Asee peer logo

Exploring the Connection Between Positioning Theory and Educator Experiences

Download Paper |

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

NEE Technical Session 2 - Educator's experience and perspective

Tagged Division

New Engineering Educators Division (NEE)

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

15

DOI

10.18260/1-2--47430

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/47430

Download Count

67

Paper Authors

author page

Yuliana Flores University of Washington

biography

Cynthia J. Atman University of Washington

visit author page

Cynthia J. Atman is the founding director of the Center for Engineering Learning & Teaching (CELT), a professor in Human Centered Design & Engineering, and the inaugural holder of the Mitchell T. & Lella Blanche Bowie Endowed Chair at the University of Washington. Dr. Atman holds a Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University. Her research focuses on design expertise, engineering design learning, considering context in engineering design, and the use of reflection to support learning.

visit author page

author page

Soraya Grace Barar

biography

Jennifer A Turns University of Washington

visit author page

Dr. Jennifer Turns is a full professor in the Human Centered Design & Engineering Department in the College of Engineering at the University of Washington. Engineering education is her primary area of scholarship, and has been throughout her career. In her work, she currently focuses on the role of reflection in engineering student learning and the relationship of research and practice in engineering education. In recent years, she has been the co-director of the Consortium to Promote Reflection in Engineering Education (CPREE, funded by the Helmsley Charitable Trust), a member of the governing board for the International Research in Engineering Education Network, and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Engineering Education. Dr. Turns has published over 175 journal and conference papers on topics related to engineering education.

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

TITLE: Exploring the Connection Between Positioning Theory and Educator Experiences Stephanie Cutler and Alexandra Coso Strong (2023) bring attention to how engineering education research often focuses on the impact of educators on students but not the social identities of the educators. These identities can and likely do inform their work. Cutler and Coso Strong also point out the variation among those who educate in engineering (tenured/tenure-track faculty, graduate students, and contingent/adjunct faculty), which is not always acknowledged. By not paying attention to such variation, the impact of work done in engineering education research may be limited. In an effort to illuminate these variations, we report on research that explores some details of the educator experience. In this paper we ask: what does it look like to be an educator working to adapt an existing curriculum for a new term, in our case a curriculum previously taught in Autumn 2021 and adapted for use in Winter 2022? Broadly, the curriculum was a 10-week seminar titled Dear Design: Defining Your Ideal Design Signature where students explored multiple elements of the design process and had the opportunity to discover their ideal design signature. During the delivery of the seminar, the education team wrote weekly reflections to capture their adaptation experiences. Using qualitative methods, we analyzed the education team’s structured reflections. The thematic analysis resulted in three emergent themes: 1) I thought this would be easier, 2) acting on values, and 3) teaching as an educational journey. We discuss these themes in light of positioning theory and the norms that early career instructors may find themselves working within.

Flores, Y., & Atman, C. J., & Barar, S. G., & Turns, J. A. (2024, June), Exploring the Connection Between Positioning Theory and Educator Experiences Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--47430

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2024 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015