Rising Engineering Education Faculty Experience
The Rising Engineering Education Faculty Experience (REEFE) is a semester long, immersive program for future engineering education professionals currently in Departments/Schools of Engineering Education. During this semester, a graduate student works with faculty members at a host institution on selected projects or problems identified at the school. Host institutions are schools with high levels of practical engineering education experience, but limited engineering education research experience. Through this program, graduate students learn how to apply their knowledge of educational theory, assessment, research methods, and skills at being a change agent while gaining practical knowledge about teaching engineering from experienced engineering educators. In exchange, faculty members at the host institution have the opportunity to collaborate with engineering education research experts (late-stage graduate students) and discover how research can benefit their teaching and classrooms. This project is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF 1743666).
TranSCEnD
The TranSCEnd Program provides scholarships and co-curricular opportunities for transfers students into the Tickle College of Engineering. The purpose of the TranSCEnD program is to improve the retention rate of transfer students into TCE. TranSCEnD students receive a last dollar scholarship for three years, participate in a bridge project build focused on solar power and sustainability, take a cohorted transition course during their first fall semester, and meet with their cohort throughout their undergraduate career. This project is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF 1742130).
Skillful Learning Institute
The Skillful Learning Institute is a virtual short course experience for 25-30 engineering educators to expand the explicit engagement of engineering students in their metacognitive development. Such intentional engagement with students, helping them become more skillful learners, is critically lacking at present. Metacognition is instrumental in being able to independently assess and direct one’s learning – a lifelong skill to propel ongoing growth and development. As such, metacognition is important for engineers because it empowers them (i.e., builds their agency and self-efficacy) to handle ambiguity inherent in navigating and solving engineering problems. The ultimate goal is to enhance the education of engineers through explicit metacognitive training, and the focus is on educators for their enduring and multiplicative impact on current and future engineering students, and, secondary impacts on their colleagues. The experience is designed to build educators’ capacities to teach metacognition and to continue to use and develop engaging metacognitive activities. Intentional elements are included to build a sense of community and mutual support where participants are actively engaged with each other and the facilitators. The aim is to enhance the translation of the resulting metacognitive activities into practice and to develop a lasting community of support after the completion of the short course. This project is funded by the National Science Foundation.