Excel VBA Code for Likert Analysis

To test the significance of responses on a 1-5 scale ( commonly called a Likert Scale) produced as part of this sabbatical study I developed an Excel Macro to analyze the data and produce formatted output.  It is explained in detail on my webpage devoted to it with a link to download the code

• If you find it useful you're welcome to appropriate it.  Credit would be nice.
• If you find errors please let me know so I can fix them.

Drexel University AE Program

This last blog entry addressing specific schools is necessarily different. It seems appropriate to attempt to provide the same information about Drexel that I've provided about all the other schools. Of course I cannot take the same approach exactly because it's my own school and I did not interview faculty in the same manner. Nonetheless here's my best effort.

What do I Know?

About the Drexel University Architectural Engineering program

• Architectural Engineering (AE) is a program located within the department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering.
• Drexel University is a moderate-sized (12,000 total students), private, urban university that is research-intensive.
• The program is now about 20 years old, having been started by two Civil Engineering faculty when there was an enrollment trough in Civil Engineering in the mid-1980's.
• Enrollment grew rapidly and has remained approximately steady for ten years with 60-80 freshman declaring Architectural Engineering majors and 35-50 graduating each year.
  
  
  • The drift from AE is typically during the first two years when students discover that AE or even engineering "isn't for them" as happens in all engineering, and also there is a move to Civil Engineering by some students.
  
  
  • A significant percentage of AE students are "dual AE/CivE" majors because this is achievable with only about 15 credits additional work.
    
    
    • This percentage has declined over time from about 80% initially (the possibility was created as a fail-safe during the start-up period) to around 40% now.
  • The 60-80 entering students is typically slightly more than half of all department entering students.
• Students have two "tracks" or "concentrations" available to them
  
  • Structural engineering - about 70% of AE's
  • Mechanical (HVAC) - the other 30% of AE's
    
    
    • Efforts to increase interest in the HVAC track over the years have been only moderately successful
• Drexel is a Co-Op, "quarter" school
  
  
  • This means that what most schools do in four years we do in five.
  • Our 192 quarter-credit requirement for graduation translates into about 123 semester-credits
  • Most students, and many faculty would agree that the three 6-month work experiences on CoOp are highly valuable both for their careers and for focus and understanding in the classroom.
• The graduate program in AE is small and operated through Civil Engineering MS and PhD - typically 3-6 students at any given time would be identified as AE's.
  
  
  • We'd like to grow that program and are actively attempting to do so.
• Graduating Students take jobs (many determined while on Co-Op) approximately as follows:
  
  
  • Structural Consultant 35%
  • HVAC Consultant 15%
  • Construction 40%
  • Other, including graduate school 10%

Teaching Methods and Curriculum

• The guiding principle for creating the curriculum was to balance two goals:
  
  
  • Give students an understanding and ability to work with the interaction of all the major building systems:
    
    
    • Architecture; Structures; HVAC; Electrical & Lighting; Plumbing
  • Provide students with the professional tools in a specific discipline (structures or HVAC) so they can will be hired and succeed in their chosen field.
• To further the second goal students take the following differentiating courses, primarily in the last two years:
  
  
  • All the courses that the Civil structural engineers take in structural engineering
  • An equivalent number of HVAC-specific courses for the HVAC track
  • Note that we do not offer construction-specific courses despite the number pursing that career.
    
    
    • A number of students use professional electives to take construction courses, and some minor in that area.
• To further the first goal we offer a series of design courses
  
  
  • An extended (full-term equivalent) design experience in small groups in the freshman year, which may be in Architectural Engineering
  • Two architecture design studios taught by the Architecture department in the second and third years
  • A two-course sequence entitled "Architectural Engineering Design" taught in the 4th (Junior) year
    
    
    • This is a "modified architectural studio" course using multiple computer tools and presentation techniques
  • A three-term sequence (college standard) capstone design sequence that has the following characteristics
    
    
    • The first term is spent defining the problem, site, client requirements etc. in detail
    • The second term develops a conceptual design with explicit system-interaction goals
    • The third term refines and develops some portion of the design in detail.
    • This course is in small (4-6) self-selected student groups addressing problems they identify, working with their choice (subject to availability) of faculty advisors.

