Dissemination Activities

The LITEE Case Sudies have been disseminated to:

Dissemintation is done through:

Indicators of success include:

The Success of the LITEE Case Studies in meeting the ABET (3 a-k) criteria is discussed in the publications in journals and conferences:
 
Dissemination to Engineering and Business Programs
 

LITEE case studies have been used in engineering courses at Auburn University, the University of Virginia, Mercer University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Alabama A&M, the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, Indiana University Purdue University, the University of Detroit at Mercy, and the University of Pittsburgh. The LITEE case studies have been used to teach business students knowledge and skills related to engineering and IT concepts and better prepare them for the workplace at the University of North Alabama, Louisiana State University, and Troy State University. The instructional materials have been well received by students, industry executives, and educators. To date, over 5,000 students have used the LITEE case studies at these institutions.
 
Dissemination to High School, 4-H, and Community College Programs
 
The PI and Co-PI offered a workshop to science teachers showing how the Della case study could be used to teach physics concepts. Based on this workshop, teachers from high schools including Tallassee City Schools, Hoover High School, and the Magnet Program at Wheeler School, GA, have used the LITEE case studies in their classrooms and report very positive results in motivating young students to pursue scientific and engineering professions. With cooperation and a seed grant from the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, an “Energy Camp” was developed based on a LITEE case study for 24 students belonging to the state 4-H Program. Evaluation results showed that the students and adults who attended obtained a better understanding of energy, physics, and information technology concepts and their connection to real-world problems (Sankar et al., 2004). The LITEE case studies were used to train 2-year faculty members at Nashville State Community College (NSF ATE program) during 2000-2003. As a result of this effort, multiple case studies have been developed by the 2-year colleges instructors based on the templates and guidelines provided by the LITEE team. In addition, both teams have collaborated to develop and produce the Journal of STEM Education: Innovations and Research (www.jstem.org) since 2000. The PI and Co-PI continue to serve as advisors to the current NSF ATE grant program at this institution.
 
Growth:
 
The use of LITEE case studies at Auburn University has grown from a 2-week implementation in a senior level class in the Fall of 1998 to full-fledged courses in freshman (Introduction to Engineering) and sophomore level (Concepts of Engineering Design) classes on a regular basis. In addition, they are being used in a full-fledged course in the Business-Engineering-Technology program (Integrating Business & Engineering Theories with Practice) and in undergraduate and graduate information systems classes in the College of Business (Integrating Information Technology to Provide Competitive Advantage) on a regular basis. To date, over 10,000 students have used the LITEE case studies at Auburn.
 
Impact on Undergraduate Students:
 

An evaluation questionnaire asked respondents to indicate the extent of their agreement with 16 evaluatory statements on a 5-point Likert scale. Table 1: provides the results for four case studies, implemented across seven universities. Substantial reliabilities for this evaluation suggested specific constructs, which made an analysis of the data manageable and meaningful. The perceptions of the students on the constructs of perceived skill development, self-reported learning, intrinsic learning and motivation, and learning from fellow students were in the range of 3.1 to 4.5, indicating that the case studies were generally well received and educationally advantageous to these students.
 

Constructs:

Case Studies/Universities

Perceived Skill Development

Self-Reported Learning

Intrinsic Learning and Motivation

Learn from Fellow Students

STS 51-L Case:
Auburn Univ. (n=37)
3.7
3.6
3.4
3.6
Mercer Univ.(n=28)
3.7
3.6
3.7
4.0
Univ. of VA (n=25)
3.6
3.7
3.5
3.5

AUCNET USA:
Auburn Univ. (n=25)
3.8
3.6
3.6
n/a
Louisiana State Univ. (n=28)
3.7
3.6
3.7
4.0
Troy State Univ. (n=45)
3.5
3.4
3.1
3.9

Chick-fil-A:
Auburn Unv. (n=28)
3.6
3.5
3.4
3.8
Louisiana State Univ. (n=49)
4.1
4.1
3.9
3.6
Troy State Univ. (n=9)
4.0
4.2
3.9
4.2

Della Steam Plant:
Auburn Univ. (n=23)
3.8
4.0
3.7
4.5
Alabama A&M (n=17)
3.8
4.0
4.0
4.0
Scale: 1 - Strongly Disagree; 3 - Neither agree nor disagree; 5 - Strongly agree; n/a - not available
Table 1: Means of Perceptions by Students at Seven Universities on Four LITEE Case Studies
 
Impact on Minority and Female Students
 

A LITEE case study (Della Steam Plant) that was used at Alabama A&M University, a minority institution, elicited very strong and positive feedback. The comments from the students were positive, favorable, and supportive of the case-study method of instruction. The instructor judged that the quality of presentation achieved by the students was exceptional and matched that of Auburn University students (Raju et al., 2000).
 
A research model was developed to show the potential relationships between gender and higher-level cognitive skill improvement. Two questionnaires were completed by 140 students who participated and used the LITEE case studies (99 men and 41 women). An analysis of the results of this study showed that the use of LITEE case studies triggered relatively higher learning interest from the female students compared to their male counterparts, which in turn increased their perceived higher-order cognitive skills (Mbarika, et al., 2003a).
 
Engagement with the Community:
 
The LITEE team has so far delivered more than 50 workshops, impacting about 1,000 educators, including faculty members belonging to the Colleges of Engineering and Business, industry personnel (U.S. Steel, Fairfield, AL.; Total System Services, Columbus, GA), high school teachers, 4-H community leaders, and 2-year college faculty members, and engineering, science, and business education related organizations such as ASEE, Greenfield Coalition, NAE, NSF showcase at ASEE, ASME, Foundation Coalition, AMCIS, DSI, Sigma Xi, FIE, Tuskegee University, Alabama A&M University, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chilean Engineering Education Congress, Plant Maintenance Engineering Workshop, Acoustical Society of America, North American Case Research Association, Nashville State Community College, and the Southeastern Case Research Association. Evaluation results show that these workshops were very beneficial to the community (Raju et al., 2004).
 
Support:
 
LITEE has received over $2.6 million in external funding, in the form of grants from the NSF and Auburn University and support from partnering companies and academic institutions. NSF support has included funding under the CCLI – EMD program from the Division of Undergraduate Education. Industrial support includes financial grants and in-kind support from Southern Company (Alabama Power, Gulf Power, Southern Nuclear), T-Mobile, Aucnet USA, Briggs & Stratton, law firms, Chick-fil-A, and NASA. In addition, LITEE receives substantial cash and in-kind support from the Colleges of Engineering and Business and the Thomas Walter Center for Technology Management at Auburn University.
 

The materials developed by LITEE are based partially upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers: 9752353, 9950514, 0001454, 0089036 and 0442531.

"Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this web site are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation."

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