NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract topic was taught again using MATLAB. We eliminated the time consuming, complex elements of C – like base conversion, pointers, sorting algorithms, etc; and focused on the fundamental constructs common to all programming languages. To fill the gaps in teaching, we utilized programming projects. We no longer believed a student could become an expert C programmer in one semester, but rather believed in one semester we can introduce software engineering fundamentals, fundamentals of programming, and expose students to C and MATLAB. The course became nine weeks of programming concepts with C, two weeks of individual programming projects, and four weeks of MATLAB (the projects spanned six calendar weeks, though consumed two weeks of class time). Programming Projects We used two programming projects to solidify the fundamentals taught throughout the semester. The first project is a project called introduction to structures. Students had to analyze, describe, and then modify a C program that was coded for them. The other project was an individual programming project where the student had to come up with the problem, solve it, and document the complete solution. Programming Project 1 – Modification of Existing Code Base After teaching arrays and strings, we introduced the first programming project, introduction to structures. Students were given code that was very modular and reinforced all the concepts taught prior in the semester. The program read data from a file into an array of structures of the student type defined, and provided menus to add, delete, and sort the array of students. Each time the data in memory was modified, the program wrote all the data back out to disk, allowing the program to save its state. Students were asked to download and run the program, print out the source code, and to write out the pseudo code for what that program did. This was the first “big” program the students were exposed to. Prior to discussing the operations of the program, the students analyzed the program and submitted the pseudo- code. After discussing the operations of the program, we then asked the students what was missing from the program, allowing them to think about all the features that could be added to the program. Each student was then assigned to document one feature to add to the code, then write the test cases to verify that the feature was added correctly, and then write the code and verify the code was written correctly. The project introduced an important concept of modifying existing code and “adding a feature” to an existing code base. Additionally it provided an opportunity for them to see a large program that actually performed something meaningful; and contained all the constructs previously taught in the class (loops, arrays, files, functions, strings, and structures). Exposing the students to structures helped the transition from procedural to object oriented for those students moving on to JAVA and pursuing a computer science minor or a software engineering degree. Additionally, many students utilized the code base and/or concepts for their course project.

Inquiry-Guided Learning (IGL) in Graphical Communications Course Lulu Sun and Christopher Grant Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University ABSTRACTInquiry-Guided Learning (IGL) is an active learning technique which promotes students criticalthinking through guided independent investigation of complex problems without a singlesolution. It is believed that IGL can provide an opportunity to the students to explore theirdesires and consequently enhance students’ learning experience in the classroom. GraphicalCommunications, as a common course taught at first-year undergraduate level at Embry-RiddleAeronautical University is designed to familiarize the student with the basic principles ofdrafting and engineering drawing, to improve three dimensional visualization skills, and to teachthe fundamentals of a computer aided design program (CATIA). Faculty members show studentsstep-by-step how to build a model and make sure they can follow and understand the procedure.However, students’ ability to use this knowledge and comprehension to explore real engineeringdesign is unknown.This paper includes the implementation of IGL in the Graphical Communications course andshows how students are engaged to learn at a higher level by implementing sustainable designfinal projects. Students work in teams to collaboratively collect information, define and analyzethe problems, and seek an effective solution. Instead of following faculty member’s instructionto passively complete the model design, students had the opportunity to apply the skills theylearned in the class to solve the real-world problem,- and to think as an engineer. IGL introduceda greater level of excitement and enthusiasm by allowing students to explore the topics ofpersonal interest to themselves, therefore it enhanced their understanding of the concepts learnedin the classroom. The grading rubrics for the written report and oral presentation were given tothe students to assess the team’s performance. The phase reports must be turned in on time toreport the team’s progress. Students need to follow the suggestions on the graded phase reportsto improve the subsequent updates. Besides the instructor’s grading rubric, peer evaluation andthe team evaluation sheets were used to determine each team’s final grades as well. The students’oral and written communications, ability to work in team, problem solving, informationcollection, and project management skills have been improved in IGL environment.

Introduction to Graphical Communications is designed to familiarize the student with the basic 4 principles of engineering drawing, to improve three dimensional visualization skills, and to teach the fundamentals 5 of a computer aided design program. Much of the instruction is focused on knowledge and comprehension, low 6 levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. However, the students’ ability to use this knowledge and comprehension to explore 7 real engineering design is unknown. This paper includes the implementation of Bloom’s taxonomy in the 8 Introduction to Graphical Communications course, and shows how students are moved up Bloom’s taxonomy by 9 including a group final project into the course. Students are required to form the team, research the product they 10 want to design, design their power point and present their work as a team. The team project enables and challenges 11 students to work on highest level of Bloom’s taxonomy by emphasizing teamwork, exploring real engineering 12 design problem, and enhancing their oral and written skills. 13

"Introduction to Computing for Engineers" is a programming course emphasizing problem solving. The lack of practice time, in addition to the algorithm-centric nature of programming, results in an inadequate comprehension of course material. In the fall of 2010, three faculty members created and implemented online activities consisting of video lecture slides, and mini on-line quizzes at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to give students more "hands-on" learning (rather than expecting them to absorb content through lecture). Students do online lecture study by themselves, then come to the lab to practice on the following day with the instructor and teaching assistant. In the fall of 2010, four out of ten sections were delivered using hybrid instruction. Analysis of exam results at the end of the semester showed no significant distinction between hybrid learning and traditional study. Feedback received from the students indicates that the majority of students preferred the hybrid course over the traditional course. Students who took the hybrid course during this semester are happy with their hybrid experience. These positive results encouraged faculty members to increase the number of hybrid sections to four during the spring of 2011 and the fall of 2011 semesters. The hybrid course design and course-wide assessment continued.In this paper, improvement of the online video design is introduced, and assessment results are presented. It is believed that by switching from a traditional classroom environment to a hybrid learning, student comprehension of the course content will improve, in addition to their interest and subsequent retention in engineering.

This paper includes the implementation of Bloom’s taxonomy in the introduction to graphical communication course and shows how students are moved up Bloom’s taxonomy by changing previous guided individual final project to open-ended projects. Instead of following the instructor’s direction to complete the model design, students are required to research the product they want to design, and build the model by themselves. The open-ended projects enable and challenge students to work on higher level of Bloom’s taxonomy by emphasizing design creativity, exploring real engineering design problem, and enhancing their oral and written skills.

This paper discusses the implementation and assessment of the integration of MATLAB usage into the instruction of an introductory circuit analysis course at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU). This teaching practice seeks to enhance student learning by delivering relevant course materials using MATLAB's graphical representation and problem solving capabilities. Also, students learn to plot voltage/current waveforms and other important graphs via simple MATLAB programs. The effectiveness of the teaching practice is assessed through assignments and a survey. Assessment data indicates that integration of MATLAB into course instruction promotes learning and enhances students' computer skills. In addition, students highly appreciate the effectiveness of this teaching practice.

There are many remote airfields that are not connected to the power grid. Providing adequate lighting to these airfields is necessary and challenging. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has sponsored a research project, Remote Airfield Lighting Systems (RALS), through the Center for General Aviation Research (CGAR). The findings from the RALS research specified a light that had low power needs and a color/intensity to meet the requirements for airfield identification and landing. To make these lights more appropriate to wide spread applications, the research team is conducting an exemplary operational test. In this paper, we discuss the new functions added to these lights for the operational test, including both automatically/remotely switching on/off the lights and smart charging of the batteries using solar panels under the control of a microcontroller. In addition, we consider future new functions such as low cost pilot controlled lighting as well as wireless networking for health monitoring and controlling of the lighting system. These new functions can greatly improve the convenience of the usage of RALS while keeping the same low cost.