AE Content Issues

• BIM has increased in apparent importance over the last year
  
  
  • Not all faculty understand or would agree with its importance
  • We expect to implement Revit as a standard in the Sophomore year and build on that as the class moves through
• Sustainability is a departmental concern
  
  
  • There are not specific courses in the AE curriculum, although there are technical electives available
  • Almost all groups in the capstone design course incorporate "green" principles as part of their building criteria
• The Bachelor's + 30 movement is being discussed at a low level, but is not yet a major concern
  
  
  • Some faculty, myself included after my visits this year, believe this is a very important issue

Students

• Like most engineering students, Drexel students are hard-working, particularly after their first Co-Op experience.
• Other than university-level admission to the College of Engineering their are no specific admission criteria or enrollment caps
• The students appreciate being in a large city, both because of the job opportunities, and also the ability it gives us in classes to make site visits and take advantage of the urban environment.

University of Miami Visit - 13 April 2009

On April 13th I spent the day at the Univerisity of Miami, my 16th and last sabbatical visit. Thanks to the efforts of Rodrigo Mora I met five faculty currently teaching design aspects of the AE program. As on my previous trips everyone was welcoming and helpful, making my visit both productive and enjoyable.

What did I learn?

About the University of Miami program

• The Architectural Engineering program at Miami is located, as in many other institutions, with the Department of Civil, Architectural and Envionmental Engineering.
• The program, more than many, seems to be in transition.
  
  
  • A new department head is bringing new emphases to the department, primarily on civil engineering and research
    
    
    • He didn't have time to meet with me so this is a deduction from my conversations with other faculty
  • Two new faculty members are bringing energy to the to the AE Program
  • Over the last 10 or so years the college of engineering has reduced in size, quite possibly because of the growth of markedly less expensive public institutions nearby

Teaching Methods and Curriculum

• The program does not have "tracks"
  
  
  • The emphasis has been on structural engineering
  • HVAC is incresing in importance with the advent you young faculty in that area
• The department is proud of its working relationship with the department of architecture
  
  
  • Studio design courses are taught as service courses by that department
• Capstone design is a two-semester sequence shared by all department students
  
  
  • In a typical class of 30 students there are six teams of 5 students
    
    
    • The teams are intentionally multidisciplinary
  • Each team is provided a site and an assigned building
  • The product of the first semester is site and code research, stie design, an enviornmental impact statement and conceptual design
  • The second semester focuses on detailed development of each building system and integration of those systems
  • Students make an oral report and prepare a written report each semester
  • Students are evaluated as a team and also on individual work, which they are responsible for tracking.
  • The department is extraordinarily fortunate in the long-term involvement of an adjunct architect-engineer who is responsible for the capstone course as well as several others.

AE Content Issues

• Several faculty emphasized that the goal of the AE program is to present an integrated view of building systems
  
  
  • This view is imparted primarily in the capstone design course
• BIM is viewed by several faculty as extremely important to the future of the profession and are working to introduce it
  
  
  • They are fortunate to have an IT knowledgeable faculty with a PhD in this area
  • Not all faculty agree on the importance of BIM
• Sustainability is similarly regarded as important, with professors discussing in many classes
  
  
  • Opportunities for emphasizing "resiliency" and also solar work using the work of the well-known Florida Solar Energy Center could be rewarding.
• Bachelor's + 30 is regarded as important in the future
  
  
  • The department is promoting a 4+1 Masters program - the BS degree + 30 credits for a masters.

Students

• Total Enrollment in the department has been about 120 total for the past few years, with Architectural Engineers typically greater than 50% of the total
  
  
  • Recently the percentage of AE's has fallen below that of Civils
• Graduates typically take positions in approximately the following percentages
  
  
  • Structural Engineers 25-40%
  • HVAC Engineers 5-15%
  • Contractors 30-50%
  • Other (including graduate school) <=30%
• Approximately 40% of students take advantage of he opportunity to get a dual Civil Engineering degree with approximately a semester's extra work
• A few students take advantage of an opportunity to get an M.Arch with two additional years of work.
• Students were characterized to me as being full-time, right-after-high-school.
  
  
  • They are hard working
  • They like practical problems

Observations

• As noted initially, the department is in the midst of change. How the AE program will develop as a result of that change is uncertain. Young, enthusiastic faculty members are bringing new ideas to a long-established older group. Whether all will welcome the new ideas is not yet clear.

University of Texas at Austin Visit - 9-10 April 2009

On April 9th and 10th the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) welcomed me on my fifteenth sabbatical visit. Thanks to the efforts of Rich Klinger I met 11 faculty currently teaching the design aspects of the AE program and others as well. As on my previous trips everyone was welcoming and helpful, making my visit both productive and enjoyable.

