Engineering Education Research and the Scholarship of Teaching Engineering: An

Initial Introduction

Alisha A. Weathers Waller, Ph.D.

Parenting and Teaching – critical jobs for which most receive

no training

• “We all have had parents, so we know what to do (or what not to do).”

• “If you know it, you can teach it.”

• “As a student, I had some good teachers, so I’ll just teach like them.”

Tinkering

What comes to mind when you hear:

“The engineer was tinkering

with the system.”

Scholarship of Teaching/Learning

“Tinkering” with the system:

1. Observe the system, finding something that could be improved.

2. Think about what you know about the system and choose a change.

3. Implement the change.

4. Observe the system to see if things improved.

Classroom Assessment Techniques

Angelo & Cross, 1993. Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, 2nd Edition, Jossey-Bass.

Example: + / Δ CardsIndex card to each studentWhat is helping you learn in this class?What would you like changed?

If you collect data, you must use it!

• What is helping you learn? gives you information on what is helping and what is not. If homework is not mentioned, then investigate why or drop using homework.

• What do you want changed? can be sorted into a) easy and willing to do; b) no control to do; and c) acknowledge but won’t do.

What is education research?

Waller’s Model of Research

Research Question(s)

TheoreticalFramework

Methodology

Presentation Interpretation

Paired Discussion

• Pair up with someone sitting next to you.

• Talk about the questions you are given.

• Be ready to share one idea about each

question with the whole group.

Engineering Disciplinary Research

What are the kinds of questions

you research

in your engineering discipline?

Engineering Education Research: What are the kinds of questions you research in

engineering education?

Caveats:

1. These are only a few of the many kinds of questions.

2. There are many ways of categorizing questions.

3. I’m only presenting three kinds due to our time constraints.

Engineering Education Research: What are the kinds of questions you research in

engineering education? (A few examples)

Predict & Control:

• If we admit x students into the first-year program,

how many will enroll?

• If y students enroll, how many will graduate?

• What are the factors that predict successful

completion of an engineering degree?

Engineering Education Research

Understanding:

• Why do students choose or not choose an international

learning opportunity?

• How do first-generation students learn to navigate the

higher education system?

• Which concepts in thermodynamics are most difficult

for students? What is it about these concepts that make

them difficult?

Engineering Education Research

Evaluation:

• What are the effects (positive and negative) of

participating in SWE?

• How has the switch to on-line testing affected student

learning in statics?

• Do single-sex design groups perform better than

mixed-sex groups?

Engineering Disciplinary Research

What are some of the theories that you use

in your disciplinary research?

Engineering Education Research: What are some of the theories used in education

research?

Caveats:

1. Theory is everywhere.

2. Theory is often unarticulated.

3. Theory is critically important.

Engineering Education Research

• Suppose we have a research question about issue x in context y, using methodology z.

• Then, we must have theory regarding x and y and z.

Example: Do single-sex design groups perform better than mixed-sex groups?

What do we mean by “perform better”?

Focus on the process skills: communication, leadership, global awareness, creativity, and teamwork.

How are we going to evaluate performance?

Observation of teams during team meetings

Example: Do we observe better performance in their process skills in single-sex design groups

or in mixed-sex design groups?

Theory we need: (a brief brainstorm)

1. What are the design group process skills and how do we observe them? What constitutes “better” performance versus “different” performance?

Example: Do we observe better performance in their process skills in single-sex design groups or in mixed-sex design groups?

2. What is leadership and how is it enacted? How does leadership interact with sex, that is, do women and men lead differently?

{Repeat with communication, global awareness, creativity, and teamwork.}

Example: Do we observe better performance in their process skills in single-sex design groups or in mixed-sex design groups?

3. Why is observation an appropriate methodology? How does being observed change a group’s behavior? How can those changes be minimized?

Engineering Disciplinary Research

What are some of the methodologies

(data collection and data analysis)

that you use

in your disciplinary research?

Engineering Education Research

What are some of the methodologies

(data collection and data analysis)

that are used in education research?

Engineering Education Research Methodologies

Surveys Individual Interviews Focus Groups Ethnography Document Analysis Program Evaluation

Engineering Disciplinary Research

What are some of the

interpretation methods

(ways that you assign meaning)

that you use in your disciplinary research?

Engineering Education Research

What are some of the interpretation methods (ways that you assign meaning) that are

used in education research?

• Interpreting p-values

• Connection to theory

• Participant voices

Engineering Disciplinary Research

What are some of the

presentation methods

that you use in your disciplinary research?

Engineering Education Research

What are some of the presentation methods that are used in education research?

• Journal articles

• Conference talks

• Short courses for colleagues

• Graduate courses

• Grant proposals

How is education research different from engineering disciplinary

research?

“Education is multilayered, constantly shifting, and occurs within an interaction among institutions (e.g., schools and universities), communities, and families. It is highly value- laden and involves a diverse array of people and political forces that significantly shapes its character. These features require attention to the physical, social, cultural, economic, and historical environment in the research process because these contextual factors often influence results in significant ways.” (SRE, p. 5)

“Education is multilayered, constantly shifting, and occurs within an interaction among institutions (e.g., schools and universities), communities, and families. It is highly value- laden and involves a diverse array of people and political forces that significantly shapes its character. These features require attention to the physical, social, cultural, economic, and historical environment in the research process because these contextual factors often influence results in significant ways.” (SRE, p. 5)

“Education is multilayered, constantly shifting, and occurs within an interaction among institutions (e.g., schools and universities), communities, and families. It is highly value- laden and involves a diverse array of people and political forces that significantly shapes its character. These features require attention to the physical, social, cultural, economic, and historical environment in the research process because these contextual factors often influence results in significant ways.” (SRE, p. 5)

“Education is multilayered, constantly shifting, and occurs within an interaction among institutions (e.g., schools and universities), communities, and families. It is highly value- laden and involves a diverse array of people and political forces that significantly shapes its character. These features require attention to the physical, social, cultural, economic, and historical environment in the research process because these contextual factors often influence results in significant ways.” (SRE, p. 5)

“Education is multilayered, constantly shifting, and occurs within an interaction among institutions (e.g., schools and universities), communities, and families. It is highly value- laden and involves a diverse array of people and political forces that significantly shapes its character. These features require attention to the physical, social, cultural, economic, and historical environment in the research process because these contextual factors often influence results in significant ways.” (SRE, p. 5)

A few “hot topics”

• Concept inventories

• Misconception theory

• Gender / Race / Class

• First year experience

• Design teams

• Computer assisted learning

Where to learn more

• IEEE Education Society, Atlanta Section

• American Society of Engineering Education, Educational Research and Methods Division (ASEE – ERM)

• Frontiers in Education (FIE) Conference

• Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education (CASEE at NAE)