Cranking Up Cornerstone: Lessons Learned from Implementing a Pilot with First-Year Engineering Students

Abstract

This paper presents evidence-based practice in required first-year engineering curriculum at Northeastern University. It will outline the motivation to redesign the curriculum, and include review of engineering education practice that inspired and directed the change, along with evidence and assessment of the effectiveness of the new approach. In 2012, after a comprehensive curriculum review by a faculty committee at Northeastern University, the firstyear engineering program decided to adopt the "cornerstone to capstone" curriculum design. The overarching goal of the cornerstone was the integration of design, programming, graphical communication, and engineering analysis through real world, hands-on design projects previously taught in two separate courses. This goal directly supports the interdisciplinary, student-centered approach recommended by the National Academy of Engineering's Educating the Engineer of 2020 report. 13Additional motivation for the cornerstone approach came from three areas; student feedback, the changing profile of first year students, and increased access to affordable technologies such as programmable microcontroller kits and 3D printing. Today's students are entering the university with more advanced placement credit and an increased level of experience with hands-on projects and technologies, such as electronics. This cohort of students are looking for more depth in exploring engineering and a sense of real world problems along with taking courses at an accelerated pace.First pilots of the cornerstone course included a 14-week, 400-minutes per week course. Several measures were reviewed to evaluate success of the cornerstone. In comparing course content artifacts from the previous courses to similar ones from cornerstone, the cornerstone students of similar entrance skills did as well as the previous students on tests, projects, quizzes and presentations. Cornerstone students also reported similar positive outcomes for learning in the new course compared to students in the traditional courses, and even reported how they couldn't imagine the courses not integrated. This paper will report on the motivations and lessons learned at Northeastern University in implementing a cornerstone approach. It will present evidence-based practice in required firstyear engineering curriculum at Northeastern University and will outline the motivation to redesign the curriculum. It will include review of engineering education practice that inspired and directed the change, along with evidence and assessment of the effectiveness of the new approach.

Preparing First-Year Engineering Students for a Career where Communication Skills Matter

“…Cornerstone of Engineering is in its fourth full year of iteration at Northeastern University. Through benchmarking and iteration, we have learned how to weave programming and design concepts into one course, creating an interdisciplinary learning experience for our first-year students [10]. The culture necessary to support this effort has also evolved over time with the course taking on two versions, both of which are supported by personnel and equipment in our First-Year Engineering Learning and Innovation Center [11].…”

Work in Progress: Transitioning to Two Semesters: The Development of a Full-Year Cornerstone

“…Several universities have implemented the full-year cornerstone model successfully and have observed its impacts on first-year students. Seminal research has shown that successful cornerstone classes focus their first semester on instilling the fundamentals of engineering [1][2][3][4]. This includes the engineering design process, design software and programming, project management, and teamwork.…”

“…Northeastern University's cornerstone consists of two semesters, where the first semester focuses on engineering principles and the second semester focuses on the application of those principles through design projects [1,2]. Notre Dame's college of engineering employs a two semester long cornerstone that encourages students to design and prototype a drone-like device in the first semester.…”

“…This evidence indicates that a pilot section of a second semester of EG 1003 could be tested with a quarter of first-year students. Further research questions regarding the curriculum and logistics of the potential second semester cornerstone follow (1) Through what methods can entrepreneurship be incorporated in a cornerstone course to give students the toolkit to take their project beyond the course? (2) What should be the breakdown of classroom time when working on an open-ended project for a second semester cornerstone?…”

“…Many universities, including Northeastern University, Purdue University, Penn State University, and The Ohio State University, have implemented a year-long cornerstone [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Before changing the first-year curriculum, the investigators for this study want to determine the students' interests for this model.…”