995 to Spring 1997, I
coordinated and taught in an experimental freshman
engineering curriculum called IMPEC (Integrated
Mathematics, Physics, Engineering, and Chemistry
Curriculum). One of my jobs was to teach a one-credit
fall course designed to:
serve the traditional orientation
functions of the freshman engineering course
provide real-world motivation and
context for the science and mathematics fundamentals
taught in the core freshman courses
provide training in critical success
skills.
I started my teaching career in 1969 and by 1995 I
thought I knew a few things about how to teach, but I
found that teaching first-semester college students
offered several new challenges. While I didn’t
exactly have to scrap the teaching principles and methods
that had worked for me before, I had to add some new
strategies to my bag of tricks. For what it may be worth,
here are some of the things I wish I had known in August
1995. Some of them come from my own experience and many
come from watching and conversing with my colleague Phil
Dail, who taught the IMPEC chemistry course. Phil is a
former North Carolina high school science teacher of the
year who has also taught freshman chemistry to several
thousand students and is my nominee for the best teacher
of first-year college students I have ever seen or heard
of.
Principle 1 - Entering
first-semester college students were high school students
three months earlier.
Many high school students are mature, thoughtful, and
industrious, but those are probably not the first three
adjectives that come to mind if you are trying to
describe the species collectively. A sizable percentage
of high school students lack the sound judgment, sense of
responsibility, and work ethic needed to do well in a
curriculum as demanding as engineering, and they’re
not likely to magically acquire these things in the
summer between high school and college. A great deal of
the well-publicized first-year attrition from engineering
undoubtedly stems from the assumption that freshmen
should be capable of functioning like seniors from the
word go. That’s a really bad assumption.
Principle 2 - Success
skills have never been taught to most first-year
students, but they (the skills and the students) are
teachable.
This observation of course does not come as news to
anyone familiar with the "gospel according to
Landis." I knew enough of the gospel to know
that Studying Engineering was the only text to use
for the course I was about to teach, but there’s
nothing like first-hand experience to bring home the
reality of something you’ve only read about. Why
should we assume that we have to teach freshmen the
product rule for differentiation or Kirchhoff’s law
but somehow they are perfectly capable of learning by
themselves to manage ridiculous time demands or form
themselves into high performance teams? That’s
another terrible assumption. If we want our students to
learn a complex procedure or master a complex skill, we
need to provide them with some guidance.
Fortunately, all skills—including the ones we
want our students to acquire—can be developed and
improved through practice and feedback. If we want
students to differentiate complex trigonometric
functions, for example, we outline how it is done, give
them examples, give them practice problems, correct and
grade their efforts, give them more practice problems,
and finally test them on their ability to solve similar
problems. Not surprisingly, most of them end up knowing
how to do it. If we did the same thing to facilitate the
development of study, communication, teamwork, or time
management skills, the result would be identical: most of
the students would master those skills to an extent that
most faculty members wouldn’t imagine possible.
Without structured training and practice, however, forget
widespread mastery of high-level skills. What we’ll
get is instead what we’ve been getting and
complaining about for years in that familiar faculty
lounge grumbling about the lousy quality of today’s
students.
Principle 3 - The
principles of good teaching are also applicable to
teaching freshmen
As I noted at the beginning, the things I had learned
in 26 years of teaching non-freshmen engineering students
still applied in the first-year course. For example,
Write instructional objectives that
cover all the skills you want the students to develop
and design your class lessons, assignments, and tests
to reflect your objectives.
Model the strategies and skills you
want your students to develop.
Maximize active, experiential,
problem-based learning; minimize lecturing.
Use cooperative (team-based)
learning extensively, both in and out of class.
Don’t make speed a major
factor on tests.
Positively reinforce successful
performance.
Principle 4 - The first
semester of college is not necessarily one of life’s
happiest times
Unless they went to a gifted and talented magnet
school, most first-year engineering students were at or
near the top of their high school classes and breezed
through their courses hardly ever needing to crack a
book. It comes as a severe shock when they discover that
their classes are filled with people who are as bright or
even brighter than they are and that papers that would
have earned automatic A’s and commendations several
months earlier now come back covered with red marks and
critical comments. They are stunned to learn that unless
they really study and do lots of homework outside
class—even (gasp) on evenings and weekends—they
get tests back with grades they never even knew existed.
About a month into the fall semester Phil Dail asked
the IMPEC students to rate their current stress levels on
a scale from 1 (no stress at all) to 10 (unbearable
stress) and invited them to explain their ratings. The
average rating for the class was between 7 and 8. Most of
the students were anxious about grades and many were
suffering crises of confidence in their abilities for the
reasons just described. That was just the beginning,
though. They were also in desperation over homesickness,
roommate problems, health problems, financial problems,
recent or impending relationship breakups, severe
parental pressures to succeed, too much or too little
social life, recent or impending parental divorces, sick
or dying family members, and intense peer pressure to get
involved with alcohol or drugs. When I read those papers
I was amazed that so many of the students were able to
get out of bed and face the day every morning, let alone
concentrate on academics. I reminded myself of this
situation periodically throughout the semester. It helped
me cut them some slack when they didn’t always meet
my expecta-tions about attending and participating in
class, completing assignments, and studying for tests.
