Board 221: Beyond Surveys: Using Visual Data to Evidence Achievement of Proposed Learning Objectives

Luisa Guillemard; Maryliz Soto; Carla Lopez Del Puerto; Humberto Eduardo Cavallin

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topic: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 9
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--42649
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/42649
Download Count: 174

Paper Authors

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Luisa Guillemard University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

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Luisa Guillemard is a retired professor from the Department of Psychology at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus. She has a M.S. in Clinical Psychology from the Caribbean Center of Advanced Studies in Puerto Rico [today the Carlos Albizu University] and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Texas A&M University, post-graduate training in evaluation at The Evaluators Institute (TEI) at George Washington University and the AEA/CDC Summer Evaluation Institute. Besides teaching, she has worked as an evaluator in grants awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Currently she is the internal evaluator for the projects Recruiting, Retaining and Engaging Academically Talented Students from Economically Disadvantaged Groups into a Pathway to Successful Engineering Careers (PEARLS) and for Building Capacity at Collaborative Undergraduate STEM Program in Resilient and Sustainable Infrastructure (RISE-UP). Both projects are funded by NSF.

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Maryliz Soto University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

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Carla Lopez Del Puerto University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez orcid.org/0000-0002-0334-7208

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Dr. Carla Lopez del Puerto is a professor in the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez (UPRM). She received her Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from Saint Louis University, a M.S. in Construction Management from The University of Oklahoma and a B.S. in Architecture from Universidad de las Americas-Puebla.

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Humberto Eduardo Cavallin University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras orcid.org/0000-0002-4736-1431

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Experienced Faculty with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Strong education professional with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) focused in Design Theory and Methods in Architecture from University of California, Berkeley, and

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Abstract

Visual qualitative methodologies enhance the richness of data and makes participants experts on the object of interest. Visual data brings another dimension to the evaluation process, besides surveys and interviews, as well as depth and breadth to participants reactions to specific program activities. Visual data consists of images, such as photos, drawings, artwork, among others. Exploring a different approach to assess impact of an educational activity, an exercise was designed where participants were asked to take photos to document a site visit to an area impacted by a swarm of earthquakes in 2019. The exercise required taking five photos of either objects, persons, scenery, structures, or any other thing that captured their attention during the visit and write a reflective essay to answer three questions: 1) How do these photos represent your site visit experience? 2) Based on the content of your photos, write about what you learned, discovered, new knowledge acquired, emotions, changes in your way of thinking, etc., and 3) What did you learned or discovered from doing this exercise? Twenty-two undergraduate engineering and architecture students from the RISE-UP Program, enrolled in a curricular sequence in design and construction of resilient and sustainable structures, completed the exercise. Analyses of obtained data includes frequency of captured images and content analysis of reflective essays to determine instances where each of the four proposed learning objectives was present. Results show that across essays, 32% of the essays include text that demonstrate impact related to the first objective, 59% for the second, 73% for the third, and 86% for the fourth objective. Forty-five percent of essays included text considered relevant but not related to an objective. Personal, social, and career insights were categorized as unintended results. Photos taken by students represent what they considered relevant during the visit and also evidence the achievement of the proposed learning objectives. In general, three mayor categories emerged from the content in photos: 1) photos related to the design and construction of the structure and specific damage observed from earthquakes; 2) photos of classmates, professors, and group activities; and 3) other photos that do not share a theme. Both photos and essays demonstrate that the learning objectives were successfully achieved and encourage the use of visual data as an alternative for the evaluation of educational activities.

Citation
Format

Guillemard, L., & Soto, M., & Lopez Del Puerto, C., & Cavallin, H. E. (2023, June), Board 221: Beyond Surveys: Using Visual Data to Evidence Achievement of Proposed Learning Objectives Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42649

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Visual qualitative methodologies enhance the richness of data and makes participants experts on the object of interest. Visual data brings another dimension to the evaluation process, besides surveys and interviews, as well as depth and breadth to participants reactions to specific program activities. Visual data consists of images, such as photos, drawings, artwork, among others.  
Exploring a different approach to assess impact of an educational activity, an exercise was designed where participants were asked to take photos to document a site visit to an area impacted by a swarm of earthquakes in 2019. The exercise required taking five photos of either objects, persons, scenery, structures, or any other thing that captured their attention during the visit and write a reflective essay to answer three questions: 1) How do these photos represent your site visit experience? 2) Based on the content of your photos, write about what you learned, discovered, new knowledge acquired, emotions, changes in your way of thinking, etc., and 3) What did you learned or discovered from doing this exercise? 
Twenty-two undergraduate engineering and architecture students from the RISE-UP Program, enrolled in a curricular sequence in design and construction of resilient and sustainable structures, completed the exercise.  
Analyses of obtained data includes frequency of captured images and content analysis of reflective essays to determine instances where each of the four proposed learning objectives was present.  Results show that across essays, 32% of the essays include text that demonstrate impact related to the first objective, 59% for the second, 73% for the third, and 86% for the fourth objective.  Forty-five percent of essays included text considered relevant but not related to an objective.  Personal, social, and career insights were categorized as unintended results.  
Photos taken by students represent what they considered relevant during the visit and  also evidence the achievement of the proposed learning objectives.  In general, three mayor categories emerged from the content in photos: 1) photos related to the design and construction of the structure and specific damage observed from earthquakes; 2) photos of classmates, professors, and group activities; and 3) other photos that do not share a theme.  
Both photos and essays demonstrate that the learning objectives were successfully achieved and encourage the use of visual data as an alternative for the evaluation of educational activities.
AU  - Luisa Guillemard
AU  - Maryliz Soto
AU  - Carla Lopez Del Puerto
AU  - Humberto Eduardo Cavallin
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Board 221: Beyond Surveys: Using Visual Data to Evidence Achievement of Proposed Learning Objectives
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/42649
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--42649
ER  -