Development and Implementation of a Novel Approach to Teaching Engineering Fundamentals to Engineering Students at CSULA

本TUES 1型项目的目标是为加州州立大学洛杉矶分校（CSULA）二年级工程专业学生开发、实施和评估基于结果的综合核心课程。这个新的二年级课程由互动式的工作坊式课程组成，旨在将学生的学习体验转变为以学生为中心的学习体验。重新设计的核心工程课程旨在解决提高CSULA工程学生的保留率和学习成绩的长期目标。传统的教学形式被一系列的实验课程和诊所所取代，这些课程和诊所为学生提供了与教师、助教和同行合作解决工程问题的实践机会。课程设计以结果为导向，旨在帮助工程专业学生在工程分析、应用、设计和建模、沟通和专业等核心能力方面获得坚实的基础。该课程还旨在提供不同课程之间的凝聚力，以便学生可以从五个能力领域中的每个领域的角度关注共同的主题，并看到他们在核心课程中学习的材料的相互联系。这一核心工程课程有可能成为其他类似院校学生遭遇“二年级低潮”的典范。该课程与ABET成果相对应，使其可转移到其他机构的类似工程课程中。该项目针对少数族裔（URM）学生在CSULA工程专业毕业过程中遇到的一些挑战，其中约55%的学生来自URM群体。结果和发现将与科罗拉多州立大学系统内的其他机构以及邻近的社区学院共享。

The objective of this TUES Type 1 project is to develop, implement, and assess an outcomes-based integrated core curriculum for sophomore-level engineering students at California State University Los Angeles (CSULA). This new sophomore curriculum is comprised of interactive, workshop-style courses and designed to transform the student learning experience into an engaging student-centered one. The redesigned core engineering curriculum is aimed at addressing long-term goals of increasing the retention and improve the academic performance of CSULA engineering students. The traditional pedagogical format is replaced by a series of laboratory courses and clinics that provide the students with practice working through engineering problems collaboratively with faculty, teaching assistants, and peers. The curriculum design is driven by outcomes established to help engineering majors acquire a strong foundation in core competencies in engineering analysis, applications, design and modeling, communication, and professionalism. The curriculum also is designed to provide cohesiveness between the different courses so that students can focus on common topics from the perspective of each of the five competency areas and see the interconnectedness of the material they are learning in the core courses. This core engineering curriculum has the potential to serve as a model for other similar institutions whose students encounter the "sophomore slump." The curriculum is mapped to ABET outcomes, making it transferable to similar engineering programs at other institutions. This project targets the some of the challenges underrepresented minority (URM) students encounter in their pathway to graduation in engineering at CSULA, where about 55% of the students are from URM groups. Results and findings are shared with other institutions in the CSU system, as well as with neighboring community colleges.