GRDSCH 630B: Active Learning for Engineering Education

Course Information, Spring 2002

1. The final reflection is posted here. Feel free to work on this ahead of class on 6/5 if you think you might want more than 20 minutes to work on it. This reflection is more for you than me since it should summarize your experience in this course.
2. Reminder: Submit an annotated web link for at least one course topic. Find a website or reference that is either informative or a good or bad example of one topic. Briefly explain why and how it is useful and email it to me.
3. The faculty interview questions are here.

Course description:
This section of GRDSCH 630, Special Topics in University Teaching, is a 2 credit course on active learning in engineering education. It is meant for graduate students with TA experience who wish to learn more about teaching. The structure will be more like a seminar than a lecture course. Active learning methods will be used to illustrate the methods. Students can expect to spend some time leading the class or small groups in exercises.

Prerequisites: Engineering/Computer Science TA experience

Instructor: Rebecca Bates (becky@ee.washington.edu)
Office: New EE Bldg, Rm 203

Course Hours: Wednesday 9:30-11:20, Johnson 437

Office Hours:

EE1 205	F 2-3:30
Electronic	Tuesday, Thursday 4:30-5:00

Electronic office hours are guaranteed times when I will check EPost and respond to any new queries.

Course materials:
Required Text:
There is no required text for this course. Teaching tips (11th ed.), W. McKeachie, Houghton Mifflin, 2001, and Tools for Teaching, Barbara Gross Davis, The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series, 1993, are recommended texts you might find useful. Readings will be available on the web or through the CIDR library or on reserve for copying purposes at the Engineering Library. Other suggested books will also be listed.
Course syllabus: html version of annotated schedule. This includes links to most of the readings and will change as links are submitted by class members.
Class topic schedule: PS version; PDF version

Course goals:
This course introduces graduate students with some teaching experience to education theory and methods. It is hoped that students will be able to use their own experience to come to a deeper understanding of teaching methods introduced in the course. Students who complete this course should expect to:

• develop a greater awareness of teaching as a learned, and improvable, activity;
• learn about available teaching resources;
• be exposed to different teaching methods, including knowledge of the vocabulary used in engineering education research literature;
• experience learning about engineering in an active learning environment;
• prepare engineering material for their own students using different teaching methods.

Course objectives:
Given the goals for the class, students in the class came up with possible objectives to show how the course goals might be met. Along with the course activities already planned in the class schedule, some of the suggested objectives will be incorporated into the class. The suggestions are here and include a list of incorporated objectives.

Grading Policy:
The class is offered credit/no credit. Credit will be given to people who regularly show up to class and participate in class activities. There will be some work to be done outside of class in order to participate well in class. Participation will involve both speaking and attentive listening during class as well as taking on assigned group roles in small group activities.

Other Information

GRDSCH 630B Handouts

Contact Information for Rebecca Bates

EPost: GRDSCH 630B Q&A Message Board
(Instructions from UWired for using EPost.)

Interesting links

• University of Washington Centers
  • CELT: The Center for Engineering Learning and Teaching
  • CIDR: The Center for Instuctional Development and Research. Note especially the the TA handbook.
  • CLTL: The Center for Teaching Learning and Technology (Catalyst software)
• Active learning links
  • CIDR's Active Learning links
  • CIDR's engineering active learning and assessment tools links
  • CIDR's math and science links
  • Classroom assessment examples at the National Institute for Science Education
• Huckabay Fellowships and Preparing Future Faculty resources at the UW.
• Engineering Education: Designing an Adaptive System, National Research Council, 1995.
• Annotated links submitted by the class.

Readings recommended in class:

• Week 1:
  • The Course Syllabus: A Learning-Centered Approach, Judith Brunert, Anker Publishing Company, Inc., Bolton MA, 1997
• Week 2:
  • "Information Gathering: A Critical Step for Quality in the Design Process," Karen M. Bursic and Cynthia J. Atman, QMJ, 97(4), pp. 60-74.
  • "Information Gathering Activity: Teacher's Guide," from CELT, July 2001.
  • Classroom Assessment Techniques, Angelo & Cross, 1993
  • Allison, Graham T. Essence of Decision Making: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis Boson, 1971.
  • Bibliography of over 5000 research papers examining student conceptions in science by Pfundt and Duit. URL for those of you who know German. Some of the website is in English but my German quickly failed me.
• Week 3:
  • Mentoring information and handouts from Angela Linse: notes and references.
• Week 4:
  • Hake, Richard R., "Interactive-engagement vs traditional methods: A six-thousand student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses," American Journal of Physics. 66, 64-75 (1998). PDF version.
  • A presentation on "Assessing the Role of Diversity in Teaching and Learning Outcomes" by James A. Anderson, Vice-Provost, North Caroline State University. PDF version. Some of the questions asked here are similar to the ones we came up with. In particular, there are suggestions for orienting students to active learning and strategies for success in courses with technical content (slides 11-15).
• Week 6:
  • Angelo and Cross, Classroom Assessment Techniques (2nd ed.), San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993.

Class Outcomes:

• Week 1: Going from class goals to class objectives.
• Week 3: Questions to ask faculty.
• Week 4: Wrap-up of active learning session.
• Week 5: Development of a WebQ: an online quiz that can be used for assessment purposes. Here, it was used for generating reflective feedback about today's class.
• Week 6: Useful answers to the question "Briefly, what good is in-class assessment for your students?" Also, we addressed these questions.
• Week 7: Group learning. We came up with a list of things that represent good group behavior and talked about ways to head off bad behavior while developing students' group processing skills. Useful answers to the question "Briefly, what key point would you use to motivate group learning for your students?"