EDGE 2013 Program – a Redesign Work in Progress

Abstract

Abstract EDGE 2013 Program – A Redesign Work in ProgressAbstractThis paper presents a very brief description and history of the EDGE (EarlyDevelopment of General Engineering) Summer Bridge Program that was initiatedin 2003 and focuses on the latest iteration of the program. This project wasinitially supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation and morerecently by grants from Department of Education.At first the program was intended for well-prepared high school students in the10th and 11th grades who would have participated in the San Antonio Pre-freshman Engineering Program (PREP) while in middle school. EDGE wasdesigned to pick up where PREP left off by introducing them to college levelcourse work as a learning community and providing activities to help themdevelop independent learning and teamwork skills with the goal of increasingtheir likelihood of earning a college degree in engineering, science, math, or otherrelated field. The original courses offered were Introduction to Engineering andCollege Algebra.Since the desired student population did not materialize in sufficient numbers, itbecame necessary to revise the program to accommodate students who were notprepared for College Algebra. The next two program iterations includedIntroduction to Computing and then Introductory Physics as substitutes, alongwith self-paced computer-based math enrichment programs such as Plato.One of the annual modifications involved adding a robotics project.After continuing efforts to create a stable sustained program did not bear fruit, acomprehensive examination and redesign of the program was conducted for 2013.The new version would be developed as a two year program. The first year wouldprepare students for College Algebra by boosting their Math proficiency andhelping them acquire a strong college student identity. The second year wouldintroduce them to college level Engineering.For the 2013 edition of the program we offered only the first year component,with the intent of offering both components the following year, for returningstudents as well as the new ones. The robotics project, which had become verypopular with students, was refined and diversified to include two sequential yearsof activities and challenges. This enhancement provides increased opportunity forour students to diversify their design and programming skills.The paper will present rationales for modifications and provide a detailed analysisof the program results along with the planned developments for the 2014 EDGEProgram.