Session: 17-01-01: Research Posters

Paper Number: 149788

149788 - Curriculum Integration Through Collaborative Teaching 

The Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering (MANE) Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), supported by the National Science Foundation’s RED program, is undergoing a transformation in its pedagogical approach to foster a more collaborative and integrated educational environment. Traditional engineering programs often see faculty teaching in isolated "silos," with research collaborations that typically do not support undergraduate student development. This initiative aims to move away from these traditional methods to significantly enhance the student professional formation experience.

Inspired by a successful initiative at Colorado State University, the central objective of this transformation is to empower and mentor faculty to shift from an individualistic mode of operation to a collaborative one. In this new approach, faculty teams work together to highlight commonalities between topics covered in separate courses and connect abstract material with practical engineering applications. This shift aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the interrelations between fundamental technical concepts, enhancing their problem-solving skills and offering early insights into industry challenges.

Two key elements are being implemented as part of this effort: Knowledge Integration (KI) activities and Vertically Integrated Projects (VIPs). Knowledge Integration activities involve linking specialization courses during the middle two years of the program. Faculty are in the process of reevaluating the content of specialization classes to introduce a series of knowledge integration activities. This approach addresses the difficulty students face in integrating knowledge across all levels of education and disciplines. In undergraduate engineering education, research on integration is still relatively new, but studies support the idea that collaborative instruction, combined with enhanced student engagement, consistently produces better outcomes. The integration becomes crucial as courses become more specialized and harder to grasp. Without integration activities, the commonalities and relationships between materials in disciplinary courses remain poorly emphasized and obscure to students.

The VIP model, first developed and implemented at Georgia Tech, and further developed at various other universities, unites teams of students and faculty for long-term project collaboration. Experiential learning through projects is recognized as one of the best methods for learning and development. In the approach proposed here, VIP projects serve to expose students to engineering practice, methods, and culture during the middle years, reinforcing coursework knowledge through direct applications. These projects can span multiple years, from basic engineering analysis to advanced topics like heat transfer, ensuring their sustainability by focusing on required classes.

Initially met with skepticism, this effort has begun to gain faculty support, marking a significant cultural shift within the department. Faculty brainstormed and proposed an alternative VIP model that can be more sustainable in the context of our department.  In the new VIP format, the project would be inspired by authentic engineering problems but crafted and scaffolded for educational purposes and embedded in required engineering courses. Some students might continue with the project for their Capstone. The advantages of this concept include a lower resource footprint by leveraging existing courses and scalability to serve many students. It can be designed to deliver intended learning elements consistently across different projects.

This poster will illustrate the transformation process, providing examples of the KI and VIP activities deployed or under development, and discuss the measured and anticipated impact on student learning and faculty collaboration.

Presenting Author: Diana-Andra Borca-Tasciuc Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Presenting Author Biography: Diana-Andra Borca-Tasciuc is a professor in the Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, which she joined in 2006. She received her B.S. in Physics from Bucharest University, and M.S. and PhD. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Los Angeles. She is a 2008 NSF Career awardee, a 2013 Fulbright scholar, and a recipient of the 2023 Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools (NAGS) Graduate Faculty Teaching Award (Doctoral-level). She is currently a co-PI on the NSF IUSE/PFE:RED A&I Curriculum integration through collaborative teaching and mentoring: adapting an integrated system for engineering formation. Her research interests are in the area of energy conversion and current projects include power harvesting MEMS, solar power harvesting building envelope and thermal processes at nanoscale. She has co-authored over 100 journal articles and conference proceedings and is a co-inventor on several patents and patent applications.

Authors:

Diana-Andra Borca-Tasciuc Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Sarah Felix Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Karthik Panneerselvam Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Fotios Kopsaftopoulos Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Amy Svirsky Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Antoinette Maniatty Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Catalin Picu Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Wei Ji Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute