[email] ASEE's International Engineering Education Digest
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ASEE's INTERNATIONAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION DIGEST
2 March 2003
A periodic electronic newsletter for engineering education leaders, edited
by Russel C. Jones, Ph.D., P.E., with Bethany S. Oberst, Ph.D.
The American Society for Engineering Education is pleased to provide this
periodic electronic newsletter. We hope that you find this informative and
useful - a digest of important developments in the U.S. and abroad, of
interest to engineering educators, with pointers to additional information
when desired. If you wish to not receive this in the future, reply to
g...@asee.org, and put UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.
Supplement educational resources with an online subscription to the Journal
of Engineering Education - visit http://www.asee.org/jeeonline/ to review
JEE articles. An online subscription puts thousands of similar academic
articles and papers at your fingertips. JEE Online provides access to
issues beginning with your date of subscription, but also enables archival
searches by subject, key word, date, and author. A year of the Journal of
Engineering Education Online is $39 USD. This fee grants a unique password
and user name, with which Prism Online can also be accessed. (Published
nine times during the year, Prism highlights major issues in engineering
education across the globe.) In addition to the JEE, your subscription
entitles you to Global Online Membership with ASEE
http://www.asee.org/gom/.
CONTENTS
International developments
1. Graded tuition fees in Britain
2. UNESCO study on investment in higher education
3. Japanese scientists losing clout
4. Engineering education in Afghanistan
5. Mergers of institutions in Japan
6. More international students in Britain
7. Engineering education changing in Japan
8. Conscripted labor in Uzbekistan
9. South Korean school opens to married women
U.S. developments
10. Space shuttle disaster impacts NASA
11. College campuses may be terrorist target
12. Budgeting for homeland security
13. Impact of state budget cuts
14. Engineering doctorates decline
15. FBI contacting Iraqis in US
16. Immigration trends shaped by demography
17. Justice department extends deadline for Muslim visitors
18. Many organizations support Michigan affirmative action at Supreme Court
19. NAE developing portal on education research
Distance education, technology
20. Distance education legislation
21. Role of universities in secure cyberspace
22. Security alert for campuses
23. Accreditation for Western Governors University
24. College consortium moves to fiber cable communications
Students, faculty, education
25. Technology parks grow in Europe
26. Accreditation defended
27. Study abroad programs growing
28. Support sought for minority education
29. Upgrading of historically black institutions sought
30. MIT broadens summer enrichment programs
31. Princeton alters minority program
32. University of Phoenix utilizes non-traditional curriculum design
process
33. Effectiveness and accountability measures grow
34. High performance computer communications for small colleges
35. Web references used in term papers
Journals
36. SEFI European Journal of Engineering Education
37. WFEO/CET Ideas
Meetings
38. ECI "Enhancement of the Global Perspective for Engineering Students"
39. Active learning in engineering education
International developments
1) A revolutionary proposal in British higher education - a system of
graded tuition fees - may scare students away from science and technology
courses, according to an article in the 31 January issue of Science by
Gretchen Vogel. The overall scheme proposed by the British government would
have universities increase tuition fees, currently one-size-fits-all at
$1800 per year, to a graded system charging as much as $5000 per year.
Under the new plan, intended to provide an infusion of new funds into a
financially stretched public higher education system, each university would
set its own fees, reflecting the finances of each program offered.
Anticipating that expensive programs such as science and engineering would
set higher fees than other less expensive programs, The Royal Society (the
UK's most prestigious scientific body) has cautioned that such higher fees
might discourage students from enrolling in those fields. See
http://www.sciencemag.org
2) UNESCO and OECD recently published an important study called "Financing
Education - Investments and Returns," which sets out figures showing
positive correlation between investment in secondary and higher education
and growth in emerging economies. Common wisdom has been that primary
education played a key role in setting populations on a course to economic
recovery. This report shows that per capita gross domestic product
increases as a function of increased time spent in secondary school and
higher education. An important qualifier is that the studies seem to
indicate the presence of a certain threshold, a minimum level of primary
education, which must be achieved in a society, before the extra benefits
of post-primary education kick in. According to the author, Burton Bollag,
writing for the Chronicle of Higher Education, this expanded appreciation
for higher learning has resulted in a de-emphasis on the distinctions
between public and private education, as leaders attempt to draw from both
the needed resources for their countries. See
http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003021902n.htm
3) Rank-and-file Japanese scientists are losing their voice on the national
stage, according to an article in the 31 January issue of Science by Dennis
Normile. The Science Council of Japan (SCJ), whose members are elected by
grassroots members of professional societies, is losing its influence in
setting national science policy. The Japanese government has listened less
to the SCJ as it tilts its budget priorities toward funding work expected
to produce economic results quickly. The SCJ was established in 1949, and
became prominent in influencing government policies in the mid-1980's. Its
influence has waned in recent years, however, as it became dominated by
older and often retired scientists who tended to put the interests of the
societies they represented ahead of the scientific needs of the nation. The
Council has been struggling to reorganize itself in an attempt to regain
clout in national policies, but to date has failed to resolve different
approaches proposed. See http://www.sciencemag.org
4) Engineering in Afghanistan has hit rock bottom, according to an article
in the February 2003 issue of ASEE Prism by Thomas Grose. With the
infrastructure of the country in disarray after years of neglect during the
Taliban regime and the recent ravages of war, engineering educators in the
war-ravaged nation are anguishing over how to train engineers -- when their
schools are on life support. Everything needs to be built from scratch, and
all projects and buildings need engineers. Most urgent attention is needed
in the areas of transportation, irrigation and agriculture, sewage, and
water systems. But campuses are in shambles - walls are pockmarked with
bullet holes, most windows are broken, there is little or no equipment in
the labs, etc. Because money is tight, what little there is gets spent on
food so that people do not starve. A few US engineering educators are
working with two universities in Afghanistan - Herat University and Kabul
University - as they try to overhaul, update and streamline their
engineering programs. See http://www.asee.org/prism
5) Higher education in Japan is about to begin a wave of mergers, brought
about by pressure from the education ministry, says Alan Brender of the
Chronicle of Higher Education. With severe declines anticipated in the
number of high school students, and a low national birth rate, both public
and private institutions are succumbing to painful budgetary strictures
which make merger the only possible course of action. While some
administrators have put a happy face on the events, faculty see the trend
as erosion of their power. And some local figures express concerns that
people living in rural areas are going to be short-changed and
inconvenienced. Government officials are emphasizing the advantages of
streamlining administrative operations such as admissions and public
relations: faculty anticipate less research and higher teaching loads
spread across more than one campus. Students, for their part, do not feel
less any less anxiety over the impending mergers: many feel uninformed and
worry about the implications on their educational careers. Of particular
concern is the impact of this wave of change on community colleges, which
are largely private. Ninety percent of the students in these colleges are
women. With enrollments at this level plummeting, "streamlining" looks
inevitable, raising concern about access to higher learning for this
important sector of Japanese society who increasingly demand higher levels
of education. With similar demographic patterns emerging in countries such
as South Korea, Italy and Russia, are we seeing in Japan the leading edge
of a global wave? See http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i24/24a03401.htm
6) Confirming the concerns of Americans who see increased competition from
abroad for the international students who have traditionally flocked to the
U.S., the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service showed that
international students enrolling in British universities increased by 20%
in 2002 over 2001. Observers point out that the U.K. has made a deliberate
effort to recruit international students, to streamline their visa
procedures and to make it easier for them to work while they study in the
U.K. While the total numbers are small, compared to the figures of foreign
students in the U.S., the change has been noted. And, author Kate
Galbraith says in her article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the
progress has perhaps been enhanced by the notion that the U.K. is a safe
place to be these days. See
http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2002020504n.htm
7) Big changes are occurring in Japanese higher education, including
engineering education, according to an article by Kevin Ryan in the
February 2003 issue of The Engineers Journal. A system that was complacent
all through the post-war economic miracle is now under pressure to reform
to meet new circumstances. In the past getting into a university was the
main hurdle, but once in a student could enjoy a relaxing interlude with
the confident knowledge that lifelong employment with a major corporation
was guaranteed on graduation. Corporations would then train recent
graduates for up to two years to prepare them for professional level work.
