ECI 295A - Engineering Education

Interested in improving your teaching skills and learning more about engineering education - Take ECI 295A

ECI 295A COURSE OVERVIEW

Quarter Offered: Winter 2024
Instructor: Prof. Colleen Bronner
Course Time: Tuesdays, 12:10 pm to 2 pm
Location: Ghausi 1007
Units: 2 units
CRN: 45264

Course Vision:

The vision of this course is to prepare future engineering educators (whether in academia or outside of it) to create inclusive, collaborative student-centered learning environments that encourage students by increasing their intrinsic motivation for learning.

Description: 

This course is designed to introduce graduate engineering students to the discipline of engineering education. While it may help students in their role as TAs, it is not designed as a TA training course. This is the first part of the series and provides an overview of a variety of topics. Content covers learning strategies and styles, strategies for engaging and motivating students, designing learning activities that facilitate professional skills and create self-regulated learners, and how to make teaching more accessible. A related spring 2024 course will focus on diversity, equity and inclusion in engineering education.

 Topics will include:

  • Overview of Engineering Education
  • Background on how we learn (e.g. Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Learning, Piaget’s theory, etc.)
  • Who are we teaching in engineering? Why is there a lack of diversity and how do we get to know all our students?
  • DEI and STEM academic institutions
  • Inclusive and active learning strategies in STEM
  • Teaching effective teamwork in STEM
  • Designing equitable assessment in engineering
  • Changes at the institutional level in engineering education