NSF Org:	DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education
Recipient:	ILLINOIS VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Initial Amendment Date:	July 15, 2005
Latest Amendment Date:	July 15, 2005
Award Number:	0501885
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Russell L. Pimmel DUE  Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU  Directorate for STEM Education
Start Date:	July 15, 2005
End Date:	June 30, 2008 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount:	$229,875.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date:	$229,875.00
Funds Obligated to Date:	FY 2005 = $229,875.00
History of Investigator:	Dorene Perez (Principal Investigator) dorene_perez@ivcc.edu Rose Marie Lynch (Co-Principal Investigator) James Gibson (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office:	Illinois Valley Community College 815 N ORLANDO SMITH ST OGLESBY IL  US  61348-9692 (815)224-2720
Sponsor Congressional District:	16
Primary Place of Performance:	Illinois Valley Community College 815 N ORLANDO SMITH ST OGLESBY IL  US  61348-9692
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District:	16
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI):	VALCEME6XJK6
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s):	Advanced Tech Education Prog
Primary Program Source:
Program Reference Code(s):	1032, 9178, SMET
Program Element Code(s):	741200
Award Agency Code:	4900
Fund Agency Code:	4900
Assistance Listing Number(s):	47.076

ABSTRACT

The program is revising curricula for an engineering design and electronics program to build it around an entrepreneurial component that immerses the students in reengineering throughout the two-year program. The objectives of the project are to provide technical students with continuous quality improvement (CQI) experience, to recruit more students into engineering design, manufacturing, and electronics, and to improve student performance. The revised curricula bring freshmen into the CQI loop in their first semester technical courses where they analyze and recommend improvements on products previously designed by student teams. In succeeding semesters, the students build prototypes, analyze them, and continue to redesign them. They undergo training in workplace skills, including project management, teamwork, problem solving, critical thinking, and communication. In the last semester, the curricula combine technical and business students to form student teams or companies, which manufacture, market, and sell a product. To meet the recruiting objective, the project uses student teams as a magnet to draw high school technical instructors and their students to the campus and uses video streaming technology to delivers project activities to the high schools. To improve student performance, the initiatives include: (1) creating a leadership track for promising high school students, enrolling them in a class designed to improve their success in college, and utilizing them as mentors; (2) addressing the language needs of non-native speakers of English by assessing their skills and providing assistance, especially in speaking and listening skills; and (3) involving industry representatives in an advisory committee and utilizing them as mentors. The evaluation effort is comprehensive using a variety of approaches from several perspectives at various points in the students' development. The dissemination efforts includes outreach to high schools and plans to publish materials and results on a web site, at conferences, in journals, and through a workshop.

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