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Laboratory for Innovative Technology and
Engineering Education
Lead Institution: Auburn University, Auburn, AL
Collaborating Institutions: U.S. and international companies; universities,
high schools, camps, industries; Hampton University researches effects of
implementation; University of West Georgia provides external evaluation
Category: Course/Curricular
Date Implemented: August 1996
Website: www.litee.org
Program Description: LITEE is a collaborative effort between
the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering (P.K. Raju, Director)
and College of Business (Chetan Sankar, Co-director) that significantly, as has their intention to stay in engineering
disseminates cutting-edge instructional materials and strategies programs. Longitudinal evaluation has shown that students
to undergraduate classrooms. Through case studies and hands- from these groups also tend to have higher college grade point
on projects, LITEE works to enhance the skills of engineering averages. These results suggest that the LITEE curriculum
students by developing their decision-making, leadership, employed for the engineering students leads to improved
communication, and holistic problem-solving skills, providing student learning and advancement in engineering. Additionally,
an opportunity to apply technical skills to solve the undergraduate and graduate students who partici-
practical problems. LITEE works with industrial pated in the development of the LITEE curriculum and
partners to identify a problem and bring it alive in the are now working in industry overwhelmingly report
classroom by creating a multimedia case study. that their interpersonal skills, written communication
Faculty and graduate students from the Departments of skills, presentation skills, leadership skills, team-
Mechanical Engineering, Management, Psychology, working skills, and project management skills had all
and Educational Foundations, Leadership, and Tech- improved .
nology collaborate to create case studies, implement Assessment Information: The LITEE team embarked
them in department courses, and evaluate their on a systematic evaluation of the instructional strategy
effectiveness. Each case study is tested for pedagogy and using an evaluation team composed of statistical and education
content with faculty and students at different institutions. experts. Several multimedia case studies were developed and
Eighteen case studies have been developed and are being used used as a primary instructional mode in Auburn freshman
at 60 US colleges and universities as a result of the LITEE Case engineering classes over a 2-year period. Answers to survey
Study National Dissemination Project, through which instruc- questions provided by students in the comparison and experi-
tors are chosen to test case studies in their classrooms and mental groups were compared to determine whether there were
publish their findings. Over 10,000 engineering students have any significant differences in achieving the needed learning
been impacted, and LITEE conducts workshops to give over outcomes. Students were longitudinally tracked in order to
1,000 faculty and instructors hands-on experience with cases to determine the impact, if any, of this innovative teaching
help better utilize them. LITEE includes a generic instructional approach on their GPA. The longitudinal evaluation revealed
strategy that can be adapted to teach a wide range of courses markedly higher GPAs for students from the experimental
using case studies. The instructional strategy steps are: develop classes, as well as higher acceptance rates into professional
a course map identifying the required content of a particular programs (mechanical, electrical, etc.) within the College of
course, the capabilities students are expected to develop in it, Engineering. These results suggest that an instructional ap-
and how the case study can best be used to teach the content proach using multimedia case studies is indeed an innovation
and achieve the expected capabilities; use the course map and that leads to improved student learning and advancement in
new instructional strategy to teach the course, including engineering.
preparation, application, and assessment; and evaluate the Funding/Sustainability: The program has been funded by NSF
effectiveness of the implementation and refine the strategy as and industry support. Approximately $3.5 million has been
necessary. LITEE also conducts a U.S.-India Research Pro- used to design, develop, and implement the program. The
gram, providing students with a rich cultural and research LITEE team also trains doctoral, master's, and undergraduate
experience working on a problem, with the results transformed students in conducting research on engineering education. To
into case studies showcasing global engineering issues. date, the team has trained more than 80 undergraduate, 40
Anticipated and Actual Outcomes: The instructional strategy master's, and 8 doctoral students. The program received a five-
was expected to increase students' engineering self-efficacy, or year $3 million IGERT grant from NSF to expand the curricu-
confidence in their engineering abilities, which would lead to lum to teach graduate students real-world issues. In addition,
better performance in the classroom and an increase in the LITEE is currently working with a private company, Toolwire,
retention of engineering students. The team also anticipated an Inc., to develop immersive scenarios based on the multimedia
increase in students' perception of their own higher-order case studies. In order to promote scholarship in STEM educa-
cognitive and team working skills. Finally, they hoped for an tion and disseminate research results, LITEE publishes the
improvement in students' grades. The results thus far show that Journal of STEM Education: Innovations and Research
students, especially female and minority students, in sections (www.jstem.org). The Journal features high-quality case studies
using LITEE case studies tend to consider that their higher- and research articles that showcase the latest in STEM educa-
order cognitive skills and team working skills have improved tion research.
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