Teachers of the Month 

Lynn Bellamy   Barry McNeill
 
These two instructors work as a team when teaching undergraduate classes at the university. They are regarded by colleagues and students as innovative and dedicated to their fields. Associate Civil Engineering professor Karl Smith said, "Lynn and Barry are the most dedicated, tireless, creative, risk-taking engineering professors I know."
 

www.eas.asu.edu/~bmcneill

Teaching Philosophy

Personal Statement:
Lynn Bellamy, Associate Professor or Chemical, Bio & Materials Engineering
Barry W. McNeill, Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

We view ourselves as a small team of two professors who are actively involved in changing the way we and our colleagues do what we do or in changing the way we do business. Our approach and/or philosophy regarding the teaching enterprise and our agenda for continued teaching development and innovation is presented below in terms of: (1) what we would like to share with all students, our colleagues, and our community, and (2) where our efforts are current ly focused.

We look forward to the opportunity for us to share the results of our work and interest with a larger community; i.e., beyond the science, engineering, business, and technical communities. It would also allow us to increase our contribution to, and partic ipation in, the development of an interdependent community or system at Arizona State University; i.e., a technologically literate, cohesive community which can enhance the opportunities for both individual and institutional success.

What we would like to share with the students.

Based on our personal, albeit anecdotal, evidence, students are smarter, better prepared, more enthusiastic, and healthier today than the students from our generation; furthermore, they are every bit as determined and committed to succeeding in their fiel ds of endeavor. What's missing? Why is the attrition so high? Today's environment in general and our society in particular have become incredibly complex. It is our contention that everyone on the planet must have a general problem solving process or heur istic just to survive; intelligent use of this heuristic is required to succeed. The other, concomitant requirements for success have been clearly identified in a nationally recognized, longitudinal research study by Alexander Astin1 at UCLA. A stin's research identifies two criteria that are of the utmost importance to student success over the long term (i.e., after they leave the university!): (1) the quality of student interaction with facult y outside the classroom and (2) the quality of their interaction with other students. There are at least two opportunities to meet these criteria; involvement in student activities at the university and classes where acti ve learning and student teams are used both inside and outside the classroom.

What we would like to share with our faculty colleagues.

Substantial research has been widely published which clearly identifies the marked change in student learning styles, learning preferences, or what Howard Gardner2 refers to as Multiple Intelligences. What does this research mean to us? It sugg ests that (1) we change our focus from teaching to student learning3 and (2) we must consider restructuring the classroom and the learning experience. We need to develop learning experiences and assessm ent opportunities which allow students with different learning styles (different from one another and different from us!) to succeed. There is also an outstanding video which illustrates how students "construct" their own knowledge base in a manner which is at odds with the current pedagogy. It suggests that we further redesign the learning experience to accommodate thi s "constructivist" pedagogy. Finally, recent research on the use of "student management teams" must be considered for inclusion in our classroom management techniques. Continuous, formal feedback from students is an essential element of proactive efforts to improve the earning experience. Student management teams appear to be the most effective and efficient method for obtaining and implementing such feedback. In summary, if we will improve the opportunity for students to succeed, they will succeed in far greater numbers and to far greater "heights" than those observed today.

What we would like to share with the community.

Part of the complexity we experience in our society today is directly related to the overwhelming presence of technology. Developing an "intersection" between the technocrats and the liberal arts community is essential to our survival both as a species an d as a community of faculty scholars, student scholars, and administrators. Athanasios Moulakis4 has written an insightful and prescriptive monograph, Beyond Utility: Liberal Education for a Technological Age, which can provide the "br idge" between these two communities at the university. We would like to share his ideas and our aspirations with our community.

Where we are focusing our current efforts to improve the learning and teaching process.

We have accepted the challenges and opportunities presented by the problems described above (often referred to as "probletunities"!) in our efforts to develop a relevant freshperson engineering course, Introduction to Engineering Design (ECE 100). This co urse could be adapted for use as a general education course at ASU. There may be a "window of opportunity" at this time to extend this course to the larger academic community "window"!.

If you would like to view this information on the World Wide Web, it can be accessed at http://www.public.asu.edu/~ece100 or http://ece.eas.asu.edu/ece100. The World Wide Web site includes all of the information availabl e for the students taking this course, for the team of 10 instructors teaching this course at ASU, for the instructors at the Community Colleges in Arizona who will teach this course next year, and for our colleagues in the United States and other countri es who are using parts of this material in their courses. You can also access the Electronic Forum for this course which is used to solicit suggestions for improving the course from students and colleagues.

Citations

1Astin, Alexander W., "Involvement: The Cornerstone of Excellence", Change, July/August, 1985

2Armstrong, Thomas, Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, 1994, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, Virginia 22314

3Barr, Robert B. and John Tagg, "From Teaching to Learning - A New Paradigm for Undergraduate Education", Change, November/December, 1985

4Moulakis, Athanasios, Beyond Utility: Liberal Education for a Technological Age, 1994, University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Missouri 65201

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Curriculum Vitae - Lynn Bellamy & Barry McNeill

Note: This represents only a small portion of these professors' work. Please see their web pages for more information.

National and International Presentations and Workshops

McNeill, B. and L. Bellamy, "Assessing Quality in Student Work Products; the Role of Customers in Expectations", New Approaches to Undergraduate Engineering Education No. VIII Conference, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, July 23 - 2 7, 1996.

