GAANN Fellows will benefit from the integration of a respected technology based College of Engineering with a School of Education, which focuses on the application of technology to pedagogy, to train faculty and researchers of the future. An integral part of the GAANN Fellowship program is its unique supervised teaching component. Through this component Fellows will be exposed to supervised training in instruction and instruction on effective teaching techniques. GAANN fellows will also have the opportunity to participate in proposal writing workshops, international research experiences, field trips, and engineering ethics seminars.
Supervised Training in Instruction
Before beginning supervised teaching, GAANN Fellows must participate in an intense two-week teacher training workshop provided through Drexel’s School of Education, itself a specialist in the pedagogy of technical education. One of the goals of the School of Education is “to prepare college and university professors who understand integrative curricula and constructivism and can convey understanding of the interaction between content knowledge and pedagogy knowledge, especially in mathematics, the sciences and technology education”. Dr. Fredericka Reisman, Co-director, will administer this workshop. Fellows will have instruction on the following topics: innovative pedagogy in a variety of settings, including large lecture, small recitation, and laboratory, self-assessment, student profiles, students' learning strategies, and evaluating student learning outcomes.
Instruction on Effective Teaching Techniques
All GAANN Fellows will also participate in the new College of Engineering teaching seminar series, the Drexel Future Faculty Development program. The program includes seminars on the following topics: goal selection for a course, constructing an effective syllabus, presentation style, principles of test design, case studies, use of presentation technology, writing across the curriculum, ethical issues in teaching, strategies for mentoring and office hours, group work, scheduling of course content, and establishing expectations for students. The program is structured to utilize seminars, one-on-one mentoring, classroom observations, and student lead seminars to develop skills. The College of Engineering and the School of Education will work closely together to ensure the goals of both programs lead to the success of the Fellows.
International Research Programs
Providing international exposure to the Drexel GAANN Fellows is an integral component of our program that addresses the national need and the need to train future academics and scientists. All of the fellows will have the opportunity to participate in international research collaboration in their 2nd or 3rd year of study arranged through the Politecnico di Milano (Milan, Italy), University of Tubingen (Germany), Tokyo Institute of Technology, Korean Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, University of Monterrey (Mexico), and the University of Puerto Rico. These are premier research and teaching institutions in their respective countries.
Proposal Writing Workshops
Students will be provided with opportunities to enroll in proposal writing workshops sponsored by the Office of Research and Graduate Studies. The topics to be covered include: finding funding sources, proposal writing mechanics, crafting a winning executive summary, writing critiques, identifying and tying in strategic goals, mastering the paperwork, managing the grants process, CAREER awards, and equipment grants.
Field Trips
It is our belief that technology can be best learned by participating in the implementation of the basic principles in a given technological workplace. We will arrange for frequent field trips in the core areas identified above to demonstrate to the Fellows how new and innovative technology affect our everyday lives.
Engineering Ethics Seminars
The advent of new and revolutionary technology has in some cases been met with skepticism of its impact on many societal levels. While the GAANN Fellows will be encouraged to participate in pushing the frontiers of understanding, they will also be guided to implement innovations in an ethical manner, cognizant of the impact on societal, environmental, and political issues. This is of special importance in the emerging areas where some ideas may cause concerns in the community and criticism of prominent scientists. Another important issue in the science and engineering ethics is scientific misconduct, which will be addressed through invited seminars and dissemination of codes of ethics issued by professional societies such as the ASME and the IEEE.
