A Model For Building And Sustaining Communities Of Engineering Education Research Scholars
- Conference
- Location
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Chicago, Illinois
- Publication Date
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June 18, 2006
- Start Date
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June 18, 2006
- End Date
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June 21, 2006
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Educational Research and Methods
- Page Count
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17
- Page Numbers
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11.69.1 - 11.69.17
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--1003
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/1003
- Download Count
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427
Paper Authors
Robin Adams Purdue University
Robin S. Adams is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Purdue University. She is also leads the Institute for Scholarship on Engineering Education (ISEE) as part of the Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education (CAEE). Dr. Adams received her PhD in Education, Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Washington, an MS in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Washington, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Dr. Adams' research is concentrated on understanding design knowing and learning (particularly iterative cycles in design), multidisciplinary thinking, building capacity in engineering education research, and strategies for connecting research and practice.
Philip Bell University of Washington
Philip Bell is an associate professor of Cognitive Studies in Education at the University of Washington where he directs the ethnographic and design-based research of the Everyday Science and Technology Group (http://everydaycognition.org). As a learning scientist, he has studied everyday science expertise and learning, the use of digital
technologies within youth culture, children's argumentation, the design of novel learning technologies, and approaches to inquiry instruction in science. Bell has a background in human cognition and development, science education, and electrical engineering and computer science.
Cheryl Allendoerfer University of Washington
Cheryl Allendoerfer is a research scientist at the Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education at the University of Washington. She holds an MA in cultural anthropology and a PhD in curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research areas include ethnic identity construction, second language acquisition, and qualitative studies of engineering education.
Helen Chen Stanford University
Helen L. Chen is a Research Scientist at the Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning (SCIL) and is a member of the Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education Academic Pathways Study research team. Helen earned her PhD in Communication with a minor in Psychology from Stanford University in 1998. Her current research interests focus on the application of Folio Thinking pedagogy and practices in engineering education and the design and evaluation of social software and innovative learning spaces to support portfolio-related activities and student learning in higher education.
Larry Leifer Stanford University
Lorraine Fleming Howard University
Lorraine Fleming is professor and former Chair of the Department of Civil Engineering at Howard University. Dr. Fleming serves as the Co-Principal Investigator of a National Science Foundation HBCU Undergraduate Program grant designed to increase the number of underrepresented minorities who pursue degrees in engineering, mathematics and science. She is also a 2005 Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Bayta Maring University of Washington
Bayta Maring is a full time program evaluator with the University of Washington's Office of Educational Assessment (OEA) and is one of the internal evaluators for the Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education. In her position at OEA, she provides evaluation and assessment services for a number of federally and university funded projects on the UW campus, including the UW Initiative for Minority Student Development (NIH) and the UW State GEAR UP project (Dept. of Education).
Dawn Williams Howard University
Dawn G. Williams is an Assistant Professor and Master's Program Coordinator in the Department of Educational Administration and Policy at Howard University. She serves as a researcher on the longitudinal study conducted by the Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education as well as a team member for the Institute for Scholarship on Engineering Education. Her primary research interests lie in K-12 educational policies targeted for urban school reform.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
A Model for Building and Sustaining Communities of Engineering Education Research Scholars
Abstract
Building and sustaining communities of new engineering education researchers is crucial for bringing people into an area of scholarship, supporting them working in this area, providing opportunities for long term professional development within a community of practice, and building capacity in the engineering education research infrastructure. The Institute for Scholarship on Engineering Education (ISEE), an element of the NSF-funded Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education (CAEE), is designed to build and sustain communities of engineering education scholars who can investigate student learning issues and transform findings into actionable improvements. The Institute has a revolving host structure across three schools – University of Washington, Stanford University, and Howard University. Over three consecutive year-long cycles, ISEE builds and extends a cohort of scholars at host and partner schools. In this paper we explore the question “how do we build capacity in engineering education research?” We pursue this question by examining the ISEE model, the successes and challenges experienced as we near completion of the second of three cycles, and implications for future community building efforts.
Introduction
There is a critical need to invest in the infrastructure for scientific research in education in particular by developing mechanisms for educating and sustaining scientifically competent and highly qualified communities of education researchers1. This is particularly relevant for the engineering education profession. By investing in the research infrastructure in engineering education we can 1) advance the scholarship in teaching and learning and strengthen its capacity; 2) build coherence and rigor within the community; 3) assist collaborative and interdisciplinary research as well as relationships between practitioners and researchers; 4) promote professional development of current and future faculty; and 5) facilitate distributed cognition within a community of practice2,3. Given this motivation, a researchable question is how to proceed to meet this need: “how do we build capacity in engineering education research?”
Strategies for building capacity are often linked to community of practice models and a goal of identity development within that community. Communities of practice emphasize a social structure that allows novices access to roles that allow them to grow in their understanding and become members of the community; hence, a community of practice model recognizes the importance of social relationships in developing professional lives. As such, communities of practice foster learning and professional development by providing access to roles that encourage learning and membership in a community, cultivating and practicing leadership, and establishing an identity in the context of the community2. They also afford opportunities for building collaborative knowledge in which individual experiences become communal, distributed expertise can be shared, and standards of practice can evolve4-6.
Adams, R., & Bell, P., & Allendoerfer, C., & Chen, H., & Leifer, L., & Fleming, L., & Maring, B., & Williams, D. (2006, June), A Model For Building And Sustaining Communities Of Engineering Education Research Scholars Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--1003
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