NSF Award
0816849
INTERDISCIPLINARY (99)<br/>This project builds upon the well-established benefits of Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) for implementing a writing-to-learn pedagogy in STEM courses. Four institutions collaborate to extend both the software platform and the instructional model to include visual communication and oral presentation within engineering courses. The team develops and field-tests a library of learning activities that fully exploit the CPR web-delivered workspaces that (1) teach students how to recognize levels of accomplishment for specific assignments, (2) guide peer review sessions that produce both quantitative and qualitative formative assessment for students, (3) encourage deep-structured student self-reflection both on task production and on task process. Changing realities in the workplace have resulted in added emphasis on professional skills within engineering education. More specifically, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) includes an explicit criterion that engineering graduates need to demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively. However, instructors in content-intensive engineering courses may be reluctant to add to their already heavy load of teaching / grading by including communication exercises. As an asynchronous, online learning environment, CPR helps engineering faculty to include engaging communication assignments without dramatically increasing the workload. The project starts with taxonomy of task types that encompass varieties of effective visual and oral communication used in engineering practice. Performance criteria are then extracted, and the CPR learning modules are designed upon this framework. The materials and methods are disseminated through a website and by workshops at national conferences.
