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Tools for Transformation Funded Proposals

Integration of Research and Education in Engineering

College of Engineering
Center for Engineering and Learning and Teaching (CELT)

The Center for Engineering Learning and Teaching (CELT) is a unique national resource which will integrate research and education and provide national leadership in engineering education. Specifically, CELT will conduct research on engineering student learning with the College's faculty and then help to implement appropriate findings in classrooms on the UW campus. The Center will offer resources to implement pedagogical innovations in engineering classrooms by providing professional development in areas such as cooperative learning, team-based approaches to learning, peer teaching and the use of multimedia software.

Contact: Cynthia Atman
Director of CELT
Associate Professor, Industrial Engineering
atman@engr.washington.edu
Allocation: $70,800
Date Funded: September 1998

PROGRESS REPORT

The Center for Engineering Learning and Teaching (CELT), a new center providing leadership in engineering education, opened its doors in September 1998 with the arrival of CELT’s Director, Dr. Cynthia J. Atman. Tools for Transformation money was awarded to support the Center’s startup.

The Center’s three-part mission is a) to build a research engine, leading the way in scholarly approaches to innovations in engineering pedagogy, b) to assist continuous improvement of the COE’s educational programs, and c) to provide professional development for COE faculty.

Progress toward these goals is described below:

a) Several research projects are underway: knowledge integration across the curriculum, several design learning assessment projects, and engineering misconception elicitation.

b) The Center is providing support for COE ABET accreditation by sponsoring a series of seminars and workshops, and initiating an internal RFP in conjunction with the COE’s Dean’s office titled, “COE Innovations in Learning and Teaching Program.

c) The Center is providing professional development for COE faculty by hiring an engineering education specialist to develop and lead programs to facilitate pedagogical change, and by sponsoring seminar series featuring national leaders in engineering education.

In order to facilitate these goal achievements, we have hired a program coordinator and are actively working with the COE development team to establish long-term funding for the future.

The Tools for Transformation program has provided operations support for CELT and salary support for the Engineering Education Specialist position. The funds for the new position will be spent when a candidate is identified and this person arrives on campus. The operating funds are providing the base funds to initiate the activities described above.

Tools for Transformation Funded Proposals