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Miguel Figliozzi Chris Monsere
July 26, 2013
Integrating Bicycle & Pedestrian Topics into Transportation Engineering Curriculum:
Lessons regarding projects for the classroom & connecting with the
profession
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Outline
• Context
• Personal connection/motivation
• Class implementation details– Project topics
– Group projects
– Guidance, handouts, documentation
– Grading
– Final presentations/reports
• Final Thoughts
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Context
• Sharing our experience
• We are still tweaking our approaches
• Mostly for undergraduates
• Not a complete class (yet)
• Let’s be interactive in this discussion
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Personal connection/motivation
• Using projects as learning tool only work if you are engaged
• Need to make additional time commitment
• Can be rewarding engagement for faculty
• Can add to research agenda
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Class Implementation: Topics
• Pre-defined group projects
– Instructor specifies most of the project scope, method, and expected outcomes.
• “Real” group projects
– General problem or project submitted from outside sponsor (sort of like mini-capstone).
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Using Professionals
• Seek out interested staff at city, county, state or MPO (sometimes consultants or citizens)
• Ask for project ideas– Give careful description of class timeline, skill level,
and expected involvement– Ask for preliminary or projects not yet investigated by
consultants or staff– Offer to evaluate something “new”
• Invite professional to pitch project topic to students and be at the final presentation / poster
• Post or share results (very valuable)
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Pre-defined Project Topics
Advantages
• Clear scope and expectations
• Easier to manage with in large CEE undergraduate setting
• Easier to integrate project with class learning objectives
• Possibly “crowd source” data analysis for your research
Challenges
• Less chance for student creativity
• Final presentations / reports mostly the same
• Less engagement with professionals
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“Real” Projects
Advantages
• Engages students and faculty with professionals
• Requires creative effort by students
• Can produce useable results for sponsor or faculty
• More realistic project experience for students
Challenges
• Must work with sponsor to tightly define scope
• Students might not have all skills yet
• Not all efforts produce useable results
• Harder to assess
• Time involved makes it difficult with large classes
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Sample Pre-defined Topics
• Bicyclist Speed and Accelerations
• Intersection Timing Observations
• Signal Timing Design
• Pedestrian Crossing (Walking Speed, Compliance, Delays, Motorist Yielding, Gaps)
• Bicycle Counting
• Bicycle Signal Compliance
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Class Implementation:
Guidance, handouts, documentation
• Description of activity• Pedagogical questions
– Give the students the recipe or let them determine the data collection protocols
– Sample size questions– Comparisons to other research
• Resources– Data sheet / spreadsheet for students to log– Markings– Stop watch
• Links to completed research or references
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Sample “Real” Projects
• Sign Comprehension Intercept Surveys
• RRFB Assessment
• Bicycle Signal Compliance
• Historic Columbia River Trail
• Green Wave Signal Timing
• Crosswalk Safety Assessment
• Crossbikes
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Class Implementation: Guidance, handouts, documentation
• RFP and Proposal
• Interim Progress Report
• Final Presentation or Poster
• Final Report
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Class Implementation: selecting teams
• Class size and type• Team size (3-5 seems to be best)• Self-selection
– Students will work with friends– Usually, good students together– Not representative of engineering practice
• Assigned teams– More work for you (web tools can help)– Need to be aware of schedule conflicts– More realistic of engineering practice– Better from a pedagogical stand point
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FEEDBACK FROM THE AUDIENCE?
Class Implementation: Grading
• Participation
• Flexibility vs. clear point system
• Sample rubrics
• Challenges
–How much to weight projects?
–How to make sure one team member doesn’t get credit for work not done?
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FEEDBACK FROM THE AUDIENCE?
Class Implementation: Reporting
• Final presentations– Takes class time (up 2 sessions)
– Can be “boring” if all the same
– Need to strictly manage time
– Good for practicing communications
• Poster-sessions
• Final reports
• Invite professionals to attend
• Make sure to SHARE with sponsors!
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FEEDBACK FROM THE AUDIENCE?
