The Development of a Framework for Investigating the Effectiveness of Capstone Course Curricular Changes

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Sherrett ◽  
John Parmigiani
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
State University ◽  
Student Work ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Capstone Course ◽  
The Past ◽  
Capstone Courses ◽  
Course Changes ◽  
Student Grades

Capstone courses are an integral part of the educational experience in undergraduate engineering programs. However, such courses tend to be challenging in nature for course instructors as many of the features of the capstone course contrast starkly with typical courses in the engineering curriculum. As in any field, communication of effective strategies is crucial as the capstone course community seeks to better their practices. With this goal in mind, the question arises: How does one instructor convince her or his colleagues that a teaching practice implemented at the home university is (i) truly effective, and (ii) can be transferred to other universities with similar results? While effectiveness may be measured in other more traditional courses by simply looking at assignment and test grades, the complexity associated with the capstone course adds ambiguity and complex interrelations that require a more thoughtful and detailed inquiry. This work explains such a framework for evaluating the effectiveness of capstone course changes implemented over the past seven years at Oregon State University. The evaluation framework relies on results from faculty, sponsor, and student surveys as well as sponsor participation data, student work products, course evaluations, and student grades over the period of the past seven years. This work outlines the framework and discusses future plans of implementation of the research project.

scholarly journals Implementing English-medium instruction

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-153
Author(s):  
Kari Sahan
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
State University ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Language Preference ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
English Medium Instruction ◽  
University Department

Abstract As part of the trend toward internationalization of higher education, governments and universities have introduced policies to encourage the expansion of English-medium instruction (EMI). However, top-down policies do not necessarily translate to teaching and learning practices. This article provides a case study examining the implementation of undergraduate EMI engineering programs at a state university in Turkey to explore the gaps that exist between national- and institutional-level EMI policies and classroom-level practices. Data were collected through policy documents, classroom observations, semi-structured interviews with teachers, and focus group discussions with students. The findings suggest that the implementation of EMI varies across classrooms, even within the same university department. Despite policies that envision one-language-at-a-time instruction, the EMI lecturers in this study varied in terms of language preference and teaching practice in their EMI lectures. Implications are discussed with respect to policy planning, teacher training, and the expansion of EMI across university contexts.

Improving Students’ Understanding of the Impact of Engineering Solutions in a Global and Societal Context

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bannerot ◽  
Chad Wilson ◽  
Ross Kastor
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Capstone Course ◽  
The Past ◽  
College Course ◽  
Societal Context ◽  
Step Over ◽  
The Impact

ABET 2000 imposes the requirement that engineering programs demonstrate that graduates “have the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context”. (Criterion 3h) The implication is that providing the “exposure” to the impact of engineering should be sufficient. However, demonstrating learning takes the process another step. Over the past few years, we have added material to several existing, traditional mechanical engineering courses and added one entirely new course in response to the requirements of ABET 2000 in general and Criterion 3h in particular. We have also introduced additional surveys, assignments and testing into these courses to assess specific aspects of student learning. This paper describes the changes in the sophomore design class, the second course in thermodynamics, the heat transfer course, and the capstone course as well as the new College course in technical communications related to the impact of engineering solutions. The assessment processes are also described.

scholarly journals 064 OFFERING A CAPSTONE COURSE IN HORTICULTURE

HortScience ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 437b-437
Author(s):  
Tim Rhodus
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Ohio State University ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
State University ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Capstone Course ◽  
Curriculum Review ◽  
Capstone Courses ◽  
The Ohio State University ◽  
Specific Learning

Capstone courses generally target students who are nearing completion of their studies, are designed to build on skills acquired in earlier courses, and emphasize realistic situations and challenges that exist in the “real world”. Specific learning goals and course objectives are found to vary across disciplines but most capstone courses provide an opportunity for students to demonstrate a range of professional competencies and communication skills. By incorporating computer simulations, case studies, or research projects, students are better able to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills, a learning goal frequently adopted following curriculum review. The goals and organization of “Quality, Ethics, and the Global Environment,” the capstone course in Horticulture at The Ohio State University will be compared to other capstone courses.

