National Summit on Measuring the Impacts of Project-Based Service Learning on Engineering Education

Application Deadline: December 5, 2008

We are seeking applicants who are interested in participating in a 2-day National Summit on Measuring the Impacts of Project-Based Service Learning (PBSL) on Engineering Education. The Summit will take place in Washington, DC, February 19-20, 2009. It is being organized by Kurt Paterson, Michigan Tech; Chris Swan, Tufts University; Angela Bielefeldt, University of Colorado at Boulder. The Summit is being supported by the National Science Foundation, and therefore travel expenses to attend the summit will be paid by the NSF grant.

The goal of this Summit is to identify the impacts that project-based service learning is having on engineering education. Approximately ten leaders in the implementation of PBSL programs and ten assessment experts will be invited to attend the Summit to contribute to this goal. Specific objectives include:

1. An examination of project-based service learning program participation demographics, trends, and outcomes; comparison of international and domestic PBSL; comparison to project-based programs without service learning; comparison between similar programs


2. Identification of assessment needs for PBSL programs


3. Identification of assessment strategies capable of revealing outcomes of interest for project-based service learning programs


4. Feedback to the National Science Foundation regarding effective assessment strategies for project-based service learning programs, as well as elements critical to the success of these programs that could be infused into traditional engineering programs

The format will be an active one with a mix of sharing, brainstorming, and learning among participants. Participants will be asked to complete a few assignments over the next couple months leading up to the Summit in order to make our meeting as productive as possible.

If you are interested in participating, please send a brief CV highlighting your experiences with PBSL and/or educational assessment (2-page NSF format preferred) and a 1-page letter summarizing your interest in participating. Forward this information to: Kurt Paterson (paterson@mtu.edu) at your earliest convenience, but no later than December 5, 2008.