Tech Library: A Model for Tomorrow

Appendix E

Appendix E1: Tech Group-Based Classes (Mechanical Engineering)

In order to further understand the need for group work rooms, different engineering disciplines were researched to gather background data on how small group are formed in a classroom setting and the nature of the group work.

In gathering the following data, I browsed the description of the undergraduate courses of the department and asked students in the department. Attached is a list of courses in the department.

Total number of undergraduate courses: 34

Number of courses in which small group projects are a significant part of the work: 20

Size (range) of groups: 3 – 4

Group assignment:

In mechanical engineering courses, groups are not necessarily assigned by lecturers. For the lab sections, students are assigned into groups depending on their selected schedule.

Most of the time, groups are divided according to the students’ individual skills. For instance, in ME 340 – 2 (Computer-Integrated Manufacturing), students with Unigraphics (CAD software) proficiency are grouped together with students who are not very proficient. This is to balance out the group performance in the class.

Also in ME 333 (Introduction to Mechatronics), students with different skills are group together so that they could complement each other.

Course-specific software: Unigraphics, MATLAB, ANSYS, SolidWorks

Appendix E2: Tech Group-Based Classes (ECE/CS)

In order to further understand the need for group work rooms, different engineering disciplines were researched to gather background data on how small group are formed in a classroom setting and the nature of the group work.

The information I have gathered has come from four sources: ­the ECE/CS website: http://www.eecs.northwestern.edu/ , department assistant, Renee Hall, interviews with current ECE/CS students and emails from various ECE/CS faculty.

There are 54 ECE and 26 CS undergraduate courses (see Attachment E2.A). Of those courses, 42.6% of the ECE courses are project based. The majority of group sizes range from 2-5. Rarely do the groups sizes 6 people. About 33% of CS courses are project based. The typical group size is 1- 3 people in a group, sometimes 4 (see Attachment E2.B). For the most part groups are self-selected by shared project interests, or by skills and needs of the tasks.

While this gives us an idea for how much group work is being done in the ECE/CS department, another critical piece of information that pertains to our project is where do students do their projects or if there are special equipment needed for their projects? Most ECE/EE projects/group work is conducted in the Wilkinson’s lab (the CE lab) or the EE lab (see Attachment E2.C). Since the ECE/CS department is centered on computers, circuits, and programming it makes sense that their projects need specialized equipment such as computers with Linux, circuit boards and wiring, and computers with different programming language capabilities. They currently have labs specialized to their needs in project work. Thus their need may not be in the group work rooms that we have been designing for the Tech Library project.

Attachment E2. A : ECE and CE Group Work Based Classes

ECE
  
CS
Course
Group work
Course
Group work
ECE 308
no
CS 110-0
no
ECE 313
no
CS 111-0
no
ECE 328
no
CS 120-0
no
ECE 346
no
CS 130-0
no
ECE 353
no
CS 211-0
no
ECE 358
no
CS 213-0
no
ECE 359
no
CS 310-0
no
ECE 360
no
CS 311-0
no
ECE 363
no
CS 317-0
no
ECE 365
no
CS 322-0
-
ECE 374
no
CS 3250
-
ECE 379
no
CS 330-0
-
ECE 380
no
CS 336-0
-
ECE 381
no
CS 337-0
-
ECE 382
no
CS 338-0
-
ECE 383
no
CS 339-0
yes
ECE 384
no
CS 340-0
yes
ECE 223
yes
CS 343-0
-
ECE 225
yes
CS 344-0
yes
ECE 307
yes
CS 345-0
yes
ECE 332
yes
CS 348-0
-
ECE 333
yes
CS 351-0
no
ECE 347
yes
CS 360-0
yes
ECE 357
yes
CS 370-0
yes
ECE 361
yes
CS 394-0
yes
ECE 362
yes
CS 395-0
yes
ECE 378
yes
CS 399-0
yes
ECE 385
yes
    
ECE 386
yes
  
ECE 388
yes
  
ECE 389
yes
  
ECE 390
yes
  
ECE 392
yes
  
ECE 393
yes
  
ECE 394
yes
  
ECE 397-1
yes
  
ECE 397-2
yes
  
ECE 397-3
yes
  

Attachment E2.B: Contact with ECE and CE professors and assistant professors

Initial Email:

Hi,

I am an Industrial Engineering Senior Design student. For class I am to gather data on how small groups form within the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department. Below are a few questions. I would greatly appreciate if you could take a few minutes to answer them to the best of your knowledge.

1. What is the number of courses in which small group projects are a significant part of the work

2. What is the size (range) of groups?

3. How are the students formed into groups (who decides, on what basis)?

Thanks for all your help.

Answers:

Kristian Hammond – Professor:

1. 75% of my classes are project oriented.
2. We have found that 3 is the best size, but often have groups of 2 or 4.
3. We try to arrange groups by skills and the needs of the task.