Principle 5 - Attitude is
three-quarters of the battle
What makes Phil my nominee for best first-year college
instructor I’ve ever seen is much more than his deep
understanding of chemistry and his ability to transmit
that understanding. Watching him in action for two
minutes makes three things abundantly clear to his
students and to anyone else fortunate enough to observe
him. First, he enjoys and cares deeply about what he is
teaching and he is absolutely passionate in his desire
for his students to share his enjoyment and appreciation.
Second, he believes with every fiber of his being that
all of them are capable of succeeding. Third he will take
it as a personal failure if any of them fail for any
reason. His students see this and they respond. He pushes
them to understand chemistry, experimental science in
general, the connections between theory and
experimentation, and the need for clear communication of
results, at a far deeper level than their counterparts in
the standard curriculum are ever required to reach. He
teases, cajoles, challenges, hurls mock threats…and
when they succeed he almost falls over himself in his
eagerness to praise them. With few exceptions, his
students get where he wants them to go.
Phil’s enthusiasm is contagious and inspired the
rest of us on the IMPEC faculty to try to emulate him. It
worked. In the end, the students turned in some
outstanding written reports on challenging engineering
design projects, gave oral presentations of their work
that would put most of what goes on at professional
conferences to shame, and significantly outscored control
groups on a variety of performance and self-confidence
measures.
Teaching freshmen can be exasperating, and it’s
easy to conclude that it isn’t worth the effort to
overcome the obstacles they put in the way of their own
learning and growth. The main thing I learned in two
years of teaching them is that it is worth the effort. If
you’re sufficiently patient, thick-skinned, and
positive, and if you maintain unshakable faith in their
ability to succeed despite themselves, they will reward
you by December with understanding and skills you would
not have believed possible in September.
Personal Development
Ten Reasons for Setting Goals
As discussed in the Author’s Corner, success
is "the achievement of something desired or
planned." Our effectiveness in working with our
students on issues of goal identification and goal
clarification is key to their success. Mary Heather
Hannah of the University of Arkansas (mhh@engr.uark.edu)
provides ten reasons for setting goals.
- Goals give your life direction
- Goals prevent procrastination
- Goals ensure the best use of your time and
energy
- Goals encourage enthusiasm
- Goals let you be specific when seeking help
from others
- Goals allow you to save time
- Goals help you make and save money
- Goals help you keep things in perspective
- Goals give you a standard against which to
measure your progress
- Goals provide a foundation for setting new
goals and therefore encourage lifetime growth
Divide your students into groups and have each group
discuss one of these benefits. Ask them to come up with
specific examples of where they have set a goal and
whether they received the benefit. Have each group report
out to the class.
Personal Development
Learning to Learn: Using Guided Imagery for
Personal Growth
by Mary Heather Hannah, University of
Arkansas
Guided imagery can be used by students
to resolve conflicts or to set long term goals. Students
can be taught the guided imagery process through an
exercise conducted in an Introduction to Engineering
class. Armed with a simple understanding of the general
process, guided imagery can become a powerful tool for
students to use on their own for personal growth and
development.
The Guided Imagery Process
Relax. Use whatever works for
you. Make yourself comfortable. Gently close your eyes.
One common relaxation method is to play some soft music
and relax individual muscles. Another is to focus on your
breathing. As you slowly exhale visualize a black, murky
smoke leaving your body as a means of ridding yourself of
negative energy. As you slowly inhale picture clear
mountain air entering your body as a means of capturing
positive energy. The longer you spend doing this, the
more relaxed you'll feel.
Concentrate on a specific problem or
question. Concentration can be focused verbally, by
mentally saying a question repeatedly, or visually, by
remembering what the problem looked and sounded like with
as much detail as possible. Consider, for example, having
problems with your professor. A verbal approach might be
to repeat the question, "How can I deal with my
professor in a healthy way." On the other hand, a
visual approach might be to remember, in as much detail
as possible, what your professor looks and sounds like
when she or he is behaving problematically. As the
concentration deepens, images will form as if in a dream,
taking on a life and logic of their own.
Interact with the images before you.
More like visions than dreams, guided imagery expects the
"viewer" to participate in the unfolding
action. One common question to ask of images is what
information they have to share¾ essentially the
"why is the image here" question. Avoid naming
objects in the vision, thus removing their power to help,
by asking the images what it's name is. Accept the vision
as it is, no matter how strange it may seem, and be
assured that there is meaning waiting to be discovered.
When no additional images appear or actions occur, return
to a normal waking state by slowly moving your body or by
gently opening your eyes.
Return to a normal waking state.
The vision may be disorienting, and a few simple steps
should be followed when dealing with this disorientation.
Slowly shake each arm and leg and stretch a bit. Perhaps
even try gently jumping up and down after some
stretching.
Begin deciphering meaning from the
vision. You can determine meaning in a variety of
ways including visually, verbally, and kinesthetically.
Draw out the image using crayons or markers. Be in touch
with the image. What is it like? What are the aspects
and/or qualities of the image? How is that image you? As
you look at the image, write down responses to it or
needs the image may have. Alternatively, a written
description of the elements and their interaction may be
appropriate. Another possibility is to move as if you
were a component of the vision.
An incubation period may be necessary
to think about the images and their potential meanings.
Often it’s a good idea to talk to someone about
elements in the vision. Others can spark ideas for
potential meanings. In addition, a book on dream
symbolism may be helpful; however, you are the ultimate
judge of what is the correct meaning of an image.
Personal relevance is key to unlocking the meaning behind
the images.
Application
Example: In-Class Personal Development Exercise
An in-class introduction to guided
imagery may be helpful to teach students the process and
to demonstrate its usefulness. Approximately 30 to 45
minutes will be needed to complete the exercise. Required
equipment includes paper, colored pencils or markers, and
soft music playing in the background. The following is a
sample exercise. Modifications and pauses can be placed
wherever appropriate.
Make yourself comfortable.
Gently close your eyes. Be in touch with your
breathing, the natural rhythm of your breath. Allow
any tension to flow through you into the floor, the
earth. Feel your attention and energy pulling in. Be
in a state of awareness, of attentive energy. When
you are doing this activity, simply note what you
observe, no analyzing, simply
observe, knowing you can work with it later. If your
mind is busy saying, but I need to know what this
means, reassure it that you will be able to analyze
later. For now simply observe and note. Allow
yourself the fullness of this experience, knowing
that you don't have to do anything about it.
Visualize yourself ten years
from now as you think about these questions (Pause
between questions. Feel free to skip or to ask other
questions.):
Describe where are you
living.
Characterize what your
friends are like.
Comment on how are you
earning a living.
Describe what you do for
entertainment and relaxation.
Describe your interests and
hobbies.
Discuss the types of knowledge
you hope to acquire.
Characterize the direction of
your aspirations.
When you are ready, slowly open
your eyes and gently stretch, return to a normal
waking state. Put the images on paper in a
comfortable way.
After images are on paper, small group
discussions can be helpful in discovering personal
meaning. When small groups return to the larger group,
issues of transference¾ in other words, how to apply this method to a
different situation¾ can be discussed. Students should be encouraged
to try guided imagery on their own.
Two ideas are crucial to the success of
this learning: confidence that it will work and belief
that this is a valid way of learning. People often think
that in learning or writing the only approach to success
is to be sitting at a well lighted desk in a very relaxed
manner with no distraction. Things that have been seen as
alternative ways of learning are now moving towards the
center and are becoming acceptable.
An "Introduction to Engineering and
Engineering Technology" Course for High School
Students - Part II
by Cynthia S. Hirtzel,
Dean of Engineering, Temple University
This is the second column devoted to
describing a course entitled "Introduction to
Engineering and Engineering Technology" developed
for high school students (the first column appeared in
the Fall 1996 issue of this newsletter). And, as
described in that first column, the primary textbook for
the course is Studying Engineering by Ray Landis.
Much of the philosophy, ideas, and motivation for the
course were derived from Landis’ work, research, and
experience with student development and success. The
focus for that first column was on our motivation for
developing the course, and also included, for example, a
brief outline of the course as it was offered to students
at a local high school (the Carver High School of
Engineering and Science in Philadelphia).
One of the underlying philosophies and
motivations for developing the course was to provide a
foundation for student success in college, irrespective
of whether or not the students taking the course intended
to pursue engineering or engineering technology majors in
college. Chapter One of Landis’ book is entitled
"Keys to Success in Engineering Study" and, in
fact, this chapter presents the key factors to success in
any field of study or, for that matter, in any endeavor.
As delineated by the author, these three key
factors—determination, effort, and
approach—will enable the student to succeed and
achieve the goal of a B.S. degree in engineering or, in
my opinion, any field.
On Day 1 of the course, each student
was given an exercise entitled, "Getting to Know
You." The intent of the exercise was precisely that;
i.e., to enable the instructor to quickly gain some
meaningful insights into each and every student, his/her
goals and objectives, and so forth. In order to focus the
students’ thinking and writing, several specific
questions were asked (in addition to allowing the
students to write about whatever else they wanted to tell
us, the instructors, about themselves). These questions
included, among others:
What made you decide to study
engineering (or whatever)?
