{"title":"Understanding Transmission Line Impedance Matching Using Neural Networks and PowerPoint","authors":"T. L. Hemminger","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2005.1611978","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2005.1611978","url":null,"abstract":"Impedance matching between transmission lines and antennas is an important and fundamental concept in electromagnetic theory. It is frequently performed with Smith charts or relatively complex formulas, but mathematical methods can yield unanticipated results unless the student has a solid grasp of the underlying theory. Unfortunately, students rarely show interest in graphical techniques and Smith charts can be difficult to use because of optical effects generated by the gridlines. This paper presents an alternative method of teaching single stub impedance matching by permitting students to verify their results from the Smith chart with a neural network. This technology provides instant feedback for most single stub problems, and is re-enforced through Web-based PowerPoint demonstrations. The neural network presents the solution, not the procedure, so it is the responsibility of the student to seek help from the instructor or use the PowerPoint tutorial. Student comments have been very positive, and course evaluations have improved","PeriodicalId":281157,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings Frontiers in Education 35th Annual Conference","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2005-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131511016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Work in progress - documenting an environmental footprint as a means toward achieving student civic involvement","authors":"P. Hylton, W. Otoupal, R. Wyman","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2005.1611973","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2005.1611973","url":null,"abstract":"The United States has a global reputation as a user and abuser of natural resources. While many parts of the western world are working hard at developing sustainable processes and environmentally friendly practices, the U. S. continues to lag behind in this area. Engineering and Technology students have the potential to significantly impact this situation in the coming years as they apply their skills to develop new technologies for the betterment of society. However, there must be a philosophical shift in the way that both people and corporations look at their effect on the environment","PeriodicalId":281157,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings Frontiers in Education 35th Annual Conference","volume":"53 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2005-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116496122","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Work in progress - developing national survey instruments to assess engagement in best instructional practices and attainment of targeted student outcomes","authors":"S. A. Bjorklund, N. Fortenberry","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2005.1612016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2005.1612016","url":null,"abstract":"This paper describes the process of developing two survey instruments student and faculty versions to assess the extent to which engineering students are engaged in identified \"best instructional practices\" in engineering education and achieving certain learning outcomes desired of engineering graduates. Drafts of the survey instruments will be completed by July 2005 and piloted at a single institution in spring 2006. At the conclusion of this project, CASEE intends to make the survey instruments available for use by engineering colleges nationwide","PeriodicalId":281157,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings Frontiers in Education 35th Annual Conference","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2005-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127654032","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
S. Lord, E. Cashman, E. Eschenbach, Alisha A. Waller
{"title":"Feminism and engineering","authors":"S. Lord, E. Cashman, E. Eschenbach, Alisha A. Waller","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2005.1612157","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2005.1612157","url":null,"abstract":"Can you be feminist and an engineer? This paper explores this question and aims to show some of the breadth of experience and meanings involved in constructing this combination. Specifically, for this study we used ourselves as the sample population. We are four women engineers who identify themselves as feminists, with Ph.D. degrees and interests in education. Our backgrounds include electrical, environmental, and industrial engineering and teaching experiences at large and small private and public universities. Our experiences with formal courses in pedagogy and feminism range from none to quite extensive. For this study, we each wrote an essay in response to questions of how we combine feminism and engineering as well as our opinions on feminist pedagogy. We used these essays as data for a qualitative analysis from which several common themes and differences emerged. In this paper, we briefly describe ourselves and present our definitions of feminism. We provide illustrations of our most common themes from our reflections. The two most frequent themes were those of social justice for engineering including making the engineering community more welcoming to a diverse group of people and wanting to enhance student learning. Consideration of feminist pedagogy led to a third theme of critiquing the engineering process itself including who and what is studied. Finally, we present our variety of views on our motivation for investigating feminist pedagogy and its use in engineering education","PeriodicalId":281157,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings Frontiers in Education 35th Annual Conference","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2005-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132649356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Work in progress - developing a project based first year design course","authors":"A.H. Hoffinan, K. N. Liadis, Bonniejean Boettcher","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2005.1612076","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2005.1612076","url":null,"abstract":"First year design courses face several obstacles. The students have little or no design experience and only a high school background. A strategy was developed to address these issues. The course rapidly built design experience by emphasizing case studies and reverse engineering activities. The development and use of design specifications were also emphasized. The course project was to design and build a prototype of a sensory stimulation table for an adult man with profound mental retardation. The class was divided into 8 groups of 4-5 students. Required weekly progress reports ensured timely completion of the project. Several students continued to work on advanced