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The iProjects Program at ASU Polytechnic
Lead Institution: Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Collaborating Institutions: Industry, government, community
Category: Course/Curricular
Date Implemented: Pilot in fall 2008, full implementation fall 2011
Website: https://technology.asu.edu/sips
Program Description: The iProjects program at the College of
Technology and Innovation (CTI) on the Arizona State Univer-
sity Polytechnic campus is designed to be a pervasive college-
wide team program that is highly multidisciplinary, practice- graduation with external constituencies, and the development of
based and open to all 35 degree programs in the five primary broader relationships with external constituencies, including
units within the College. The iProjects program included a training and research partnerships. The student outcomes for
number of challenges: a need for large numbers of team-based the iProjects are linked to the individual program outcomes.
projects, a recognition that traditional academic degree program The broad outcomes include a mix of technical and professional
structures do not engender pervasive interdisciplinary practice- skills that reflect what is expected of successful practitioners in
based work, a space conducive to student teams and project industry. In terms of design and problem solving, the product
work, mentorship of student teams, and a new financial model. realization has been outstanding and has received rave reviews
An early phase of the process con- from the industry partners. We have
sisted of benchmarking educational found that students develop a shared
models within engineering used by appreciation for the value of differ-
other colleges and universities, ences in skills and approaches and are
resulting in changes in academic learning how to communicate across
program structure such as establishing a common time for all disciplines. The reports and presentations being delivered by
students in CTI to meet for interdisciplinary projects. Curricula these teams are more polished and richer in terms of content
were designed to be project intensive, with project experiences and the breadth of the project solutions.
included in multiple years of the curricula, giving students Assessment Information: Individual projects are assessed, as
opportunities to develop the skills to work on teams and to is the student learning, by faculty and the industry sponsors.
manage projects over multiple projects. Strong external This happens at a minimum of one each semester but some
engagement was fostered by meeting with dozens of potential projects/sponsors assess project progress as often as every two
external partners. Space was repurposed into studios and weeks. The CTI holds meetings with the industrial partners
laboratories for project realization, as well as a large highly twice a year for assessment of the broader program. There is an
reconfigurable team space called "Start-up Labs" where student internal iProject committee that evaluates the program annually.
teams have space to generate and develop ideas and work on The engineering education programs have ABET accreditation
projects. Project mentors were hired who focused on project cycles that include the projects and the overall program as a
realization and provided workshops for faculty. The external critical component of the student's demonstrating successful
community (alumni and skilled managers) has been engaged to attainment of the attributes included in ABET criteria.
voluntarily mentor teams. A financial model was developed Funding/Sustainability: In the first year, two department
whereby the program can be scaled based on enrollment. chairs worked on the implementation along with one external
Within this model, sufficient funds are generated not only to consultant. Faculty were assigned projects as part of their
maintain projects completion but to improve the infrastructure teaching load in the normal mechanism of meeting program-
supporting the programs. Residual funds are allocated to matic obligations, thus no extra cost was associated with their
program support staff and non-industry-sponsored student participation in the first year. Project funding was provided by
teams. In addition, a new project class has just been launched the external sponsors and the typical student project budget was
called "Start Your Enterprise," where we partially fund student $10,000. For the first year, the staff, chair, and travel budgets
teams as they launch their own businesses. The external were sourced from the department budgets. Since the first year,
partners have similar objectives: recruiting students, solving a all funding has come from industrial sponsors and, in a few
problem for the company, developing a long-term relationship cases, student program fees for any non-industry-sponsored
with the CTI and partnerships with other industries and con- projects. Industry sponsors fund by the year/project, although
stituencies with the college as an intermediary, and philan- several companies have obligated themselves for multiple
thropy. years. There has been no internal ASU funding allocated since
Anticipated and Actual Outcomes: The College outcomes the first year's contribution from the departmental budgets. The
include the development of meaningful partnerships with iProjects program has become institutionalized and a part of the
external constituencies, professional development of faculty College strategic plan. The program is configured to be self-
members to enable quality student learning in the context of supporting in a financial sense, using both the industry sponsor-
authentic practice-based projects, placement of students upon ship as well as special program fees assessed of the students.
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