NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education Designing a Support System

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERINGOF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education

Designing a Support System Designing a Support System for Research on Engineering for Research on Engineering

EducationEducation

Norman L. Fortenberry, Sc.D.

Director, CASEE

http://www.nae.edu/CASEE

[email protected]

202-334-1926

University of IdahoMay 1, 2003



ScheduleSchedule

Overview of Potential Research Areas (15 min)

Delving into Research Areas (45 min)



Research AreasResearch Areas

Teaching, learning, and assessment Teachers and learners Instructional/learning tools and technologies Educational management and goal system Political, economic, and social influences on

engineering education Diffusion of Educational Innovations ????




Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Research on instruction, learning and assessment in

formal, informal, extracurricular, and lifelong educational settings (e.g, which instructional approaches are most effective under what sets of circumstances);

• Research on student and (faculty and graduate student) instructor assessment; and

• Research on experiential (laboratory, mentored research, and workplace) learning environments and community (service-learning) practice.

• ????



Research AreasResearch AreasTeachers and learners

• Research on the behavior and interactions among individual and groups of instructors and students in educational and extracurricular settings, including motivation, advisement, mentoring, and career development of instructors and students;

• Research on the images of engineers and engineering held by faculty and students, how these images affect the quality of teaching and learning, and how these images can be productively modified; and

• Research on race, ethnicity, gender, physical ability, and social class as lenses for performing critical analyses and evaluations of access to, participation in, and success of engineering study and engineering practice.

• ????




Instructional/learning tools and technologies• Research on the how curricula, instructional materials,

and teaching practices interact to affect learning;• Research on methods and effects of integrating the latest

content knowledge into curricula; and• Research on the use of technologies to structure

educational environments and transform educational practice.

• ????



Research AreasResearch AreasEngineering education management and goal system

• Research on the goals, roles, and interactions among and between individual learners, (faculty and graduate student) instructors, departments, colleges, universities, governing boards, advisory committees, accreditors, employers, professional societies, and other stakeholders in higher education;

• Research on and evaluation of theory and practices related to issues of efficiency, effectiveness, and improvement of educational organizations;

• Research on, development of, and use of educational indicators, including indicators of student learning outcomes, course and curricular quality, staff, academic climate and conditions, demographics, and finance, and the relationship of indicators to accountability.

• ???




Social, economic, and political influences on engineering education• Research on the relationships between education processes

and the social, political, and economic contexts in which they operate including the community, climate, and culture aspects of educational settings;

• Research on educational finance and its impact on policy for all levels and aspects of education; and

• Research on images of engineers and engineering held by the public and various national constituencies, how these images affect the quality of teaching and learning within engineering, and how these images can be productively modified.

• ????




Diffusion of Innovations• Research on the nature of diffusion of educational

research knowledge, expanding understanding of research results, and the practical application of research results;

• Research on the teaching and proper usage of quantitative and qualitative educational research methods; and

• Research on how education research is used to improve education policy and practice.

• ???



REACTIONS:REACTIONS:

???



Research topic “x”Research topic “x”

Research exists on• A• B• C

New or continuing research is needed on

• D• E• F

What do we know, and where are the gaps? What new areas should be pursued?

ImplementationHow do we get what is known better used in practice?



Teaching and LearningTeaching and Learning

Research exists on:• A• B

Research is needed on:• How do we help students learn?• How has technology helped students?• What assessment methods are appropriate for eval.

use of technology?• How to improve and assess student retention of

information?• How to assess which students should be retained in

eng. progs. – academic performance?• How do we assess which students should be

recruited to engineering? – Issue is ability to predict match between departmental expectations and the ability of students to meet those expectations?

IMPLEMENTATION:A.



Teachers and LearnersTeachers and Learners

Research exists on:• A

• B

Research is needed on:• How do you know baseline knowledge of

students and instructors at course beginning?

• How do you measure growth/value-added of instruction within course?

• How do you assess baseline and value-added within impeding the teaching and learning processes?

• How to separately assess individual performance within context of group performance?

• Do engineers consider the profession noble? – Relates to non-material

IMPLEMENTATION:



Instructional Tools and Instructional Tools and TechnologiesTechnologies

Research exists on:

• A• B• C• D

Research is needed on:• Have advances in technology helped or

hindered engineering estimation and engineering judgment?

• How to develop a competency- and value-driven curriculum.

• How to balance virtual reality and real-life in classroom/laboratory? (How virtual is virtual?)

» Effect on human interaction and informal interactions if interactions is limited to formal interaction at set times

» Effect of video monitoring (-- related to cameras in the courtroom)

» Differences in student and teacher reactions?

IMPLEMENTATION:



Management and Goal Management and Goal SystemSystem


• B

Research is needed on:• Proper indicators for depts and reward

system at college, dept, and individual faculty levels?

• Benefits of incorporating education practice classes/workshops for new faculty?

• How to attract diverse student groups?• If research has been done, how to

broaden faculty access to that knowledge?

IMPLEMENTATION:



Soc/Pol/Ec InfluencesSoc/Pol/Ec Influences


• B

• C

Research is needed on:• Perceived differences between scientists

and engineers – relevant to perception of engineering by an important peer community and what can be adopted between those communities and how we advise students in choosing career paths within them.

