Civil Engineering - CE 400
Civil Engineering - CE 400
Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course
Common Course ID: CE 400 - Civil Engineering
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait
Abstract: This open textbook is used to support educating and retaining students coming from non-engineering backgrounds interested in working in the transportation engineering/planning industry. It is an OER textbook for the “Fundamentals of Transportation for Non-Engineers” course for undergraduate or graduate students taught by Dr. Pande at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
The open textbook provides tools and basic knowledge required to master the prerequisite essentials of physics, mathematics, and statistics applied in transportation engineering. To our knowledge, no such textbook currently exists to build the KSTs (Knowledge, Skills, Tools) for college first-year students’ remedial courses required by most transportation engineering graduate programs that admit non-engineers (e.g., PHYS 141, MATH 142, STAT 321 at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo). The textbook modules are intended for students with undergraduate degrees in planning and other less technical fields who are interested in pursuing transportation careers where background engineering knowledge is required.
The main motivation to adopt and create an open textbook was made possible by the support of the U.S. Department of Education, which in January 2021 awarded the three-year funded project (OERTransport: Enabling Transportation Planning Professional Advancement) to the University of Texas-Arlington (UTA) in consortium with California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) and the University of South Florida (USF).
This open textbook is part of the OERTransport collection of six transportation planning OER textbooks and their respective graduate course implementation at each of the three collaborating universities. The creation of each textbook benefited from an independent industry advisory board’s review and the savvy contributions of each institution’s OER librarians or OER expert.
Most students access the open textbook in digital format through Pressbooks. The creation of this resource was supported by Mavs Open Press, operated by the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries (UTA Libraries) utilizing Pressbooks to support the following student usage:
- Online webbook. You can read this textbook online on a computer or mobile device in one of the following browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari.
- PDF. You can download this book as a PDF to read on a computer (Digital PDF) or print it out (Print PDF).
- Mobile. If you want to read this textbook on your phone or tablet, you can use the EPUB (eReader).
- HTML. An HTML file can be opened in a browser. It has little style so it does not look nice, but some people might find it useful.
Course Title and Number CE 400 - Civil Engineering
Brief Description of course highlights: The fundamentals of physics, math, and statistics required to learn about characteristics and functioning of highway, air, rail, transit, and other modes of urban and intercity transportation. The course may be offered in classroom-based or online format. 4 lectures..
Student population: Graduate students in urban/regional planning who are interested in professional practice of transportation planning and engineering. It is focused on students coming from non-engineering backgrounds.
Learning or student outcomes:
Describe the Rationale for this textbook in the context of Multimodal Transportation needs of the 21st Century:
Apply Probability and Statistics principles (from Estimation and Optimal Sample Size to Regression Modeling and Graphical Data Analysis) for applications discussed in the Introductory Undergraduate Transportation Engineering course.
Apply Mathematical principles (from Polynomial Function and Equations to Integration Methods and Interpretation and Spreadsheet Applications) for applications discussed in the Introductory Undergraduate Transportation Engineering course
Apply Physics Principles (from Motion in a Straight Line and Role of Vectors to Sound Waves and Doppler Effect to Transportation Methods of Analysis: Trajectories and Queues and Applications and Multimodal Transportation Examples) for applications discussed in the Introductory Undergraduate Transportation Engineering course.
Key challenges faced and how resolved: Starting with only ideas and concepts for chapters and then moving to discover OER resources was a bit challenging. Once the project had traction, it came together well.
Syllabus and/or Sample assignment from the course or the adoption:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19isOok-VzMHyMnDbHzDwi7bZ_qxb-FWfhpPus7V4PH4/edit?usp=sharing
Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: OERTRANSPORT: FUNDAMENTALS OF MATH, PHYSICS, AND STATISTICS FOR FUTURE TRANSPORTATION PROFESSIONALS
Brief Description: This textbook and OER material cover tools and basic knowledge required to master the prerequisite essentials of physics, mathematics, and statistics applied in transportation engineering. It will build the KSTs (Knowledge, Skills, Tools) for college freshman’ remedial courses required by most transportation engineering graduate programs that admit non-engineers (e.g., PHYS 141, MATH 142, STAT 321 at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo). The textbook modules are intended for students with undergraduate degrees in planning and other less technical fields who are interested in pursuing transportation careers where background engineering knowledge is required.
Pedagogical Approach: It is designed to be a self-paced course accompanied with a Canvas course portal. The instructor is available to meet weekly as students need.
Problem Sets: Each chapter includes interactive problems students can work through and quiz sets correlated to each chapter that can be utilized by any instructor through Canvas.
Please provide a link to the resource
https://uta.pressbooks.pub/oert-mpsfundamentals/
About Pressbooks Pressbooks is an open source, web-based authoring tool based on WordPress, and it is the primary tool that Mavs Open Press uses to create and adapt course materials. Pressbooks should not be used with Internet Explorer. The following browsers are best to use with Pressbooks:
- Firefox
- Chrome
- Safari
- Edge
Authors:
Peyton Ratto. Ms. Peyton Ratto is a graduate student at Cal Poly. She is pursuing dual MS degrees in City and Regional Planning and Civil Engineering.