50th anniversary of the Department of Traumatology, Orthopedics and Disaster Medicine of A.I. Yevdokimov Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 8-15
Author(s):  
N. V. YARYGIN ◽  
◽  
M. V. PARSHIKOV ◽  
I. G. CHEMYANOV ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
50Th Anniversary ◽  
Disaster Medicine ◽  
Previous Experience ◽  
State University ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Medical Work ◽  
The Past ◽  
Moscow State University

The purpose — to sum up the results of the work of the Department of Traumatology, Orthopedics and Disaster Medicine for 50 years. Material and methods. A detailed analysis was carried out of the stages of the Department development since its creation in 1971. The contribution of Professors Yu.V. Golyakhovskiy, A.S. Imamaliev, V.I. Zorya, N.V. Yarygin is highlighted. The achievements of the staff in scientific, educational, pedagogical and medical work over the past years are discussed.  Results. Today, the overall bed fund of the Traumatology and Orthopedics bases of the Department is 300 beds. Only in 2019-2020, according to the results of studies conducted in clinics, 155 scientific articles and theses were published, 92 reports were made, two patents for inventions were obtained. Two textbooks, two training manuals on traumatology and orthopedics, and two monographs were published. The 4th and the 5th International Pirogov Forums were organized, with the leading Russian and foreign specialists as speakers. Conclusion. The Professors of the Department of Traumatology, Orthopedics and Disaster Medicine are highly qualified specialists, renowned in the sphere of Traumatology, Orthopedics and Disaster Medicine. The collective of the Department of Traumatology, Orthopedics and Disaster Medicine, relying on the previous experience and traditions, is energetic and confident on its anniversary.

The Efficiency of the Modern Practice of Teaching the Critical Analysis of Historical Sources in Russian Teachers' Self-Assessments

2021 ◽  
pp. 226-235
Author(s):  
Olga M. Khlytina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Internet Survey ◽  
Historical Knowledge ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
History Teachers ◽  
Functional Literacy ◽  
Low Level ◽  
The Past ◽  
Dominant Feature ◽  
The Subject

The article summarizes the results of an Internet survey of history teachers, in which 216 teachers from 31 regions of Russia took part. The author considers the development of the subject-oriented ability to work with historical sources in the context of the development of schoolchildren's functional literacy as a priority task of the modern Russian school. The aim of the study is to characterize the methodological ways of teaching schoolchildren the methods of analyzing historical sources dominant in teachers' work based on expert teachers' assessments of how well graduates of the 9th and 11th grades mastered the ability to critically analyze historical sources, identify their effectiveness, suggest options for improving mass teaching practice. The analysis of literature has shown that the ability to analyze historical sources is interpreted as the basis for the development of historical and critical thinking, a person's ability to independently cognize the past. Methodological science has substantiated various models of student analysis of historical sources based on the methodology of modern historical science and focused on the development of schoolchildren' subject and metasubject skills, functional literacy. At the same time, the results of the survey indicate that the vast majority of the teachers organize work with sources outside any system and sequence, and no more than once or twice during the term. Explaining the reasons for this, the teachers point to work overload, lack of high-quality didactic support of courses, and a low level of student learning. They also say they need advanced training in teaching schoolchildren to work with historical sources. The teachers note the low level of their students' mastery of the basic procedures for analyzing historical sources: according to the teachers' assessments, in 60-80% of classes in Russian schools, less than half of the students mastered the basic ability to “read” sources (extract explicit and implicit information). According to a third of the teachers, no more than 20% of their students are able to complete tasks on commenting on a historical source when a student, relying on knowledge of the context, begins to understand the past, think as historians think. Another quarter of the teachers indicated an interval of 30-40%. When working with sources, the dominant feature is the formation of historical knowledge, and the tasks of the students' learning the activity- and value-based components of educational historical knowledge are not solved effectively enough, which ultimately makes it difficult for students to achieve results in the subject and complicates the solution of the complex tasks of improving the quality of education that Russian education is faced with today.

