This paper presents results of a pilot program instituted for 86 electrical and computer engineering freshmen/sophomores who started their first co-op work experience at one of 53 employment work sites in ten states. Utilizing the Internet. students accessed structured learning assignments throughout their work period on the ECE Co-op Web-site. They responded asynchronously via email to their faculty co-op coordinators, or they interacted with their classmates on common issues through the ECE Co-op MeetingWebTM computer conferencing system. Students, who were geographically dispersed, participated in a virtual reflection seminar throughout the work period rather than waiting until the work period ended.
Cooperative education promotes student learning in ways that enhance and complement traditional course work and laboratories. typically, students work ful time on co-op assignments for a fixed time period with no ongoing, formally structured feedback/learning mechanisms during work periods. Formal reflection often occurs after the work assignment is completed. Co-op distance learning during the work period provides an opportunity for enhancing students' cognitive, affective, and behavioral development through continuous reflective dialogue and through facilitation of dialogue that connects the students' experiences to their academic curriculum. In addition, distance learning links students to the University during their co-op experiences, and is likely to result in higher retention.
The relationship between experience, reflection, and learning has been discussed dating back to the early Greek philosophers. Dewey (1910) described a model of "reflective teaching" in which reflection facilitates a student's ability to make sense of experiences. Kolb ( 1984) synthesized a more sophisticated model of reflective learning in which practice and reflection are held as necessary extremes, and that when combined, lead to a transformation to knowledge. Schon (1983) developed a theory of reflection-in-action which occurs during an experience in contrast to reflection-on-action which occurs after the experience.
Permaul ( 1982) found that writing about experiences when properly guided is one of the most effective tools for reflective learning. Daudelin ( 1996) provides evidence that suggests that actively guiding the reflection process enriches learning. She further describes guidelines and research results of varying methods of reflection and learning.
Even though the cited research indicates that structured reflection during the activity enhances learning, co-op programs generally have no ongoing, formally structured feedback/learning mechanisms for students during work periods. Formal reflection often occurs, if at all, after the work assignment is completed. Project ECE COOP 2000 was instituted as a pilot to test the cited concepts by developing and testing curriculum that would enable formal, guided, reflection activities to be carried out through individual, coached, and small group methods during the actual co-op experience. Canale and Duwart (1997a, 1997b) have set forth a rationale of how co-op can fit into the larger university educational structure. If this rationale were to be fully carried out, the expected outcome is that students will integrate co-op work experience with the academic component in a manner that is consistent with Chickering (1969) and others who define the purpose of higher education as helping individuals develop in intellectual, personal, and social spheres. In learning theory terminology, these dimensions are referred to as cognitive, behavioral, and affective dimensions of learning. The guiding principles in designing the curriculum for this project were the Northeastern University Cooperative Education Goals (1994) and the Philosophy and Goals of the University-wide Academic Common Experience (ACE) Initiative, (1995). These two sets of goals are compatible with the Cooperative Education Network Attributes (1998) as well as with the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) Engineering Criteria EC2000 ( 1998) philosophy and objectives.
Distance learning is one of the most discussed topics today in higher education and in corporate training. Asynchronous learning is the fastest growing approach to distance learning. Asynchronous distance learning combines self-study with substantial, rapid, asynchronous interactivity with others. Learners use computer and communications technologies to work with remote learning resources, including coaches and other learners, without the requirement to be online at the same time. The most common communication tool is the World Wide Web. In five years, asynchronous Internetbased distance learning has leapt from infancy to an early maturity in which, for example, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation ( 1999) has committed $26 million to support 116 grants for the development of asynchronous network learning. Vanderbilt University (1999) publishes an on-line and print refereed journal on Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN) as well as maintains an ALN web site that monitors activities and accomplishments. Another example of maturity is evident in the Fourth International Conference on ALN held in New York last year, at which 540 attendees came to discuss successful ALN projects and learning outcomes.