That situation is changing rapidly, however, due to both internal and
external pressures. Internally, changing social and economic conditions
require a greater emphasis on applicable professional education during the
formal education years. Externally, there are pressures to assure that
engineering graduates are competitive in the global marketplace. The
Japanese Accreditation Board for Engineering Education is working to assist
universities to effect necessary changes. See http://www.iei.ie
8) Student conscripted labor is a common practice in Uzbekistan, according
to Bryon MacWilliams of the Chronicle of Higher Education. When cotton,
the country's prime export, was in bloom, President Islam Karimov recently
announced that university students would join the state collective-farm
workers in the fields to harvest the crop. The reporter attempting to
gather facts about this event - a hold over from the former Soviet regime -
found himself stymied and faced with frequent contradictions about the
obligation and how it was imposed on students. Despite some claims that
students considered this a welcome holiday from their studies, other
information points to painful working conditions in the fields and fear of
reprisals among those who try not to participate. More serious is the
impact of this practice on national efforts to raise the living conditions
through increased education. See
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i23/23a0401.htm
9) Married women may now attend Ewha Women's University in South Korea and
receive their baccalaureate degree, reports Alan Brender in the Chronicle.
The self-proclaimed largest women's university in the world, with its 21,
000 students, has until now restricted married women to certificate and
graduate degree programs. See
http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003020306n.htm
U.S. developments
10) The Space Shuttle disaster has put NASA plans in a tailspin, according
to an article in the February 7th issue of Science by Andrew Lawler. Beyond
the human toll, the February 1st disaster abruptly halts construction of
the international space station, cripples life and physical science
research, and calls into question NASA's plans to move beyond Earth's
orbit. Columbia was the only shuttle outfitted for conducting dedicated
scientific missions; the rest of the fleet is set aside for building the
space station. The proposed 2004 budget for the agency envisions a small,
winged vehicle to serve as an alternate to the aging shuttle fleet, and a
host of technology programs for more aggressive exploration of the solar
system - by robots as well as humans. The investigation into what went
wrong with the Columbia space shuttle may have widespread policy
consequences about the future of human space flight. Every part of NASA
will doubtless be examined, reviewed, and rethought - including such areas
as whether NASA has gone too far in privatizing operation of the shuttle,
to whether the planned future push for advanced technology now makes sense.
A follow-up article by Lawler, "After Columbia, a New NASA", is contained
in the February 14th issue of Science. See http://www.sciencemag.org
11) Robert S. Mueller III, Director of the FBI, told the U.S. Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence that Al Qaeda is considering college campuses as
a possible target for attack. Their dense population and the availability
of ingredients useful in the fabricating of biological and chemical weapons
make them attractive. And the recent attacks in Bali and Kuwait, writes
Michael Arnone for the Chronicle of Higher Education, show that the
terrorists value smaller operations as well as massive ones. A
representative from the American Council on Education, however, points out
that since September 11, U.S. colleges and universities have taken extra
precautions against violent attacks. See
http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003021201n.htm
12) Protecting the Homeland sets the tone for the 2004 federal government
budget, according to an article by David Malakoff in the February 7th issue
of Science. The Bush administration apparently is counting on science to
make the US more secure, as reflected in priorities in the proposed budget
that would provide hefty raises for military and homeland security research
programs. Defending the nation from a terror attack at home or a
conventional enemy abroad has become a major driver of federal research
funding. In addition, the administration hopes to lure private industry
into spending some of its R&D money in such areas. One such proposal would
guarantee a market for new drugs and vaccines. See
http://www.sciencemag.org
13) An article by Will Potter in the Chronicle of Higher Education
describes the serious impact of the budget cuts that higher education has
been subjected to in many states. Cuts of 11% were applied in 2001-2002 in
Oregon, and tuition have risen by an average of 10% in public four year
institutions, with the highest percentage increase (24%) in Massachusetts.
The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education has called this
an "assault on higher education." Compounding the problem are cuts in
financial aid, just when it is most needed. No relief is seen in the
coming year. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003021104n.htm
14) Engineering doctoral degrees have declined at US universities,
according to NSF data reported in the February 2003 issue of Engineering
Times. There has been an overall decrease in doctorates awarded by US
universities, with science and engineering leading the decline. For the
first time in nine years, the total number of doctorates awarded has
dropped below 41,000. From 1998 to 2001, doctoral degrees in engineering
and science have dropped 7% -- from 27,300 to 25,500. The number of non-
science doctorates has remained essentially constant at an average of 15,
200 per year over the past six years. Enrollment is science and engineering
graduate programs have increased in 1999 and 2000, so the downward trend
may soon be reversed. See http://www.nspe.org. The NSF report itself,
"Science and Engineering Doctorate Awards 2001" is available at
http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf03300/start.htm
15) The Federal Bureau of Investigation is attempting to make direct
contact with each Iraqi citizen living in the United States, a number that
may be as large as 50,000. Although very few of them are students on U.S.
campuses, some college officials, according to the Chronicle of Higher
Education's Michael Arnone, are concerned that this will cause another wave
of animosity and frustration. Issues related to homeland security and
recent changes in the INS have already frayed nerves. Some claim that the
information the FBI seeks from colleges cannot be provided without a court
order. But some other university officials commend the FBI for attempting
to create authentic channels of communication with the Iraqis in the U.S.
See http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/20030202060n.htm
16) Demographic realities are shaping immigration trends, according to an
article by David Wessel in the February 27th Wall Street Journal. Rich
countries are aging fast, and that will make keeping pension promises
excruciatingly difficult. The Europeans and Japanese are having too few
babies to keep their populations from shrinking. Poor countries, even with
the scourge of AIDS and the spread of birth control, are growing much
faster - and many are struggling to educate and employ their youth. This
situation is a driving force for immigration from poorer countries to
richer ones. A few countries, such as Canada, have been explicit in setting
national policies to encourage immigration. Thoughtful people in
continental European countries and Japan understand the immigration
imperative, but have yet to move in that direction -- constrained by
popular opinion and political considerations. The US is in between,
remaining a magnet and an exemplar of the economic vitality that
accompanies immigration. But rising unemployment, the bitterness of workers
who bear the brunt of the pain that comes with globalization, and the
aftermath of 9/11, contribute to a palpable increase in hostility to
immigration. See http://www.wsj.com
17) The US Justice Department has extended by a month the deadlines for
thousands of visitors from seven mainly Muslim countries to register with
immigration authorities, according to an article in the February 14th New
York Times. About 15,000 men ages 16 and older from Saudi Arabia and
Pakistan have until March 21 to be fingerprinted, photographed and present
required documents to the INS. A group of 19,000 men from Bangladesh,
Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan and Kuwait have until April 25th to register.
