Month: September 2015

The readings this week from Liu and Noppe-Brandon really hit home for me because I feel it is closely related to something that I have been going back and forth with over the past few weeks. Going into this year, I wanted to completely change my mindset in regards to my studies, mainly because I […]

I find this results of the experiments highlighted in this video unexpected.  The conclusion of the experiments shown in the video is as follows: For simple/straightforward tasks involving some manual labor, an incentive/reward for getting the task done works wonderfully well on people but for more complicated tasks involving high cognition or conceptual creative thinking, … Continue reading Thoughts on “RSA Animate. Drive – The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us” – Dan Pink

Dan Pink’s words struck a chord for me.  Not because he is a faithful boyfriend in Dr. Who, but because I have noticed a thing or two about motivation in myself.  Like a few other students in graduate school, I have had the opportunity to work outside of academia and been able to develop a […]

I taught two sections of the freshman engineering course in Spring 2015, where students learn in a project based environment about the engineering design process. I had 6 project teams in each of the sections. It was before their mid-term exam, when I was brainstorming with my colleagues to find out an effective way of … Continue reading Students made their own mid-term questions →

In Riley’s article “What’s wrong with evidence?”, she unpacks the origin and long-term effects of “evidence-based practice” in STEM education. The author begins by describing how the idea of “evidence” is problematic, specifically in engineering education. Riley first presents the semantic difficulty of separating evidence from opinions or beliefs, and questions the qualifications of those making these […]

I have to admit, this is the first time in Grad 5114, that I completely agree with the ideas posted on assessment.  I agree that testing isn’t providing a quality education, but instead narrowing our focus on to “what is on the exam?” or “will it be on the test?” questions.  In many ways, I think this…

Should assessment be used as a motivational tool? The way our grading system is set up feels like we are telling students that if they learn (or memorize) enough material, they will be rewarded with an A.  That is a … Continue reading →

When you have a scenario that involves grades and rankings there becomes one obvious goal that everyone wants to attain: being the winner. The concept of winning is clear in sports, business, and petty arguments with our siblings, but it is not so clear when we bring up education, even though education may be the … Continue reading The Importance of Winning

Prior to starting my PhD work at VT, I worked full time at a private, elite four-year institution. One of my roles was to serve as an academic advisor. I met with freshman and sophomore students’ multiple times a semester until they declared their major (all undergraduate students except for “engineering track”-who come in to […]