Strategic Instructional Initiatives Program adds new projects

In spring 2012, the College of Engineering initiated the Strategic Instructional Initiatives Program (SIIP). The $1 million-a-year program funded by the College provides faculty incentives for major overhauls of the most challenging classes, not only to make them more enjoyable for both faculty and students, but give those students a better chance of success.

“We are encouraging faculty to be more critical in the way they think about how the teaching occurs,” added Bruce Litchfield, assistant dean and director of the SIIP program. “The funded teams become a part of the SIIP community that works on revising sets of classes then reporting back to others in the community. We hope that trying things, learning from it and reporting back to one another will help raise the level of instruction.”

With the intention of funding 3-5 projects for up to three years, the College initially invited faculty proposals designed to improve the pedagogy of large undergraduate foundational courses that enroll large numbers of students, enroll students from multiple departments, are regarded as challenging teaching assignments, and/or provide a foundation for subsequent courses. Aspects of improved pedagogy could include course and curriculum redesign, assessment of student learning (such as before-and-after evaluations of student attitudes, experiences, and learning outcomes), and instructor training and development.

The first recipients were awarded for the 2012-13 school year and the results have been quite positive. Substantive changes in class presentations and available resources for core courses have made the material more accessible, and more interesting to students as well as their teachers.

Seven new projects have been funded for the 2013-14 school year:

• A Flow Net Sketch Recognition Tutoring System: Improved Student Learning through Mobile Active Learning and Immediate Student Feedback (all disciplines and courses)
  Joshua Peschel*, Megan Konar, Cassandra Rutherford (all CEE)
   
• Adaptive Learning via Big Data  (all disciplines and courses)
  Matthew West*(MechSE), Sewoong Oh (ISE), Geir Dullerud (MechSE), Craig Zilles (CS)
   
• ME 370 & 371 (Machine Design I & II)
  Steve Downing*, Armand Beaudoin, Hsiao-Wecksler (all MechSE)
   
• Project and Experiment-Based Learning in CEE  (CEE 398)
  Jeffery Roesler* (CEE), Mani Golparvar-Fard (CEE), Morgan Johnston (Capital Progs.), David Lange (CEE),
  Jack Dempsey (F&S), Lance Schideman (ABE), Arthur Schmidt (CEE), William Sullivan (Landscape Arch.)
   
• Providing Visually Rich Interactive Course Delivery and Developing Aggregated Problem Solving Skills using Integrated Modeling, Signal Processing, Instrumentation and Signal Processing, Instrumentation and Control Approach  (ME 340 and ME 360)
  Joseph Bentsman*, Harry Dankowicz, Naira Hovakimyan, Srinivasa Salapaka, Kimani Toussaint (all MechSE) 
   
• Computational Applications for an Integrated Undergraduate Simulation Environment(all disciplines and courses)
  Narayana Aluru* (MechSE/CSE), Lizanne Destefano (I-STEM), Mohamed Mohamed (CSE), Luke Olson (CS),
  Eric Shaffer (CSE), Nahil Sobh (CEE), Surya Pratap Vanka (MechSE)
   
• Transforming Academia:  The Autodesk-Illinois BIM Initiative  (GE 101)
  James Leake* (ISE), Raymond Price (ISE), David Weightman (Art & Design), Brent Young (CEE), Liang Liu (CEE),
  Nora El-Gohary (CEE), Randy Deutsch (Arch.)

      *Project lead

Litchfield noted that SIIP fits in with other recently added programs in the College of Engineering like iFoundry and IEFX and believes it will be a model for other reforms on campus.

“It will take a few years to study the changes we made in the specific classes here,” Litchfield concluded, “but on the other hand, almost all the things we’re doing are proven and evidenced-based approaches to instruction.”
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Contact: Bruce Litchfield, assistant dean, Office of Undergraduate Programs, College of Engineering, 217/333-2280.

If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.