Hiring instructional faculty improves student achievement in large foundational engineering mechanics courses.

James Lord

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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: Miscellaneous Mechanics
Page Count: 13
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--40504
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/40504
Download Count: 259

Paper Authors

biography

James Lord Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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James earned a Ph.D. in Biomechanical Engineering from Newcastle University, England in 2012 for his work on metal-on-metal hip prostheses.

He works as a collegiate assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics at Virginia Tech, where he coordinates and teaches introductory courses in statics and mechanics of materials. Research interests include pedagogy and policy for large introductory mechanics classes, assessment measures of both students and faculty, and the effects on student learning of increased reliance on teaching-faculty without tenure.

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Abstract

Over the past several decades, faculty demographics at US institutions have shifted from a majority of instructional faculty being in tenure lines in the 1970’s to now a majority being non-tenure-track (NTT). There are concerns about the effect this shift has on the quality of education students receive.

Teaching large foundational engineering courses presents a challenge for departments and faculty. Faculty may be required to teach multiple sections of the course, each with large numbers of students. Properly teaching this many students each semester takes a significant time commitment, which can be difficult for tenured/tenure-track faculty to carve out amongst research, service, and advising obligations. Tenured/tenure-track (T/TT) faculty teaching these courses must carefully balance their time between students and their other obligations, while NTT instructional faculty are able to spend more time with each student and thereby potentially improve student outcomes.

We analyze student grade data and withdrawal rate for large multi-section foundational engineering mechanics courses when those courses are taught by full-time NTT instructional faculty and compare the results to when those classes are taught by tenured/tenure-track faculty. We reviewed 15 years of grade and enrollment data for three large multi-section foundational engineering mechanics courses at our institution, with each section taught by either a T/TT faculty member or a full-time NTT instructional faculty member. We analyzed data on class size, average grade and the proportion of students receiving either D grades, F grades, or withdrawing from the course (collectively known as DFW rate), and compared these between the two faculty groups.

We find that class sections taught by full-time NTT faculty typically result in higher GPAs and lower DFW rates. Although class sizes were typically smaller for this group, these relationships held when we separated our data and compared class sections of similar size. We show a mild trend that larger class sizes correlate with lower GPAs and higher DFW rates

We suggest that NTT faculty can have a positive effect on student education, provided those faculty are well supported by their institution.

Citation
Format

Lord, J. (2022, August), Hiring instructional faculty improves student achievement in large foundational engineering mechanics courses. Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40504

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Over the past several decades, faculty demographics at US institutions have shifted from a majority of instructional faculty being in tenure lines in the 1970’s to now a majority being non-tenure-track (NTT). There are concerns about the effect this shift has on the quality of education students receive. 

Teaching large foundational engineering courses presents a challenge for departments and faculty. Faculty may be required to teach multiple sections of the course, each with large numbers of students. Properly teaching this many students each semester takes a significant time commitment, which can be difficult for tenured/tenure-track faculty to carve out amongst research, service, and advising obligations. Tenured/tenure-track (T/TT) faculty teaching these courses must carefully balance their time between students and their other obligations, while NTT instructional faculty are able to spend more time with each student and thereby potentially improve student outcomes.

We analyze student grade data and withdrawal rate for large multi-section foundational engineering mechanics courses when those courses are taught by full-time NTT instructional faculty and compare the results to when those classes are taught by tenured/tenure-track faculty. We reviewed 15 years of grade and enrollment data for three large multi-section foundational engineering mechanics courses at our institution, with each section taught by either a T/TT faculty member or a full-time NTT instructional faculty member. We analyzed data on class size, average grade and the proportion of students receiving either D grades, F grades, or withdrawing from the course (collectively known as DFW rate), and compared these between the two faculty groups. 

We find that class sections taught by full-time NTT faculty typically result in higher GPAs and lower DFW rates. Although class sizes were typically smaller for this group, these relationships held when we separated our data and compared class sections of similar size. We show a mild trend that larger class sizes correlate with lower GPAs and higher DFW rates

We suggest that NTT faculty can have a positive effect on student education, provided those faculty are well supported by their institution. 
AU  - James Lord
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Hiring instructional faculty improves student achievement in large foundational engineering mechanics courses.
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/40504
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--40504
ER  -