Gateway experiences to Engineering Technology: Development of an introductory course ETD IT/IET interest group

The launch of a new Engineering Technology undergraduate degree at Purdue University prompted intracollege collaboration from six different disciplines within the College of Technology. With a flexible curriculum designed to meet existing and future workforce needs, the program of study incorporated both new and revised courses. One of the new courses is a 'gateway' Introduction to Engineering Technology course designed to attract and retain both traditional and non-traditional students. In this introductory course, Engineering Technology (ET) is defined based on the description of the skill set needed for the current and future economy. Through a case study approach, the blended curriculum is delivered as a holistic, integrated approach to technology systems. The course employs a reverse course-content-delivery design whereby students engage the traditional lecture-based subject matter in a manner that is user friendly and encourages students to revisit lectures as their needs demand. Students work through a specific series of at-home assignments in a chronologically linear manner, labeled simply as 'read', 'watch', 'do'. These assignments build upon each other to develop both depth and breadth through repeated exposure and analysis of core concepts related to the assigned module. For example, students are be assigned to read a chapter on Principles of Engineering Computations followed by a 45-minute recorded video lecture on Engineering Computations. The lecture, based upon Advanced Technology Education foundations, will build upon the reading and help distill the reading material into a more palatable and understandable context. Finally, students will complete the first half of a homework assignment that will be used the next class session for discussion and a hands-on activity. This sequence exposes students to subject matter in an iterative approach to repeatedly allow students the opportunity to experience expectation failure. The learning theory literature is replete with studies showing that when students experience expectation failure, followed by a time of thorough and investigative feedback loops, learning gains are increased almost fourfold, from 20-30% to nearly 80%1. In addition, based upon student persistence theory24, common student experiences are developed for both ET content and the social learning aspect of higher education to create learning-communities for the gateway students2. Problems of a technical, operational, and social nature are introduced and investigated within the course. Connections to the different academic disciplines comprising ET, from multiple departmental instructors, are included and incorporated into the case study.