Date Released: 9 April 2015
Herrick Room, Allen Library Bldg, 12 p.m.
UCITE is once again honored to present this year's Glennan Fellows program. At this session, the five faculty members who were selected in 2013 for their promise of exceptional careers balancing scholarship and teaching will describe their award projects. As always, this event is an opportunity to hear about the innovative ideas of five of our most promising junior faculty and to honor them. This year they are Rohan Akolkar (Chemical Engineering), John Duncan (Mathematics), Gregory Jonas (Accountancy), Amy Przeworski (Psychological Sciences), and Matthew Willard (Materials Science and Engineering).
Join us for that discussion on Thursday, April 9, 2015 from 12:00-1:00 pm in the Herrick Room, which is on the ground floor of the Allen Building (at the corner of Euclid and Adelbert) immediately on the left if you enter through the Euclid Avenue revolving door.
Pizza lunch, sodas, and water will be provided at this session. To help us estimate the amount to order, please let us know if you plan to attend this session by replying to this email or sending a message to ucite@case.edu
The Glennan Fellows and their projects are described below:
Experiential Learning Applied To Chemical Engineering Education
Rohan Akolkar, Chemical Engineering
Experiential learning was introduced in sophomore-level undergraduate chemical engineering course as an effective means of teaching material and energy balance concepts. The experiential learning cycle of “observation–reflection–conceptualization–experimentation” was introduced to students using in-class demonstration of a fully operational copper electroplating reactor. Students observed how input variables such as voltage or current affect reactor performance metrics such as efficiency, energy consumption as well as process economics.
Opening the Door to Research in Mathematics
John Duncan, Mathematics
How does one become a mathematician? The traditional text-based, lecture-driven format for courses in pure mathematics all too often obscures core features of the life mathematical, including the essential creative aspects of experimentation, invention and play. Even worse, by emphasizing skills that are not central to the practice of mathematics, the traditional format can obstruct a student from continuing in math, even when their core skills are strong. I will describe my plans for a new kind of course, which will offer students a more direct pathway to research in mathematics.
An Interactive Instructional Case Study for MBA Accounting Core Courses
Gregory A. Jonas, Accountancy, Weatherhead School of Management
Graduate business education often uses a case-study approach to expose students to solving complex problems similar to those students will encounter after graduation. Recent movement towards more learner driven and distance learning instruction is at odds with the face-to-face, interactive nature of case study instruction. This project will design and create an interactive case- study with built in decision-branching and feedback, such that it can be delivered remotely and used as self-study tool for students. Recent software developments provide the ability to provide case-study quality instruction that is learner driven and can be delivered remotely.
An Experiential Learning Approach Integrating Gaming and Psychotherapy
Amy Przeworski (Psychological Sciences)
Experiential learning provides hands-on learning opportunities for students and encourages active learning. When teaching undergraduate students about psychological disorders, it is difficult to include an active experiential learning component due to issues of confidentiality and ethics. One means of providing students with an experiential learning opportunity is to create a virtual means of conducting therapy. Technology-based therapies relying on therapeutic websites, apps, and virtual reality have been successful; however, an even more engaging medium may be to use video games. In the current project, students from a psychology course and a computer science course worked together to create therapeutic video games.
Transitioning Ideas to Reality: Discovering Application of Materials Science
Matthew A. Willard, Materials Science and Engineering
This Glennan Fellowship supported the development of a course for first-year engineering students with an interest in materials science (EMSE120). In this class students work in teams and as individuals within processing laboratories working with an array of "real materials" to explore the potential of casting, machining, and deformation processes to produce real parts and/or components. During this term, students made mini-Oscars in their own likeness, made of the same materials as the real Academy Awards. The process included experiences in computer design, 3D printing, metals casting, and electrochemistry. The learning aspects of the project and their impact on students will be discussed.