Board 341: Obstacles in Context: A Multi-Perspective Examination of Obstacles of Revolutionizing Engineering Education in the NSF RED Program

Eva Andrijcic; Sriram Mohan; Elizabeth Litzler; Rae Jing Han; Selen Güler

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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 Topic: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 8
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--46923
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/46923
Download Count: 98

Paper Authors

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Eva Andrijcic Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

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Eva Andrijcic is an Associate Professor of Engineering Management at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Her major interests are in the areas of organizational change management, leadership education, and risk education.

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Sriram Mohan Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

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Sriram Mohan is a Professor of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Rose-Hulman institute of Technology. Sriram received a B.E degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Madras and M.S and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science f

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Elizabeth Litzler University of Washington orcid.org/0000-0003-0626-8473

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Elizabeth Litzler, Ph.D., is the director of the University of Washington Center for Evaluation and Research for STEM Equity (UW CERSE) and an affiliate assistant professor of sociology. She has been at UW working on STEM Equity issues for more than 20 years.

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Rae Jing Han University of Washington

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Selen Güler University of Washington

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Selen Güler is a PhD Candidate in Sociology at the University of Washington, and a research assistant at the University of Washington’s Center for Evaluation and Research for STEM Equity (CERSE). Selen’s research interests include policy processes, social movements, and institutional change.

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Abstract

Since the inception of the NSF Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) Program in 2015, RED teams have worked to implement significant changes in engineering education at their institutions. Along the way, they have encountered numerous obstacles, ranging from changes in leadership and support for the RED team, to lack of policies and procedures to support the proposed changes, to lack of buy-in from colleagues and students. This poster explores the types of obstacles faced by RED teams in their efforts to implement significant engineering education changes at their institutions.

This poster reviews results of a group working session involving members of 16 current and past RED teams, focused on identifying obstacles that the teams have experienced in the past, or are currently experiencing, that are preventing them from implementing or institutionalizing some important elements of their RED projects. The obstacles were identified and analyzed from four perspectives, informed by Bolman and Deal’s (2008) four frame model for reframing organizations. The four frame model provides a structure for considering organizations through different cognitive frames: (1) the structure frame is focused on rules, goals, policies, and technologies of an organization; (2) the human resources frame is focused on the needs and skills of the people in the organization, as well as the relationships between them; (3) the political frame is focused on the sources of power, conflict, and competition, as well as on allocation of scarce resources; and (4) the symbolic frame is focused on the cultural aspects of an organization, encompassing both visible and invisible cultural elements like rituals, stories, and shared values.

This poster will present and analyze the identified obstacles and discuss the significance of considering obstacles from multiple perspectives or “frames” when identifying potential solutions. Systemic problems in engineering education, like the ones that RED teams are trying to solve in their engineering disciplines, are a function of multiple variables, including people, cultures & values, policies, processes, institutional & disciplinary politics, and inequitable allocation of resources, to name a few. Hence, any barriers to implementing changes to the status quo must be considered from multiple perspectives in order to develop sustainable solutions that will be acceptable to multiple stakeholder groups. Overall, our multi-perspective examination of the obstacles that RED teams commonly face can inform others interested in institutionalizing changes in engineering education or the common challenges that academic change champions commonly encounter and enable them to better manage their response to those challenges.

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2008). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass.

Citation
Format

Andrijcic, E., & Mohan, S., & Litzler, E., & Han, R. J., & Güler, S. (2024, June), Board 341: Obstacles in Context: A Multi-Perspective Examination of Obstacles of Revolutionizing Engineering Education in the NSF RED Program Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--46923

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Since the inception of the NSF Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) Program in 2015, RED teams have worked to implement significant changes in engineering education at their institutions. Along the way, they have encountered numerous obstacles, ranging from changes in leadership and support for the RED team, to lack of policies and procedures to support the proposed changes, to lack of buy-in from colleagues and students. This poster explores the types of obstacles faced by RED teams in their efforts to implement significant engineering education changes at their institutions. 

This poster reviews results of a group working session involving members of 16 current and past RED teams, focused on identifying obstacles that the teams have experienced in the past, or are currently experiencing, that are preventing them from implementing or institutionalizing some important elements of their RED projects. The obstacles were identified and analyzed from four perspectives, informed by Bolman and Deal’s (2008) four frame model for reframing organizations. The four frame model provides a structure for considering organizations through different cognitive frames: (1) the structure frame is focused on rules, goals, policies, and technologies of an organization; (2) the human resources frame is focused on the needs and skills of the people in the organization, as well as the relationships between them; (3) the political frame is focused on the sources of power, conflict, and competition, as well as on allocation of scarce resources; and (4) the symbolic frame is focused on the cultural aspects of an organization, encompassing both visible and invisible cultural elements like rituals, stories, and shared values. 

This poster will present and analyze the identified obstacles and discuss the significance of considering obstacles from multiple perspectives or “frames” when identifying potential solutions. Systemic problems in engineering education, like the ones that RED teams are trying to solve in their engineering disciplines, are a function of multiple variables, including people, cultures &amp;amp; values, policies, processes, institutional &amp;amp; disciplinary politics, and inequitable allocation of resources, to name a few. Hence, any barriers to implementing changes to the status quo must be considered from multiple perspectives in order to develop sustainable solutions that will be acceptable to multiple stakeholder groups. Overall, our multi-perspective examination of the obstacles that RED teams commonly face can inform others interested in institutionalizing changes in engineering education or the common challenges that academic change champions commonly encounter and enable them to better manage their response to those challenges. 


Bolman, L. G., &amp;amp; Deal, T. E. (2008). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass.
AU  - Eva Andrijcic
AU  - Sriram Mohan
AU  - Elizabeth Litzler
AU  - Rae Jing Han
AU  - Selen Güler
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Board 341: Obstacles in Context: A Multi-Perspective Examination of Obstacles of Revolutionizing Engineering Education in the NSF RED Program
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/46923
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--46923
ER  -