ETE Faculty Publications Copyright (c) 2013 Utah State University All rights reserved. http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub Recent documents in ETE Faculty Publications en-us Sun, 27 Jan 2013 03:33:27 PST 3600 Education and Qualification for Control and Automation http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/17 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/17 Mon, 31 Jan 2011 11:56:59 PST Engineering education has seen an explosion of interest in recent years, fueled simultaneously by reports from both industry and academia. Automatic control education has recently become a core issue for the international control community. This has occurred in tandem with the explosion of interest in engineering education as a whole. The applications of control are growing rapidly. There is an increasing interest in control from researchers from outside of traditionally control-based fields such as aeronautics, chemical, mechanical, and electrical engineering. Recently control and systems theory have had much to offer to nontraditional control fields such as biology, biomedicine, finance, actuarial science, and the social sciences as well as transportation and telecommunications networks. Complementary, innovative developments of control and systems theory have been motivated and inspired by complex real-world problems. These new developments present huge challenges in control education. Meeting these challenges will require a multifaceted approach by the control community that includes new approaches to teaching, new preparations for facing new theoretical control and systems theory problems, and a critical review of the status quo. This chapter discusses these new challenges as well as new approaches to education and outreach. This chapter starts by presenting an argument towards the future of controls as the application of control theory expands into new and unique disciplines. It provides two case studies of nontraditional areas where control theory has been applied: finance and biomedicine. These two case studies show a high potential for using powerful fundamental principles and tools of automatic control in research with an interdisciplinary nature. The chapter then outlines current and future pedagogical approaches being employed in control education, particularly introductory courses, around the world. It concludes with a discussion about the role of scholarship, teaching, and learning in control education both now and in the coming years.

]]> Bozenna Pasik-Duncan et al. Challenges to Informed Peer Review Matching Algorithms http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/16 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/16 Mon, 31 Jan 2011 11:56:58 PST BACKGROUND
Peer review is a beneficial pedagogical tool. Despite the abundance of data
instructors often have about their students, most peer review matching is by
simple random assignment. In fall 2008, a study was conducted to investigate
the impact of an informed algorithmic assignment method, called Un-weighted
Overall Need (UON), in a course involving Model-Eliciting Activities
(MEAs). The algorithm showed no statistically significant impact on the
MEA Final Response scores. A study was then conducted to examine the
assumptions underlying the algorithm.

PURPOSE (HYPOTHESIS)
This research addressed the question: To what extent do the assumptions used
in making informed peer review matches (using the Un-weighted Overall Need
algorithim) for the peer review of solutions to Model-Eliciting Activities decay?

DESIGN/METHOD
An expert rater evaluated the solutions of 147 teams’ responses to a particular
implementation of MEAs in a first-year engineering course at a large mid-west
research university. The evaluation was then used to analyze the UON
algorithm’s assumptions when compared to a randomly assigned control group.

RESULTS
Weak correlation was found in the five UON algorithm’s assumptions: students
complete assigned work, teaching assistants can grade MEAs accurately,
accurate feedback in peer review is perceived by the reviewed team as being
more helpful than inaccurate feedback, teaching assistant scores on the first
draft of an MEA can be used to accurately predict where teams will need
assistance on their second draft, and the error a peer review has in evaluating a
sample MEA solution is an accurate indicator of the error they will have while
subsequently evaluating a real team’s MEA solution.

CONCLUSIONS
Conducting informed peer review matching requires significant alignment
between evaluators and experts to minimize deviations from the algorithm’s
designed purpose.

