ISU Campus Strategic Plan
1. MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of Iowa State University in regard to the Synthesis Coalition Strategic Plan is to create a synergistic coupling between a new Synthesis-Based Curricular Option and a new infrastructure that will demonstrate the viability of engineering education based on the Synthesis Concept while establishing a linkage with precollege education and community colleges.
This Iowa State University initiative will assist in the process of enabling the systematic restructuring of undergraduate engineering education to meet the needs and competitive pressures of the twenty-first century; increase the number of underrepresented minorities, women, and persons with disabilities in undergraduate engineering programs and the graduate school pipeline; and establish linkages to leverage the achievements of the Coalition beyond the boundaries of its institutions.
To accomplish this mission, Iowa State University will produce the following deliverables:
2. THE SYNTHESIS CONCEPT AT IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
Our vision of curricular reform at Iowa State University is a comprehensive educational initiative called ENGINEERING 2000. This broad-based effort includes a number of projects that are not directly connected to our Campus Synthesis Campus Strategic Plan; however, ISU Synthesis projects relate to and support the overall College direction.
The ISU goals in the Synthesis Coalition are to develop and demonstrate systematic restructuring of engineering curricula using synthesis as the unifying concept. NEEDS will provide the courseware links, access to a database, delivery systems, faculty training, and the excitement necessary for transforming this vision into reality. Synthesis will enhance recruitment and retention efforts by empowering students during the learning process, fostering teamwork, and making engineering relevant to societal problems.
A Multidisciplinary Synthesis Curriculum Option has been implemented in the fall of 1993. The Option is required for Engineering Science students and optional for other engineering students. A special effort is being made to include underrepresented minorities and women in the sequence.
The option consists of a series of eight courses, two per year, which will emphasize design, hands-on laboratory exercises, and teamwork. The courses are being developed and taught by multidisciplinary teams of faculty, thus adding a new dimension to the concept of a synthesis-based curriculum. Major efforts are underway in courseware development and the production of interactive databases for inclusion in the National Engineering Education Database System (NEEDS).
The Multidisciplinary Synthesis Option takes advantage of existing required freshman courses in problem solving, and graphics and introduction to engineering design. Material in these courses reinforces the student's background in mathematics, physics, chemistry and communications, thus bringing a horizontal integration to the critical first year. Two sections of the problem solving course and one section of the graphics and introduction to design course are being taught in 1993-94. Open-end problems, teamwork, and hands-on activity are being emphasized. With a multidisciplinary faculty team providing the oversight to the program, a vertical integration and reinforcement of key subject matter will enhance the capabilities and interests of the students as they progress through their undergraduate programs.
Two other programs which have Synthesis Option characteristics are in the advanced planning stages at Iowa State University but are not directly supported by Coalition funding. An Environmental Engineering Degree Option will involve faculty from Chemical, Civil, Agricultural and Biosystems, and Mechanical Engineering. A broad range of environmental areas, including water, air, land and health, will be addressed in the option. A Computer Engineering Synthesis Option is underway with significant development of a totally integrated computer-based departmental instructional database having already taken place. This database will support nine courses and will serve as a primary resource for the design activity. It is expected that courseware modules from this database will eventually be placed in the NEEDS database.
At Iowa State University, we are convinced that the National Engineering Education Delivery System (NEEDS) represents the mode of delivery of engineering education for the future and, therefore, constitutes a key enabling concept for future curriculum innovation and modification. We embrace the view that the launching of NEEDS may well constitute the single most important permanent contribution of the Coalition to the future of engineering education. As one of the originators of the NEEDS concept, we have, from the beginning of the Coalition, taken a leading role in the development of the various technical parts of NEEDS and, in conjunction with Cornell University, we expect to continue to be leaders in developing and deploying these technologies during the remaining period of the Coalition contract and beyond into the foreseeable future. To this end, we will continue to spend a major part of the Coalition effort here in producing working prototypes of each principal element of NEEDS [(1) a networked database of engineering courseware elements and modules, (2) several model courseware studios at several levels of sophistication, and (3) a variety of delivery systems (electronic classrooms)] and in introducing NEEDS into each of our engineering curricula, into the greatest possible number of specific engineering courses, and into a wide spectrum of engineering outreach and linkage activities.
ISU's linkage efforts are a subset of ISU's plans to foster ongoing relationships with precollege and community college institutions. Specific initiatives related to the Coalition Strategic Plan deliverable of the establishment of at least one model linkage with precollege education and one model linkage with a community college are outlined in detail in Section 3.3.
General project areas seeking full or partial support include downward extensible instructional materials derived from the Synthesis Option gateway courses for precollege (K-12) and community college students. Emphasis at the precollege level will be placed on age appropriateness, delivery method (NEEDS), and technical training of teachers. It will be an especially appropriate method to introduce this audience to total quality principles and practices as part of ISU's downward extension of these concepts into the state public school curricula and operations. At the community college, database, file sharing, and experimental testing of Synthesis related distance learning through the Iowa Communications Network (ICN) will be the areas of concentration. Finally, the news and entertainment media, coupled with selected events, will be utilized to create an awareness of engineering outside the education community.
3.0 Implementation Activities at Iowa State University Related to SYNTHESIS Coalition-Wide Deliverables
Iowa State University is implementing a number of specific activities which relate directly to the first three Coalition-wide deliverables specified in Section 1.1 of the document entitled Strategic Plan of the SYNTHESIS Coalition, version 5.0 (April 1, 1993). A description of these plans follows.
The Multidisciplinary Synthesis Option is being implemented as shown in the following table.