Anurag Pande, Ph.D. Dr. Anurag Pande is a Professor of Civil Engineering at Cal Poly. His research interests include traffic simulation, engineering education, community engagement, data mining applications, and observational data analysis, including in the areas of traffic safety and crashes, driver behavior, transportation resilience, and emergency evacuation.
Ahmed Farid, Ph.D. Dr. Ahmed Farid is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the department of Civil Engineering at Cal Poly. His research interests include traffic safety, data mining applications, and observational data analysis, including traffic safety and crashes.
Student access: Students use the LMS and Mavs Open Press, operated by the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries (UTA Libraries)..
Supplemental resources: The textbook includes interactive “check your understanding” at the end of each section. Faculty-only resources such as chapter quizzes for Canvas are available, and most sections of the textbook include embedded videos.
Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook.
Each student saves approximately $482.00 with the use of the new textbook.
License: OERTransport: Fundamentals of Math, Physics, and Statistics for Future Transportation Specialists by Dr. Anurag Pande; Dr. Ahmed Farid; and Peyton Ratto is licensed under a Creative Commons, Attribution, NonCommercial, ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. (CC BY NC SA)
OER/Low Cost Adoption Process
Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option. All three of the universities are Hispanic Serving Institutions. The funds allow the collaborating universities to create six open transportations textbooks over the next three years and support a greater opportunity to open the field of transportation engineering and planning by allowing a more diverse group of students to become practitioners.
The goals of the project include eliminating textbook costs for students enrolled in certain transportation planning courses and expanding OER resources for transportation engineering and planning programs at the three partner institutions and beyond.
How did you find and select the open textbook for this course? Graduate student, Peyton Ratto, worked closely with Dr. Pande combing through OER resources to create the textbook chapters that she felt students would derive benefits from. Dr. Ahmed Farid edited the material used while Professor Anne Regan, an OER specialist, worked to verify the OER licensing for the resources.
The grant group at the University of Arlington and the University of South Florida were consulted as well; it was truly a collaborative effort as you can see outlined below.
Sharing Best Practices: The sustainability of open education relies on sharing with others. Please give suggestions for faculty who are just getting started with OER or Low Cost options. List anything you wish that you had known earlier.
About Mavs Open Press Creation of this resource was supported by Mavs Open Press, operated by the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries (UTA Libraries). Mavs Open Press offers no-cost services for UTA faculty, staff, and students who wish to openly publish their scholarship. The Libraries’ program provides human and technological resources that empower our communities to publish new open access journals, to convert traditional print journals to free access publications, and to create or adapt open educational resources (OER). Our resources are openly licensed using Creative Commons licenses and are offered in various e-book formats free of charge, which can be downloaded from the Mavs Open Press OER catalog. Optional print copies of this text may be available through the UTA Bookstore or can be purchased directly from XanEdu, Mavs Open Press’ exclusive print provider and distributor.
Instructor Name - Anurag Pande
I am a Civil Engineering Professor at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. I reach Introductory and Advanced Level courses in Transportation Engineering.
Please provide a link to your university page. https://ceenve.calpoly.edu/faculty/apande
https://content-calpoly-edu.s3.amazonaws.com/ceenve/1/documents/Pande-1.jpg
Please describe the courses you teach.
Introductory and advanced level courses in transportation engineering including,
- CE-321 Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering
- CE-222/322 Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering (Lab)
- CE-421 Traffic Engineering
- CE 424 Public Transportation
- CE-523 Urban Transportation Planning
- CE-526 Transportation Safety
- CE-528 Transportation Economics and Analysis
- CE-529 Modeling and Simulation in Transportation Engineering
Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching.
My teaching goal is to make a meaningful contribution towards producing the best qualified civil engineers. Problem-solving is universally recognized as a critically important skill for engineers. In transportation engineering, new solutions such as ridesharing and CAVs (Connected and Automated Vehicles), are expected to cause widespread disruption in the near future. The current students are likely to encounter changes in the profession that are potentially as enormous as the invention and widespread use of the personal automobile. Given this dynamic state of the discipline, I believe learning how to learn is equally, if not more, important. The goal of enhancing these two skills, problem-solving and learning how to learn, drives the lectures, discussions, assessments, and lab experiments in my classroom.
PROJECT DIRECTION:
Ivonne Audirac, Ph.D., Professor, City and Regional Planning Program and Assoc. Director for Education, Center for Transportation, Equity Decisions, and Dollars CTEDD, University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). OERTransport Project PI.; Jay M. Rosenberger, Ph.D., Professor, Industrial Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). OERTransport Project Co-PI; Amber Raley, M.A., Urban Planning and Public Policy Ph.D. Student, University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). OERTransport Project Co-PI.
PROOFREADERS AND EDITORS: Dr. Anurag Pande, Dr. Ahmed Farid, Peyton Ratto, Anne Regan, Morgan White, Nick Sauciur
PROJECT OER LIBRARIANS: Michelle Reed, M.S.I.S, Katherine Chapline, M.S., Jessica McClean, M.S.I.S., UTA Libraries OER Department Staff, University of Texas at Arlington (UTA)
INSTITUTION OER SPECIALIST: Anne M. Regan
PROJECT TRAINING IN COURSE DESIGN: Ann M.L. Cavallo, Ph.D. and Dr. Andrew M. Clark, Ph.D. UTA, Center for Research Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CTRLE), University of Texas at Arlington (UTA).