DOWNLOAD YEAR 7 REPORT:
Pdf
Ten years ago the National Science
Foundation imagined changing the culture of engineering education.
The result of that vision was the Engineering Education Coalitions
Program, the goals of which reflected its ambitious, far- reaching
nature, namely to:
- Design, implement, evaluate, and disseminate new structures
and approaches affecting all aspects of undergraduate engineering
education;
- Generate a dramatic increase in both the quality of engineering
education and the number of degrees awarded in engineering, including
those to women and underrepresented minorities;
- Establish new linkages among all types of U.S. engineering institutions,
large and small.
For the past seven years,
the Foundation Coalition (FC) has been striving toward those goals,
seeking to realize our stated vision of leading the nation in the
creation of a new culture of engineering-one that moves from a focus
on compartmentalized course content to one of a more comprehensive
and integrated student experience.
Much of what we imagined
seven years ago has become a reality.
Significant
numbers of students, including targeted groups of students,
are being impacted on partner campuses by new curriculum models
developed and institutionalized by the FC.
A comprehensive
set of diverse models that incorporate integrated courses, learning
communities, active and cooperative learning, and extensive use
of technology has been developed. These models, particularly for
the first two years of the curriculum, have been tested and implemented
at several institutions. They provide a framework that almost any
kind of institution can use to plan and implement change.
Faculty have
become champions for change, a necessity if the desired culture
changes are to persist.
Proactive and targeted dissemination
plans have been developed to move far beyond the partner campuses
in our efforts to transform engineering education.
During the first seven
years of the FC, the focus has been on developing, testing, and
institutionalizing the new "structures and approaches affecting
all aspects of undergraduate engineering education" on our own
campuses. The FC is now poised to demonstrate that we have been
successful, that we have a great deal to offer to others, and
that we can help develop strategies for change in a variety of
educational settings.
|
