Assignment Change – An effect of my visits

One result of visiting all the AE programs this last year was that I decided that in my own program I wasn’t doing enough to expose and enthuse students about current developments in buildings.  I was particularly inspired by what I saw Greg Brooks doing at UT Austin though I didn’t try and directly copy him.

My response was to revise an assignment (one of seven) in  the junior-year course, AE-390, “Architectural Engineering Design-I” using as a starting point a book that Greg recommended to me.  The goal was to have students choose from a variety of contemporary buildings and then analyze and present those buildings in both architectural and engineering terms.  Links to the results as well as the assignment that they were operating from are available on this page.  As usual in my assignments I was trying to address multiple issues which will be evident on reading the assignment.

I leave judgments about the quality of the results to the reader, but clearly I wouldn’t be posting them if I weren’t pleased with the change.  My conclusion is that my sabbatical has helped my students.  For that I thank all those I visited, with special thanks to Greg.

What Faculty have to Share and Want to Know

Two of the questions at the end of the survey asked:

1)  What do you do currently that you see as most successful that other instructors or schools might adopt?

2) What things do you think you might learn from other schools that would help you?

The answers to those questions are now available (58/105 answered one or the other).

Themes seem to be:

• BIM/Revit
• Capstone Design
• Practice/Practitioner interaction updating
• Integrated design - with other engineering disciplines as well as architecture

Faculty Comments about AE Design Teaching and the Survey

In other blog entries and the AEEE paper I've summarized the results of the survey.

The last two questions in the survey were open-ended, asking faculty for their comments about both the overall subject of the survey and the questionnaire itself.  Fifty one (out of 105) faculty replied to one or the other of the questions - including the survey author.  All the comments are on the following web page as well as the survey text itself in PDF form.  They are edited only to remove identifying information.

• Faculty Responses to the Final Questions on Survey
• The Survey questions themselves in PDF format

Defining AE Design - ASEE-2009 Paper (AC 2009-448)

Next week I'll be giving a paper based on the survey that 105 faculty in the 17 schools that I visited completed.  The paper in the ASEE proceedings was completed before all the survey results were collected.  This version (link) provides updated results.  There were some changes in both the coding methodology and the results between the two that are noted in the paper.  This one is more complete and appropriate.
The abstract is:

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An online survey of representative faculty at ABET-accredited Architectural Engineering schools addressed the question of what constitutes “Architectural Engineering Design” (AED). The faculty are first characterized in multiple ways: university, academic rank, years of experience, registration status and discipline. The results of their open-ended definition of AED are examined using nine categories derived from responses rated on 1-5 Likert scales, with the analysis broken down using the same faculty characterization. Faculty opinions about the disciplines necessary to include in AED are also analyzed. Overall there is general agreement that disciplinary “skills” are an important part of AED as are, to a lesser extent, the “products” produced. There is some agreement about the idea of “integration” of the disciplines and much less agreement on many of the other concepts, with several barely mentioned. Most faculty feel that their definition of AED is the same as their school’s, but many express uncertainty about the existence of a national definition. Similarly there is considerable agreement that more than one discipline (Architecture, Structure, HVAC, Electrical, Construction Management) is required to constitute AED, but there is marked disagreement about what specific ones should be included, with opinions ranging from two to all five.

PDF of Talk Slides

Evaluation of Issues and Need for Research on Teaching

Respondents were asked to give ratings (1-5 scale using words) on the following questions:

• Evaluate the importance of the following issues to your school
• Evaluate the importance of the following issues to AE programs nationally
• Evaluate the importance of research related to teaching AE Design in the following areas

The detailed results are available on this Google-Docs spreadsheet.

Summary of Results

Issues for Schools

Considerable Importance

• Integration of all three ABET components of AE - Structure; MEP; Construction Management (3.9/5)
• Sustainability Design (3.5/5)

Non-Significant Evaluations

• All the others were not rejected from the null-hypothesis of "average" significance.