Sharing - Sample Class Project Archives
http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~monserec/courses/safety/project/project.htm http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~monserec/courses/urbantrans/projects/projects.htm
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Consent & Disclaimer
• CONSENT TO DISTRIBUTE (RFP)– The final version of this report and presentation will
be shared with project sponsors. By signing the submittal letter you agree to having this distributed. No grades or corrections are posted. Should you wish to have your name removed from the material, please notify the instructor.
• DISCLAIMER (REPORT)– “This report is the result of an academic exercise. The
results and recommendations are the opinions of the student authors only.”
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Final Thoughts
• Incorporating bike and ped topics to your existing courses• Test material/ gauge student interest/ early feedback
• Incorporate research findings/activities to the bike and ped topics
• Be opportunistic: bring speakers or link to existing projects/design opportunities
• Graduate vs. undergraduate students
• Share with us! We are planning new CE Bicycle and Pedestrian Engineering course Winter ‘14
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Some Resources
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Resources for Presentations / Posters
• Felder, R. Tips on Talks, link
• Presentation Tips: Preparing and Delivering a Technical Presentation, ITE. link
• Guide to Creating Research Posters (UT) link
• Design of Scientific Posters (Penn State) link
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Sample EmailHi Bill, Rob, Tom, Joe, Rick, Gregg, Dan:
I am again looking for 5-7 "projects" that my fall undergraduate civil engineering "Urban Transportation Systems" class can tackle. Do you have a small design/data collection/analysis transportation-related projects that you want the students to study? The focus of the class is signals and urban design & planning but any relevant topic is useful. I have a few projects lined up already.
For now, all I need is a brief description of the project so that I could present it to the students on 9/26. They will pick a project then write a short proposal to me. They will likely need to contact you or someone to gain more details about the project. At the end of quarter, they will prepare a short report and make a presentation Wednesday 11/28 at 2-350PM in EB103, both of which I will make available to you. It's great if the "clients" can attend these presentations - the students prepare harder for future employers!
I would like to include a description in the syllabus to be handed out Monday 9/24 so please let me know before 9/21 if you have a project for me. Also, a few of these projects have continued on as a senior capstone project so keep that in mind.
I know how busy you all are so thank you in advance for your help and support. If you don't have an project but know someone who might, please forward. These projects have really helped the students and our program. I look forward to your response!
Chris
Sample of last years projects
http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~monserec/courses/urbantrans/projects/projects.htm
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Sample Final Report Rubric
Details (transmittal letter, cover letter, signature, 5-6 page max )
10
Background /Objectives 25
Task Documentation 10
Results 25
References 5
Overall impression 25
Total 100
This could be much better!!!
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Sample Peer Assessment
YOU WILL BE GIVEN THIS FORM ON THE FINAL EXAM. REVIEWS ARE CONFIDENTIAL.
Peer Rating of Team Members*
Name__________________________________________ Group #________________
Please write the names of all of your team members, INCLUDING YOURSELF, and rate the degree to which each member fulfilled his/her responsibilities in completing the homework assignments. The possible ratings are as follows:
Excellent Consistently went above and beyond—tutored teammates, carried more than his/her fair share of the loadVery good Consistently did what he/she was supposed to do, very well prepared and cooperativeSatisfactory Usually did what he/she was supposed to do, acceptably prepared and cooperativeOrdinary Often did what he/she was supposed to do, minimally prepared and cooperativeMarginal Sometimes failed to show up or complete assignments, rarely preparedDeficient Often failed to show up or complete assignments, rarely preparedUnsatisfactory Consistently failed to show up or complete assignments, unpreparedSuperficial Practically no participationNo show No participation at all
These ratings should reflect each individual’s level of participation and effort and sense of responsibility, not his or her academic ability.
Name of team member Rating Reason for Rating < Satisfactory
_____________________ __________________ ______________________________
Your signature: ________________________________________* From R.M. Felder, 2004. Each student fills out this form, instructor collects and uses to adjust team project grades for individual team members using procedure on following page.
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