Alan Mickelson
Associate Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Colorado Boulder
425 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309
303-492-7539
mickel@schof.colorado.edu
1. What is the central question, issue, or problem you plan to explore in your
proposed work?
What content should be included in a single semester interdisciplinary course that is designed to prepare the students for field work in a developing region of a developing country. Specifically, several of us are presently working with non
governmental organizations (NGOs), Universities (e. g. Catholic University of
Lima) and international organization (e. g. IEEE) in order to further a program
of education for indigenous people in the Loreta Region near Iquitos, Peru where
the Napa and Amazonas rivers form a cusp about the region of interest. We would like to involve as many students from the University of Colorado as possible in
observing and/or taking part in this effort in sustainable development. We are
working to find a model for this involvement.
2. Why is your central question, issue, or problem important, to you and to
others who might benefit from or build on your findings? Recall that the
goal of the scholarship of teaching and learning is not simply to improve your
own teaching but to contribute to the practice and profession of teaching
more broadly.
Anecdotal evidence holds that those that have seen the conditions in the developing
world are forever changed. What we strive for in the University is learning experience
beyond that of for example simple ecoturism. Development work, though,
can only be carried out by those trusted by the people in the region of development.
Partnerships with organizations working requires great sensitivity to the
issues of the organizations and people in question. In this work, I will strive to
determine how a two semester hour interdisciplinary course of a single semester
duration may prepare a student to derive the most from a trip to the working
area without distracting those at work.
3. How do you plan to conduct your investigation? What sources of evidence
do you plan to examine? What methods might you employ to gather and
make sense of this evidence? How might make your work available to others
in ways that facilitate scholarly critique and review, and that contribute to
thought and practice beyond the local? (Keep in mind that coaching will
be available to help you develop these aspects of your proposal.)
The obvious way to carry out this study is to examine the extant data. The Engineering
for Developing Countries (EDC) program within University of Colorado
Engineering College has conducted such a course in preparing students for field
work in Namsaling, Ilam District, Nepal in 2006. Carnegie Mellon University has
an ongoing National Science Foundation (NSF) Course Curriculum and Laboratory
Improvement (CCLI) Program that is tied to sustainable biofuel synthesis
in Brazil. The University of Newcastle on Tyne has a department dedicated to
Third World Studies that has ongoing field efforts in, for example, India carried
out in concert with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.
4. What aspects of the design and character of this work are you not yet fully
prepared to describe?
I have not obtained any administrative approval for the course in question. I, therefore,
have no idea what, if any, resources may become available. This is compounded
by the fact that we have only recently begun discussions with NGOs,
Peruvian University units, IEEE - International and IEEE - Peru. We have received
many favorable responses, but no firm commitments to any form of this program, a program that is yet to be formulated. There is an ongoing EDC
program in this region of Peru that we are building on.
5. What questions do you have and what do you still need to know?
I believe that cultural and sociological as well as scientific and engineering knowledge
are necessary in order to competently work in the developing world. I am a
scientist and an engineer. A priori, I do not know what mix of culture, sociology,
engineering and science is needed, nor what quantity of scientific content will
alienate those from non-mathematically based disciplines.
6. What is your record of innovation in teaching and/or the assessment of
learning? Can you suggest an appropriate coach for your project? (This is
NOT a requirement but may increase your likelihood of acceptance.)
I have developed 2 graduate level courses and an undergraduate course. I am author
of two graduate level textbooks. I was the University of Colorado PI on a
National Science Foundation (NSF) Course Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement
(CCLI) Phase 1 Collaborative Research grant (awarded in 2006). I have
used this grant to develop a new course that is presently being offered at a partner
University. I have been a PI in the PTLC program where I carried out a study
on formative assessment of laboratory courses in 2006-2007. I have served as a
mentor in the PTLC program where I mentored Jean Hertzberg on her Flowper
studies in 2007-2008. When SOTL publications are considered, PTLC grant of
2006 when coupled with the NSF CCLI first awarded in the same year have facilitated
two archival journal publications and a total of 6 conference presentations.
One of these conference presentations was at the 2008 NFS CCLI PI’s conference
in Washington D. C. on August of 2008. I have been a reviewer for the NSF CCLI
program as well.
I would suggest Clayton Lewis as one of my two mentors for this program. Clayton’s
work with human machine interface will be crucial to the success of our
tele education and telemedicine program. We need for Clayton to explain to us
how to teach such material. I would suggest Mary Ann Shea as the other mentor.
Mary Ann is involved with the ATLAS center that we can only hope will
play an integral role in the implementation of our ideas concerning a sustainable
development program.
7. Are you able to attend the required meetings as specified above?
Yes
8. If your project is selected, are you willing to serve as a coach in PTLC in
a future year?
Yes.