Hundreds of men have been detained when they show up to report - with some
139 still in custody. Muslims consider the program discriminatory and
ineffective. Deadlines have already passed for visitors from Iraq, Iran,
Libya, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon,
Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates,
and Yemen. See http://www.nytimews.com
18) A month after the Bush administration filed a brief with the Supreme
Court opposing affirmative action policies at the University of Michigan,
more than 300 organizations representing academia, major corporations,
labor unions, and nearly 30 of the nation's former military and defense
officials, announced that they would file briefs supporting the University.
As reported by Diana Jean Schemo in the February 18th New York Times, the
friend-of-the-court briefs may top the record 62 filed during the Court's
1978 decision in University of California Board of Regents vs. Bakke. Taken
together, the scores of briefs amount to a broad endorsement of affirmative
action policies by leading sectors of society at the moment they are most
in jeopardy. See http://nytimes.com
19) The National Academy of Engineering is establishing a portal that
provides a front-end integrated table of contents to education research
papers appearing in various journals. The portal will take the shape of a
virtual Journal of Science and Engineering Education Research, developed by
NAE's new Center for the Advancement of Scholarship in Engineering
Education. Areas covered will include computing, chemistry, engineering,
life sciences, physics, and science education. It will provide a quarterly
listing of articles drawn from participating journals, organized according
to a trans-disciplinary taxonomy for education research in science and
education. See http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?ods_key=nsf03530
Distance education, technology
20) According to Dan Carnevale of the Chronicle of Higher Education, the
American Council on Education and the United States Congress are taking
different approaches to expanding distance-education in post-secondary
education. Congress is considering a bill (HR 12, AKA "Fed Up") that would
waive the current rule which says that if over 50% of an institution's
students are enrolled in distance education, federal financial aid is not
available. Waiver would be granted by the Department of Education to
institutions which have a loan-default rate of under 10% for three
consecutive years. The ACE favors making permanent the 1998 Distance
Education Demonstration Program, which allows about 100 colleges and
universities to experiment with distance education, and offer federal
financial aid to their students, even if over 50% of their enrollment
consists of distance education students. The American Association of
Community Colleges supports the ACE approach, claiming that many community
colleges have higher default rates because so few students get loans and so
many are so poor. See http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003022702t.htm
21) "The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace," a White House report
recently released, describes the central role of universities in protecting
computer networks from attacks by terrorists and hackers. Campuses were
urged to strengthen their firewalls and to work with students to prevent
computer labs from being used to launch cyberattacks, according to Dan
Carnevale, writing for the Chronicle of Higher Education. No specific
increase in funding was recommended, but it underlines the importance of an
already-signed bill which, if appropriated, would bring $902.8 million to
research in this area. See
http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003021703t.htm
22) In the wake of a heightened national security alert, U.S. colleges and
universities began to enhance already-enhanced security measures on their
campuses. The FBI warned that campuses could be attractive targets for
terrorist attack because they house high numbers of people and have little
security protection. Institutions in New York and Washington, D.C., having
gone through September 11, were perhaps a bit more apprehensive than
others. Columbia has reduced the numbers of cars on campus, and
administrators from Washington, D.C. area colleges were gathering for
police briefings. Elizabeth F. Farrell and Nicole Fuller collaborated in
this story for the Chronicle of Higher Education. See
http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003021402n.htm
23) Five years after opening its doors, WGU, Western Governors University,
a virtual university, gained regional accreditation for its associate,
baccalaureate and master's degree programs. That regional accreditation
was granted by a group called the Inter-Regional Accrediting Committee,
made up by four regional accrediting associations to reflect the trans-
regional nature of WGU, according to Dan Carnevale for the Chronicle of
Higher Education. This new development does not affect the availability of
federal student aid, because WGU has already been dispensing such aid under
its participation on the Distance Education Demonstration Program (see
article elsewhere in this Digest). WGU does not offer courses, but instead
administers competency examinations to reflect knowledge acquired through
life experience or online courses offered by institutions affiliated with
WGU. Now that initial accreditation has been earned, re-evaluation will be
conducted by the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges. See
http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003022601t.htm
24) Five Colleges, Inc, (Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, Smith and the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst) are out shopping for fiber cable.
They expect to get it so cheap in these days of technology downturn that
they can greatly reduce charges for their communications network while
upgrading speed and ensuring useful redundancy. Florence Olsen of the
Chronicle of Higher Education says that they expect to have the first
pieces of the 50-mile perimeter connecting the campuses up and running next
spring. They are confident that they have the expertise to run the complex
optical-network equipment. See
http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003021301t.htm
Students, faculty, education
25) European educators have not been as entrepreneurial as their American
counterparts, but now they are jumping in the tech park bandwagon in a big
way. According to an article by Thomas Grose in the February issue of ASEE
Prism the idea of research parks where like minded industries cluster
together to enjoy economies of scale was originated by an economist at the
University of Cambridge in Victorian times - but the first major
implementation was Stanford Research Park, started in 1951. In the
intervening years, several hundreds of research parks have been developed
in the US, with at most 100 developed in all of Europe. But in the last
five to ten years, Europe has seen an explosion of such parks, It is
estimated that there are 170 parks in Europe today, with 40 more on the
drawing boards. The boom in tech parks in Europe has been sparked mainly by
economic development needs. See http://www.asee.org/prism
26) Judith A. Eaton, President of the Council for Higher Education
Accreditation, tells readers of the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Before
You Bash Accreditation, Consider the Alternatives." She writes in response
to a report from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni which called
for an end to the rule that institutions and programs must be accredited in
order for their students to be eligible for federal student aid and other
federal support. Eaton's argument in support of the current system centers
on what would replace accreditation if it were abolished. She claims that
accreditation plays a critical role in maintaining the unique strengths of
US higher education, and in providing the sort of information students,
state legislators and the general public need in order to make intelligent
quality assessments of higher education institutions. Neither a federal
system, nor a state-supported system nor a corporate system could be
implemented without substantial risk and potential waste of effort and
money. See http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i25/25b01501.htm
27) Study-abroad programs are growing, even in the current uncertain times,
according to Elizabeth Bernstein of the Wall Street Journal. About 1000 US
colleges now have an overseas study office, up 40% from five years ago -
and many of them say that the programs are playing a bigger role in
recruiting. At some schools perks such as free stopovers in Fiji and
cooking classes from a Paris chef are making the programs more attractive
to students. Fancy or not, however, schools argue that study abroad
programs have great value and still have plenty of serious activities. See
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1044582555192733533,00.html
28) The Chronicle of Higher Education's Stephen Burd recently described the
efforts of the Alliance for Equity in Higher Education to increase support
to institutions dedicated to providing higher learning to American Indian,
Hispanic and black students. The Alliance recommended that the
reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which expires at the end of
2003, is an opportunity to make some aid into entitlements, thus
guaranteeing full funding, restoring eligibility for federal aid to
prisoners, creating new loan-forgiveness programs in support of minority
participation in key professional programs such as engineering, science and
teaching, and promoting new graduate fellowships in minority serving
colleges. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003021403n.htm
29) A bill to create a new grant program to help Historically Black
Colleges and Universities develop their campus technologies has been
proposed in the U.S. Congress, and would be administered through the
National Science Foundation. It would make available, according to Dan
Carnevale of the Chronicle of Higher Education, a quarter of a million US$
needed to upgrade equipment and the technical infrastructure so that
students will be better prepared to assume high paying jobs when they
graduate. See http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003021401t.htm
30) MIT Is broadening its summer enrichment programs, under pressure from
federal investigators, according to an article by Michael Fletcher in the
February 12th Washington Post. Two summer enrichment programs aimed at
enhancing the math and science skills of underrepresented minority high
school students - black, Hispanic, and Native American - will now be open
to students of all races. The decision came after MIT lawyers concluded
that they could not defend the programs' racially exclusive admissions
policies, which were under investigation by the US Department of Education.