What did I learn?

About the UT Austin program

• As at several other schools, the current Architectural Engineering program in Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering has a long history. (Rich Klinger's excellent white papers provided most information).
  
  
  • It started life as the "School of Architectural Engineering and Drawing" in 1905
  • Architecture separated out in 1951
  • The program joined Civil Engineering in 1969
  • The name was changed about four years ago to recognize the new emphasis on AE and also the longstanding role of Environmental Engineering in the department.
• As implied above, the AE program was carefully evaluated internally about five years ago. The possibility of dropping it as a separate degree was raised, but the outcome was a renewed commitment to the program, including a search for faculty in the "Building Environmental Systems" (BES) area.
  
  
  • That emphasis now has two faculty in the area with a third expected this fall.
    
    
    • While these faculty have backgrounds that enable them to teach HVAC, their research area is Indoor Air Quality, a pattern I've seen elsewhere.
• UT Austin is a very large, very proud research-intensive institution - 50,000 students overall
  
  
  • The departmental faculty are very much a part of that tradition with superb research facilities on a separate campus about nine miles away - with most faculty devoting three days a week to research on that campus.
  • There is a significant effort to bring the research experience to undergraduates where possible - for example by allowing monitoring of the experimental house via the internet, as well as involving undergraduate students actively in ongoing research projects.

Teaching Methods and Curriculum

• There is an explicit vision for the Architectural Engineering program that distinguishes it from its component disciplines.
  A 2004 White Paper
  put it:
  
  
  • "It differs from those component disciplines in two important respects.
    "1) First, it integrates them under the general heading of building function.
  • "2) It provides a perspective from which to study the interaction of building systems, and of the disciplines underlying those systems."
  • Not all faculty expressed their version of this vision during my interviews, but it appears to be driving the department's development
• The department teaches its own two architecture studios, using an adjunct architect with a long-term commitment to the department.
  
  
  
  • These courses determine the maximum size of the AE program - 40 students per year, capped.
  • The format of these two courses uses many approaches including case studies, modeling software and physical models, with an effort to highlight the work of the best practicing Architectural Engineers.
• Capstone Design is a one-semester course taught in three sections over the year in a team approach (one professor on one day and the second later in the week).
  
  
  • Students work in teams of six with two people per discipline: Structure, Building Environmental Systems, Site work
  • All students start from a set of architectural plans handed to them rather than developing the architecture.
  • Each pair on a team writes a 40-50 page report that produces a complete set of documentation for the building.
    
    
    • An important aspect of the report is to present the options considered and the decision process.
    • They are required as well to produce a cost estimate and construction schedule.
• There are currently no "tracks" in the program though they are moving towards them  [addition 4/15/2009 per RK]
  
  
  • Students take a common curriculum through the 3rd of four years.
  • In the Senior year they may choose to fulfill five technical electives from approved courses. Most of these courses are dual-listed for graduate students.
• With an additional 2 years of work students may receive a dual Architecture and Architectural Engineering degree
  
  
  • About 3/year are currently doing so.
• As noted above, the Building Environmental Systems (BES) component of the curriculum has grown in recent years. The curriculum requirements are gradually shifting to reflect that growth.
• Despite the heavy emphasis on research, faculty emphasized to me the importance of teaching at UT Austin
  
  
  • Teaching success is measured by a mandatory student course evaluation that must be included in each faculty's annual report.
  • The faculty were clear that these evaluations were important in how their reviews.
  • To aid this teaching emphasis there is an explicit mentoring program within the department

AE Content Issues

• Sustainability is significant for the entire department
  
  
  • It has been incorporated into the capstone design course
  • There's already an elective and discussion of another course in sustainability
• BIM
  
  
  • While faculty vary in their individual opinions about it's importance, the program is actively pursuing making BIM an integral part of the program.
  • The intent is to introduce it into sophomore courses and the move it up through the curriculum year-by-year making connections to other courses.
  • There is also an outreach effort to develop a research thrust in this area that will bring useful material into the classroom.
• Bachelor's + 30 for registration movement
  
  
  • This is not under active consideration although several faculty are strong proponents
  • The department recently created a courses-only Masters degree that could be used if the B+30 is enacted.
• Curriculum Squeeze
  
  
  • Several interviewees commented on the effect on the curriculum of a university requirement for an additional freshman course without increasing graduation requirements - 126 total

Students

• Admission to the program is quite selective both because UT Austin is selective and because admission to the department is capped.
• The students that I observed were involved and intent - (and happy to interact with a stranger)
• Graduates of the program typically take employment as follows
  
  
  • Structures - 40%
  • Construction - 40%
  • Building Environmental - 10-20% - increasing
  • Other -the balance - including graduate school

Observations

• The UT Austin department has recently put a great deal of thought into the goals of the Architectural Engineering program and has taken very significant steps to pursue those goals, including new hires in Building Environmental Systems, their formerly weakest area. They're also pursuing a renewed relationship with the Architecture program. This seems likely to make their goal of addressing the interaction between building systems feasible and rewarding.

