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Other faculty leadership positions have a limited term and are often filled internally — think: department chairs, faculty-senate leaders, or even assistant/associate deans. Suggested Readings The New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan: How to Take Charge, Build or Merge Your Team, and Get Immediate Results, by George B. Bradt, Jayme A. Check, and John A. Lawler. American Council on Education (ACE) Fellows Program. Jessica L. Lavariega Monforti is dean of arts and sciences at California Lutheran University, and Javier A. Kypuros is dean of engineering at the University of Texas at Tyler.

Utilizing an Emporium Course Design to Improve Calculus Readiness of Engineering Students ABSTRACT The intervention has targeted incoming students in Engineering and Computer Sciencedegrees. Participating students were selected who had a record of participation in Pre-Calculus classes in high school, but who had not demonstrated their readiness to take Calcu-lus, as measured by placement tests and existing credit. The course design uses an emporiummethod, specifically the Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces (ALEKS) software,in a computer lab to deliver to students an intensive program of mathematical practice andexploration. The course design is meant to take advantage of students? existing knowledge,rewarding them for it in fact, and focus them on specific Algebra and Trigonometry topicsin which they need more practice and one-on-one instruction [1, 2]. The purpose of this activity is to accelerate the Calculus preparedness for a subset ofstudents held back due to standardized test scores and perhaps limited mastery of the prereq-uisite content. The benefits are improved engineering readiness, reduced time-to-graduation,and improved performance in gatekeeper courses. To maintain student interest, and connect the problems and topics they are working indetail on, we included in the course cooperative activities with engineering problems asso-ciated with railway safety and transportation; making use of tours of existing laboratoriesand experimental apparatuses. This combination of a problem focused course, tailored toindividual student?s needs and experiences, emphasizing mastery, and then motivated bydirect connections to current engineering problems and research is providing for an impor-tant improvement in the engineering degree experience for a subset of students who wouldtraditionally be at a disadvantage in their program.References[1] Twigg, C. A. (2011, May-June). The Math Emporium: Higher Education’s Silver Bullet. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning.[2] Fine, A., Duggan, M., & Braddy, L. (2009). Removing remediation requirements: Effec- tiveness of intervention programs. PRIMUS, 19(5), 433?446.

We are conducting two interventions aimed at improving entering students’ college readiness and mathematics placement. The small-scale intervention is aimed at working with students on the university campus. Students who are targeted have high school course work indicating that they have experience in Calculus or Pre-Calculus courses, but whose placement tests have not indicated they are ready for Calculus. At our institution this is a significant number of students and the goal of the project is to develop methods to address and accelerate students in this category. The course design, to take advantage of the students’ prior experience, emphasizes practice and mastery using a commercial software [1]. The large-scale intervention is a high school course developed by [Author1] for local high schools. Students who have completed their high school mathematics course work but who have not achieved the state’s college readiness standard [2] are targeted. The students in the course have had experience in their high school classes in all of the concepts in the state standard, but have not had the chance to practice and master the material. The course we have developed emphasizes practice and mastery like the small-scale one, but participating school districts could not afford the commercial software. Thus we have built a course around the WebWork software [3] that is available through a free and open license. [1] Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces, https://www.aleks.com/ , McGraw Hill. [2] [State] College and Career Readiness Standard and Assessment [3] WebWork Homework Software, http://webwork.maa.org/ , Mathematical Association of America.

The overarching goal of this research is to improve conceptualization of System Dynamics and Controls concepts by incorporating a Web-facilitated curriculum to enable inter- campus collaboration and remotely-accessible or virtual systems. This approach will complement lecture-based curricula and will strongly enhance students’ conceptualization and exposure to System Dynamics and Controls fundamentals by providing less restricted exposure to a variety of systems that encompass the more important Dynamic Systems concepts. The plan involves the development of a System Dynamics Concepts Inventory and the implementation and assessment of three Web-enabled laboratory formats: (1) inter-campus collaborative experimentation, (2) remotely-accessible experiments, and (3) virtual system experiments. Each format has its inherent advantages and disadvantages. Remotely-accessible experiments, for example, can be made more readily available to students outside of regular laboratory hours, but the lack of hands-on exposure limits the potential scope of the experiments. Each format has been preliminarily implemented using a variety of dynamics systems that reflect some of the more important fundamentals pertinent to System Dynamics. These activities are currently being incorporated into a laboratory course at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and a lecture course at the University of Texas - Pan American (UTPA). A preliminary Course Inventory is being developed in collaboration with faculty at both institutions. An initial assessment of each laboratory format has been completed. This paper reports on the findings including a detailed discussion of the development of the Course Inventory, a discussion of the pros and cons of implementing each format, and an evaluation of the impact of each format in addressing student conceptualization of a few key fundamentals. Introduction Engineering students struggle to understand the roles of dynamic systems modeling and control in engineering. They struggle to visualize the motion and dynamic response of physical systems.1 Students often perceive dynamic systems concepts, especially automatic controls, as a “large collection of abstract math.”2 They get lost in the mathematics and struggle with conceptualizing implementation of fundamentals to predict and control the dynamic response of physical systems. Textbooks and chalkboards are not sufficient means for demonstrating the Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education