The Teaching and Learning Technology Group ( 1999), an affiliate of The American Association of Higher Education, provides forums and support to institutions and individuals to improve teaching and learning with Technology. Educause ( 1999), another higher education organization, has a mission to "help shape and enable transformational change in higher education through the introduction, use, and management of information resources and technologies in teaching, learning, scholarship, research, and institutional management." Their annual conference includes a track on distance learning initiatives.
Project ECE COOP 2000, was a pilot program for the 86 electrical and computer engineering freshmen and sophomores who started their first co-op assignment in either the Summer '96, the Fall '96, or the Winter '97 co-op work period. These students worked at 53 employment work sites in 10 states.
Using the Internet as a vehicle, these students, on a monthly basis, accessed newly designed structured learning assignments on the ECE Co-op Web page and responded asynchronously via email or computer conferencing to their co-op faculty coordinators and to each other. Email was one of the two technology methods that students used to return their assignment responses. For some particular assignments, we asked for responses to be sent to us only as attachments to email. We wished for students to be able to respond "privately" on those assignments.
We used a computer conferencing system as the second technology method. MeetingWeb1M is a web based computer conferencing system, which we found particularly useful. There are several other commercial and free packages that could be used. Conferencing on the Web (1999) and Forum One (1999) are two on-line comprehensive guides that catalog computer conferencing systems, services, costs, resources, and techniques. One advantage that a web-based conferencing system has over a List Serve such as CAPSNET is convenience, effectiveness, and ease of use. Multiple threaded conversations can be carried out over a several week period. Web-based features allow the user to easily organize hundreds of disparate comments into separate homogeneous "views." This would enable the user to limit and make sense of the variety of information available.
Through asynchronous computer conferencing, these remotely located students were able to interact with their classmates on common work-related and technological issues. Asynchronous communication enables students to participate on their own time schedule. Because the assignments and conferencing comments were stored electronically and were available upon student demand, students did not have to communicate simultaneously with their peers. Students were instructed to discuss computer availability policies with their supervisors and to assure them that these assignments would be completed outside of the normal co-op work day. The students were informed that their participation in this pilot and their completion of the learning assignments were a requirement in order to receive a "satisfactory" grade for this co-op work experience.
The undergraduate curriculum is primarily a five-year program consisting of eleven academic quarters and seven co-op quarters. Students start their first co-op period after their freshman year in either the Summer, Fall, or Winter quarter. The project spanned these three periods. Thirty-seven students started co-op in the Summer 1996, 18 students started co-op in the Fall 1996, and 31 students started in the Winter 1997.
Phase 1 (Summer/Fall Quarter) students were on co-op for a six-month period. Phase 2 (Fall Quarter) students were on co-op for a three-month period. Phase 2 modules were written after analysis of Phase 1 students' responses to their first assignments. Phase 3 (Winter Quarter) students were on co-op for a three month period. Phase 3 learning module assignments were revised after analysis of Phase 1 and Phase 2 student responses and employer comments.
The project was designed to result in:
Cooperative education learning can be modeled as a 3-phase, cyclical, on-going process of Preparation, Activity, and Reflection. During the preparation phase, co-op faculty work with students to help them develop their job search skills, to identify short-term and long-term goals, to do self-assessment regarding their skills, abilities, and needs, to develop a professional resume, and to help them with their interviewing skills. This leads to an activity phase during which the students work full-time on co-op assignments. Most often, no ongoing, formally structured feedback/learning mechanisms occur during work periods because of logistical difficulties created by students being away from the campus. Formal reflection often occurs after the work assignment is completed.
