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Purdue School of Engineering and Technology, IUPUI Education Development Center 
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Mission StatementThe Center for Teaching and Learning, a facility dedicated to the development of all IUPUI faculty, encourages members to pursue external awards, fellowships, and grants. The Education Development Center can build on the initiatives of the Center for Teaching and Learning by extending that support and providing a comprehensive catalog of state, federal, corporate, and non-profit funding opportunities that fit the unique needs of the engineering and technology fields. In addition, the center will guide applicants in the research and writing of the inquiries and proposals, thus promoting increased collaboration between faculty and staff.An emerging trend in education is distance, or distributive learning, which will allow students to interact more closely and individually with their instructors despite geographic obstacles. On an urban, commuter campus, distance learning may prove to be a significant addition to the curriculum. In order to capitalize on this opportunity, The Education Development Center will coordinate school activities and seek external partnerships, as well as identify sources of funding for faculty interested in the development of distributive learning courses and curricula. The Education Development Center will also provide support for course development, laboratory improvement, and instrumentation. Engineering and technology courses, perhaps more than any others, rely upon resources unique to the specific fields of study. By encouraging faculty members to develop and implement their ideas for new courses, the overall curriculum will grow and thus be more responsive to the needs for improved laboratories and instruments. While The Center for Teaching and Learning does help IUPUI’s faculty assimilate new tools into their teaching efforts, The Education Development Center will target individual engineering and technology projects and thus provide support on a more individual basis. Another aspect of education that will be addressed by The Education Development Center concerns the recruitment and retention of minority students. In comparison to several other fields of study, the enrollment and employment of minority and women as students and faculty is much lower in engineering and technology programs. The center will again cooperate with The Center for Teaching and Learning to encourage the success of minority and women engineers and technicians. Faculty will work with center personnel to identify assistantships, fellowships, mentorships, and other funding opportunities that can provide adequate support for the attraction and retention of individuals in underrepresented groups. Support will also be available for faculty with disabilities, as well as aid in the development of teaching methods and equipment that can produce an environment conducive to the education of physically disabled students within the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology. In addition to the above initiatives, EDC will also coordinate activities in the area of international recruitment, faculty and student exchange, and other related projects. Currently, no formal international recruitment effort is included in the School agenda. In light of today’s global economy, however, there is a growing need to provide international environments. With the help of this Center, students will be introduced to the cultural diversity of the global market through supported participation in work programs , internships, and courses conducted overseas. Lastly, The Education Development Center will strive to assist part-time faculty by conducting orientations and seminars. Part-time faculty will therefore be encouraged to participate more actively in the academic environment and work more closely with full-time faculty members. In conclusion, the creation of The Education Development Center will fulfill a much- needed dimension in the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology, IUPUI. As the only facility within the school that focuses exclusively on education and teaching, the center will unify all teaching-related functions and resources so that faculty members can dedicate their hours to the actual process of development and improvement. In the end, the engineering and technology curriculum at IUPUI will be a constant, an environment of stability within a technological and educational atmosphere of continuous change. |
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Purdue School of Engineering and Technology, IUPUI 799 W. Michigan St. Indianapolis, IN 46202 (317) 274-2533 Copyright Purdue School of Engineering and Technology, IUPUI |
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