Development of an on-line teaching portfolio for freshman design

An introductory engineering design course for freshman students has been successfully developed under the ECSEL (Engineering Coalition of Schools for Excellence in Education and Leadership) program sponsored by the National Science Foundation. A project-oriented approach to teach engineering design creates a unique learning environment that challenges freshman students to engage in a learning process of real-life problem solving. This paper presents the development of a teaching portfolio by the instructors who have taught the course during the past eight years. The teaching portfolio consists of four parts, i.e., teaching materials, teamwork, support structure and assessments. It presents a factual description of the teaching activities that clearly define the scope, requirement, and responsibilities of both instructors and students in teaching/learning. The portfolio also serves as solid evidence of improving the teaching/learning effectiveness on the College Park campus through the ECSEL program.