Year IV Year V Year VI Year VII
COURSE TOPIC F93 S94 F94 S95 F95 S96 F96 S97 F97
Problem Solving* x x x x x x x x x
Graphics/Design* o x x x x x x x x
Statics* o o x x x x x x x
Dynamics* o o o x x x x x x
Design Methodolog x x x x x
Design of Experiments* o o x x x x
Mechatronics x x x
Multidisciplinary Design* o o o o o o o x x
*Existing courses at Iowa State University. Appropriate modifications
are being made to create an integrated synthesis option.
x - planned offerings of synthesis option courses.
o - planned offerings of existing courses prior to offering in synthesis
option.
Six of the eight courses exist today at Iowa State University. The first two courses are being offered in 1993-94 with modifications that have efficiently arranged topics and enhanced teaching and learning processes. Open-end problems and team activities will be present in all of the courses. One of the new courses in the Option, Mechatronics, will be organized using the wealth of material already generated at UC Berkeley and other Coalition universities. The remaining new course, Design Methodology will be developed by a team of faculty. The following Coalition-funded projects directly support the ISU Synthesis Curriculum Option: NEEDS Image Navigation/NEEDS Image Server; Basic Courseware Studio; Advanced Courseware Studio; Delivery Systems Standards; Distance Learning; Real-Time Programming Course; Small Group Learning Environments; and Prototype Technology Transfer.
An ongoing Iowa State University project, sponsored by the Rockwell Corporation, has resulted in a series of videotapes which depict industrial activity of engineers in various functional relationships. The functions are tied to a sequence of events describing the design of electronic communication devices. The tapes are being edited and narrated to meet the needs of audiences ranging from a freshman engineering design class to seniors involved in detailed analysis and capstone design. We also expect that, with appropriate editing and voice-over narration, these materials can be ported effectively for use by K-12 students.
Laboratory hands-on experiments will be coordinated in all eight courses. New experiments have been developed for the first-year courses which involve the students in data acquisition and analysis, geometric and mathematical modeling, interpretation of results, and reporting. Some experiments will be viewed on videotape by the freshman students who will then complete the analysis, interpret the results and document the experiment. After the first two courses each student will have participated in the writing of several reports, one oral presentation, and in several team projects.
Significant work has already been completed in the courses for the first two years, much of the work supported by Curriculum funding during the first two years of the Coalition. As additional educational elements, courseware elements and course modules are developed, they will be made available through the NEEDS prototype.
The Multidisciplinary Synthesis Option is being implemented in a methodical, careful manner to assure that the building blocks (laboratories, computer systems, faculty resources) are in place for the first offering of each course. The multidisciplinary faculty team will oversee the development and be a catalyst for collaboration both within the College and throughout the Coalition. In addition, the faculty team will serve as the principal evaluation group for determining the success of the program.
In close cooperation with Cornell University, the Infrastructure Team at Iowa State University will develop and demonstrate a fully-integrated prototype of NEEDS and make proposals to the Coalition in each Infrastructure metaproject area for funding to carry out this development. The ISU Infrastructure Team Leader is Larry Genalo. The ISU Campus Needs Coordinator will be named during Year IV. The elements of NEEDS we propose to develop and demonstrate are:
a) The development of age-appropriate materials, with input from both teachers and students; b) The method of delivery of the material to the students and teachers; c) The training of teachers, to create a competence level in the technical use of NEEDS and to provide an engineering knowledge base so they can effectively teach their students the concepts presented in NEEDS; and d) The involvement of industry through financial and advisory support. e) The integration of total quality concepts into the curriculum and into school general operations.Initial deployment of the linkage model for precollege at ISU will focus on creating downward extensible curriculum from the Synthesis Option gateway courses. The student will be reached through formal (schools) and informal (engineering clubs) educational networks. Training of teachers will involve both one-on-one interfacing with ISU faculty and teacher workshops. The precollege model will use the ICN statewide fiber optic network to provide two-way communication links for transferring information between the precollege locations and ISU. However, we also feel that personal contact with engineering faculty and professionals is critical to increasing the acceptance and understanding of engineering at a precollege level. ISU will continue to seek outside financial support, similar to Rockwell International's assistance in creation of video curricular materials for gateway engineering courses.
4. College of Engineering Long-Range Strategic Educational Plan and Connectivity to Synthesis
Iowa State University, one of the first institutions established under the Morrill Land-Grant Act, has as its stated mission the discovery, development, preservation, and dissemination of knowledge. These components of the University's mission translate into the mission of the College as teaching, research, and outreach.
The College teaching mission is to provide a superior engineering education that enables graduates to serve the state, the nation, and the world. To do this, the College must instill in students the capability of "life-long learning" through the intellectual enrichment it provides in liberal education, basic science, engineering fundamentals, and disciplinary knowledge.
The College of Engineering aspires to prepare engineers of the twenty-first century by using innovative teaching methods and modern education technology to provide students:
The College strives to enhance its research with emphasis on curiosity-driven basic research, task-oriented applied research, and both disciplinary and multidisciplinary activities. Multidisciplinary research areas where the College already has considerable strengths include:
Based on faculty interest, resource availability, and the outlook for future engineering and technology development, the College intends to focus its multidisciplinary research and graduate program development on and achieve national prominence in four of these areas--materials, quality and reliability, environment, and energy.
As a land-grant university engineering college, we have an important service mission through outreach and extension efforts. The College envisions delivering this service to:
The College strives to build upon its existing strengths, achieve excellence in fulfilling the land-grant university missions, and retain national distinction through appropriate investment and resource development in selected disciplinary and multidisciplinary programs.
The Campus Synthesis Strategic Plan is considered to be a coordinated component of a broad-based educational initiative called Engineering 2000 which is the College initiative to accomplish the teaching mission of the College Long-Range Strategic Plan.