]]> Matthew Verleger et al. Council on Technology Teacher Education Yearbook http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/15 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/15 Tue, 25 May 2010 09:18:47 PDT Kurt Henry Becker et al. American "KAIZEN" - A Perspective on American Management Theories http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/12 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/12 Tue, 25 May 2010 09:18:46 PDT Kurt Henry Becker et al. Extending Instructional Reach Using Technology http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/10 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/10 Tue, 25 May 2010 09:18:45 PDT Kurt Henry Becker Content and Strategies for Teaching Computer-Aided Drafting http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/11 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/11 Tue, 25 May 2010 09:18:45 PDT Kurt Henry Becker Thai Students' Attitudes and Concepts of Technology http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/8 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/8 Tue, 25 May 2010 09:18:44 PDT Of the eight major programs mentioned in Thailand's Eighth National Education Development Plan (1997-2001), one is aimed at developing human capability in the areas of science and technology. This is to address the fact that the teaching of technology in Thailand is lagging behind the technological changes of the last decade. Part of this reform effort is the development of conceptual based learning activities in science and technology for 12 to 15-year old students. These concepts are being introduced through the offering of a subject at the high school level. de Klerk Wolters (1989) indicated learning the concepts of technology is necessary and should be required for all students of this age range. Cross and McCormick (1986) added that students in both primary and secondary schools need to learn to solve technological problems in creative ways. Students also should understand the nature of technology. Understanding technology is just as important for Thai students as it is for students in other countries.

]]> Kurt Henry Becker et al. Constructivism and the Use of Technology http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/9 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/9 Tue, 25 May 2010 09:18:44 PDT Kurt Becker A Comparison of Students' Achievement and Attitudes Between Constructivist and Traditional Classroom Environments in Thailand Vocational Electronics Programs http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/6 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/6 Tue, 25 May 2010 09:18:43 PDT Kurt Henry Becker et al. Improving International Project Success http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/7 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/7 Tue, 25 May 2010 09:18:43 PDT Discusses key issues concerning improving the success of international vocational and technical education projects worldwide. Important economic and social development roles played by vocational and technical education in the international development process; Comprehensive model on the development of economic and technical training programs; Rapid response worker adjustment component.

]]> Kurt Henry Becker et al. National Center for Engineering and Technology Education http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/5 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/5 Tue, 25 May 2010 09:18:42 PDT The article reports that the overall impact of the National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) is to strengthen the nation's capacity to deliver effective engineering and technology education in the K-12 schools. Further, it informs that the National Science Foundation established the Centers for Learning and Teaching (CLT) program to address needs in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. The CLT program has three goals, based upon stated national needs. First, CLT are expected to renew and diversify the cadre of national leaders in STEM education. The CLT includes partners with strengths in engineering and in technology education, including four land-grant university research partners and five technology education partners geographically distributed across the United States. On September 15, 2004, NCETE received funding from the National Science Foundation as one of the 17 CLTs in the country. The ultimate goal of NCETE is to infuse engineering design, problem solving, and analytical skills into K-12 schools through technology education and to increase the quality, quantity, and diversity of engineering and technology educators.

]]> C. Hailey et al. Engineering Education: Departments, Degrees and Directions http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/4 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/4 Tue, 25 May 2010 09:18:41 PDT L. Benson et al. Motivation while Designing in Engineering and Technology Education Impacted by Academic Preparation http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/3 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/3 Tue, 25 May 2010 09:18:40 PDT The purpose of this study was to determine if high school students’ academic preparation was correlated with change in motivation during an engineering design challenge. The research was conducted in a high school classroom in which elements of engineering design were taught in a technology education context to eleventh-grade student from diverse academic backgrounds (measured by grade point average [GPA]). Participant motivation was assessed by the California Measure of Mental Motivation (CM3). The CM3 measures student motivation to apply critical thinking skills and reasoning to solve problems in five subscales: mental focus, learning orientation, creative problem solving, cognitive integrity, and scholarly rigor.

Findings of this study suggested that knowledge of students’ GPA served as a predictor of student motivation. With the exception of the mental focus subscale, growth over time was not related to GPA. Change across multiple time points in the other four subscales of learning orientation, creative problems solving, cognitive integrity, and scholarly rigor did not show significant correlation with mathematics, science or communication GPA.

]]> N. Mentzer et al. Integrative Approaches among Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Subjects on Students' Learning: A Meta-Analysis http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/1 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ete_facpub/1 Tue, 25 May 2010 09:18:39 PDT Kurt Henry Becker et al.