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Engineering Moment as a Pedagogical Approach: Using Narrative Theory to Promote Student Awareness of their Engineering Identities

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Conference

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Publication Date

August 23, 2022

Start Date

June 26, 2022

End Date

June 29, 2022

Conference Session

Technological and Engineering Literacy - Philosophy of Engineering Division Technical Session 2

Page Count

17

DOI

10.18260/1-2--41354

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/41354

Download Count

390

Paper Authors

biography

Harly Ramsey University of Southern California

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Harly Ramsey is an Associate Professor of Technical Communication Practice in the Engineering in Society Program at the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California. She holds a Ph.D. in English, and her training in narrative theory, cultural studies, and rhetoric informs her teaching. Her teaching and scholarship foreground the concept of the citizen engineer and the formation of professional engineering identities. She developed and continues to work on Engineering Moment, a classroom-based podcast project about the social role of engineering, and Vision Venture, a co-curricular interactive video series exploring students’ engineering identities, agency, and purpose after graduation.

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Abstract

This essay approaches narrative theory broadly and explores the structural elements within which individual and collective stories operate. Using Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the chronotope (an enmeshment of time and space), it examines the implications of contemporary discursive time-space constructions of engineering and engineering education. It proposes a chronotope, Engineering Moment, as a way to denaturalize and engage underlying assumptions about the future of engineering. By positioning the engineering student within this chronotope, it suggests a complementary pedagogical approach. An extra-curricular example demonstrates that engineering students can be empowered to control their perspectives of time, resulting in increased agency and a clearer understanding of their engineering identities.

Ramsey, H. (2022, August), Engineering Moment as a Pedagogical Approach: Using Narrative Theory to Promote Student Awareness of their Engineering Identities Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41354

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