Enhancing Knowledge Surveys with an Intellectual Humility Scale

Kyle Luthy; Jessica Koehler; William N. Crowe

Download Paper | Permalink

Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM) Technical Session 5
Tagged Division: Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47308

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Kyle Luthy Wake Forest University

visit author page

Dr. Kyle Luthy is an Assistant Professor and founding
faculty member in the Department of Engineering at Wake
Forest University. Kyle has taught across the engineering
curriculum and placed intentional focus on the virtue of
humility. Kyle holds a Ph.D. and a MS in Computer Engineering
from North Carolina State University, as well as BS degrees in
Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Computer
Science from Louisiana State University. As an educator, he
brings professional experience as an engineer and project
management from industry and government settings.

visit author page

biography

Jessica Koehler Wake Forest University

visit author page

Dr. Jessica Koehler is the Senior Research Scholar for the Wake Forest University Program for Leadership and Character in the Professional schools. In her role she also supports with the development and assessment of character and ethics education in the engineering program.

visit author page

author page

William N. Crowe Wake Forest University

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

As engineering education and related research evolve, it is also important for assessment tools and research methods to evolve. This Work in Progress paper focuses on evaluating student knowledge surveys in conjunction with instructor knowledge surveys about student learning and a validated intellectual humility scale. Knowledge surveys have been used as an indirect, self-report measure of assessing knowledge mastery within courses and across engineering programs to triangulate direct assessment results and inform continuous improvement of teaching and learning, but they have yet to be leveraged in other ways. For example, in engineering education student knowledge survey results are rarely compared to an external perspective nor combined with validated instruments. In this study, knowledge surveys (pre- and post-) were completed by both students and instructors in a 3rd year undergraduate Control Systems and Instrumentation course and used in combination with the limitations owning intellectual humility scale (Haggard et. al.) to gauge the accuracy of perceived growth of learning by students. Student responses were compared against the instructors’ initial expectations for student knowledge in the context of the departmental curriculum as well as growth targets upon course completion. Our guiding research questions were (1) What do knowledge surveys reveal about student perceptions in their knowledge compared with instructor perceptions?” and (2) “What insights do we gain in comparing student intellectual humility scale results with their knowledge surveys?" Preliminary findings for research question 1 show that student self-assessments are generally higher than instructor expectations and targets in both pre- and post- surveys which indicates that there are knowledge areas where major gaps still exist in students' perceptions of growth. The gap is greater at the end of the course, indicating that after a preliminary course experience they overestimate their knowledge gains. Instructors can leverage this data in future course iterations to manage student perceptions by providing broader context in targeted knowledge areas. While findings for research question 2 did not show a significant relationship between student perception of self-knowledge and their intellectual humility, this is likely due to limitations of this study design. Incorporation of intellectual humility and assessment thereof in engineering education holds promise because intellectual humility is associated with a mastery approach to learning that fuels lifelong learning and is a characteristic employers value in engineers.

Citation
Format

Luthy, K., & Koehler, J., & Crowe, W. N. (2024, June), Enhancing Knowledge Surveys with an Intellectual Humility Scale Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47308

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - As engineering education and related research evolve, it is also important for assessment tools and research methods to evolve. This Work in Progress paper focuses on evaluating student knowledge surveys in conjunction with instructor knowledge surveys about student learning and a validated intellectual humility scale. Knowledge surveys have been used as an indirect, self-report measure of assessing knowledge mastery within courses and across engineering programs to triangulate direct assessment results and inform continuous improvement of teaching and learning, but they have yet to be leveraged in other ways. For example, in engineering education student knowledge survey results are rarely compared to an external perspective nor combined with validated instruments. In this study, knowledge surveys (pre- and post-) were completed by both students and instructors in a 3rd year undergraduate Control Systems and Instrumentation course and used in combination with the limitations owning intellectual humility scale (Haggard et. al.) to gauge the accuracy of perceived growth of learning by students. Student responses were compared against the instructors’ initial expectations for student knowledge in the context of the departmental curriculum as well as growth targets upon course completion. Our guiding research questions were (1) What do knowledge surveys reveal about student perceptions in their knowledge compared with instructor perceptions?” and (2) “What insights do we gain in comparing student intellectual humility scale results with their knowledge surveys?&quot; Preliminary findings for research question 1 show that student self-assessments are generally higher than instructor expectations and targets in both pre- and post- surveys which indicates that there are knowledge areas where major gaps still exist in students&#39; perceptions of growth. The gap is greater at the end of the course, indicating that after a preliminary course experience they overestimate their knowledge gains. Instructors can leverage this data in future course iterations to manage student perceptions by providing broader context in targeted knowledge areas. While findings for research question 2 did not show a significant relationship between student perception of self-knowledge and their intellectual humility, this is likely due to limitations of this study design. Incorporation of intellectual humility and assessment thereof in engineering education holds promise because intellectual humility is associated with a mastery approach to learning that fuels lifelong learning and is a characteristic employers value in engineers.
AU  - Kyle Luthy
AU  - Jessica Koehler
AU  - William N. Crowe
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Enhancing Knowledge Surveys with an Intellectual Humility Scale
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/47308
ER  -