Change Agents: Immediately Implementable Teaching and Educational Hints from the Engineering Education Scholars Program

In July 1998, more than 40 graduate students, recent Ph.D.s, and new faculty from around the nation converged at the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering to participate in the Engineering Education Scholars Program (EESP). EESP consisted of presentations by nationally and locally recognized speakers, workshops to help attendees bridge the gap between pedagogical theory and teaching practice, and activities to develop course objectives, outcomes, activities, and assessments. This paper highlights how some Scholars have already started to implement new teaching strategies gained from EESP in the areas of group problem-solving and adjusting teaching styles to fit a diverse student audience. Additionally, the paper will relate evaluation results and document how 1998 participants are already finding themselves being "change agents" in engineering education.