Context Tutors report difficult incidents and distressing conflicts that adversely affect learning in their problem-based learning (PBL) groups. Faculty development (training) and peer support should help them to manage this. Yet our understanding of these problems and how to deal with them often seems inadequate to help tutors. Objectives The aim of this study was to categorise difficult incidents and the interventions that skilled tutors used in response, and to determine the effectiveness of those responses. Methods Thirty experienced and highly rated tutors in our Year 1 and 2 medical curriculum took part in semi-structured interviews to: identify and describe difficult incidents; describe how they responded, and assess the success of each response. Recorded and transcribed data were analysed thematically to develop typologies of difficult incidents and interventions and compare reported success or failure. Results The 94 reported difficult incidents belonged to the broad categories 'individual student' or 'group dynamics'. Tutors described 142 interventions in response to these difficult incidents, categorised as: (i) tutor intervenes during tutorial; (ii) tutor gives feedback outside tutorial, or (iii) student or group intervenes. Incidents in the 'individual student' category were addressed relatively unsuccessfully (effective < 50% of the time) by response (i), but with moderate success by response (ii) and successfully (> 75% of the time) by response (iii). None of the interventions worked well when used in response to problems related to 'group dynamics'. Overall, 59% of the difficult incidents were dealt with successfully. Conclusions Dysfunctional PBL groups can be highly challenging, even for experienced and skilled tutors. Within-tutorial feedback, the treatment that tutors are most frequently advised to apply, was often not effective. Our study suggests that the collective responsibility of the group, rather than of the tutor, to deal with these difficulties should be emphasised.

Advanced traffic management systems allow video image detection to supplement and improve data inputs in transportation modeling efforts. Video detection systems use machine vision technology, the interaction of video cameras, and specialty computer hardware and software to measure traffic. Traffic parameters such as hourly flows, density, vehicle speed, level of service, and other parameters derived from measured and default values are automatically computed. However, the accuracy of video image detection systems is dependent upon factors such as the camera height, location, and angle above the roadway. Environmental factors such as rain, sun intensity, and day/night also affect vehicle detection accuracy. Existing transportation models can benefit from video image detection technology and improved travel demand models can be developed from such data, providing video detection is accurate. This paper examines how transportation models can benefit from video data. A commercially available system is used to collect data from freeway segments in Atlanta, Georgia. The detected vehicle counts, classifications, and average speeds are compared to true counts obtained over the same interval. Differences in these traffic parameters are determined as a function of camera location and site conditions that constrain the accuracy of video detection. The analytical results lead to recommendations on use of video detected traffic parameters in model improvement.

The paper discusses a new geographic information system (GIS)-based modal emissions model being developed with EPA and Georgia Tech to account for vehicle load conditions that will significantly improve the spatial resolution of emissions estimates. The GIS-based modal research model employs detailed subfleet engine and emissions characteristics and the speed/acceleration profiles for vehicle activity along links in the transportation system. Composition of the vehicle subfleet affects the amount of emissions produced under various operating conditions, dependent upon the load induced by the vehicle and driver, and the physical constraints of the vehicle. The aggregate modal frequencies are compared across vehicle classes to show differences in how heavy duty vehicles are operated.

New mobile platforms are exploding in popularity and present both opportunities and challenges. So far, however, the software stacks implemented on these new platforms look essentially the same as those on today's desktops and use operating system kernels not substantially different from UNIX of the 1970s. We think this is a squandered opportu- nity; these mobile devices have the potential to slough off thirty years' worth of accumulated software cruft and start clean with an application platform that is both friendly to developers and conducive to achieving maximum perfor- mance. We believe that the abstractions used to build today's web applications will be the ancestors of this new platform, an idea this paper begins to investigate. What low-level ser- vices does this future platform require? We answer this ques- tion by studying current web browsers, and list the required services. What performance limitations imposed by current browser abstractions can be eliminated through novel oper- ating systems? We answer this by quantifying the significant "tax" imposed by these penalties. What are some features such a new operating system might have? We present ten- tative answers to this question as future work, motivated by our profiling results. We also raise the question of whether virtual memory is necessary in such a system.

Introduction to Engineering (EGR 101) is a multidisciplinary, project-based, two-semester-hour course for first-time students in all the engineering disciplines at the Daytona Beach campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU-DB). The goals of EGR 101 are to introduce students to the multidisciplinary nature of engineering practice in the aerospace fields, to motivate students to succeed in engineering at ERAU-DB, and to facilitate students' development as engineers. EGR 101 incorporates and emphasizes interrelated multidisciplinary projects performed in teams. The aerospace-focused projects involve designing a launch system, parts of an imaging satellite, and an aircraft. The projects emphasize the systems integration intrinsic to multidisciplinary design. Additional course features include role-playing ethics investigations; an emphasis on professional development, resume building, and internships; implicit learning communities; and course delivery through a combination of twice-weekly section meetings with weekly assemblies. This paper describes the development, delivery, and assessment of EGR 101.