Preliminary Development of the AIChE Concept Warehouse

Bill Jay Brooks; Debra Gilbuena; John L. Falconer; David L. Silverstein; Ronald L. Miller; Milo Koretsky

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Conference: 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Publication Date: June 10, 2012
Start Date: June 10, 2012
End Date: June 13, 2012
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: ChemE Potpourri
Tagged Division: Chemical Engineering
Page Count: 18
Page Numbers: 25.1054.1 - 25.1054.18
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--21811
Permanent URL: https://sftp.asee.org/21811
Download Count: 489

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Paper Authors

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Bill Jay Brooks Oregon State University

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Bill Brooks is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University. As an undergraduate he studied hardware engineering, software engineering, and chemical engineering. Brooks has been involved in the development of several educational software tools, including the Virtual BioReactor, the Web-based Interactive Science and Engineering (WISE) Learning Tool, and the AIChE Concept Warehouse. His dissertation is focused on technology-mediated, active learning techniques, and the mechanisms through which they impact student performance.

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Debra Gilbuena Oregon State University

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Debra Gilbuena is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University. She currently has research focused on student learning in virtual laboratories. Gilbuena has an M.B.A., an M.S., and four years of industrial experience, including a position in sensor development, an area in which she holds a patent. Her dissertation is focused on the characterization and analysis of feedback in engineering education. She also has interests in the diffusion of effective educational interventions and practices.

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John L. Falconer University of Colorado, Boulder

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David L. Silverstein University of Kentucky

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David L. Silverstein is the PJC Engineering Professor of chemical engineering at the University of Kentucky. He is assigned to the College of Engineering's Extended Campus Programs in Paducah, Ky., where he has taught for 12 years. His Ph.D. and M.S. studies in ChE were completed at Vanderbilt University, and his B.S.Ch.E. at the University of Alabama. Silverstein's research interests include conceptual learning tools and training, and he has particular interests in faculty development. He is the recipient of several ASEE awards, including the Fahein award for young faculty teaching and educational scholarship, the Cororan award for best article in the journal Chemical Engineering Education (twice), and the Martin award for best paper in the ChE Division at the ASEE Annual Meeting.

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Ronald L. Miller Colorado School of Mines

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Ronald L. Miller is professor of chemical engineering and Director of the Center for Engineering Education at the Colorado School of Mines, where he has taught chemical engineering and interdisciplinary courses and conducted engineering education research for the past 25 years. Miller has received three university-wide teaching awards and has held a Jenni teaching fellowship at CSM. He has received grant awards for education research from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education FIPSE program, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, and has published widely in the engineering education literature. His research interests include measuring and repairing engineering student misconceptions in thermal and transport science.

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Milo Koretsky Oregon State University

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Milo Koretsky is a professor of chemical engineering at Oregon State University. He currently has research activity in areas related to thin film materials processing and engineering education. He is interested in integrating technology into effective educational practices and in promoting the use of higher level cognitive skills in engineering problem solving. Koretsky is a six-time Intel Faculty Fellow and has won awards for his work in engineering education at the university and national levels.

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Abstract

Work in Progress: Development of the AIChE Concept WarehouseThe AIChE Concept Warehouse was initiated with the goal of creating a community of learningwithin the discipline of chemical engineering (ChE) focused on concept-based instruction. Wehave been developing and promoting the use of a cyber-enabled infrastructure for conceptualquestions, the AIChE Concept Warehouse, which can used throughout the core ChE curriculum(Material and Energy Balances, Thermodynamics, Transport Phenomena, Kinetics and ReactorDesign, and Materials Science). Conceptual questions, both as Concept Inventories andConcepTests, are available through an interactive website maintained through the EducationDivision of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the discipline’s majorprofessional society. The overall objective is to lower the activation barrier for using conceptualinstruction and assessment so that many more chemical engineering faculty incorporate concept-based learning into their classes.The innovative software application allows interactive electronic use, as well as PowerPoint,Word, and pdf formats to be automatically generated so that conceptual learning and evaluationcan be incorporated into instruction in various forms: in-class ConcepTests with student response(clickers, laptops, cell phones), concept inventories to evaluate student learning (or studentpreparation for a course), exam and homework problems. A key element to this approach is toprovide a context for conceptual learning that reflects the richly interconnected and interrelatedknowledge structures of experts. The pedagogy includes cross development and testing betweenitems on a Concept Inventory and in ConcepTests.In this paper we report on the initial development, promotion, limited deployment, and futureplans for the AIChE Concept Warehouse. Activities intended to build community, includingconference special sessions and workshops will be described. Data collected includes websiteand database statistics, pre- and post-use semi-structured interviews with beta testers as well asdevelopment documentation. Semi-structured interviews were analyzed in order to identifycommon likes and dislikes with the conceptual resources and user interface for the AIChEConcept Warehouse. Interviews were also analyzed to identify common issues with theimplementation process both from a software perspective as well as a curricular adoptionperspective. Results from interviews are being used to iterate on the tool development andimprove the overall design.

Citation
Format

Brooks, B. J., & Gilbuena, D., & Falconer, J. L., & Silverstein, D. L., & Miller, R. L., & Koretsky, M. (2012, June), Preliminary Development of the AIChE Concept Warehouse Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21811

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -               Work in Progress: Development of the AIChE Concept                                  WarehouseThe AIChE Concept Warehouse was initiated with the goal of creating a community of learningwithin the discipline of chemical engineering (ChE) focused on concept-based instruction. Wehave been developing and promoting the use of a cyber-enabled infrastructure for conceptualquestions, the AIChE Concept Warehouse, which can used throughout the core ChE curriculum(Material and Energy Balances, Thermodynamics, Transport Phenomena, Kinetics and ReactorDesign, and Materials Science). Conceptual questions, both as Concept Inventories andConcepTests, are available through an interactive website maintained through the EducationDivision of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the discipline’s majorprofessional society. The overall objective is to lower the activation barrier for using conceptualinstruction and assessment so that many more chemical engineering faculty incorporate concept-based learning into their classes.The innovative software application allows interactive electronic use, as well as PowerPoint,Word, and pdf formats to be automatically generated so that conceptual learning and evaluationcan be incorporated into instruction in various forms: in-class ConcepTests with student response(clickers, laptops, cell phones), concept inventories to evaluate student learning (or studentpreparation for a course), exam and homework problems. A key element to this approach is toprovide a context for conceptual learning that reflects the richly interconnected and interrelatedknowledge structures of experts. The pedagogy includes cross development and testing betweenitems on a Concept Inventory and in ConcepTests.In this paper we report on the initial development, promotion, limited deployment, and futureplans for the AIChE Concept Warehouse. Activities intended to build community, includingconference special sessions and workshops will be described. Data collected includes websiteand database statistics, pre- and post-use semi-structured interviews with beta testers as well asdevelopment documentation. Semi-structured interviews were analyzed in order to identifycommon likes and dislikes with the conceptual resources and user interface for the AIChEConcept Warehouse. Interviews were also analyzed to identify common issues with theimplementation process both from a software perspective as well as a curricular adoptionperspective. Results from interviews are being used to iterate on the tool development andimprove the overall design.
AU  - Bill Jay Brooks
AU  - Debra Gilbuena
AU  - John L. Falconer
AU  - David L. Silverstein
AU  - Ronald L. Miller
AU  - Milo Koretsky
CY  - San Antonio, Texas
DA  - 2012/06/10
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Preliminary Development of the AIChE Concept Warehouse
UR  - https://sftp.asee.org/21811
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--21811
ER  -