What motivates you?
What do you believe are your
special strengths and skills?
What do you expect from this
course?
What are your personal goals and
objectives, both short-term and long-term?
Students were given about twenty-five
minutes to respond to this exercise, and the remainder of
that first class was devoted to the usual description of
the course syllabus, text and other details.
This exercise then led quite logically
to the first assignment from the text. In particular,
students were assigned five problems from Chapter One for
this first assignment. These problems assigned were:
"List ten goals you want to achieve in your
lifetime. Classify each as a short-term goal,
intermediate-term goal, or long-term goal." [problem
2]; "Have you ever achieved anything that others
thought you couldn’t through sheer determination?
What was it?" [problem 6]; "Do you think that
people succeed because of their ability or because of
their effort? Which do you think is more important:
ability or effort? Why?" [problem 8]; "List
five things that you could do to study
‘smarter’ that you are not currently doing.
Pick the two most important ones and try to implement
them." [problem 9]; and, finally, "List ten
tasks that an engineer might perform (e.g., write a
report, conduct a meeting). Rank them in the order that
you would most enjoy doing. Explain why you picked your
top three." [problem 11]
In addition to turning in these
assignments, a class period was devoted to open
discussion of these problems and students’
responses. The discussion was tremendous, and the
diversity of opinion on such issues as, for example,
whether ability or effort is more important, was amazing
and gave me, as an instructor (and listener and observer
during the discussions) great insight into the students,
their ways of thinking, their modes of action/reaction,
and other aspects of their personalities and learning
styles.
These problems and students’
responses were revisited several times throughout the
semester and it was interesting to note how, in some
cases, individual students changed their initial
responses and ideas as the course progressed.
In closing this column, I would like to
reiterate how useful this text is for use with high
school students, not only for students who intend to
major in engineering or engineering technology, but for
all students.
Virtual Learning
by Don Woolston
Earlier this fall, over 200 engineering
freshmen at the University of Wisconsin-Madison heard
about the importance of determination, effort, and
approach in studying engineering first-hand from Dean Ray
Landis who never left his campus in California.
The students were in an auditorium in
Engineering Hall in Madison, attending a class called
Engineering Professional Development 101, Contemporary
Issues in Engineering. In this classroom, Dean Landis
appeared live and in person, in the form of a 20 ft tall
electronic image transported there over regular phone
lines through the technology of compressed video.
Likewise, Dean Landis could see the class to whom he was
speaking on a TV monitor in a distance education
classroom in Los Angeles. While the video was not
broadcast quality, it was certainly of sufficient
resolution to produce a feeling of presence and
interaction.
Dean Landis’s messages on the
importance of change on the part of beginning students,
the importance of students learning how to study
engineering, and the importance of determination,
approach and effort were absorbed by UW-Madison freshmen,
who are encouraged but not required to take EPD 101. The
course counts as a one-credit hour liberal elective class
in their curriculum. Throughout the semester, students
learn about problem solving, teamwork, environmental
issues, legal issues, ethical issues, and the importance
of diversity and quality in modern engineering practice.
The class also has a strong academic
support component, to which Dean Landis’ message was
crucial. The class is team-taught by the staff of the
Pre-Engineering Office (Jordan Lee, Linda Schilling,
Bonnie Schmidt, Don Woolston, and Eman Zaki). The Office
is responsible for the advising and academic affairs of
all freshman engineering students at UW-Madison. More
often than not, the instructors invite practicing
engineers to lead the classes to give the freshmen role
models and a first-hand, up-to-date impression of modern
engineering practice. Dean Landis’ book Studying
Engineering is recommended for the course.
Did Dean Landis’ appearance in the
class make an impression? Here is what one of the
students wrote in her EPD 101 journal:
For the first time in
Monday’s class, I realized first-hand how
impressive the technological resources can be in a
place like this. To have someone sitting in
California talking to us was really impressive and it
made me very glad I chose a school large enough where
such things are possible and even common. This one
little technological wonder got me thinking about the
amazing things that are going on all over this
university. It is very exciting to be in a place with
so much going on, and I am very happy to be part of
it.
CALL FOR
PAPERS
Success
101
Success 101 is published twice yearly
(May 1 and Dec 1) and mailed to approximately
2,000 engineering educators. We are seeking
articles for the Spring, 1998 issue.
Deadline March 15, 1998
Submissions may range from very short (e.g.,
quotes, exercises, activities) to up to two pages
in the newsletter (opinion pieces, success
stories, letters to the editor). Submit
(preferably by e-mail or on disk) to:
Success 101
c/o Dr. Raymond B. Landis
School of Engineering and Technology
California State University, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA 90032
Telephone: (213) 343-4500
Fax: (213) 343-4555
E-mail: rlandis@calstatela.edu