Issues Nationally

Considerable Importance

• Integration of all three ABET components of AE - Structure; MEP; Construction Management (3.6/5)
• Sustainability Design (3.7/5)

Some Significance

• BIM (Building Information Modeling)  (3.4/5)
• Lean/Economic Design (3.3/5)

Non-Significant Evaluations

• All the others were not rejected from the null-hypothesis of "average" significance.

Teaching Research

Considerable Importance

• Correlating industry needs with AED curricula  (3.8/5)
• Identifying the most effective teaching strategies for different aspects of AED. (3.5/5)
• Incorporating distance-learning into the curriculum (2.5/5) - [negative importance]

Some Significance

• Incorporating computer-based instruction into the curriculum  (3.4/5)
• Addressing different student learning styles (3.4/5)

Non-Significant Evaluations

• All the others were not rejected from the null-hypothesis of "average" significance.

Note on Statistical Significance of Results

Almost all the results showed a statistically significant difference from a null-hypothesis model centered on the middle term (3.0) of the 5-Likert values using a goodness-of-fit chi-squared analysis.  Those that weren't significant are shaded gray. 

Note, as always, that a significant result does not mean a big difference.  That is a matter of individual judgement, which is the reason the actual counts are shown.

AE Schools Cooperation & ABET Issues

Respondents were asked to give ratings (1-5 scale using words) on the following questions:

• Evaluate the importance of cooperation and coordination between the different AE Schools in the US (or abroad).
• Evaluate the importance of possible changes in the ABET accreditation requirements.

The detailed results are available on this Google-Docs spreadsheet.

 

Summary of Results

Cooperation and coordination between the different AE Schools in the US

Considerable Importance

• ABET criteria development (4.0/5)
• PE Exam Development (3.7/5)

Some Importance

• Sharing Instructional Techniques (3.3/5)

Neutral or Negative Importance

• Remote access to specialist instructors (3.1/5)
• Joint projects with other schools (2.8/5)

 

Importance of Possible Changes in the ABET accreditation requirements

Considerable Importance

• Require "integration" of at least two of the three AE components (3.6/5)
• Require industry experience for faculty members teaching AE Design. (3.4/5)

Some Importance

• Identify a specific number of credits identifiable as AED (3.2/5)

 

J. Mitchell Suggestion

While there isn't unanimity on these results, several show a considerable weight that deserves discussion in the AEI academic council and at the AEI national level.

 

Note on Statistical Significance of Results

Almost all the results showed a statistically significant difference from a null-hypothesis model centered on the middle term (3.0) of the 5-Likert values using a goodness-of-fit chi-squared analysis.  Those that weren't significant are shaded gray. 

Note, as always, that a significant result does not mean a big difference.  That is a matter of individual judgement, which is the reason the actual counts are shown.

Teaching Approaches Used and Advocated

Respondents were asked to give ratings (1-5 scale using words) on the following questions:

• I use the following approaches in teaching AE Design
• I use student teamwork in teaching AE Design.
• I would advocate changing the way the school teaches AED by changing the use of the following techniques

The detailed results are available on this Google-Docs spreadsheet.

 

Summary of Results

Approaches used:

• Lecture is most common, followed by problem-based learning and guided design.
• Architectural studio and modified study are never used in many cases.

Student Teamwork Used:

• There is quite a spread in use in most cases - no consensus
• Teamwork is used not much more than "sometimes" in most approaches, with a fair amount of use in Problem-Based Learning, and Guided Design.

Advocating Change in use of Techniques

• There is considerable interest in increasing the use of all techniques except Lecture.
• There is a marked interest in decreasing the use of lecture

 

Note on Statistical Significance of Results

Almost all the results showed a statistically significant difference from a null-hypothesis model centered on the middle term (3.0) of the 5-Likert values using a goodness-of-fit chi-squared analysis.  Those that weren't significant are shaded gray. 

Note, as always, that a significant result does not mean a big difference.  That is a matter of individual judgement, which is the reason the actual counts are shown.