prototypes after completion of the course. With proper project selection, service learning projects can be successfully introduced into first year design courses","PeriodicalId":281157,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings Frontiers in Education 35th Annual Conference","volume":"8 36","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2005-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132746964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Incorporating student peer-review into an introduction to engineering design course","authors":"P. Carlson, F. Berry, D. Voltmer","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2005.1612043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2005.1612043","url":null,"abstract":"We report on a project to improve the teaching of engineering design at the junior level. Peer review of student work is an integral part of collaborative learning and reform-driven engineering education. Yet successfully implementing this pedagogical technique requires significant amounts of instructor and class time. Furthermore, if adequate formative assessment does not emerge from peer review, the experience may devolve into \"busy work\" in the eyes of the student. Here, we give early results from an NSF-funded study using Calibrated Peer Review (a Web-delivered, collaborative learning environment) to enhance learning in engineering design","PeriodicalId":281157,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings Frontiers in Education 35th Annual Conference","volume":"46 9-10","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2005-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132811363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Teaching optical communications concepts in embedded systems courses","authors":"J. Conrad, S. Lasaaameh, I. Vakil, B. Levine","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2005.1611968","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2005.1611968","url":null,"abstract":"There have been significant technological developments and advancements in areas related to telecommunication, medicine, and computing. Optical engineering has played an important role in all of these. Optical engineering is becoming more prevalent because of its wide range of applications in almost every field. The goal of a teaching effort was to create embedded system lab exercises that could be used to teach optical communications hardware interfacing and control. This paper identifies pedagogy for teaching these concepts and conducting laboratory exercises. It then presents the experiences of introducing board-to-board communications using simple infrared and fiber optical communications devices in the classroom. Specific assessment of student skills that were needed as a prerequisite and successes are also addressed","PeriodicalId":281157,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings Frontiers in Education 35th Annual Conference","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2005-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131924767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Virtual reality in science and engineering education","authors":"Rachid Manseur","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2005.1612051","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2005.1612051","url":null,"abstract":"This article discusses the current use of virtual reality tools and their potential in science and engineering education. One programming tool in particular, the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) is presented in light of its applications and possibilities in the development of computer visualization tools for education. VRML can be combined with other software development tools to create interactive dynamic computer graphics to assist in the teaching and understanding of scientific and technological principles. One contribution of this article is to present software tools and provide examples that may encourage educators to develop virtual reality models to enhance teaching in their own discipline","PeriodicalId":281157,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings Frontiers in Education 35th Annual Conference","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2005-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132302123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Work in progress - effect of instructional design and pair programming on student performance in an introductory programming course","authors":"T.C. Ahren","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2005.1612093","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2005.1612093","url":null,"abstract":"California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) uses an outcomes-based delivery philosophy and focuses on measurable student learning. Because of the required outcome it was determined that the students needed more scaffolding or \"metacognitive support\" than is typically afforded in the introductory programming courses. The students were simply not capable of making the jump from simple programming concepts to being able to deliver a satisfactory completed portfolio piece. This paper reports on a study that investigated use of pair programming as a delivery methodology for an introductory Java programming course","PeriodicalId":281157,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings Frontiers in Education 35th Annual Conference","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2005-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134280809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"International partnership using remotely accessed labs","authors":"W. Hutzel, R. Furter","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2005.1611969","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2005.1611969","url":null,"abstract":"An international project between the Mechanical Engineering Technology Department at Purdue University and the HVAC Engineering Department at HTA Lucerne (Switzerland) is testing the limits of the remote access concept by creating a laboratory network that is separated by thousands of miles. Using Web-enabled HVAC equipment, U.S. students are determining the performance and return on investment for a heat recovery system that is physically located in Switzerland. The converse is also true, Swiss students have access to a variety of equipment located in the U.S. This remote access project is a good example of a sustainable partnership that adds an international perspective to undergraduate education. Although a relatively small number of students have visited the other institution in person, larger numbers of U.S./Swiss students are recognizing the globalization of engineering practice during routine laboratory work","PeriodicalId":281157,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings Frontiers in Education 35th Annual Conference","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2005-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134431895","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}