Full Implementation Of A New Format For Freshman Engineering Course At Virginia Tech

This paper documents a continuing shift in one of the largest freshman engineering programs in the country. Fall 2005 implementation of a new format involving one 50-min lesson followed by a 90-min hands on workshop of a freshman engineering course “Engineering Exploration” at Virginia Tech is discussed. The implementation team consisted of seven faculty members and 21 students (graduate and undergraduate). About 1200 students were enrolled. The format was successfully piloted in spring 2005. Examples of new activities include introduction of a systems approach, hands-on engineering experiments for fitting empirical functions, students’ presentations on contemporary issues, discussion of the attributes of “The Engineer of 2020,” learning from seniors’ study abroad experiences, and object oriented approaches for problem solving. In addition, a 5-week sustainable development design project was introduced. With the desire to increase student participation in the large classrooms and determine students’ prior awareness, faculty adopted use of the eInstruction radio frequency response pads (clicker devices). A number of survey tools have been implemented to record students’ experiences. Most of the new activities reflect the implementation of an NSF department level reform (DLR) project focused on a spiral curriculum approach.