Measuring Engineering Faculty Views about Benefits and Costs of Using Student-Centered Strategies

abstract: Dispositions of 286 engineering faculty members were assessed to determine views about three student-centered classroom strategies and how frequently faculty used those strategies. The student-centered classroom strategies examined were: using formative feedback to adjust instruction, integrating real-world applications, and promoting student-to-student discussions during formal class time. The Value, Expectancy, and Cost of Testing Educational Reforms Survey (VECTERS), based on expectancy theory, was designed, tested, and validated for this purpose. Results indicate using strategies, such as formative feedback, are significantly tied to perceived benefits and expectation of success. Using student-centered strategies is inversely related to the perceived cost of implementation – with more frequent users perceiving lower cost of time and materials.The final version of this article, as published in International Journal of Engineering Pedagogy, can be viewed online at: http://online-journals.org/index.php/i-jep/article/view/680

An interprofessional, intercultural, immersive short-term study abroad program: public health and service systems in rome

The purpose of this paper is to describe a short-term study abroad program that exposes engineering and nursing undergraduate students from the United States and Italy to an intercultural and interprofessional immersion experience. Faculty from Purdue University and Sapienza Università di Roma collaborated to design a technical program that demonstrates the complementary nature of engineering and public health in the service sector, with Rome as an integral component of the program. Specifically, the intersection of topics including systems, reliability, process flow, maintenance management, and public health are covered through online lectures, in-class activities and case study discussions, field experiences, and assessments. Herein, administrative issues such as student recruitment, selection, and preparation are elucidated. Additionally, the pedagogical approach used to ensure constructive alignment among the program goals, the intended learning outcomes, and the teaching and learning activities is described. Finally, examples of learning outcomes resulting from this alignment are provided

Cognitive and affective perspectives on immersive technology in education

This research explains the rationale behind the utilization of mobile learning technologies. It involves a qualitative study among children to better understand their opinions and perceptions toward the use of educational applications (apps) that are available on their mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. The researchers organized semi-structured, face-to-face interview sessions with primary school students who were using mobile technologies at their primary school. The students reported that their engagement with the educational apps has improved their competencies. They acquired relational and communicative skills as they collaborated in teams. On the other hand, there were a few students who were not perceiving the usefulness and the ease of use of the educational apps on their mobile device. This study indicates that the research participants had different skillsets as they exhibited different learning abilities. In conclusion, this contribution opens-up avenues for future research in this promising field of study.peer-reviewe

The CREATE Approach to Primary Literature Shifts Undergraduates' Self-Assessed Ability to Read and Analyze Journal Articles, Attitudes about Science, and Epistemological Beliefs

The C. R. E. A. T. E. (Consider, Read, Elucidate hypotheses, Analyze and interpret data, Think of the next Experiment) method uses intensive analysis of primary literature in the undergraduate classroom to demystify and humanize science. We have reported previously that the method improves students' critical thinking and content integration abilities, while at the same time enhancing their self-reported understanding of "who does science, and why." We report here the results of an assessment that addressed C. R. E. A. T. E. students' attitudes about the nature of science, beliefs about learning, and confidence in their ability to read, analyze, and explain research articles. Using a Likert-style survey administered pre- and postcourse, we found significant changes in students' confidence in their ability to read and analyze primary literature, self-assessed understanding of the nature of science, and epistemological beliefs (e. g., their sense of whether knowledge is certain and scientific talent innate). Thus, within a single semester, the inexpensive C. R. E. A. T. E. method can shift not just students' analytical abilities and understanding of scientists as people, but can also positively affect students' confidence with analysis of primary literature, their insight into the processes of science, and their beliefs about learning.NSFNSF CCLI/TUES 0311117, 0618536, 1021443Molecular Bioscience

Engaging Undergraduates in Science Research: Not Just About Faculty Willingness.

Despite the many benefits of involving undergraduates in research and the growing number of undergraduate research programs, few scholars have investigated the factors that affect faculty members' decisions to involve undergraduates in their research projects. We investigated the individual factors and institutional contexts that predict faculty members' likelihood of engaging undergraduates in their research project(s). Using data from the Higher Education Research Institute's 2007-2008 Faculty Survey, we employ hierarchical generalized linear modeling to analyze data from 4,832 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty across 194 institutions to examine how organizational citizenship behavior theory and social exchange theory relate to mentoring students in research. Key findings show that faculty who work in the life sciences and those who receive government funding for their research are more likely to involve undergraduates in their research project(s). In addition, faculty at liberal arts or historically Black colleges are significantly more likely to involve undergraduate students in research. Implications for advancing undergraduate research opportunities are discussed

Big data in higher education: an action research on managing student engagement with business intelligence

This research aims to explore the value of Big Data in student engagement management. It presents an action research on applying BI in a UK higher education institution that has developed and implemented a student engagement tracking system (SES) for better student engagement management. The SES collects data from various sources, including RFID tracking devices across many locations in the campus and student online activities. This public funded research project has enhanced the current SES with BI solutions and raised awareness on the value of the Big Data in improving student experience. The action research concerns with the organizational wide development and deployment of Intelligent Student Engagement System involving a diverse range of stakeholders. The activities undertaken to date have revealed interesting findings and implications for advancing our understanding and research in leveraging the benefit of the Big Data in Higher Education from a socio-technical perspective

