For the first time in its 24-year history, the prestigious ExCEEd Teaching Workshop from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) was held on the CSU campus in Fort Collins. Twenty-four civil engineering faculty members from universities across the U.S. and Singapore came together during the first week of August to learn effective teaching methods and assessment techniques. Participants then applied those skills by organizing three lessons and delivering them to other educators to receive further feedback. Nearly 20 faculty from CSU have completed the workshop to date.
Creating better teachers
ExCEEd (“Excellence in Civil Engineering Education”) is an intensive practicum for faculty members within civil and environmental engineering to improve their teaching skills. Participants learn and practice significant elements of teaching and pedagogy to improve their class preparation and to enable them to create a better learning environment for students. The workshop is highly competitive with only one-fourth of applicants accepted in a typical cycle.
CSU Associate Professor Pinar Omur-Ozbek participated in the workshop in 2010, then continued to be involved in the program on the mentor side. She has served on the ASCE Committee on Faculty Development since 2019.
“After participating in the ASCE ExCEEd Teaching Workshop in 2010, I saw a significant improvement in my teaching skills and connection with my students. Beyond that gain, I also enjoyed being a part of a community of educators who truly care about learning and teaching. That is why I continue to be involved with the program, and after every workshop I feel more energized and passionate about creating a welcoming, engaging, and successful learning environment for my students,” said Omur-Ozbek.
The ripple effect
Improving the teaching capabilities of a cohort of 24 faculty members has a greater impact than on one group alone. Omur-Ozbek estimates a faculty member who teaches for 30 years may teach more than 10,000 students throughout their career. A cohort may teach nearly 240,000 students in their combined careers, and with over 1,000 faculty participating in the ExCEEd program since its inception, the ripple effect continues.
The program also improves retention of faculty and ultimately students in civil and environmental engineering programs. Higher-quality teaching can improve student evaluations, an important element of successful tenure and promotion applications for many junior faculty members.
In 2018, department heads of civil engineering programs across 234 U.S. universities were surveyed on the quality of the teaching, service, and scholarship of their faculty. The results, published in the International Journal of Engineering Education, indicated faculty members who attended the workshop had a much higher performance in teaching effectiveness and a higher likelihood of receiving teaching awards compared with faculty who had not participated. The increased teaching performance also translated to greater success in scholarship and service.
An entire generation of future civil engineers will be better prepared by these faculty to enter the field and effect change.
“We can make the world a better place and solve problems with education,” said Omur-Ozbek.
Rain or shine
Event planning can be stressful without any extra challenges, but Omur-Ozbek literally found herself in deep water by the second day of the workshop. Heavy rainfall on Monday evening led to flooding in parts of the CSU campus. Participants were unable to return to their hotel as they were stuck on campus or at a restaurant in Old Town due to the flooding.
Omur-Ozbek didn’t hesitate to shuttle participants back and forth in her own car.
“After the first shock and worry of driving on the flooded streets, I enjoyed transferring the participants to their hotel safely. This allowed all of us to connect at a deeper level. Team building is essential for the success of the workshop and the flood helped us achieve that goal. It also created a memorable evening.”
Omur-Ozbek received a standing ovation from the cohort after her closing remarks at the conclusion of the workshop.
“I had so much support from Dr. Chuck Shackelford, Amber Camus, and Dion Coward of ASCE. Their trust in me turned this into a successful event,” said Omur-Ozbek.
Omur-Ozbek plans to apply for CSU to host ExCEEd again next year and hopes for sunshine all week.