From the broad-based goal statements outlined above, we developed a series of areas to concentrate on in order to develop curriculum modules. We incorporated all six dimensions of the Educational Goals of the Cooperative Education Curriculum: critical thinking, knowledge, communication, social responsibility, personal and professional growth, and career preparation. For the ACE goals. we addressed all of the skill elements, both the natural and social cultural world contexts, the ethical and personal perspectives, and connections between the theoretical and the applied, between college and the world of work, and between college study and lifelong learning. We developed specific strategies as to what first time ECE students could realistically accomplish in the allotted time frame. Specific cognitive, affective, and behavioral learning objectives were identified. Then, we developed the specific Internet-based monthly assignments that allowed students to meet these objectives (Canale & Duwart. 1996, 1997 ). A typical project assignment is presented in the appendix. We ensured that students would have the opportunity to reflect individually, to reflect with our coaching, and to reflect in virtual small groups by mandating that they respond in multiple modes. Following are the key goals and subsequent examples of objectives and strategies:
Objective: Students understand the relationship of course work and co-op work.
Strategy: Students document instances when academic course-work is relevant to the workplace.
Objective: Students speak coherently about their work environment.
Strategy: Students describe their work experience to their coordinator and to their peers.
Objective: Students effectively use computer communication technology.
Strategy: Students communicate via Internet to build computer literacy skills.
Objective: Students effectively interact with individuals and teams.
Strategy: Students correspond with work team members.
Objective: Students apply scientific principles to real world applications.
Strategy: Students observe and report how scientific principles from different disciplines intersect.
Objective: Students effectively interact in a multi-cultural environment.
Strategy: Students reflect and write about their interactions in a culturally diverse workplace.
Objective: Students behave ethically. Strategy: Students discuss workplace ethical dilemmas and discuss courses of action.
Objective: Students achieve a higher level of maturity.
Strategy: Students describe their personal and professional growth during co-op.
Objective: Students apply theory learned in class.
Strategy: Students cite instances of when they have applied course-work to their job.
Objective: Students connect the importance of their performance in different arenas.
Strategy: Students report on differences of role of student and role of employee.
Learning Objective: Students learn the importance of continuous education.
Strategy: Students observe varying professional role models in the workplace and report on the impact of remaining current in their field
Employers function not only as suppliers of co-op work, but as educational partners as well. To bring the employers on board to the concept of students performing asynchronous co-op reflection assignments during their co-op period, we conducted four employer seminars during the course of the project. We presented our project and our findings to employer executives, engineers, and human resources personnel. Our interactions with them on critical industry/academic issues resulted in enhancements to the project and improvements to our employers' co-op programs. The security of company confidentiality and proprietary information was one particular issue that arose. During these seminars, employers realized that they had not adequately addressed this topic with any of their co-ops. They asked if we would cover these topics with our students during the preparation phase.
We presented preliminary findings at an international engineering education conference (Canale & Duwart, 1996). We have now completed the pilot, and we are able to present additional results.
During the three phases, there were more than 300 student email responses to the assignments and more than 200 Internet conferencing exchanges among students. We did not set a minimum or maximum length to their responses, but they ranged in length from one sentence to two pages.
These 86 students were a fairly diverse group of students with varying degrees of writing skills. All responses to the assignments were required to be written email replies or written Internet conferencing discussions. For about 30% of these students, English is not their first language. Because of the large number of responses (500), we did not have sufficient resources to provide individualized feedback on all email responses. Instead, we relied on the fact that if they were asked to write 4 or 5 multi-part responses, the practice alone would give them confidence in their ability to communicate more effectively. However, we did respond individually to those students who specificalliy asked us for a response or to those that we deemed to need specific feedback or intervention.
All but five of the 86 project students had reasonably ready access to the Internet. The five students, with our help, found sufficient access to the Internet to be able to complete their assignments. Every student completed at least some assignments and more than 90% completed them all. Although each assignment had a due date, nearly half were posted late.
Students interacted with each other on technology issues as well as issues relating to working in varied environments. Students discussed and reflected on a number of issues including cultural diversity and issues of ethics in the workplace. Students described perspectives and discussed issues with each other through the computer conferencing system. The MeetingWeb™ system (1998) enabled students to "multithread" conversations (i.e. a conversation could be continued by two or more students over a several week period). Students often added personal commentary to the Web conferencing discussions. We were later told that several students took their conversations off-line to go beyond the confines of the assignments.
