Professor of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering (EMSE) Jonathan Deason served as the keynote speaker at the Spring 2024 American Society for Engineering Education’s (ASEE) Middle Atlantic Section (MAS) Conference on April 20, 2024. Hosted by GW Engineering, the conference’s theme was “Engineering Education for a Better World.” EMSE Professors Eric Dano and Joost Santos served as general chairmen for the conference.
“The activities of the ASEE in bringing engineering educators together to share our educational and research knowledge is extremely valuable in a world where engineering is so critically important,” Deason said.
Deason’s keynote, held in the Lehman Auditorium, was titled “What I’ve Learned from 40 Years of Teaching Engineering.” In his presentation, he described five categories that are keys to teaching success: facilitating student engagement, relating classroom discussions to the real world, teaching from the student perspective, employing a variety of teaching methods, and emphasizing preparation, organization, and structure.
Deason, who won the 2024 GW Engineering Distinguished Teaching Award, shared many anecdotes from his 40 years of teaching at GW in both adjunct and regular faculty roles. He noted that GW Engineering students come from a wide variety of backgrounds including nationalities, undergraduate preparations, and professional disciplines, providing an extraordinarily fertile environment for effective learning at GW Engineering.