The programs, which have been in operation for about three decades, enroll
about 60 students every summer in each of two efforts - one for high school
students, and one for incoming freshmen. See http://www.washingtonpost.com
31) For fear of jeopardizing its other programs, Princeton University has
decided to redesign or completely disband its Junior Summer Institute after
this coming summer. The seventeen-year-old program limits participation to
underrepresented minorities of color, bringing a group of thirty college
students from other schools to study at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public
and International Affairs. After a watchdog group made it known to
Princeton officials that the program was under scrutiny and would be
flagged to the Office of Civil Rights, the university decided at least to
alter the admission policies or possibly abandon the program outright after
2003. Reporting this issue was Jeffrey R. Young for the Chronicle of
Higher Education. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003020702n.htm
32) 17,000 instructors are teaching 125,000 students at the University of
Phoenix using a curriculum designed in a non-traditional way. Rather than
courses which reflect largely the individual techniques and emphases of one
instructor, syllabi and lesson plans used at Phoenix are the work of a
committee consisting of instructors, administrators and educational
designers. The committee always keeps in mind that they are creating
teaching materials for multiple instructors, most of whom are practitioners
rather than academics, and some of whom will be completely inexperienced
teachers. This is seen by some as formulating courses in cans, but to its
supporters at the University of Phoenix, the process of course creation
insures a uniformity of learning that is desirable to students who see
themselves as customers deserving of certain standards of quality. The
Chronicle of Higher Education's Elizabeth F. Farrell, in concluding her
article, says that long-term assessment of the learning outcomes of this
approach are still be to obtained. See
http://chronicle/com/weekly/v49/i23/23a01001.htm
33) Pressures from governments and the public for increased educational
accountability are growing, according to an article by Paul Lingenfelter in
the March/April issue of Change. For several years, surveys of state
officials have shown that "effectiveness and accountability" in education
is a top concern. In this article, the author outlines areas in which
policymakers should focus in establishing accountability systems for
postsecondary education. He suggests the following as appropriate
characteristics of an effective accountability system: establish a few
clear, significant, measurable goals; determine why existing practice is
not achieving goals, then experiment; monitor progress publicly; focus on
improving performance rather than punishing failure; employ both intrinsic
and extrinsic incentives for individuals who produce results; involve
everybody and use multiple tools; and invest in results. See
http://www.heldref.org
34) The National Science Foundation (NSF) is encouraging small liberal arts
colleges to apply for funding under its High-Performance Network
Connections grant program this spring, according to Florence Olsen of the
Chronicle of Higher Education. The program is designed to enable small
colleges to get involved with Internet2, thus expanding its research
capabilities. The two year support, however, covers only part of the huge
cost of that move, and must be covered fully once the funding period is
over. For many liberal arts colleges, their location in rural areas
requires them to pay for expensive "backhaul service," linking them to a
city where the Internet2 connection must be made. While collaborative
efforts help spread the cost of such service, some colleges have determined
that their research and teaching programs will not be harmed by the lack of
Internet2 connection. See
http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003020702t.htm
35) Reporter Scott Carlson of the Chronicle of Higher Education says that a
recent study by Philip M. Davis of Cornell University suggests that
students have used fewer and fewer scholarly materials in their term
papers, but that that trend can be reversed if the professor provides
motivation for doing otherwise. "Effect of the Web on Undergraduate
Citation Behavior" documents the drop off of use of scholarly works
(articles and books) in a microeconomics course, but then also documents
what happens when the professor made the student's grade dependent on the
correct use of a stipulated number of scholarly citations. See
http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003020601t.htm
Journals
36) The January 2003 issue of the SEFI European Journal of Engineering
Education has been released. Papers include discussion of the impact of the
Bologna Declaration on European engineering education, final undergraduate
projects, bringing life to engineering, still a gendered technology,
teaching effectiveness, recruiting programs, global product realization,
and assessment. See http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com
37) Quality of Engineering Education is the theme of issue number 9 of
Ideas, published by the Committee on Education and Training of the World
Federation of Engineering Organizations. Papers from a variety of countries
describe quality assurance efforts locally - Australia, Turkey, Hungary,
Germany, Italy, and the Czech Republic. See
http://www.unesco.org/fmoi/cetinfopage.html
Meetings
38) Engineering Conferences International is sponsoring a conference on
"Enhancement of the Global Perspective for Engineering Students by
Providing an International Experience" at Tomar, Portugal from April 6-11,
2003. With the increased globalization of economies, exposure to other
cultures has become an increasingly important asset to graduates. This
conference will explore such issues as: compatibility of degree systems;
accreditation of courses and/or degrees; quality assurance; an accepted
credit system; language of instruction; and legal and social issues. See
http://www.engconfintl.org/3aibody.html
39) Active Learning in Engineering Education, an informal international
collaboration among engineering educational institutions dedicated to
improving engineering education via active learning techniques, will hold
its third workshop from June 16th to 20th, 2003, at the Franklin W. Olin
College of Engineering in Boston, Massachusetts. See
http://projects.olin.edu/ALE2003Workshop/
________________________________________________________________________
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<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>2 March
2003</b></font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">A periodic
electronic newsletter for engineering education leaders, edited by Russel
C. Jones, Ph.D., P.E., with Bethany S. Oberst, Ph.D.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The American
Society for Engineering Education is pleased to provide this periodic
electronic newsletter. We hope that you find this informative and useful
- a digest of important developments in the U.S. and abroad, of interest
to engineering educators, with pointers to additional information when
desired. If you wish to not receive this in the future, reply to <a href="mailto:g...@asee.org">g...@asee.org</a>,
and put UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.</font></p>
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educational resources with an online subscription to the Journal of Engineering
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to review JEE articles. An online subscription puts thousands of similar
academic articles and papers at your fingertips. JEE Online provides access
to issues beginning with your date of subscription, but also enables archival
searches by subject, key word, date, and author. A year of the Journal
of Engineering Education Online is $39 USD. This fee grants a unique password
and user name, with which Prism Online can also be accessed. (Published
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<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <b><br>
<a name="contents"></a>CONTENTS</b></font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><a href="#international">International
developments</a></b><br>
1. Graded tuition fees in Britain <br>
2. UNESCO study on investment in higher education<br>
3. Japanese scientists losing clout<br>
4. Engineering education in Afghanistan<br>
5. Mergers of institutions in Japan<br>
6. More international students in Britain<br>
7. Engineering education changing in Japan<br>
8. Conscripted labor in Uzbekistan<br>
9. South Korean school opens to married women<br>
</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><a href="#developments">U.S.
