Name: Explore, Explain, Empower: Leveraging Curiosity to Motivate Learning of Course Concepts and Beyond Through Technology Exploration
Start: 2025-05-08T15:00:00-0400
End: 2025-05-08T16:30:00-0400

Thursday May 8, 2025 3:00pm - 4:30pm EDT

MTU - Kanwal and Ann Rekhi Hall - Room G06

Engaging first-year engineering students with diverse technical backgrounds presents significant challenges in higher education, particularly in building foundational programming skills and confidence. At our university, nearly 1000 first-year engineering students are equipped with their own Arduino kits from day one of class. Through guided exploration with example code and wiring diagrams, students explore how altering “numbers” and “values” in code affects output, building an operational understanding of MATLAB before formal instruction begins. Every member of the teaching team witnessed new students’ initial, strong hesitation turn into “fist bumps” and “high-fives”. This first exploration fostered growth and accomplishment for new students, helping them develop a personal operational understanding of coding concepts before formal course instruction. Within this model, we have also challenged experienced students with a choose-your-own-adventure style assignment –empowering students to stretch their programming skills. This workshop will present the personal traits known to promote technology adoption and walk participants through an explore, explain, empower exercise designed to leverage these traits. Arduino kits will be available for participant use, although attendees should bring their laptops. Participants will leave with a vision of their own explore, explain, empower exercise they can implement in their own courses.

Speakers

Mary Raber

Department Chair of Engineering Fundamentals, Michigan Technological University

Mary Raber is Department Chair of Engineering Fundamentals at Michigan Technological University. Her research focuses on engineering education and educational innovation. She received her Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Michigan Technological University in 2021.

Michelle Jarvie-Eggart

Assistant Professor, Michigan Technological University

Dr. Jarvie-Eggart approaches teaching and research from a liberation pedagogy. She believes in the empowering value of education in both students and faculty and is committed to creating an inclusive campus environment for everyone. Dr. Jarvie-Eggart's research interests lie in supporting... Read More →