Board 230: Contextualized Scaffolding for Engineering Faculty to Facilitate the Adoption of EBIPs

Shane A. Brown; Prateek Shekhar; Jeff Knowles; Stephanie Adams

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: June 26, 2024
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topics: Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 5
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--46800
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/46800
Download Count: 82

Paper Authors

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Shane A. Brown P.E. Oregon State University orcid.org/0000-0003-3669-8407

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Shane Brown is aprofessor and Associate School Head in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University. His research interests include conceptual change and situated cognition. He received the NSF CAREER that initiated his work studying engineering student and practitioners understanding and use of engineering concepts.

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Prateek Shekhar New Jersey Institute of Technology orcid.org/0000-0001-6552-2887

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Prateek Shekhar is an Assistant Professor – Engineering Education in the School of Applied Engineering and Technology at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas - Austin, an MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California, and a BS in Electronics and Communication Engineering from India. Dr. Shekhar also holds a Graduate Certificate in Engineering Education from Virginia Tech. Prior to his current appointment, he worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher and Assistant Research Scientist at the University of Michigan. He is the recipient of the 2018 Outstanding Postdoctoral Researcher Award at the University of Michigan; and serves as a PI/Co-PI on multiple projects funded by the National Science Foundation. He currently serves in editorial capacity for the Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education, and Journal of International Engineering Education.

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Jeff Knowles Oregon State University orcid.org/0000-0003-1453-9923

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Dr. Jeff Knowles is an engineering instructor at Oregon State University who began teaching courses in 2015. His current pedagogical research is related to barriers associated with implementing Evidence-Based Instructional Practices (EBIPs) in STEM-related courses and determining what affordances can be granted to overcome such contextual obstacles. Jeff's interests also include the numerical modeling of nonlinear wave phenomena.

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Stephanie Adams Oregon State University

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Stephanie Adams is currently enrolled as a doctoral student at Oregon State University, where she is working towards her PhD in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Engineering Education. Her current research focuses on the adoption of evidence-based instructional practices (EBIPs) among engineering faculty members. Additionally, she is investigating the identity development of engineering students in capstone courses.

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Abstract

The benefits of Evidence-Based Instructional Practices (EBIPs) are well-supported in the existing literature and have been demonstrated to play an impactful role in meeting course learning outcomes (CLOs) and improving student retention rates. Despite these benefits, a majority of engineering faculty have remained stagnant in their transition to the adoption of innovative pedagogical devices. There are several global factors which prevent instructors from embracing non-traditional styles of teaching (i.e., time, preparation, student resistance, etc.) which have been explored at a surface level. Therefore, an ethnographic approach is taken to understand the contextual barriers which stand in the way of successful EBIP-implementation. Approximately 70 instructors have been invited to share their personal experience and perceptions around non-traditional modes of teaching over a series of semi-structured interviews. Specifically, participants were prompted to reflect on contextual barriers and affordances that impact their decision-making processes around active student engagement in the classroom. The recorded conversations are transcribed and examined through a qualitative coding analysis through utilization of the MAXQDA software to explore relations between emergent themes. The project also consists of a mentoring component in which participating faculty are continuously engaged in the innovative and development processes tied to EBIP-implementation in the classroom. This collaborative development has created a supportive space in which faculty are encouraged to test out new EBIPs in their courses and reflect on the challenges and successes they encounter. In response to participant feedback, members of the research team provide appropriate scaffolding for instructors in the form of active-learning exercises or hands-on demonstrations which circumnavigate local barriers faced by engineering faculty. Qualitative data is collected through field notes and video recordings of conversations, which are transcribed to discern emerging themes uncovered by various coding methods. The two primary outcomes of this study are to (1) develop a conceptual model that is predictive of the decision-making processes performed by engineering faculty, and (2) a collection of case study examples which highlight contextual barriers to EBIP-implementation. As a secondary byproduct of this research, an online archive of active-learning materials, and supplementary content, is to be made available to engineering instructors as a teaching resource. To this extent, the research team has explored the specifics of resource-related barriers and aspects of engineering department cultures which inhibit optimal student engagement.

Citation
Format

Brown, S. A., & Shekhar, P., & Knowles, J., & Adams, S. (2024, June), Board 230: Contextualized Scaffolding for Engineering Faculty to Facilitate the Adoption of EBIPs Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--46800

TY - CPAPER
AB - The benefits of Evidence-Based Instructional Practices (EBIPs) are well-supported in the existing literature and have been demonstrated to play an impactful role in meeting course learning outcomes (CLOs) and improving student retention rates. Despite these benefits, a majority of engineering faculty have remained stagnant in their transition to the adoption of innovative pedagogical devices. There are several global factors which prevent instructors from embracing non-traditional styles of teaching (i.e., time, preparation, student resistance, etc.) which have been explored at a surface level. Therefore, an ethnographic approach is taken to understand the contextual barriers which stand in the way of successful EBIP-implementation. Approximately 70 instructors have been invited to share their personal experience and perceptions around non-traditional modes of teaching over a series of semi-structured interviews. Specifically, participants were prompted to reflect on contextual barriers and affordances that impact their decision-making processes around active student engagement in the classroom. The recorded conversations are transcribed and examined through a qualitative coding analysis through utilization of the MAXQDA software to explore relations between emergent themes. The project also consists of a mentoring component in which participating faculty are continuously engaged in the innovative and development processes tied to EBIP-implementation in the classroom. This collaborative development has created a supportive space in which faculty are encouraged to test out new EBIPs in their courses and reflect on the challenges and successes they encounter. In response to participant feedback, members of the research team provide appropriate scaffolding for instructors in the form of active-learning exercises or hands-on demonstrations which circumnavigate local barriers faced by engineering faculty. Qualitative data is collected through field notes and video recordings of conversations, which are transcribed to discern emerging themes uncovered by various coding methods. The two primary outcomes of this study are to (1) develop a conceptual model that is predictive of the decision-making processes performed by engineering faculty, and (2) a collection of case study examples which highlight contextual barriers to EBIP-implementation. As a secondary byproduct of this research, an online archive of active-learning materials, and supplementary content, is to be made available to engineering instructors as a teaching resource. To this extent, the research team has explored the specifics of resource-related barriers and aspects of engineering department cultures which inhibit optimal student engagement.
AU - Shane A. Brown P.E.
AU - Prateek Shekhar
AU - Jeff Knowles
AU - Stephanie Adams
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Board 230: Contextualized Scaffolding for Engineering Faculty to Facilitate the Adoption of EBIPs
UR - https://peer.asee.org/46800
DO - 10.18260/1-2--46800
ER -