developments</a></b><br>
10. Space shuttle disaster impacts NASA<br>
11. College campuses may be terrorist target<br>
12. Budgeting for homeland security<br>
13. Impact of state budget cuts<br>
14. Engineering doctorates decline<br>
15. FBI contacting Iraqis in US<br>
16. Immigration trends shaped by demography<br>
17. Justice department extends deadline for Muslim visitors<br>
18. Many organizations support Michigan affirmative action at Supreme
Court<br>
19. NAE developing portal on education research<br>
</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><a href="#distance">Distance
education, technology</a></b><br>
20. Distance education legislation<br>
21. Role of universities in secure cyberspace<br>
22. Security alert for campuses<br>
23. Accreditation for Western Governors University<br>
24. College consortium moves to fiber cable communications</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><a href="#students">Students,
Faculty, Education</a></b><br>
25. Technology parks grow in Europe<br>
26. Accreditation defended<br>
27. Study abroad programs growing<br>
28. Support sought for minority education<br>
29. Upgrading of historically black institutions sought<br>
30. MIT broadens summer enrichment programs<br>
31. Princeton alters minority program<br>
32. University of Phoenix utilizes non-traditional curriculum design process<br>
33. Effectiveness and accountability measures grow<br>
34. High performance computer communications for small colleges<br>
35. Web references used in term papers</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><b><u><a href="#journals">Journals</a></u></b><br>
36. SEFI <i>European Journal of Engineering Education</i><br>
37. WFEO/CET <i>Ideas</i></font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><a href="#meetings">Meetings</a></b><br>
38. ECI "Enhancement of the Global Perspective for Engineering Students"<br>
39. Active learning in engineering education</font></p>
<p><br>
<font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b> <a name="international"></a>International
developments</b></font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">1) A revolutionary
proposal in British higher education - a system of graded tuition fees
- may scare students away from science and technology courses, according
to an article in the 31 January issue of Science by Gretchen Vogel. The
overall scheme proposed by the British government would have universities
increase tuition fees, currently one-size-fits-all at $1800 per year,
to a graded system charging as much as $5000 per year. Under the new plan,
intended to provide an infusion of new funds into a financially stretched
public higher education system, each university would set its own fees,
reflecting the finances of each program offered. Anticipating that expensive
programs such as science and engineering would set higher fees than other
less expensive programs, The Royal Society (the UK's most prestigious
scientific body) has cautioned that such higher fees might discourage
students from enrolling in those fields. See <b><a href="http://www.sciencemag.org">http://www.sciencemag.org</a></b>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">2) UNESCO
and OECD recently published an important study called "Financing
Education - Investments and Returns," which sets out figures showing
positive correlation between investment in secondary and higher education
and growth in emerging economies. Common wisdom has been that primary
education played a key role in setting populations on a course to economic
recovery. This report shows that per capita gross domestic product increases
as a function of increased time spent in secondary school and higher education.
An important qualifier is that the studies seem to indicate the presence
of a certain threshold, a minimum level of primary education, which must
be achieved in a society, before the extra benefits of post-primary education
kick in. According to the author, Burton Bollag, writing for the Chronicle
of Higher Education, this expanded appreciation for higher learning has
resulted in a de-emphasis on the distinctions between public and private
education, as leaders attempt to draw from both the needed resources for
their countries. See <b><a href="http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003021902n.htm">http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003021902n.htm</a></b>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">3) Rank-and-file
Japanese scientists are losing their voice on the national stage, according
to an article in the 31 January issue of Science by Dennis Normile. The
Science Council of Japan (SCJ), whose members are elected by grassroots
members of professional societies, is losing its influence in setting
national science policy. The Japanese government has listened less to
the SCJ as it tilts its budget priorities toward funding work expected
to produce economic results quickly. The SCJ was established in 1949,
and became prominent in influencing government policies in the mid-1980's.
Its influence has waned in recent years, however, as it became dominated
by older and often retired scientists who tended to put the interests
of the societies they represented ahead of the scientific needs of the
nation. The Council has been struggling to reorganize itself in an attempt
to regain clout in national policies, but to date has failed to resolve
different approaches proposed. See <b><a href="http://www.sciencemag.org">http://www.sciencemag.org</a></b>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">4) Engineering
in Afghanistan has hit rock bottom, according to an article in the February
2003 issue of ASEE Prism by Thomas Grose. With the infrastructure of the
country in disarray after years of neglect during the Taliban regime and
the recent ravages of war, engineering educators in the war-ravaged nation
are anguishing over how to train engineers -- when their schools are on
life support. Everything needs to be built from scratch, and all projects
and buildings need engineers. Most urgent attention is needed in the areas
of transportation, irrigation and agriculture, sewage, and water systems.
But campuses are in shambles - walls are pockmarked with bullet holes,
most windows are broken, there is little or no equipment in the labs,
etc. Because money is tight, what little there is gets spent on food so
that people do not starve. A few US engineering educators are working
with two universities in Afghanistan - Herat University and Kabul University
- as they try to overhaul, update and streamline their engineering programs.
See <a href="http://www.asee.org/prism"><b>http://www.asee.org/prism</b></a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">5) Higher
education in Japan is about to begin a wave of mergers, brought about
by pressure from the education ministry, says Alan Brender of the Chronicle
of Higher Education. With severe declines anticipated in the number of
high school students, and a low national birth rate, both public and private
institutions are succumbing to painful budgetary strictures which make
merger the only possible course of action. While some administrators have
put a happy face on the events, faculty see the trend as erosion of their
power. And some local figures express concerns that people living in rural
areas are going to be short-changed and inconvenienced. Government officials
are emphasizing the advantages of streamlining administrative operations
such as admissions and public relations: faculty anticipate less research
and higher teaching loads spread across more than one campus. Students,
for their part, do not feel less any less anxiety over the impending mergers:
many feel uninformed and worry about the implications on their educational
careers. Of particular concern is the impact of this wave of change on
community colleges, which are largely private. Ninety percent of the students
in these colleges are women. With enrollments at this level plummeting,
"streamlining" looks inevitable, raising concern about access
to higher learning for this important sector of Japanese society who increasingly
demand higher levels of education. With similar demographic patterns emerging
in countries such as South Korea, Italy and Russia, are we seeing in Japan
the leading edge of a global wave? See <b><a href="http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i24/24a03401.htm">http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i24/24a03401.htm</a></b>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">6) Confirming
the concerns of Americans who see increased competition from abroad for
the international students who have traditionally flocked to the U.S.,
the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service showed that international
students enrolling in British universities increased by 20% in 2002 over
2001. Observers point out that the U.K. has made a deliberate effort to
recruit international students, to streamline their visa procedures and
to make it easier for them to work while they study in the U.K. While
the total numbers are small, compared to the figures of foreign students
in the U.S., the change has been noted. And, author Kate Galbraith says
in her article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the progress has
perhaps been enhanced by the notion that the U.K. is a safe place to be
these days. See <b><a href="http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2002020504n.htm">http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2002020504n.htm</a></b>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">7) Big changes
are occurring in Japanese higher education, including engineering education,
according to an article by Kevin Ryan in the February 2003 issue of The
Engineers Journal. A system that was complacent all through the post-war
economic miracle is now under pressure to reform to meet new circumstances.
