Extending information on time Effective Student Interactions to Engineering Faculty

Abstract

The College of Engineering at The Ohio State University is one of ten initial institutions currently collaborating in an NSF funded Extension Services project entitled ENGAGE (Engaging Students in Engineering) (www. EngageEngineering.org). The main thrusts of the ENGAGE Project are to encourage the implementation of research-proven techniques that have been shown to improve retention of undergraduates in engineering programs. One of the three thrusts is to introduce faculty to techniques for student interactions which are both effective and require a minimum amount of faculty time. ENGAGE has released a four-page publication entitled "Taking Action: Time Effective Student Interactions for Engineering Faculty" which describes six suggested approaches. This paper reports on a study of the efficacy of a novel approach introducing faculty to this material. As an alternative to conventional approaches such as an email distribution or seminars, the materials were introduced to faculty by current students. Thirty-four students enrolled in a course entitled College Teaching in Engineering distributed the ENGAGE publication to the faculty, interviewed them about the publication, and then the students wrote a summary of their interview as a class assignment. Their interview reports were summarized and results were shared with the students without any attribution to individual students, faculty, or departments. Using a more conventional approach, a second set of 30 faculty received the publication via email and were encouraged to read the publication and implement its recommendations. After 5 months, a brief follow-up survey to both sets of faculty was used to compare results of the two distribution methods. It is not clear if student interviews are the ideal way to disseminate information to faculty, but it appears to be more effective than just emailing information to faculty. Students used this exercise as an opportunity to, not only talk to faculty about faculty-student interaction, but also to talk about teaching in general. They learned valuable teaching strategies as well as validated what they were learning in the class. © 2011 American Society for Engineering Education.