Increasing Freshman Contact With Engineers – A Revamp Of Engr101, Tulane’s Freshman Intro To Engineering Course

In prior years, an entering freshman wanting to pursue a career in engineering could not either refute or verify that decision based on anything other than entry-level math and science classes until well after his first year of study. At Tulane, a third of the freshmen initially enrolling in the School of Engineering decided to pursue other majors by the end of their freshman year. For the 2003-04 academic year, a new approach was taken for ENGR101, Tulane’s Introduction to Engineering freshman course. The traditional one-hour weekly lecture format was changed, adding three departmental seminars with simultaneous sessions on topics of each department’s choosing, guest speakers on topics of interest, and active learning modules as possible. Three additional elements were added as outside-the-classroom activities: mini-lab sessions conducted primarily by graduate students, lunch appointments with faculty members, and off-site visits with local engineering alumni. Although Tulane’s entering freshman engineering class is not large by some university standards, managing multiple activities for 220 students was not an easy task. A course website was created by the Tulane Innovative Learning Center specifically for use in this course, managing student sign-ups and scheduling for all outside-the-classroom activities. Course funding was obtained through the Tulane Interdisciplinary Experiences (TIDES) program, designed specifically for entering freshmen but primarily organized through the liberal arts and sciences until this year. This funding vehicle allowed an increase in staffing for the course and underwrote the outside-the-classroom activities. An interesting side effect of joining in the TIDES program was that twelve non-engineering majors registered for the class; we are watching to see if they stay in engineering. Changing so many class elements at once proved a logistical challenge, but it was accomplished with minor downscaling from initial plans. Student satisfaction with the course was increased, and retention numbers will be compared as they come available. Introduction Tulane University, a private university located in New Orleans, typically enrolls approximately two hundred freshmen stating an intention to study one of the fields of engineering. The vast P ge 921.1 Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education majority of these students’ freshman schedule is dominated by the basic foundation courses (calculus, physics, chemistry) which are administered through two colleges in Liberal Arts and Sciences. The only engineering-specific course is ENGR101, a one credit hour freshman introduction to engineering class. In recent years, attrition from freshman year to sophomore year has neared one-third of the entering group; the majority of these students did not totally leave the university, rather they transferred to other majors at Tulane. In an effort to keep students in the engineering program, or at least to allow them to make an informed decision about their academic future, ENGR101 was redesigned for the 2003-2004 academic year and cross-listed as TIDE101; funding for the new program was obtained from the Tulane Interdisciplinary Studies (TIDES) Program, administered through the Provost’s Office. Goals for revamping the course Based on input from upperclass undergraduates and the experiences of the course instructors, three areas were targeted for addition to the course: provide information needed to determine an engineering major, increase social interaction within the entire freshman engineering population, and increase contact with engineers (faculty, more advanced students, and alumni). It was clear that all these efforts could not take place solely during the one-hour weekly lecture time assigned to the class, so the last listed goal was handled through outside-the-classroom activities. A field trip was also added to the list of outside-the-classroom activities. The lectures themselves were restructured around specific objectives: learning skills, departmental overviews, rules/regulations, learning resources, career planning/opportunities, small group activities, and preparation for the field trip. Lecture modifications Tulane is on the semester system, and there were fourteen class lectures during the Fall semester. Each lecture was kicked off with an engineering joke to lighten the tone. There are several from which to choose, and enough to populate the entire semester. A short period of announcements followed (including upcoming student club activities, if informed), then the main lecture topic(s). Lecture topics Prior art allocated one lecture day to each department/program for an overview of degree requirements, and several days spent on Rules/Regulations of the School.