In the past getting into a university was the main hurdle, but once in
a student could enjoy a relaxing interlude with the confident knowledge
that lifelong employment with a major corporation was guaranteed on graduation.
Corporations would then train recent graduates for up to two years to
prepare them for professional level work. That situation is changing rapidly,
however, due to both internal and external pressures. Internally, changing
social and economic conditions require a greater emphasis on applicable
professional education during the formal education years. Externally,
there are pressures to assure that engineering graduates are competitive
in the global marketplace. The Japanese Accreditation Board for Engineering
Education is working to assist universities to effect necessary changes.
See <b><a href="http://www.iei.ie">http://www.iei.ie</a></b>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">8) Student
conscripted labor is a common practice in Uzbekistan, according to Bryon
MacWilliams of the Chronicle of Higher Education. When cotton, the country's
prime export, was in bloom, President Islam Karimov recently announced
that university students would join the state collective-farm workers
in the fields to harvest the crop. The reporter attempting to gather facts
about this event - a hold over from the former Soviet regime - found himself
stymied and faced with frequent contradictions about the obligation and
how it was imposed on students. Despite some claims that students considered
this a welcome holiday from their studies, other information points to
painful working conditions in the fields and fear of reprisals among those
who try not to participate. More serious is the impact of this practice
on national efforts to raise the living conditions through increased education.
See <a href="http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i23/23a0401.htm"><b>http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i23/23a0401.htm</b></a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">9) Married
women may now attend Ewha Women's University in South Korea and receive
their baccalaureate degree, reports Alan Brender in the Chronicle. The
self-proclaimed largest women's university in the world, with its 21,000
students, has until now restricted married women to certificate and graduate
degree programs. See <b><a href="http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003020306n.htm">http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003020306n.htm</a></b>.<br>
</font></p>
<p><i><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="#contents">Back
to Contents</a></font></i></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
<a name="developments"></a><b>U.S. developments</b></font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">10) The
Space Shuttle disaster has put NASA plans in a tailspin, according to
an article in the February 7th issue of Science by Andrew Lawler. Beyond
the human toll, the February 1st disaster abruptly halts construction
of the international space station, cripples life and physical science
research, and calls into question NASA's plans to move beyond Earth's
orbit. Columbia was the only shuttle outfitted for conducting dedicated
scientific missions; the rest of the fleet is set aside for building the
space station. The proposed 2004 budget for the agency envisions a small,
winged vehicle to serve as an alternate to the aging shuttle fleet, and
a host of technology programs for more aggressive exploration of the solar
system - by robots as well as humans. The investigation into what went
wrong with the Columbia space shuttle may have widespread policy consequences
about the future of human space flight. Every part of NASA will doubtless
be examined, reviewed, and rethought - including such areas as whether
NASA has gone too far in privatizing operation of the shuttle, to whether
the planned future push for advanced technology now makes sense. A follow-up
article by Lawler, "After Columbia, a New NASA", is contained
in the February 14th issue of Science. See <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org">http://www.sciencemag.org</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">11) Robert
S. Mueller III, Director of the FBI, told the U.S. Senate Select Committee
on Intelligence that Al Qaeda is considering college campuses as a possible
target for attack. Their dense population and the availability of ingredients
useful in the fabricating of biological and chemical weapons make them
attractive. And the recent attacks in Bali and Kuwait, writes Michael
Arnone for the Chronicle of Higher Education, show that the terrorists
value smaller operations as well as massive ones. A representative from
the American Council on Education, however, points out that since September
11, U.S. colleges and universities have taken extra precautions against
violent attacks. See <a href="http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003021201n.htm">http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003021201n.htm</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">12) Protecting
the Homeland sets the tone for the 2004 federal government budget, according
to an article by David Malakoff in the February 7th issue of Science.
The Bush administration apparently is counting on science to make the
US more secure, as reflected in priorities in the proposed budget that
would provide hefty raises for military and homeland security research
programs. Defending the nation from a terror attack at home or a conventional
enemy abroad has become a major driver of federal research funding. In
addition, the administration hopes to lure private industry into spending
some of its R&D money in such areas. One such proposal would guarantee
a market for new drugs and vaccines. See <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org">http://www.sciencemag.org</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">13) An article
by Will Potter in the Chronicle of Higher Education describes the serious
impact of the budget cuts that higher education has been subjected to
in many states. Cuts of 11% were applied in 2001-2002 in Oregon, and tuition
have risen by an average of 10% in public four year institutions, with
the highest percentage increase (24%) in Massachusetts. The National Center
for Public Policy and Higher Education has called this an … "assault
on higher education." Compounding the problem are cuts in financial
aid, just when it is most needed. No relief is seen in the coming year.
See <a href="http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003021104n.htm">http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003021104n.htm</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">14) Engineering
doctoral degrees have declined at US universities, according to NSF data
reported in the February 2003 issue of Engineering Times. There has been
an overall decrease in doctorates awarded by US universities, with science
and engineering leading the decline. For the first time in nine years,
the total number of doctorates awarded has dropped below 41,000. From
1998 to 2001, doctoral degrees in engineering and science have dropped
7% -- from 27,300 to 25,500. The number of non-science doctorates has
remained essentially constant at an average of 15,200 per year over the
past six years. Enrollment is science and engineering graduate programs
have increased in 1999 and 2000, so the downward trend may soon be reversed.
See http://www.nspe.org. The NSF report itself, "Science and Engineering
Doctorate Awards 2001" is available at <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf03300/start.htm">http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf03300/start.htm</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">15) The
Federal Bureau of Investigation is attempting to make direct contact with
each Iraqi citizen living in the United States, a number that may be as
large as 50,000. Although very few of them are students on U.S. campuses,
some college officials, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education's
Michael Arnone, are concerned that this will cause another wave of animosity
and frustration. Issues related to homeland security and recent changes
in the INS have already frayed nerves. Some claim that the information
the FBI seeks from colleges cannot be provided without a court order.
But some other university officials commend the FBI for attempting to
create authentic channels of communication with the Iraqis in the U.S.<br>
See <a href="http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/20030202060n.htm">http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/20030202060n.htm</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">16) Demographic
realities are shaping immigration trends, according to an article by David
Wessel in the February 27th Wall Street Journal. Rich countries are aging
fast, and that will make keeping pension promises excruciatingly difficult.
The Europeans and Japanese are having too few babies to keep their populations
from shrinking. Poor countries, even with the scourge of AIDS and the
spread of birth control, are growing much faster - and many are struggling
to educate and employ their youth. This situation is a driving force for
immigration from poorer countries to richer ones. A few countries, such
as Canada, have been explicit in setting national policies to encourage
immigration. Thoughtful people in continental European countries and Japan
understand the immigration imperative, but have yet to move in that direction
-- constrained by popular opinion and political considerations. The US
is in between, remaining a magnet and an exemplar of the economic vitality
that accompanies immigration. But rising unemployment, the bitterness
of workers who bear the brunt of the pain that comes with globalization,
and the aftermath of 9/11, contribute to a palpable increase in hostility
to immigration. See <a href="http://www.wsj.com">http://www.wsj.com</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">17) The
US Justice Department has extended by a month the deadlines for thousands
of visitors from seven mainly Muslim countries to register with immigration
authorities, according to an article in the February 14th New York Times.
