The Alumni Magazine for Worcester Polytechnic Institute. (WPI)
Issue link: http://wpialumnimag.epubxp.com/i/65892
Wπ pedagogical From left, Ramsey Abouzahra, Pat DeSantis, Alan Lazaros Educating Engineers WPI pens a user's manual for the 21st Century M ingenuity Campus Libre Removes Middleman FRUSTRATED WITH THE high price of textbooks—and dismayed by the low return on re-selling them through a middleman—four WPI alumni have launched an online platform where college students can post and purchase books directly from each other. Campus Libre's pilot site for the WPI community went live in A-Term, and has more than 400 registered users. Pat DeSantis '11 had the brainstorm for the service in his first year at WPI. He enlisted his three best friends—classmates Alan Lazaros, Ramsey Abouzahra, and Manu Bhalla—and fellow ECE majors who bonded early in their freshman year on the first floor of Riley Hall. At campuslibre.com, books can be searched by title, subject, or WPI course number. Type "calculus" into the search box and full product in- formation shows up, all keyed to the appropriate WPI class. "Students love it," says DeSantis. "I get enthusiastic emails from stu- dents who've saved more than $100 per book, and the WPI faculty has been very supportive. The company was a finalist in the Technology Track of the WPI Venture Forum's 2011 Business Plan Contest, and it was listed as one of 10 start-ups worth watching by Boston Globe columnist Scott Kirsner. The Boston Business Journal dubbed Campus Libre "a campus Craigslist." "The old way of selling textbooks—tacking up flyers on telephone poles and bulletin boards—was messy, wasteful, and not scalable," says DeSantis, who recently added a phone app. Campus Libre is now working on sites for several dozen other colleges. They envision expanding beyond textbooks to offer everything a college student could want—from apartments and dorm essentials to roommates and tutors. UCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN about the need for new approaches to engineering educa- tion, but little has changed, notes National Academy of Engineering president Charles Vest, in the foreword to 6KDSLQJ 2XU :RUOG (QJLQHHULQJ (GXFDWLRQ IRU WKH VW &HQWXU;\ (Wiley, 2012). The WPI Plan, however, with its 40-year history of project-based education, offers a road- map for the future. "In the 1970s, WPI started down a path that many U.S. engineering schools are just now attempting," writes Vest. Edited by Diran Apelian, Howmet Professor of Engineering and director of the Metal Process- ing Institute at WPI, and Grétar Tryggvason, for- mer department head of Mechanical Engineer- ing, the book is intended to serve as a teaching tool and a user's manual for educators. In each chapter, WPI faculty and alumni outline the need for change and the effec- tive practices and out- comes of WPI's education- al model. The book also features an essay on holis- tic education by President Dennis Berkey. In the concluding chapter, Eli Fromm of Drexel Univer- sity broadens the focus and looks to the future. Apelian says, "Shaping 2XU :RUOG goes beyond just identifying the prob- lem. This book actually provides solutions for how best to educate the engineer of the 21st Cen- tury. It represents the be- lief that through a holistic education we will ensure the development of the next generation of successful global leaders and engineers." 16 Spring 2012