Blace C. Albert’s research while affiliated with United States Military Academy and other places

Adoption of ASCE's Policy Statement 465 and subsequent discussion of the what, how, and who of teaching the body of knowledge (BOK) that will be required for professional civil engineering practice has heightened the need for continued improvement in civil engineering education. ASCE has explicitly said the role of educators and practitioners in teaching the body of knowledge is critical and has listed faculty-related success factors for teaching the BOK. A key success factor is statement 465's call for faculty and practitioners to properly prepare to "effectively engage Students in the learning process." This paper considers this challenge and discusses an instructor training program that effectively prepares faculty and practitioners to actively engage students in the learning process as envisioned by Policy Statement 465. We will show quantifiable evidence of the positive results gained by using this instructor training program through student and instructor feedback. Additionally, alternative shorter courses based on this program of preparation are highlighted that may be attended by the faculty of multiple engineering programs and by practitioners.

Most new faculty are hired with the presumption that they know how to teach. However, the usual extent of their formal faculty training is occasionally filling in for their faculty advisor in graduate school. At West Point, we could attempt to avoid the time and resources necessary for formal faculty training by claiming that our faculty are already trained teachers since they train soldiers every day prior to going to graduate school. But, is that enough? At West Point, that answer is no! Every department at West Point has some form of instructor summer training for new faculty. The training programs range from two to six weeks with all programs having some type of practice teaching sessions. Even with the formal training programs, United States Military Academy (USMA) new faculty are expected to learn a lot about the basics of leading classroom instruction throughout their first and second semesters of teaching. However, the faculty training gives our new instructors a theoretical foundation, and tangible examples as well as in-class experience prior to their first day in front of students. The experience brings the new instructors to a much higher maturity and experience level before the first semester begins and prevents on the job training from interfering with the students' education.