Model reduction methods exist for a large class of systems. However, to date there does not exist a well established model synthesis methodology for physically switched systems. A method that borrows ideas from model reduction and variable structure system (VSS) theory is presented for synthesizing models of switched systems. Metrics using relative error and activity analysis are given for measuring the relative fidelity of these models. These ideas are then extended to develop an approach for doing more computationally efficient simulations of vehicle models for virtual mission studies. The model fidelity metrics are used to derive reduced sub-models that predict the response of the system over specified time spans or dynamic modes. VSS theory is used to switch between these sub-models of varying fidelity. It is shown that by employing this variable fidelity approach simulation efficiency for moderately complex system models can be significantly improved.

This ongoing research involves a departure from traditional laboratory instructional practices in that it seeks to forge a closer connection between lecture-based and laboratory courses. As such, the authors have devised a program that: (1) relinquishes a degree of control to students by providing them some flexibility in determining the subject of their experiments and in the development of experimental procedures and protocols, (2) uses mobile experimentation as a powerful and flexible tool in lecture-based coursework, and (3) expands the concept of the m in mobile experimentation and data acquisition that featured these approaches was conducted over two that were found on or around campus. Such systems included: vehicle suspensions, elevators, auto-focus and strobe flash features of a camera, a suspension bridge model, mountain bike suspensions, and even themselves. Some groups measured and analyzed biomechanical data such as: impact forces on the leg muscles of a basketball player and the characterization of hand motion when performing repetitive tasks. The authors recognize that practical implementation of such activities on a large scale poses logistical and pedagogical challenges. However, preliminary assessment of the pilot program shows promise in overcoming these obstacles by exploiting the flexibility of PDAs. Further, the authors were excited to discover that the nature of the proposed experiments presented an opportunity to test three pedagogical hypotheses. (1) Since experimental test articles are not contrived, as in traditional labs, the student has to refine the experimental setup and repeat procedures several times. As the student makes common with the experimental setup, data acquisition, and overall procedures, thus achieving concept mastery in experimental design. (2) Results from the pilot program revealed that the nature of the activities resulted in a greater level of enthusiasm, engagement, and creativity among students, which will improve concept mastery. The authors have noted that this effect appears to be magnified with students whose grades tend to be average or below average. The authors posit that this approach is striking a chord in these students that originally inspired them to study engineering, and resonates with their particular style of learning. The authors wish to further investigate these connections through the use of PDA-based experimental activities. (3) Inserting experimentation into lecture-based courses places it temporally closer to learning theory. Thus, it enhances retention of key engineering concepts and theories. This was not feasible before the widespread accessibility of mobile computing technology.

A Guided Discovery Module for Free Body DiagramsStudents notoriously struggle to master the concept of free body diagrams. In Statics, forexample, they often fail to identify reaction forces, include nonexistent forces, and sketchdiagrams that are not in static equilibrium. Confusion arises in distinguishing internalfrom external loads and their impact on free body diagrams. This paper presents aGuided Discovery module designed to reinforce proper conception of free body diagramsby physically illustrating the consequences of not accounting for all the correct loads.Guided Discovery is a novel methodology that borrows aspects of challenge-basedinstruction and discovery learning. The method is designed to facilitate students’ paths todiscovery of key concepts that are often misinterpreted or not readily mastered. Themethod is optimized for short, in-class activities. It is a low-cost, active-learning methodintended to bring laboratory-like experiences into the classroom to improve conceptmastery and elucidate common misconceptions. The intent is to target concepts thatstudents commonly fail to master and that negatively impact learning outcomes in latercourses. The authors provide a brief overview of the methodology with illustrativeexamples and a summary of assessment results of former modules.The focus of this paper, however, is a new module that has been recently piloted inStatics courses. The module uses a variety of spheres (e.g. Ping-Pong balls, racket balls,baseballs, etc.) stacked in various orientations within cylinders (e.g. coffee cans,tennis/racket ball containers, etc.) of varying radius with and without a base (i.e. the baseis removed from some cylinders). The spheres are stacked in the cylinders to illustratestatically stable and unstable systems. Students are challenged to devise a staticallystable (unstable) system and prove its stability (instability) through proper use of freebody diagrams; they work in small teams to resolve the challenge. They must validatetheir analysis through experimentation and justify their conclusions to their peers. Theywork through several different scenarios where the cylinder diameter, sphere radius,cylinder mass, and sphere mass are varied. Using the cylinders and spheres, they canimmediately test their conclusions and determine if they made a mistake or used aninappropriate assumption. The module is designed to show how the lack of accountingfor a reaction force can readily render a false positive – a system that is seemingly stablebut in actuality is not. This paper details the design and implementation of this moduleand provides preliminary results that assess the efficacy and impact on concept mastery.