This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
This engineering education research award to the University of Massachusetts Lowell will employ researchers to investigate and assess how service learning (S-L) components in engineering education bring about cognitive and affective changes in students and faculty. The impacts of the SLICE program (Service-Learning Integrated throughout a College of Engineering) on alumni, employers, administration, and the community will also be assessed. The broad goal of the SLICE program has been to develop better engineers, better citizens, and better communities. A key objective involves every undergraduate student taking at least one required course every semester with a meaningful service-learning (S-L) component. The nature of this approach to S-L in engineering core courses allows it to be emulated relatively easily by individual faculty members or by whole colleges. Newly created instruments and protocols developed by this project will lower barriers to adoption of S-L by other institutions. The large sample size available in this project will add significantly to the body of knowledge of student and faculty development based on a compelling, empowering approach to technical education. Integrating S-L into the curriculum has improved retention of engineering students and helps faculty and students expand their focus of engineering the common good.