There were some excellent interactions among students in which dialogue aided in learning. One of the project assignments required students to ask questions of each other about their jobs and company environment. The following are examples of student responses to project assignments as well as interchanges that took place through the MeetingWeb™ system.
One question asked students to describe their working environment. This first example addresses the concept of interaction between employees and what it is like to work at a small company. A student talks about what his company does and who their customers are. The second part of the question requires the students to interact with one another and to begin a dialogue. What ensues is a dialogue among three students discussing and articulating the benefits and drawbacks of a small company versus a larger one. The student at the small company talks about his ability to participate in the decision-making process and to be autonomous. The discussion centers on the perception of not having someone look over your shoulder while at the same time being a responsible professional to get the job done.
Jon: "Three employees does seem like a small company ... you must get to see everything the company does and where it is going ... "
Dan: "Yeah, its fun. I get to take part in a lot of the decision making which is cool. .. "
Sander: " ... Looks good to me, plenty of room to do whatever kind of work you wish and not too many people to deal with ... "
Dan: "It is kind of nice not having someone looking over your shoulder telling you what to do. Rather my boss says he wants this done, and how I do it is up to me ... "
A second example involves the exchange of technical information. This provides an example of information the students have been exposed to in class as well as on co-op.
Sander: "I was just wondering what the advantage was for an Intel chip over a Motorola chip. I exclaim that with the new line of Motorola 604e chip and the other new chips recently developed it seems that Motorola would be a better chip to work with ... "
Jon: "There are many reasons that ( company A) chose to switch to Intel. One of the biggest, which Um sure you can understand, is that it is mainstream. The name alone is what companies big and small look for. x86 does have a few things that don't make sense, I have to admit. Still I like it, the available support and software base that goes along with it ... "
Dan: "Hi Jon, just wondering if(company A's) overall strategy seems to be moving away from XXXX( their UNIX operating system) to WinNT?
It seems that just about every IS manager seems to think everything has to run on NT regardless of what it is. Almost like they've been brainwashed by Microsoft."
Jon: "Good point. The NT base is growing. XXXX is still a huge part of our business because it supports industries such as supermarkets, warehousing, and distribution which relies on text only to keep systems speedy. "
Finally, an example of the type of reflection that took place from some of the students as a result of this project. From the questions of peers, there was a chance to reflect on the current position and what future positions might be. The second student asks the first student if he has found the field of work that he wants to go into when he graduates. This question enabled the first student to assess his job now versus what he might like to do.
Dan: "I couldn't say if this is the field I want to get into. At this point, I want to explore some hardware engineering as well as to just get a feel for it...
Integration of Cooperative Education and Academic Experiences: We have qualitatively analyzed the student assignments in order to assess how well students integrated their co-op and classroom experiences into a more cohesive whole. We have many examples of students integrating their discrete experiences. Students have documented that, while on co-op, they learn critical pieces of what they need which they do not get in their class work or in labs. Although these pieces include technical aspects of engineering, perhaps more importantly, they report and demonstrate learning "the big picture," liberal arts aspects of education in which they developed maturity, adaptability, and problem solving skills. These students seem to have demonstrated that "practice-oriented" is synonymous with the usefulness of a college education.
"I have learned about the value of hard work and how it applied for a greater good. Personally, my social skills have increased and I have developed many more problem solving skills that could only be acquired through experience." "Working in a culturally diverse company has helped widen my cultural awareness." "I also learned a lot about myself. I saw me being much more disciplined than I used to be, not because somebody asked me to, but because I felt it was time to do so. I also found myself being more responsible and patient. " "Personally, my communication skills have increased greatly. I now find discussing things and explaining myself/standing up to intelligent adults a little bit easier." Comments from four student participants.