• How do we best facilitate the growth of developing learners so that they begin to think broadly – ethics, societal impacts?

• How do social and economic standing (within society at large) affect one’s view of the nobleness of engineering? – May help to recruit more students to study engineering.

IMPLEMENTATION:



Diffusion of InnovationDiffusion of Innovation

Research exists on:

•A•B

Research is needed on:

• N

• N

IMPLEMENTATION:



Summary Results from Summary Results from Previous WorkshopsPrevious Workshops



Teaching and LearningTeaching and Learning

Research exists on:• See bibiliog from “How People

Learn” session led by Jeff Froyd

• See Journal on Eng Ed, Journal of Research in Science Teaching,

• Review of Educational Research,

• Journal of the Learning Sciences,

• SEE CASEE weblist

• etc.

Research is needed on:• Need baseline studies on current state

(faculty attitudes, goals and expectations of students)

• What kinds of awareness and attitudes exist on existing teaching methods – [National Survey of Faculty Engagement in development by George Kuh and others]

IMPLEMENTATION:Development of separate track, within departments and/or institution as a whole, to help faculty become better teachers



Teachers and LearnersTeachers and Learners

Research exists on:• Lots of stuff on gender and

ethnicity

• “Women and Men of the Engineering Path” by Cliff Adelman, US Dept. of Ed.

Research is needed on:• Need more on economic subgroups• Need more on influences on career

selection (esp at K-12 levels)• What teaching attributes (role modeling,

etc) support engineering career selection• Effect of engineering examples on career

selection (ballistic models versus social equity models of engineering principles.

• Post high school preparation for collegiate engineering study (useful or not)

• Effective modes of education in distance learning environments

• CAEE looking at questions related to being and becoming an engineer

IMPLEMENTATION:



Instructional Tools and Instructional Tools and TechnologiesTechnologies

Research exists on:• No research, but we know high

attrition rates, lack of diversity, declining enrollments

• Progress through concept inventories (tests)

• Things that work in the classroom

Research is needed on:• Need to understand why current bad

situation• Contextualization (tied to use of concept

inventories) also tied to applications of concepts

• Gender diversity within and among engineering disciplines (why do more women go into IE than EE) – See studies by Rosser, etc.

• Efficacy of courses and curricula (need longitudinal studies and feedback from industry etc. Likely to be qualitative research

• Need more on faculty self assessment and student assessmentIMPLEMENTATION:

Need dollars to support studiesNeed research on transfer/diffusion mechanisms



Management and Goal Management and Goal SystemSystem

Research exists on:• Some in institutional research lit on

role of accreditation – Journal of Research in Education and Higher Education Journal

• C

Research is needed on:• Employer feedback (some work at

GaTech and UTK) – recognize differences by level in industrial organization; how to reconcile

• Learner and faculty expectation• Whether Arts and Sci faculty dominate

institutional goal systems• Longitudinal studies on effects of

accreditation

IMPLEMENTATION:Make explicit what is to be taught (learning goals)Adopt more of a market orientationSensitivity to learning styles of students versus teaching styles of faculty (generational issue)Need more funds for studies (critical for requisite rigor) especially longitudinal which gobeyond 3-year typical grant timeline.Engage learned and professional societies – they need to publish new journals targeted toEngineers (targeted in terms of presentation, methods, continuous improvement model) – e.g.,does it look like what engineers are used to seeing. Univ of Denmark did 20-yr study ofproblem-based study



Soc/Pol/Ec InfluencesSoc/Pol/Ec Influences


• B

• C

Research is needed on:• Effective of collaboration across

disciplinary lines (outside of engineering), ethnic and gender lines, etc.

• Modes of moving organizational attitudes on research on ed (impt for P&T)

• B• C

IMPLEMENTATION:Need to understand how to get respect for education researchers within engineering (obviously funding and right administrators necessary, but not sufficient).ABET has made progress, but activities live within committees that may not be sensitive.Need institution to support education research as a valued activity



Diffusion of InnovationDiffusion of Innovation

Research exists on:

•Rogers model is only one, others include Clayton Christiansen “Innovators Dilemma” Disruptive technologiesParker Palmer – movement approach to changePeter Senge – Fifth discipline (has a workbook called “Fifth discipline Fieldbook”)Organizational change literature (bsns)


• Next steps in moving diffusion forward

• Need predictive models, not just descriptive

IMPLEMENTATION:Need clarity in applying models in specific situations.Studying dynamic situations – how to study a changing system?Need means to overcome known barriersIssue with ABET visitors as an ineffective vector?



TechnologyTechnology

Research exists on:• Limited data on effectiveness

of various technologies – mostly pilots not full longitudinal studies

• Lots of data on personal response systems (e.g., Mazur at Harvard)


• Full scale longitudinal studies with large sample sizes

IMPLEMENTATION:Lots of existing technologies (distance, personal response systems, etc.)Need more rigorous and conclusive research with large sample sizesQuestions on methodologies, bias within studiesAre we using new tools to do the same old “bad” pedagogies?

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NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education Designing a Support System