A MODERN CITY. LIVING REALITIES OF HISTORY

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-154
Author(s):  
Mikhail V. DUTSEV
Keyword(s):  
Civil Engineering ◽  
State University ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
Modern City ◽  
The Past ◽  
Spiritual World ◽  
Material Reality ◽  
Mental Space ◽  
Professional Context ◽  
Archetypal Images

The article is devoted to the reality of the modern historical city in the totality of the actual values of the valuable heritage, traces of the past, mental codes, archetypal images and the memory of civilization. The place of history in today’s socio-cultural fi eld and in the professional context is not clearly defi ned. Together with the understanding of the need to preserve the heritage, traces and memory of the past, there are global trends that mediate the features of the glocal in architecture. However, even this compromise cannot fully demonstrate the complexity of the historical city viability. According to the author, it is necessary to search for reasons that sometimes appear outside the material reality, but address directly to the spiritual world and mental space of a person, which is the main purpose of the article. The emphasis is placed on the artistic dimension of environmental realities, which allows us to determine the living connections of history and modernity on the basis of the author’s concept of artc integration. The article is illustrated by some results of cooperation between the Nizhny Novgorod State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering and the Polytechnic University of Milan (Politecnico di Milano) in the fi eld of reconstruction and renovation of historically valuable territories and author’s photographs.

CREATING WORKS OF VISUAL ART: FEATURES, PROBLEMS AND CONCEPTS OF ARTISTIC ACTIVITY

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 6-15
Author(s):  
M. V. Boubnova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Arts Education ◽  
Visual Art ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Moscow Region ◽  
State University ◽  
Visual Activity ◽  
Artistic Activity ◽  
Artistic Work ◽  
Artistic Image ◽  
Teaching Professional

The goal of this paper is to identify the features of visual activity and conceptual approaches to the process of depiction. The research was carried out through observation of students’ work at the Moscow Region State University (MRSU) on the creation of paintings within the traditions of realistic depiction. The article analyzes the tendencies typical for visual activity, as well as the main problems arising in the process of artistic work, gives examples from practice, suggests ways to overcome such problems and to master the algorithms of “analytical depiction”. Author’s revisions of the following concepts are introduced: “depiction” as a method of “analytical painting”, when the result of the work is the realization of the conceived, and “copying” as drawing without comparing the qualities of the depicted, when the result of the activity is random and is not the artistic image that was intended to be created. The results of the research contribute to the theory of teaching professional art creativity, and to the understanding of theoretical problems of art and arts education. The materials can be used in teaching practice.

Capstone experiences in small MPA programs in the United States

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Younhee Kim
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
The United States ◽  
Directed Group ◽  
Capstone Course ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Paper Model ◽  
Capstone Courses ◽  
Pilot Experience ◽  
Quasi Experimental

A capstone experience, as an exit degree requirement, allows Master of Public Administration (MPA) students to build quasi-experimental practices by applying learned knowledge and skills throughout their curriculum in the United States. Accredited MPA programs have implemented their capstone courses differently to achieve required standards. Small programs have faced more challenges in organizational capacities than big programs. Although no consensus on standard capstone course components has been made, this study intends to discuss feasible capstone formats for small programs by reviewing the relatively small accredited MPA programs. The majority of the comparable programs have adopted the professional paper model with different course structures. In response to the program reviews and the pilot experience, three components are suggested to redesign a capstone course for small programs: faculty-directed; group-based; and project-focused. The capstone pilot experience has confirmed that ownership by the involvement of many faculty and external inputs in designing the course is critical to implement successful capstone experiences for small programs.

John Hinshaw, Steel and Steelworkers: Race and Class Struggle in Twentieth-Century Pittsburgh. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002. 320 pp. $75.50 cloth; $25.95 paper

2004 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 227-229
Author(s):  
Ruth Needleman
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Class Struggle ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
State University ◽  
Race And Class ◽  
The Past ◽  
Steel Mills ◽  
Growing Body

Richly descriptive and well documented, Steel and Steelworkers: Race and Class Struggle in Twentieth-Century Pittsburgh by John Hinshaw makes a significant contribution to the growing body of historical research on steel unionism in the twentieth century. Over the past few years, a number of new studies have broadened our understanding of unionization and work practices in the nation's steel mills, by examining in greater detail the patterns of organization in specific mills and mill towns.

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