The most pressing and critical needs for engineering graduates in 2013 and beyond are to be natural innovators who are able to integrate their knowledge to solve complex engineering problems. This paper introduces an integrated platform for learning™ as a solution to meet these needs. The platform for learning provides an environment for innovation, while integrating a curriculum into a coherent whole.

Outcomes based assessment has shown that introducing a platform for learning™ based on a robot referred to as TekBots™ into the first two electrical and computer engineering (ECE) courses enhances students' sense of community, innovation capabilities, and troubleshooting skills. At Oregon State University, Corvallis, ECE students enhance their fundamental understanding of ECE concepts as they construct and build upon their individual robot (TekBots). They experience first-hand the fun associated with engineering while gaining a sense of accomplishment. This platform will eventually extend through the four-year curriculum so that, rather than a single point project, the robot serves as a platform that connects and integrates the content from course to course.

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received her MA in rhetoric and composition from Oregon State University in 2011 and her Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership and Research from Oregon State University in 2016. She joined the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Oregon State University as a member of the professional faculty in 2016. In this role, she provides engineering communications instruction to students as they progress through the senior capstone project and develop relationships with project stakeholders in industry. She also supports transformative engineering program development, research, and implementation. In addition to her Ph. D. research interests in adult learning theory, post-colonialist critical consciousness, program design, and qualitative research, she is also collaborating on research in the areas of communications-related success factors of recent engineering graduates in industry and effective tools for instructors of integrated engineering and communications courses.

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