About 15,000 men ages 16 and older from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have
until March 21 to be fingerprinted, photographed and present required
documents to the INS. A group of 19,000 men from Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia,
Jordan and Kuwait have until April 25th to register. Hundreds of men have
been detained when they show up to report - with some 139 still in custody.
Muslims consider the program discriminatory and ineffective. Deadlines
have already passed for visitors from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Syria,
Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea,
Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. See <a href="http://www.nytimews.com">http://www.nytimews.com</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">18) A month
after the Bush administration filed a brief with the Supreme Court opposing
affirmative action policies at the University of Michigan, more than 300
organizations representing academia, major corporations, labor unions,
and nearly 30 of the nation's former military and defense officials, announced
that they would file briefs supporting the University. As reported by
Diana Jean Schemo in the February 18th New York Times, the friend-of-the-court
briefs may top the record 62 filed during the Court's 1978 decision in
University of California Board of Regents vs. Bakke. Taken together, the
scores of briefs amount to a broad endorsement of affirmative action policies
by leading sectors of society at the moment they are most in jeopardy.
See <a href="http://nytimes.com">http://nytimes.com</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">19) The
National Academy of Engineering is establishing a portal that provides
a front-end integrated table of contents to education research papers
appearing in various journals. The portal will take the shape of a virtual
Journal of Science and Engineering Education Research, developed by NAE's
new Center for the Advancement of Scholarship in Engineering Education.
Areas covered will include computing, chemistry, engineering, life sciences,
physics, and science education. It will provide a quarterly listing of
articles drawn from participating journals, organized according to a trans-disciplinary
taxonomy for education research in science and education. See <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?ods_key=nsf03530">http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?ods_key=nsf03530</a>.</font></p>
<p><i><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="#contents">Back
to Contents</a></font></i></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
<a name="distance"></a><b>Distance education, technology</b></font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">20) According
to Dan Carnevale of the Chronicle of Higher Education, the American Council
on Education and the United States Congress are taking different approaches
to expanding distance-education in post-secondary education. Congress
is considering a bill (HR 12, AKA "Fed Up") that would waive
the current rule which says that if over 50% of an institution's students
are enrolled in distance education, federal financial aid is not available.
Waiver would be granted by the Department of Education to institutions
which have a loan-default rate of under 10% for three consecutive years.
The ACE favors making permanent the 1998 Distance Education Demonstration
Program, which allows about 100 colleges and universities to experiment
with distance education, and offer federal financial aid to their students,
even if over 50% of their enrollment consists of distance education students.
The American Association of Community Colleges supports the ACE approach,
claiming that many community colleges have higher default rates because
so few students get loans and so many are so poor. See <a href="http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003022702t.htm">http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003022702t.htm</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">21) "The
National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace," a White House report recently
released, describes the central role of universities in protecting computer
networks from attacks by terrorists and hackers. Campuses were urged to
strengthen their firewalls and to work with students to prevent computer
labs from being used to launch cyberattacks, according to Dan Carnevale,
writing for the Chronicle of Higher Education. No specific increase in
funding was recommended, but it underlines the importance of an already-signed
bill which, if appropriated, would bring $902.8 million to research in
this area. See <a href="http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003021703t.htm">http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003021703t.htm</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">22) In the
wake of a heightened national security alert, U.S. colleges and universities
began to enhance already-enhanced security measures on their campuses.
The FBI warned that campuses could be attractive targets for terrorist
attack because they house high numbers of people and have little security
protection. Institutions in New York and Washington, D.C., having gone
through September 11, were perhaps a bit more apprehensive than others.
Columbia has reduced the numbers of cars on campus, and administrators
from Washington, D.C. area colleges were gathering for police briefings.
Elizabeth F. Farrell and Nicole Fuller collaborated in this story for
the Chronicle of Higher Education. See <a href="http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003021402n.htm">http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003021402n.htm</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">23) Five
years after opening its doors, WGU, Western Governors University, a virtual
university, gained regional accreditation for its associate, baccalaureate
and master's degree programs. That regional accreditation was granted
by a group called the Inter-Regional Accrediting Committee, made up by
four regional accrediting associations to reflect the trans-regional nature
of WGU, according to Dan Carnevale for the Chronicle of Higher Education.
This new development does not affect the availability of federal student
aid, because WGU has already been dispensing such aid under its participation
on the Distance Education Demonstration Program (see article elsewhere
in this Digest). WGU does not offer courses, but instead administers competency
examinations to reflect knowledge acquired through life experience or
online courses offered by institutions affiliated with WGU. Now that initial
accreditation has been earned, re-evaluation will be conducted by the
Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges. See <a href="http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003022601t.htm">http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003022601t.htm</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">24) Five
Colleges, Inc, (Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, Smith and the University
of Massachusetts at Amherst) are out shopping for fiber cable. They expect
to get it so cheap in these days of technology downturn that they can
greatly reduce charges for their communications network while upgrading
speed and ensuring useful redundancy. Florence Olsen of the Chronicle
of Higher Education says that they expect to have the first pieces of
the 50-mile perimeter connecting the campuses up and running next spring.
They are confident that they have the expertise to run the complex optical-network
equipment. See <a href="http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003021301t.htm">http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003021301t.htm</a>.</font></p>
<p><i><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="#contents">Back
to Contents</a></font></i></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
<a name="students"></a><b>Students, Faculty, Education</b></font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">25) European
educators have not been as entrepreneurial as their American counterparts,
but now they are jumping in the tech park bandwagon in a big way. According
to an article by Thomas Grose in the February issue of ASEE Prism the
idea of research parks where like minded industries cluster together to
enjoy economies of scale was originated by an economist at the University
of Cambridge in Victorian times - but the first major implementation was
Stanford Research Park, started in 1951. In the intervening years, several
hundreds of research parks have been developed in the US, with at most
100 developed in all of Europe. But in the last five to ten years, Europe
has seen an explosion of such parks, It is estimated that there are 170
parks in Europe today, with 40 more on the drawing boards. The boom in
tech parks in Europe has been sparked mainly by economic development needs.
See <a href="http://www.asee.org/prism">http://www.asee.org/prism</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">26) Judith
A. Eaton, President of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation,
tells readers of the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Before You Bash
Accreditation, Consider the Alternatives." She writes in response
to a report from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni which called
for an end to the rule that institutions and programs must be accredited
in order for their students to be eligible for federal student aid and
other federal support. Eaton's argument in support of the current system
centers on what would replace accreditation if it were abolished. She
claims that accreditation plays a critical role in maintaining the unique
strengths of US higher education, and in providing the sort of information
students, state legislators and the general public need in order to make
intelligent quality assessments of higher education institutions. Neither
a federal system, nor a state-supported system nor a corporate system
could be implemented without substantial risk and potential waste of effort
and money. See <a href="http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i25/25b01501.htm">http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i25/25b01501.htm</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">27) Study-abroad
programs are growing, even in the current uncertain times, according to
Elizabeth Bernstein of the Wall Street Journal. About 1000 US colleges
now have an overseas study office, up 40% from five years ago - and many
of them say that the programs are playing a bigger role in recruiting.
At some schools perks such as free stopovers in Fiji and cooking classes
from a Paris chef are making the programs more attractive to students.
