<p>Empathy is increasingly recognized as a critical skill and disposition for engineering practice. Empathy enhances the ability to understand and connect with the thoughts and feelings of others, which helps engineers design concepts and products that are both innovative and aligned to actual user needs and desires. With increased competition and need to innovate in this global economy, there is a growing need for more empathic engineers and an increasing need for more research in the area to prepare future empathic engineers. Previous research indicates community-engagement as a pedagogical approach that provides a context for empathic development. Understanding how empathy changes through a community-engaged design experience can inform the development of a wide range of design and community-engagement experiences. Therefore, this dissertation sought a deeper understanding of the impact of community-engaged design learning on empathic growth and the factors that contribute to that growth for engineering undergraduate students. The study employed a sequential explanatory mixed methods design focused on the empathic development of students enrolled in a community-engaged design course. In the first phase, empathic development was assessed using pre- and post-data collection of empathy and community partner interaction surveys. In the second qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with students to build on the results from the quantitative phase and provide insights into the empathic development and import of community relationships identified therein. This study defined empathy as a tripartite phenomenon comprised of the (1) affective dimension emphasizing feelings of concern for another, (2) cognitive dimension emphasizing knowing what another is feeling, and (3) behavioral dimension emphasizing the act of responding based on the cognitive and affective experience. The results highlighted students engaging in how they empathized by showing concern/sympathy—affective dimension—and took the perspective of users –cognitive dimension—in order to understand and make informed design decisions for their projects –behavioral dimension. The quantitative phase did not find any statistically significant practical changes for the overall population. However, based on interviews of students who increased in all three constructs—empathic concern, perspective taking, and interpersonal self-efficacy, which served as proxies for the affective, cognitive, and behavioral dimensions of empathy, empathy manifested and developed due to different factors. These factors included impactful experiences, leadership positions, long-term participation and diverse team members. The results also highlighted prior experiences and overestimating as factors that students attributed for their high pre-test scores in interpersonal self-efficacy.  </p>

<p>The thesis aims to evaluate (ground) and influence (inform) the intersection of the Construction Engineering Education (CEE) field with Engineering Education (ENE) by evaluating three research objectives:</p> <ol> <li>Does literature indicate that CEE (Construction Engineering Education) in the US higher education system actively integrate established ENE (Engineering Education) Recommended Practices (RP) pedagogically?</li> <li>Does Purdue’s Division of Construction Engineering and Management (CEM) incorporate Engineering Education Recommended Practices?</li> <li>Can Engineering Education Recommended Practices be applied to CEM courses?</li> </ol> <p>The framework developed to evaluate the research objectives established a mixed-method research approach that employed systematic literature review and action research. The author is motivated to provide students with authentic and centered experiences allowing students to attempt complex activities and fail with a controlled environment before entering the AEC profession. The volume of literature discovered in the research indicates an opportunity to implement and promote ENE RP. The deployment of the CEE-accepted ENE RP demonstrates the agility and impact of the RP options. As a result, the author’s work contributes to the growth of the CEE field, the development of CEM courses implementing ENE RP, and the engagement of the construction student. </p>

<p>Persistence and graduation rates continue to be important student success outcomes for engineering programs. In part, these outcomes reflect the effectiveness of the educational experience that has been delivered to the students. This educational experience is shaped by three main factors: 1) the organizational context, 2) the peer environment, and 3) the individual student experience. Prior research on student persistence in engineering has primarily focused on peer interactions and individual student experiences, while the organizational context has not received as much attention. Yet, engineering colleges and departments have a large degree of control over their organizational contexts which can be strategically managed to promote student success.</p> <p><br></p> <p>This work investigated the relationship between organizational features of engineering programs and two student success outcomes: 1) program persistence after one academic year and, 2) engineering graduation. Student data included sociodemographics and academic records for the 2011 and 2012 engineering cohorts at a single institution. Organizational features that were evaluated included compositional diversity of students and instructors, gateway courses, program size and scale, and the curriculum. To operationalize the organizational features of the curriculum, the curricular complexity framework was used (Heileman et al., 2018). To enhance this framework, a novel method to measure the instructional complexity of a curriculum was proposed. This method determined the difficulty of a course using a performance metric called grade anomaly rather than the traditional DFW rate (the percentage of students who earn grades of D, F or withdraw). A student’s grade anomaly in a specific course is calculated relative to their performance in their other courses. A course grade anomaly is the mean grade anomaly of students in a course, and a curricular grade anomaly is the mean course grade anomaly across a curriculum. Results showed that course grade anomaly measured a different aspect of the curriculum than DFW rate and was more robust.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Multilevel models were used to determine which organizational variables influenced a student’s likelihood of program persistence and engineering graduation after accounting for individual-level factors. Program size was positively associated with both outcomes, but class size</p> <p>had no effect. Gender and racial diversity in the student population had positive effects as well. More gateway courses in the curriculum had a negative impact on both outcomes, and a larger curricular DFW rate had a negative impact on engineering graduation only. The structural complexity of a curriculum had no influence on either outcome. Lastly, curricular grade anomaly had a negative effect on both outcomes, meaning students in more difficult programs were more likely to persist in the program and graduate from engineering.</p> <p><br></p> <p>These results indicate that organizational features can affect student success, and engineering faculty should consider these features when evaluating their students’ outcomes. Gender and racial diversity should be prioritized because it is beneficial for all students. The number of gateway courses should be minimized, and students should be given proper academic support to pass their difficult courses. The finding that students in more difficult programs had higher likelihoods of program persistence and engineering graduation was unexpected, and it</p> <p>raised questions about the properties of curricular grade anomaly and the cultural influences of engineering education. In this work, this finding was interpreted as evidence for the meritocracy of difficulty in engineering, where students place value on academic hardship which can affect their motivation to succeed. This interpretation raises further questions about how cultures in engineering education impact the organizational features of engineering programs. Furthermore, it invites scholars to investigate other organizational features that may play a role in student persistence.</p>

