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Thesis (Ph.D.)--George Mason University, 2009. / Vita: p. 187. Thesis director: Margret Hjalmarson. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Sept. 8, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 178-186). Also issued in print.

Student in the university is a freshman orientation course in the Department of Engineering Technology at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) that was developed during the summer of 1994. The course initially was an elective course that became very popular with our freshman students. Because of its popularity, it became a required course for all freshmen with less than thirty credit hours. The focus of the course was and is to foster relationships with students and faculty, help students verify their decision to choose engineering technology or help them at least make informed decisions centered on choosing a major. The course uses a variety of teaching strategies and innovative approaches of instructions to attract and retain students in the field. This manuscript details many of the approaches that are used in the course that has been proven successful. Due to the versatile content of this course, we believe other programs with similar orientation courses could benefit from our experience.

In this paper, two software packages (AutoCAD and Mannequin) are integrated to create an ergonomic CAD system. This developed system will provide designers with a powerful graphical tool to evaluate their design for human factors and safety criteria. An absence of a truly integrated ergonomic CAD system that has been desired by many researchers and designers was the motivating factor behind our efforts. Steps taken to integrate these two somewhat incompatible software is explained in this paper. Now designers have an ergonomic CAD system to assist them to design products according to physical abilities and characteristics of their human operators. Utilizing this type of technology could revolutionize the way products are designed and significantly reduce the alarming number of related injuries, thus saving millions of dollars. This integrated system could also substantially reduce the critical factor of time to market and lower overall cost of designing new products by allowing designers to test their products for human fit without having to build a prototype or using real subject.

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According to the ASEE publication Engineering by the Numbers, student retention and persistence to graduation are ongoing problems for engineering and engineering technology (ET) programs around the country. It is a well-established fact that the quality of interaction between a student and a concerned individual on campus, often through academic advising, is a key contributor to college retention. Over the years, academic advisors have developed effective advising strategies that research shows have positively impacted students' retention and their persistence to graduation. In this study, a national survey was conducted among academic advisors of ET programs in the USA. Results show that for ET students, retention and persistence to graduation are improved by personalized and caring advising, being proactive, keeping students focused on their plan of study, actively listening to students' complaints and concerns, acting on those concerns, and believing in the student. On the other hand, being passive, ignoring students' issues, embarrassing them on their academic struggles and limited knowledge about the curriculum and departmental procedures and practices are found to be the least effective. Overall, this study contributes to ET body of knowledge by providing ET academic advisors a set of best practices for student success. The findings of the study will also benefit ET faculty members, who directly or indirectly advise students, by sharpening their advising practices.

Thesis (M. Ed.(Assessment and quality assurance in education and training))-University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.