Students voiced a strong need to separate academic activities from work activities while on co-op. They reported that the reality of co-op work called for them to take on a different role as a co-op employee than as a student. They valued each role, but they knew that different outcomes would result from each. They expressed concern that too many "academic" responsibilities assigned to them while on co-op might in fact detract from their overall learning. They reported that they want to keep communication links to the University open in the event it was necessary, but wanted to develop their own self sufficiency.
" ... as an employee my supervisor is there to watch over my work and help me with any problems that T may have. Where as in class Tam responsible to make sure I understand all the work that is assigned and T must take the initiative to seek to help myself. " "There should not have been assignments due while on co-op. Takes away from the co-op experience by having homework." "The opportunity for contact let me know that the school and advisors were there to help me. This makes me want to help myself more. " "I don't think I needed any help integrating co-op with school." Comments from four student participants.
We believe that the project curriculum provides the students with a sufficient structure so that they will have a framework in which they can make the connections between the two components for the remainder of their college program. Students reported that as a result of their co-op experience and their formal reflection of that experience, they could now make better sense of the differences between co-op learning and classroom learning. We believe that we have captured important first insights as to how students integrate separate pieces of education, and as to what that might mean as universities place more emphasis upon assuring that fragments of student learning are integrated by students.
"While Twill occasionally learn something solely from a lab experiment, my time as a student is almost always entirely spent watching other people's past and present work. On the other hand, while I might need to study someone else's work sometimes, Tam almost always moving, doing my own work, and learning from it . ... if I didn't understand where my schooling will get me, it would be indefinitely (sic) difficult to leave work and go back to school." "I was also given a chance to learn how to apply what I am learning at school to problems that I may face while working. " " ... academic course work and co-op experience. Both are invaluable in the development of myself and my desire to create a world for myself that T can enjoy." Comments from three student participants.
The project allowed students to learn to apply computer communication technology. They learned both professional and technical aspects of protocols and standards. They learned how to send and receive email and attachments. They learned about the need for confidentiality and importance of company proprietary information. Through computer conferencing, they interacted with peers and faculty in a professional environment allowing them to: reinforce their work skills and work processes. remain connected to the University, develop insights into engineering fields and trends. interchange technical information, develop a global outlook on corporate culture, and develop a bigger picture outlook into their relationships with school, work, and life. Through the analysis of student assignment responses, the following themes emerged: role differentiation, responsibility to self vs. others, time management, importance of prioritizing tasks, working in a team, work product value, working with culturally diverse people, effective communication, and ethical awareness.
Collaboration between Classroom Faculty and Co-op Faculty:The project was conceived on the premise that a member of the ECE faculty would collaborate with the two co-op faculty who were the principal investigators for this project. The three of us worked well together as we each brought a different perspective to bear on key issues. We captured this synergy to create a stronger project design. However, the reward structure currently in place discourages academic faculty from participating in this kind of collaboration. If there is to be meaningful collaboration between co-op and classroom faculty, University administrations need to provide adequate incentives and rewards to all faculty and administrators who collaborate.
Technology Infrastructure:We undertook a survey of our ECE students' access to the Internet. We observed that 97% of the ECE project students had reasonable access to the Internet either at their work site, at the University, or at home. However, this University does not yet have sufficient computer communication capabilities to implement a university wide co-op distance learning curriculum.
Many ECE project students needed additional help from us in performing basic computer communication functions. Although these students had taken computer courses, not all had gained sufficient computer skills.
"I have tried posting Assignment #Fl twice already hut I must he doing something wrong." "I followed all the necessary steps ... But still could not log on. " "I'm sorry to bug you again, but I tried that password and I couldn't get it to work. Maybe I changed it and don't remember or something. " Comments from three student participants.
Tools to evaluate the outcomes of the project were created. These included: the initial technology survey, a qualitative analysis of student responses, a post-participation student survey, and a student reflection seminar which gave students the opportunity to discuss their gains from co-op as well as from the project. Positive student learning resulting from student work experience has been demonstrated through their assignments and surveys.