This thesis discusses the development of an advanced real-time embedded systems course offered at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, which aims to prepare students to design modern complex real-time embedded systems. It describes the goals of the real-time embedded systems curriculum, which includes an introductory and advanced course. Finally, this paper discusses the challenges of creating a successful advanced real-time embedded systems course and proposes changes to the current advanced real-time embedded systems course in response to those challenges.

Published Article / There have been numerous national- and international-level calls for the reform of engineering education. This includes the need for a shift to a knowledge economy - one that utilises knowledge as the key engine of competitive growth. However, despite several initiatives to address reform, relatively little has changed in the content and conduct of engineering education. It has been argued that engineering education has entered a period where changes are required, but that the management structures that are in place do not provide the needed support to encourage and facilitate these changes in order to promote innovation. The current study employed a multiple case study method to explore challenges faced by the deans of four engineering faculties in four non-adjacent countries and to explain the organisational structures and management processes employed to deal with these challenges in their unique contexts. The analysis identified four areas of challenges and innovative structures and management practices that can be transferred and implemented in other contexts.

It has been said that engineers create that which never was. The university experience is a key component in preparing engineers who support the creation of products and systems that improve the world we live in. The way in which engineers have been trained in universities has changed throughout history in America, moving from an apprentice-like approach to the still-used engineer scientist. Some in industry and academia feel that this model of engineer preparation needs to change in order to better address the complexities of engineering in the 21st century, and help fill a perceived gap between academic preparation and 21st century industrial necessity. A new model for student preparation centering on engineering design called the Live Simulation Based Learning (LSBL) approach is proposed based upon the theories of situated learning, game-based learning, epistemic frames, and accidental competencies. This dissertation discusses the results of a study of the application of LSBL in a two term capstone design class in aerospace engineering aircraft design at Virginia Tech. It includes LSBL's impact on student professional and technical skills in relation to aerospace engineering design practice. Results indicate that the participants found the LSBL experience to be more engaging than the traditional lecture approach and does help students respond and think more like aerospace engineering practicing professionals and thus begin to address the "gap" between academia and industry. / Ph. D.

This paper contains the results of a survey of almost 43% of all the private civil engineering firms and government agencies in the state of Mississippi. The survey was focused primarily on the use of software and their thoughts on the software knowledge of new college graduates hired at each place of business. There were three key issues the survey focused on: computer programs used, software proficiencies of new college graduates, and the benefits of prior software knowledge. The paper presents the survey results and analyzes the trends in order to discover what civil engineering firms do and want. Also in this paper, methods of integrating software into a typical civil engineering curriculum are explored. Overall, it was found that several programs were constant in all of the firms, and that even though software knowledge is not required to land a job, it certainly is beneficial.

<p>  </p> <p>Recent technological advancements such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, smart sensors, and Cloud Computing bring the world into a new era-Industry 4.0. The applications of Industry 4.0 technologies have been becoming prevalent in many aspects of the industry. Quality management experts view the application of the latest technologies in the quality area as leveraging quality management into the 4.0 era, called Quality 4.0. Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is a widely used methodology to improve quality. Many companies rely on LSS to improve quality. The current and future LSS practitioners need to tailor their skills to adjust to the Quality 4.0 environment. Therefore, undergraduate students in related majors must prepare themselves with adequate skills to adapt to the new Quality 4.0 era. The researcher aimed to find the skills needed for undergraduate students to learn to practice LSS in the Quality 4.0 environment. The researcher surveyed academia and industry experts in LSS to map the themes of skills needed for students to work as LSS experts in the Quality 4.0 environment after graduation. The researcher used the Delphi method to conduct surveys and justify the results.</p>

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