Auburn University LITEE Case Studies Used Nationwide

Engineering and business students are increasingly being asked by potential employers to demonstrate "soft" skills, such as problem solving and business skills, in addition to their "hard" technical skills. Realizing the importance of addressing these requirements, Auburn University faculty members P.K. Raju and Chetan S. Sankar formed the Laboratory for Innovative Technology and Engineering Education (LITEE) in 1997. As part of an ongoing NSF project, LITEE initiated a grant competition in fall 2008 to promote the use of LITEE's case studies in university classrooms across the country. These case studies use multimedia tools and real-world scenarios to bring engineering and business concepts alive for students.

Raju and Sankar selected 26 faculty members for the grant awards. The participants agreed to integrate LITEE case studies in their courses during spring and fall 2009 and conduct a study to determine the impact of LITEE case studies on student learning. Participants will report their findings in a special issue of the Journal of STEM Education: Innovations and Research. Raju serves as the editor-in-chief of this journal.

The award recipients include engineering and business faculty members from across the country, from schools such as Georgia Tech, Purdue, SUNY - Buffalo, University of Cincinnati  and Washington State University.