"It gave me a chance to focus and evaluate on my progress. In doing so, I was able to get a better idea of how to improve myself. " "Answering the questions caused me to think about the relationship between school and co-op. If I didn't have these assignments, I wouldn't have thought about the questions." "Helped to show how important the Co-op Program is to (the University.)" Comments from three student participants.
An additional survey was developed to assess the influence of classes, labs, and co-op experiences toward students' preparation for an engineering career. This survey was based upon the national engineering accreditation criteria which lists those attributes a graduate of an engineering program must demonstrate. We have documented that ECE students believe that on the average they learn as much in a quarter of co-op as in a quarter of school.
Written employer questionnaires were collected at each Employer Seminar to obtain a more complete understanding of how the project could benefit co-op employers as well as students. Employers stressed the overall educational objectives of a well-rounded education as well as the importance of written and spoken communication in the workplace (two of the ACE initiatives). Employers reported that they were enthused by our collaborating with them on what they view as critical engineering education issues.
"There is a definite effort taking place to identify ways to improve the Humanities or Human Development of the co-op students." "Interaction with other students could only help. Employers get a student with increasing scope of understanding. Imagine them knowing something before you teach them!!" "It is always beneficial to students to take some time to examine the big picture of their work/education. By benejttin{? the students, the employers clearly gain." "students getting help from peers outside the company they work for is a good technique that will last them throughout their career. " "benefits: integration of thought process & practical application, building a personal and professional network." "Will help the students to become more well rounded and be able to compete more in the work place of the future. " Comments from six of the employer evaluations.
Curriculum modules have been specifically written to address Cooperative Education goals as well as the ABET Criteria 2000. A syllabus of a proposed course, COP 1003 / GE 1003 Cooperative Education for Engineers I, has been developed using this pilot as the model.
Other curriculum modules can be developed for other co-op disciplines that cut across all colleges and all majors and may be applicable at other universities. The goals that we used to develop the specific modules were broad-based educational goals that are not discipline specific. The key concept to the success of this Internet-based learning is the process that enables the formal, guided, reflection activities to be carried out through individual, coached, and small group methods during the actual co-op experience. The process, itself, is discipline free. Any of the computer fluency skill sets that are required to fully participate in Internet based reflection are skill sets that all college level students should possess, regardless of major. The specific cognitive, affective, and behavioral learning assignments for students are broad-based, but grounded in discipline-based activities in certain assignments. Therefore. creation of Internet-based reflection courses for other disciplines would only require a modification to the specific assignments to ensure that the disciplinary needs are met.
The pilot covers students' forst co-op assignments, and is a follow-up to material covered in a basic freshman introduction to engineering course. Additional modules that might be designed for later co-op periods would allow learning to occur cumulatively. Students need to master and utilize computer communication technology effectively as an everyday tool. This project has demonstrated the value of these distance learning exercises as one such way of ensuring student mastery and utilization.
We believe that the success of this pilot program strengthens the concept of cooperative education learning as an integral part of an engineering student's education. This will provide engineering programs with an effective way of helping achieve compliance with ABET Criteria EC2000.
Very rich qualitative information has been collected throughout this project. The eighty-six students generated hundreds of responses to their project assignments. The scope of this project did not allow us to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the data. We recommend that a thorough qualitative analysis of the data be made.
These ECE students reported a number of statements about their beliefs on the relationship among cooperative education, classroom, and laboratory learning. We recommend that a wider cross section of majors be surveyed in a more structured way to ascertain students' perceptions of the relative value of co-op and classroom learning.
This project documented that a great amount of student learning and growth took place. However, we did not document the relationship between reflected learning and learning through doing. If these students had not formally reflected their learning, would the amount of learning have been diminished? Further research should be done to attempt to document these different kinds of learning.