University of Oklahoma Visit - 7 April 2009

On 4/7/2009 I spent the day at the University of Oklahoma, my fourteenth sabbatical visit. Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Kyran (Kim) Mish I met six faculty currently teaching aspects of the AE program and others as well. As on my previous trips everyone was welcoming and helpful, making my visit both productive and enjoyable.

What did I learn?

About the University of Oklahoma program

• The program is simultaneously long established and brand new.
  
  
  
  • It has a long history at UofO
  • About six years ago it had lost focus and was threatened with loss of accreditation
  • UofO made the decision to reconstitute the program at the same time that they were bringing in new structures faculty
  • At the same time they decided to redefine the curriculum
• It is small, currently about 40 students total, but growing
• It is located within the "School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science" a healthy engineering program.
• University of Oklahoma is a strong research university, which allows the AE program to make use of the the research facilities.
  
  
  
  • The spiritual "home" of the program is a physically remote structural research building. This facility has produced a strong sense of community in the faculty and at least the first group of students in the revived program.

Teaching Methods and Curriculum

• Because the new faculty were brought in as members of the department's revitalized structures group the current focus of the program is primarily structural engineering.
• MEP is regarded as important to the overall education of Architectural Engineers
  
  
  • A new faculty member in Mechanical Engineering will have an HVAC emphasis. That faculty member is expected to enhance this aspect of the AE program.
• The AE program participates in the department's capstone design sequence, of which they are very proud.
  
  
  • The first term covers a variety of topics not covered elsewhere in the curriculum
  • The second term is team-oriented, addressing the complete design of a building
  • External reviewers, often departmental graduates, participate in the design reviews and grading
• Students participated extensively in developing the revised curriculum when the program was reconstituted. 
• Students are extensively exposed to hands-on experience through laboratory work [4/15/2009 addition per TK]
  

AE Content Issues

• As noted above the redefinition of the AE program has occupied almost all their time.
• The addition of the HVAC faculty member will address the largest unresolved issue that they were facing.

Students

• I met with several students and observed several capstone design presentations. They seemed proud of their program and their role in shaping its future.
• As might be expected there isn't any significant employment data available.

Observations

• The program in its current form is so young that any observations would be premature beyond my strong sense of their enthusiasm and intent to bring the program up to the level of the rest of the university.

Oklahoma State University Visit - April 6th,2009

On 4/6/2009 I spent the day Oklahoma State University (OSU), my thirteenth sabbatical visit. Thanks to the efforts of John Phillips I met seven faculty currently teaching the design aspects of the AE program. As on my previous trips everyone was welcoming and helpful, making my visit both productive and enjoyable.

What did I learn?

About the OSU AE Program

• OSU faculty are very proud of their small (currently 6-8 graduates per year) five-year program. They view it as unique in its tight integration with the Architecture program. Graduates have 32 credits of studio courses, intense 4-contact-hour-per day, four or five days a week experiences.
• They judge its success by the feedback they receive from employers as well as their advisory council, and the demand for their graduates.
• While located in the college of engineering, the School of Architecture leads a fairly independent existence with strong support from the dean. The tenure and promotion criteria and expectations of the faculty are different from the rest of the college - essentially teaching success.
  
  
  • One faculty member explained this independence to me as resulting from the fact that the college also contains several technology programs which are regarded as the low-status members, leaving the Architecture and AE Programs to be independent.
• It's a very long-established program - this fall it is celebrating its 100th anniversary, coincident with a move into a newly renovated and expanded building.
  