Peter Dinda – Assistant Professor:

I can generally only answer this for these courses:

CS 213 (Systems): no projects, just individual exercises

CS 339 (Databases): project-based, 1-3 students, students decide (one individual project, two group projects)

CS 340 (Networks): project-based, 1-3 students, students decide (three group projects)

ECE 397 (Real-time systems): project-based 1-3 students, students decide (one group project with 6-7 increments)

CS 395/495 (soon to be CS 441) (Resource Virtualization): project-based, 1-3 students, students propose, I decide (one research-oriented project)

CS 395/495 (soon to be CS 442) (Dynamics) : project-based, 1-3 students, students propose, I decide (one research-oriented project)

CS 399 (independent study): project-based, 1 student, student proposes, I decide (one project)

"Students decide" means that the students in the course are free to choose groups (or to work alone). I don't provide any particular help in this other than making a newsgroup and mailing list available. "Students propose, I decide" means that the students in the course are free to choose groups (or work alone). They propose a group *and* a project topic, and then I help them fine-tune both, trying to make sure that they have a good combination of skills, enough people, to meet the project scope.

I hope that helps.

Lawrence J. Henschen – Professor:

1. What is the number of courses in which small group projects are a significant part of the work

I will answer only for myself. I know there are other courses besides the one I teach, but since you have emailed to all the faculty I will let the other professors answer for their own courses. I teach one course where students do small team projects - ECE 347 Embedded System Projects.

2. What is the size (range) of groups?

Typically 3-6.

3. How are the students formed into groups (who decides, on what basis)?

On the first day of class we discuss various projects that have been proposed by the students and me, but mostly by the students. Over the next day or two the students try to form groups themselves. If they haven't finalized the groups by the end of the week, we do it collectively on Friday. The bottom line is that the students self-select the projects and the groups.

Jack Tumblin – Assistant Professor:

1) None. My courses have individual projects, but I encourage discussion and joint problem-solving in them. I find group projects are often uneven, with one or two students doing most of the work. I will allow joint projects if students propose them, but these are unusual.

2) Typically 2, no more than 3.

3) Students decide, based on mutual interests and often on pre-existing friendships.

Robert Dick – Assistant Professor:

1. What is the number of courses in which small group projects are a significant part of the work?

Why not ask each professor how many of the courses for which they are primarily repsonsible use small group projects? That would result in more accurate information. Of the courses I teach, three use small group projects.

2. What is the size (range) of groups?

2-5

3. How are the students formed into groups (who decides, on what basis)?

The students decide based on shared project interests. I have rarely needed to nudge students to make sure each group has the necessary skills.

Daniel Edelson – Associate Professor:

I do not teach undergrad courses in EECS.

Ken Forbus – Professor:

For my classes:

1. Two out of three each year involve small group work. I believe in studio instruction for classes where learning to do something (design a game, create a reasoning system) is central to the enterprise.

2. For term projects, 3-4 people is the max, with two most common. For studio work, up to five, depending on the exercise. Some are designed for pairs (e.g., simulating a conversation-based game via pencil and paper “wizard of oz” interaction), others can be tackled in larger groups.

3. For short-term, within-a-single-class activities, I’ll often just assign them randomly. For multi-day/multi-week efforts, I let them self-select, since they will have to meet outside of class to accomplish their goals.

FYI: I was extremely disappointed that the classroom space in Ford was designed with fixed lecture-style seating. The best rooms for studio instruction on campus are two in Annenberg, that we designed based on a similar facility in Stanford. But they are so heavily booked that scheduling them is nearly impossible.

Randall Berry – Assistant Professor:

For two of the graduate courses I teach I typically have a semester project in which I give the students the option of doing an individual project or pairing up with another student - I let them form their own groups. I hope that is helpful.

Jorge Nocedal – Professor:

In none of the courses I teach we have small work groups. So I have no information to answer your questions.

Seda Ogrenci Memik – Assistant Professor:

I don't do strictly group projects in my classes. In one particular class my strategy is a flexible one:

I offer three kinds of project topics of varying difficulty. If someone picks the easiest category she/he is alone. If the next category is picked the group size is 2, if a project from the most difficult category is selected I allow groups of 3 to 4.

Attachment E2.C: Contact with ECE and CE Students

David Sudit

Major: ECE

Year: ‘06

How many projects based classes are in your major? 3

How many of these classes have you taken? None

Where do you guys work on your projects/group work? Wilkinson lab or CS lab

Sai Hei

Major: EE

Year: ‘06

How many projects based classes are in your major? Don’t know

How many of these classes have you taken? 4

Where do you guys work on your projects/group work? EE lab

Valerie Conception

Major: CS

Year: ‘05

How many projects based classes are in your major? Don’t know

How many of these classes have you taken? 5

Where do you guys work on your projects/group work? The T (CS) Lab

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