Fancy or not, however, schools argue that study abroad programs have great
value and still have plenty of serious activities. See <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1044582555192733533,00.html">http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1044582555192733533,00.html</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">28) The
Chronicle of Higher Education's Stephen Burd recently described the efforts
of the Alliance for Equity in Higher Education to increase support to
institutions dedicated to providing higher learning to American Indian,
Hispanic and black students. The Alliance recommended that the reauthorization
of the Higher Education Act, which expires at the end of 2003, is an opportunity
to make some aid into entitlements, thus guaranteeing full funding, restoring
eligibility for federal aid to prisoners, creating new loan-forgiveness
programs in support of minority participation in key professional programs
such as engineering, science and teaching, and promoting new graduate
fellowships in minority serving colleges. See <a href="http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003021403n.htm">http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003021403n.htm</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">29) A bill
to create a new grant program to help Historically Black Colleges and
Universities develop their campus technologies has been proposed in the
U.S. Congress, and would be administered through the National Science
Foundation. It would make available, according to Dan Carnevale of the
Chronicle of Higher Education, a quarter of a million US$ needed to upgrade
equipment and the technical infrastructure so that students will be better
prepared to assume high paying jobs when they graduate. See <a href="http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003021401t.htm">http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003021401t.htm</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">30) MIT
Is broadening its summer enrichment programs, under pressure from federal
investigators, according to an article by Michael Fletcher in the February
12th Washington Post. Two summer enrichment programs aimed at enhancing
the math and science skills of underrepresented minority high school students
- black, Hispanic, and Native American - will now be open to students
of all races. The decision came after MIT lawyers concluded that they
could not defend the programs' racially exclusive admissions policies,
which were under investigation by the US Department of Education. The
programs, which have been in operation for about three decades, enroll
about 60 students every summer in each of two efforts - one for high school
students, and one for incoming freshmen. See <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com">http://www.washingtonpost.com</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">31) For
fear of jeopardizing its other programs, Princeton University has decided
to redesign or completely disband its Junior Summer Institute after this
coming summer. The seventeen-year-old program limits participation to
underrepresented minorities of color, bringing a group of thirty college
students from other schools to study at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public
and International Affairs. After a watchdog group made it known to Princeton
officials that the program was under scrutiny and would be flagged to
the Office of Civil Rights, the university decided at least to alter the
admission policies or possibly abandon the program outright after 2003.
Reporting this issue was Jeffrey R. Young for the Chronicle of Higher
Education. See <a href="http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003020702n.htm">http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003020702n.htm</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">32) 17,000
instructors are teaching 125,000 students at the University of Phoenix
using a curriculum designed in a non-traditional way. Rather than courses
which reflect largely the individual techniques and emphases of one instructor,
syllabi and lesson plans used at Phoenix are the work of a committee consisting
of instructors, administrators and educational designers. The committee
always keeps in mind that they are creating teaching materials for multiple
instructors, most of whom are practitioners rather than academics, and
some of whom will be completely inexperienced teachers. This is seen by
some as formulating courses in cans, but to its supporters at the University
of Phoenix, the process of course creation insures a uniformity of learning
that is desirable to students who see themselves as customers deserving
of certain standards of quality. The Chronicle of Higher Education's Elizabeth
F. Farrell, in concluding her article, says that long-term assessment
of the learning outcomes of this approach are still be to obtained. See
<a href="http://chronicle/com/weekly/v49/i23/23a01001.htm">http://chronicle/com/weekly/v49/i23/23a01001.htm</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">33) Pressures
from governments and the public for increased educational accountability
are growing, according to an article by Paul Lingenfelter in the March/April
issue of Change. For several years, surveys of state officials have shown
that "effectiveness and accountability" in education is a top
concern. In this article, the author outlines areas in which policymakers
should focus in establishing accountability systems for postsecondary
education. He suggests the following as appropriate characteristics of
an effective accountability system: establish a few clear, significant,
measurable goals; determine why existing practice is not achieving goals,
then experiment; monitor progress publicly; focus on improving performance
rather than punishing failure; employ both intrinsic and extrinsic incentives
for individuals who produce results; involve everybody and use multiple
tools; and invest in results. See <a href="http://www.heldref.org">http://www.heldref.org</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">34) The
National Science Foundation (NSF) is encouraging small liberal arts colleges
to apply for funding under its High-Performance Network Connections grant
program this spring, according to Florence Olsen of the Chronicle of Higher
Education. The program is designed to enable small colleges to get involved
with Internet2, thus expanding its research capabilities. The two year
support, however, covers only part of the huge cost of that move, and
must be covered fully once the funding period is over. For many liberal
arts colleges, their location in rural areas requires them to pay for
expensive "backhaul service," linking them to a city where the
Internet2 connection must be made. While collaborative efforts help spread
the cost of such service, some colleges have determined that their research
and teaching programs will not be harmed by the lack of Internet2 connection.
See <a href="http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003020702t.htm">http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003020702t.htm</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">35) Reporter
Scott Carlson of the Chronicle of Higher Education says that a recent
study by Philip M. Davis of Cornell University suggests that students
have used fewer and fewer scholarly materials in their term papers, but
that that trend can be reversed if the professor provides motivation for
doing otherwise. "Effect of the Web on Undergraduate Citation Behavior"
documents the drop off of use of scholarly works (articles and books)
in a microeconomics course, but then also documents what happens when
the professor made the student's grade dependent on the correct use of
a stipulated number of scholarly citations. See <a href="http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003020601t.htm">http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003020601t.htm</a>.</font></p>
<p><i><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="#contents">Back
to Contents</a></font></i></p>
<p><br>
<b><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a name="journals"></a>Journals</font></b></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">36) The January 2003
issue of the SEFI European Journal of Engineering Education has been released.
Papers include discussion of the impact of the Bologna Declaration on
European engineering education, final undergraduate projects, bringing
life to engineering, still a gendered technology, teaching effectiveness,
recruiting programs, global product realization, and assessment. See <a href="http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com">http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com</a>.</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">37) Quality of Engineering
Education is the theme of issue number 9 of Ideas, published by the Committee
on Education and Training of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations.
Papers from a variety of countries describe quality assurance efforts
locally - Australia, Turkey, Hungary, Germany, Italy, and the Czech Republic.
See <a href="http://www.unesco.org/fmoi/cetinfopage.html">http://www.unesco.org/fmoi/cetinfopage.html</a>.</font></p>
<p><i><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="#contents">Back
to Contents</a></font></i></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
<a name="meetings"></a><b>Meetings</b></font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">38) Engineering
Conferences International is sponsoring a conference on "Enhancement
of the Global Perspective for Engineering Students by Providing an International
Experience" at Tomar, Portugal from April 6-11, 2003. With the increased
globalization of economies, exposure to other cultures has become an increasingly
important asset to graduates. This conference will explore such issues
as: compatibility of degree systems; accreditation of courses and/or degrees;
quality assurance; an accepted credit system; language of instruction;
and legal and social issues. See <a href="http://www.engconfintl.org/3aibody.html">http://www.engconfintl.org/3aibody.html</a>.
</font></p>
<p><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">39) Active
Learning in Engineering Education, an informal international collaboration
among engineering educational institutions dedicated to improving engineering
education via active learning techniques, will hold its third workshop
from June 16th to 20th, 2003, at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
in Boston, Massachusetts. See <a href="http://projects.olin.edu/ALE2003Workshop/">http://projects.olin.edu/ALE2003Workshop/</a>.</font></p>
<p><i><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="#contents">Back
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