McNeill, B. "Enter the Attic of the Mind: Higher Order Thinking Skills". University Development Day, 1996. Texas A & M University, Kingsville, January 1996.

Bellamy, L.. and J. Bailey and D. Lanaanen and B. McNeill and W. Moor and R. Roedel and 1. Zweibel. "An Introduction to Engineering Design: Teaching the Engineering Process through Teaming and the Continuous Improvement Philosophy". 1995 Frontiers in Education Conference; Atlanta. November 1995.

McNeill, B. "ECE 100 Introduction to Engineering Design". A Seminar presented to the Maricopa Community College Quality in Education Group. September 1995.

McNeill, B. "ECE 100 Introduction to Engineering Design". Maricopa Community Collage Awareness Workshop. September 1995.

McNeill, B. "ECE 100 Introduction to Engineering Design". Urban Council on Systemic Chance. September 1995.

Bellamy, L. "Eliminate Lectures?", 81st Annual Meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, San Francisco, January 1995.

Bellamy, L. and McNeill, B. "Curriculum (Course) Development, Design, Specification and Assessment"; "Active Learning in the Engineering Classroom"; "Team Training" (for Deans, Department Chairs, Faculty and Staff, all Colleges): Workshops, Texas A&M University, College Station, December 13 - 17,1994

Bellamy, L and B. McNeill. "Active Learning in the Engineering Classroom" Workshop. BMES Annual Meeting, Tempe, Arizona. October 1994

Bellamy, L., et al. "Active Learning, Teams and Team Training, Quality Management Principles in the Engineering Classroom". Proceedings of the 1994 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference; Edmonton, Alberta, CN; June 1994.

Bellamy, L. "Curriculum (Course) Development, Design, Specification and Assessment"; "Active Learning in the Engineering Classroom"; "Team Training" (for Deans and Department Chairs, Engineering Faculty) Foundation Coalition Workshop, Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, June 1994

Bellamy, L. "Curriculum (Course) Development, Design, Specification and Assessment"; "Active Learning in the Engineering Classroom"; "Team Training" (for Deans, Department Chairs, and Engineering Faculty): Foundation Coalition Workshops, Universi ty of South Alabama, Mobile, May 23 - 26,1994.

Bellamy, L. "Curriculum (Course) Development, Design, Specification and Assessment"; "Active Learning in the Engineering Classroom"; "Team Training" (for Deans, Department Chairs, and Engineering Faculty) Foundation Coalition Workshops, Texas A&M University, Kingsville, March 29 April 6,1994.

Bellamy, L. "Curriculum (Course) Development, Design, Specification and Assessment"; "Active Learning in the Engineering Classroom"; "Team Training" (for Deans, Department Chairs and Engineering Faculty): Foundation Coalition Workshops, Universit y of Alabama, March 16 - 23, 1994.

Bellamy, L. and D. L. Evans and Darwyn Linder and B. W. McNeill and G. Raupp. "Workshop on Team Building".1993 Annual Conference, American Society for Engineering Education, Edmonton, Urbana/Champaign, IL. June 1993.
 

Arizona State University Presentations

Bellamy, L. "ECE 100 Introduction to Engineering Design". A Seminar presented to the Engineering Computer Science Faculty. October 1995.

McNeill, B. "ECE 100 Introduction to Engineering Design". A Seminar presented to the Mechanical Engineering Faculty. September 1995.

McNeill, B. "ECE 100 Introduction to Engineering Design". A Seminar presented to the Construction Engineering Faculty. September 1995.

McNeill, B. "ECE 100 Introduction to Engineering Design". A Seminar presented to the Chemical Engineering Faculty. August 1995.

Bellamy, L. "The Role of Engineering in a Liberal Education". Faculty Emeritus Club, March 1995.

Bellamy, L. "Active Learning in the Technical or Engineering Classroom". Campus Experience Program, March 28,1995.

Bellamy, L. "Active Learning in the Technical or Engineering Classroom", Campus Experience Program, October 28, 1994.

Bellamy, L. NSF/ Texas A&M: New Engineering Science Core at Arizona State University, presented to the Civil Engineering Department at ASU at the request of the Department Chair, October 22 and October 29, 1994

Bellamy, L. "Cooperative Learning at ASU", Campus Experience Program, October 14, 1994.
 

Publications:

McNeill, B. and L. Bellamy. Introduction to Engineering Design: The Workbook. Sixth Edition. McGraw-Hill, 1997.

McNeill, B. and L. Bellamy. Engineering Core Workbook for Active Learning Assessment & Team Training Fourth Edition, CAPCO 1995. Also available on the World Wide Web: http://www.public.asu.edu/~ece100

Bellamy, L. and G. Raupp. NSF / Texas A&M: New Engineering Science Core at Arizona State University. ERIC Clearinghouse, 1995. [Originally published by ASU 1994]

Bellamy, L. and B. McNeill. Active Learning in the Engineering Classroom. ERIC Clearinghouse,1995. [Originally published by ASU 1994]

McNeill, B. and L. Bellamy. Curriculum Development Design. Specification and Assessment. ERIC Clearinghouse,1995. [Originally published by ASU 1994]

Bellamy, L. and D.L. Evans and D.E. Linder and B. McNeill, and G. Raupp. Teams in Engineering Education. ERIC Clearinghouse,1995. [Originally published by ASU 1993]

Bellamy, L. A Collage of Information on Change. Arizona State University, 1994

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Last Update: August 15, 1997
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URL--http://www.asu.edu/upfd/teachmo/bel-mc.html