  
  • While that building is in under construction they're in temporary space in an engineering research building that would make many departments happy.
• In its long history the department and programs within it have undergone many organizational changes. Most of the dates that follow are only approximate, but they give the overall sense. These changes include:
  
  
  • The school started life identified as an Architectural Engineering program in 1909.
  • Architecture was added later, separating out of the AE program
  • In the 1940's the name was changed to focus on Architecture
  • In the 1950s and 1960's the AE program was 5-years
  • In the 1960's it switched to a four-year bachelors and 2-year masters program
  • In 1986 they switched back to a five-year bachelors program
  • They have recently considered switching again to a bachelors+masters program but have decided against it because adding new material to the current content would require six years - too great of a recruiting disadvantage.
• Having four identified AE faculty for only 6-8 graduates (there is a cap of 15) per year makes sense within the overall department because the faculty have additional roles:
  
  
  • They teach architects as well as engineers in the team-taught studios, particularly the capstone design course - called "comprehensive" at OSU.
  • They teach service courses for the college, particularly Statics.
• There is not currently an identified Masters program for AE's or architects (a prior one was closed by the University regents due to low enrollment). The faculty, however, work with the Civil Engineering department so they do have a small graduate program, comprised mostly of OSU graduates, that receives a CivE diploma but is largely taught by AE faculty.
  
  
  • There is hope that in the new building both the undergraduate and the graduate programs may grow so that the Masters may be reinstated.

Teaching Methods and Curriculum

• The "center of the universe" for both architecture and AE students at OSU is the classic individual architectural studio.
  
  
  • Students have a nearly identical curriculum for the first two "pre-professional" years before being admitted to the professional program.
    
    
    • The only difference is whether they take the algebra-based or calculus-based math and physics courses.
  • All students share the same intense studio courses each term in those first two years
    
    
    • In the last years the AE diverge, having one more semester of studio plus the comprehensive design studio in their last
  • Only in the capstone comprehensive studio are the AE's treated differently from the architects. There the first six weeks are identical, but in the last eight the AE's focus on a complete structural design whereas the architects pursue design development for the whole building.
  • These studios are generally team-taught by rather than individual critics.
• AE students replace the studios in the last three "professional" years with technical courses
  
  
  • Some of these classes still have a project emphasis - typically the 2nd course (e.g. second steel design) has mixed lecture and project approach in order to achieve "just-in-time" learning.
• Faculty have a typical load of five courses per year. For those teaching in studios (most) this translates into a large number of contact hours per years since the typical studio is 16 contact hours/week, with the "comprehensive" studio being 20 hours/week.
• Faculty generally have significant industry experience that they draw on in their classes.
  
  
  • Quite a few have graduated from OSU and returned after an industry career.
• Teaching ability is critical in tenure and promotion decisions.
  
  
  • Extensive informal mentoring is encouraged within the school
  • The university provides teaching support through its Institute of Teaching & Learning Excellence. Attendance is not required at it's seminar, but is regarded as sometimes helpful.
  • Research is becoming increasingly important. It is mostly related to education, with an article per year related to teaching being desirable.
• The school has recently brought explicit examples of AE into the first year course in order to highlight the opportunities for entering students.
  
  
  • The results of this may well contribute to increasing the AE graduates from the current 6-8 average to the 15 maximum that their studio system permits.

AE Content Issues

• The two program emphases are structures and architecture with a conscious effort to mesh them.
  
  
  • Architects and AE's take the first of each structural class together. AE's take the second course by themselves.
• The single MEP faculty member is responsible for all MEP courses for both Architects and engineers. He emphasizes the connection between MEP and architecture using the fact that it will be necessary in the final studio as the incentive.
• The last shared studio for architects and engineers is the "comprehensive" studio taken by architects in their 4th year and AE's in their 5th year.
• The program has been limited by their space for years. With the opening of a newly renovated and expanded building this coming fall they will have additional capability.
  
  
  • If the interest increases the AE program might expand
  • It's possible that they might expand the MEP portion of the program at that time as well

Students

• The program is selective because of the limited number of places in the School of Architecture - 30 architecture and 15 AE per year.
• The students are hard-working and are valued by employers.
• The great majority of graduating students (90+ percent) go to work as consulting engineers. There is little movement into construction as is the case in many other programs.
  
  
  • The vast majority of these students stay in-state because the demand is high. In contrast, about 50% of the architects leave the state.

Observations

• OSU represents one end of the Architectural Engineering spectrum in its emphasis on the importance of Architecture. With it's 32 semester credits of studio, all shared with architects graduates of this program have far more exposure to architectural thinking than graduates of many other programs. When I asked what difference this made to their graduates the general answer was that it made them understand and thus better able to work with architects. How this understanding differed from what was achieved in other programs wasn't clear.