Internationalization of Curriculum in Higher Education: An Action Research Study on a Global Engineering Track

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at Morehead State University by Michael S. Keibler Crandall on March 25, 2020

Engineering faculty views of teaching quality, accreditation, and institutional climate and how they influence teaching practices

There is wide agreement that teaching quality matters in higher education, but faculty have varied ideas about the definition of quality. This dissertation examined data from a survey administered in 1997, 1999, and 2002 at institutions of the Southeastern University and College Coalition for Engineering Education (SUCCEED) supplemented by a survey administered more recently to a subset of those institutions and two additional institutions. All participating institutions are large public universities. The data collected included faculty teaching practices and three influences on those practices—the faculty member’s definition of quality teaching, their perspective on ABET accreditation processes, and the climate for teaching at their institution, resulting in a dissertation in a three-paper format.^“Engineering Faculty Perspectives on the Nature of Quality Teaching” examines definitions of quality teaching. Using thematic analysis, these were coded according to a framework for quality in higher education by Harvey and Greene. Multinomial logistic regression showed that views on quality teaching were associated with faculty teaching practices. The most common definition of teaching quality (held by 49 percent of participants) is associated with elitism and restricted access—the best way to improve education is to admit better students. These faculty focus on education as “knowledge transfer” and “learning content.” Another 38 percent of faculty had a transformational perspective, more focused on process than content, valuing “empowering students,” “developing students,” and “creating an environment for learning.” These faculty refer pedagogies of engagement such as active learning. The only other prevalent definition of quality (30 percent of faculty) focused on “fitness for purpose,” characterized by terms such as “ability to meet specific legitimate learning objectives” and “mastery of learning outcomes.” This work provides guidance to faculty development efforts. ^ “The Influence of ABET Accreditation Practices on Faculty Approaches to Teaching” explores the effect of ABET accreditation on quality teaching as described in faculty comments from 2014 using thematic analysis. Multinomial logistic regression related faculty perspectives on accreditation terminology and processes to faculty teaching practices. Faculty had overwhelmingly negative views regarding accreditation, believing that it adds to their workload, stifles their creativity, and distracts them from other important objectives including teaching. Faculty who express various negative views of either the goals or the practice of accreditation are less likely to engage in certain student-centered teaching practices. More positively, our findings show that faculty who tend agree with the student-outcomes focus of the ABET criteria engage in richer educational experiences—they give students more writing assignments and allow students to learn collaboratively. ^ “Faculty Perspectives and Institutional Climate for Teaching Quality in Engineering” analyzes faculty comments from the earlier surveys using thematic analysis. Comments from the 2014 survey were classified by teaching practices (traditional vs. non-traditional) and institutional climate (traditional vs. non-traditional), creating four cases. These comments were then analyzed using a collective case study approach. The study of the two collections of open-ended comments was supplemented by multinomial logistic regression of survey items from the 2014 administration relating faculty teaching practices and the institutional climate for teaching. In the historical data, faculty views of student evaluations evolved from seeing it as a negative burden to describing is as positive evidence of student learning. Faculty comments included many references to administrators who only “pay lip service” to the importance of teaching, although some faculty spoke positively about their campus’ commitment to quality teaching. Faculty awareness of and pressure to use student-centered methods increased with time. The collective case study identified faculty in all four conditions, although they were not equally prevalent, and illustrates the experience in each condition using faculty comments

Preparing School Leaders for a Changing World: Lessons From Exemplary Leadership Development Programs

Presents eight case studies of effective school leadership training programs and provides the key characteristics of high-quality training to help states and districts address long-standing weaknesses in the way principals are prepared for their jobs

University-wide Entrepreneurship Education: Alternative Models and Current Trends

WP 2002-02 March 2002The paper examines the trend towards university-wide programs in entrepreneurship education. We present a conceptual framework for dividing university-wide programs into two categories: “magnet programs,” which draw students into entrepreneurship courses offered in the business school, and “radiant programs,” which feature entrepreneurship courses outside the business school, focused on the specific context of the non-business students. Examining 38 ranked entrepreneurship programs, we found that about 75% now have university-wide programs, most of which follow a magnet model. In interviews with stakeholders at sample institutions (some ranked, others not), we found that magnet and radiant programs differ in terms of program definition, motivation for the university-wide focus, and costs and benefits. Our major findings are 1) The trend toward University-wide entrepreneurship education is strong and gaining momentum 2) Our conceptual framework clarifies the different pathways for creating a university-wide approach, 3) While the radiant model is extremely appealing to students, parents, and alumni, the magnet model is easier to administer and represents the pathway of least resistance, and 4) While the magnet model is simpler to implement, it may lead to conflicts in the longer term because the benefits (in terms of flow of students and donors) may not be shared equally across the university