An Engineering Learning Center: A Model for Systemic Engineering Education Reform

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98-72307 Azadivar Kansas State An Engineering Learning Center: A Model for Systemic Engineering Education Reform This project will expand the current domain of a Manufacturing Learning Center (MLC), developed with partial support from NSF (three engineering programs) into an Engineering Learning Center (ELC) to include other areas of engineering as well as some business disciplines. Six faculty members representing five engineering and three business school programs will participate in this project as the core decision making body for the ELC and as advisors to students from their corresponding disciplines. In addition, because interns' experiences require much written and oral communication, a professor from KSU's English Department, with extensive experience in technical writing and professional communications, will participate as consultant assisting students with their communication tasks. Furthermore, the project will extend the internship opportunities to high school students in an effort to prepare them for engineering education even before they have entered the university. This project addresses many of the goals of the Action Agenda. In particular, experience has shown, that by supplementing their classroom education with an internship at the MLC, students gain the ability to lead and perform as a member of a team, understand the non-technical aspects of engineering decisions, develop strong communication and persuasion skills, and acquire skills for life long learning. In addition, while presenting all the benefits, the proposed system does not add to the length of engineering education. At the completion of this project, the PI will document a fully implementable system that could be used as a model for engineering at many universities.