University of Wyoming - First Visit

On September 22nd and 23rd I visited mile-and-a-half (almost) high Laramie, Wyoming for my first visit. Thanks to the efforts of David Bagley (Dept. Head) and Tony Denzer I met many if not all of the faculty critical to the design aspects of AE program and quite a few others as well.  Everyone was welcoming and helpful - exactly what I would have hoped for.

Several faculty had completed my survey (http://tinyurl.com/5vr2gt) in advance and everyone else promised to complete it soon after the visit.  That made a great start to collecting valid data for the project.

What did I learn?

About U. Wyoming's AE Program

• It has a thriving AE program with about an 80-20 split between structural and mechanical concentrations (they'd like to increase the mechanical numbers).
• They're heavily committed to making BIM an important part of their curriculum.
• The program was in existence well before the 1986 date shown on my chart.
• Architectural studios begin in the junior year and are taught by department faculty since there is no architectural program in the state of Wyoming (according to Thom Edgar when there's a football game in the Cowboy's stadium the stadium is the third largest city in Wyoming).
• Their graduates are sought after, and most leave the state due to the lack of hometown jobs.
• There are separate capstone courses for each concentration as well as a semester-long capstone course taken by all concentrations.

About my Study

• The results of my study are eagerly awaited. They'd like to know what other institutions are doing.
• The survey is a bit intimidating.  I've decided to make a few modifications to hopefully reduce that.
• The survey doesn't address assessment.  I'll consider whether to modify the survey to include assessment questions or just ask some in the interviews.
• My seminar was helpful for those who attended to understand the goals of the survey.  Making it early in the visit would be helpful, but is often difficult for scheduling reasons.
• An hour visit with each faculty seems to be about the right time, though a half hour can work.
• There are several information sources I should pursue - the draft study of AE curricula by Al Estes; the PAKS study looking at the body of knowledge necessary for the AE Exam.
• Observing classes is interesting, but my sense is that I don't get a good enough sample to draw any conclusions.
• I've made a number of new friends that I'll look forward to seeing again.

Visit Goals + Survey Link

I'm now in the final phases of preparing for my first visits at the end of September and the beginning of October (see the calendar).  I just sent an email to my contacts at the first three institutions.  Below is the body of the majority of that email.  It addresses:

• What I'm trying to learn
• The survey I've prepared - anyone reading this with the responsibility of Teaching AE Design is welcome to complete it and comment.
• Who I'd like to meet with
• Asking permission to contact faculty in advance of the visit.

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What I'm trying to learn

Since I last wrote I've worked hard at refining the issues I'm trying to address.  In order to do that I put together a survey/questionnaire that appears quite long, but can be completed fairly rapidly if one just checks boxes, though I hope that people will be inspired to give comments since I'll probably learn the most interesting things from them. 

The Survey

I've enclosed a copy of that form with this email.  The online version of the survey is available at:  http://tinyurl.com/5vr2gt

o    I'd appreciate any suggestions for clarification or improvements to the survey that you choose to make. 

o    If you can make the time, filling it out yourself would be much appreciated, either in paper or online form.

o    I'd note that if you fill it out with Adobe Reader you currently cannot save the PDF version of the form with your filled-in answers - I'm trying to figure out how to make that possible, but haven't yet succeeded.

FYI, I've gone through the Human Subjects review process with our Institutional Review Board at Drexel to ensure that the process I'm using and the data safeguards I plan meet their standards.

My plan is to use that survey as the basis of discussions with faculty, either individually or in groups, recording the interviews if the faculty give permission.  If a faculty member has filled out the form in advance then the interview can either be shorter or go into specific areas in greater depth - as they see fit. 

Who I'd Like to Meet With

I've looked through the material available on your website to try and identify people who might be appropriate for me to interview.  Below I've given either the names or other identifying characteristics.  Again I recognize the limits of busy schedules and faculty interests.  I'll need all the help you can give me.

People With Specific Responsibilities

o    Faculty who seem to have interests in this area:

• People I’ve identified are:

o    Anyone teaching a course identified as relating to Architectural Engineering Design

• People I’ve identified are:

o    Anyone teaching an introductory course that gives an overview of Architectural Engineering.

o    Individuals advising students about curriculum choices

Contacting Faculty

I'd like to contact the relevant faculty by email in advance of my visit, telling them what it's about and inviting them to complete the online survey in advance.  I won't do so unless you explicitly say it's OK.  If you can provide me a list with email address that would be great, but I can probably dig out the information from your website if all you want to do is say "OK".

Human Subjects Research Review

In preparing for my interviews I've read several social sciences texts, including "The Handbook of Interview Research" (Sage 2002; Gubrium & Holstein Editors).  One of the articles mentioned in passing the necessity of getting approval for Human Subjects research from an Institutional Review Board (IRB).  I'd blithely planned the visits thinking that I was just asking questions of other faculty and therefore that kind of review had no applicability.  According to Drexel's IRB I was wrong!

Being a cautious type I sent them an EMail explaining what I was doing and essentially saying 'I'm sure this doesn't fall under your jurisdiction, but please tell me I'm correct.'  The wrote back and told me they must review it and that I couldn't proceed until it was approved.

A week of panic ensued.  I cited the federal regulations saying, as I thought, that this kind of work was exempt.  No, it just means that I don't need a 'full' IRB review, I could get an expedited one.  Having envisioned months of delay and canceled plane reservations and a glowing red face I was enormously relieved to find that all it took was filling in a 13 page form, submitting my sabbatical proposal and the questionnaire I planned to use (still in draft form which a knowledgeable friend assured me was a no-no). 

I submitted.  I received a request for a minor correction and approval letters from each institution I planned to visit.  Panic again - I don't have invitations from each institution.  After a phone call I was told that the original emails of what I had might suffice (the text of the emails in my proposal wouldn't do).  Several hours later, after a complex search hindered by my email program's not indexing archives automatically I sent off the information.

Last week I received the opinion that I was exempt and could proceed, but still under some reporting and updating strictures.

I'm not sure if there are any big lessons in this. 

• Some would say I was a fool for asking.  
• Others would curse the weird rules that make you jump through hoops to prove you don't fall under the rules.
• Others would say I should have expected it.

My conclusion is that I actually was forced to formalize my thinking a bit to fill out the 13-page form and that I benefitted from that aspect.  Now that it's behind I can smile a bit.