The group began its day touring Wang Hall, which included a stop in the INSPIRE office space where they were greeted by faculty, staff and graduate students. Council members discovered the ways in which INSPIRE impacts PK-12 curricula and teacher development. Many of them picked up information and used their phones to snap photos of the book titles on display.

Engineering Education Associate Professor Heidi Diefes-Dux and Assistant Professor Cordelia Brown presented to the EAC as part of a session with “Education Innovators.”

Dr. Brown talked about her role in “flipping” a sophomore-level ECE course (Introduction to Digital System Design).  Specifically highlighting the use of an “Index of Learning Style Survey” used to place students in the class setting best suited for them and the two different types of course designs used. Dr. Diefes-Dux profiled the ENE certificate program open to all engineering graduate students. She also answered a council member’s question about working in teams, especially domestic students with international students.

“We have our First-Year Engineering students work in teams and many of them are surprised by the number of international students,” she said. “They have to learn to bridge the cultural divide. And it is hard for some of them, but we are working on that.”

During the afternoon session, a panel of ENE faculty spoke about their research. It began with Dr. David Radcliffe, Kamyar Haghighi Head of the School of Engineering Education, giving an overview of the research ENE conducts, its importance to the program and First-Year Engineering students and to the engineering education discipline.

Dr. Sean Brophy discussed “Supporting Innovative Design Decisions;” Dr. Matt Ohland talked about the use of CATME and “Developing Student Team Skills;” Dr. Alice Pawley spoke about her research with small groups of students to learn from their individual experiences; and Dr. Senay Purzer highlighted her work with students’ perceptions of innovation and whether they see themselves as “innovators.”

The afternoon session included a discussion among the council members about Purdue’s role in these areas of research as well as a question and answer session with the ENE panel. By the end of the conversation, it was evident more members of the EAC had a better understanding of the research work done in ENE and its impact on students, their future employees and commercialization possibilities.