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I Want to Try That Too! Development of a Conceptual Framework for Interventions that Encourage Pedagogical Risk-Taking Among Faculty

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Conference

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Columbus, Ohio

Publication Date

June 24, 2017

Start Date

June 24, 2017

End Date

June 28, 2017

Conference Session

Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED)

Tagged Division

Educational Research and Methods

Page Count

8

DOI

10.18260/1-2--28454

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/28454

Download Count

487

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Paper Authors

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Jennifer M. Bekki Arizona State University, Polytechnic campus

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Jennifer M. Bekki is an Associate Professor in The Polytechnic School within the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. Her research interests include topics related to engineering student persistence, STEM graduate students (particularly women), online learning, educational data mining, and the modeling and analysis of manufacturing systems. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Bioengineering and graduate degrees in Industrial Engineering, all from Arizona State University.

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Aisosa Ayela-Uwangue Arizona State University, Polytechnic campus

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Aisosa Ayela-Uwangue is a doctoral student in the Engineering
Education and Systems Design program at Arizona State University. He received his Bachelor of Science and Masters of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester New York. Aisosa is a research assistant for an NSF funded project titled IUSE/RED: Additive Innovation: An Educational Ecosystem of Making and Risk Taking.

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Samantha Ruth Brunhaver Arizona State University

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Samantha Brunhaver is an Assistant Professor of Engineering in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. Dr. Brunhaver joined Arizona State after completing her M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. She also has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University. Dr. Brunhaver's research examines the career decision-making and professional identity formation of engineering students, alumni, and practicing engineers. In addition, she conducts studies of new engineering pedagogy that help to improve student engagement and understanding.

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Nadia N. Kellam Arizona State University

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Dr. Nadia Kellam is an Associate Professor in the Polytechnic Engineering Program at Arizona State University. In her research, she is interested in the identity development of engineering students, the role of emotion in student learning, and improving the culture for engineering students and faculty, especially those from underrepresented groups. She has methodological expertise in qualitative research methods with a focus on narrative research methods. She is interested in curricular design and has developed design spines for environmental and mechanical engineering programs, and recently helped design the engineering education systems and design PhD program at ASU. She teaches design courses, engineering science courses, and graduate courses focused on qualitative research methods.

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Micah Lande Arizona State University

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Micah Lande, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering programs at the Polytechnic School in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. He teaches human-centered engineering design thinking, making and design innovation project courses. Dr. Lande researches how technical and non-technical people learn and apply design thinking and making processes to their work.  He is interested in the intersection of designerly epistemic identities and vocational pathways. Dr. Lande received his B.S in Engineering (Product Design), M.A. in Education (Learning, Design and Technology) and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (Design Education) from Stanford University.

Dr. Lande is the PI on the NSF-funded project Should Makers Be the Engineers of the Future? He is a co-PI on the NSF-funded projects: Might Young Makers Be the Engineers of the Future?, I-Corps for Learning: Leveraging Maker Pathways to Scale Steam + Making Outreach Programs, Instigating a Revolution of Additive Innovation: An Educational Ecosystem of Making and Risk Taking, and Increasing Learning and Efficacy about Emerging Technologies through Transmedia Engagement by the Public in Science-in-Society Activities. He was also a participant in the NSF Innovation Corps for Learning 2015 cohort (Leveraging Maker Pathways to Scale Steam + Making Outreach Programs) and served as senior personnel / instructional team on the 2014 pilot for NSF’s Innovation Corps for Learning (I-Corps-L).

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Ann F. McKenna Arizona State University, Polytechnic campus

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Ann F. McKenna is a Professor in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and Director of The Polytechnic School at Arizona State University. Prior to joining ASU she served as a program director at the National Science Foundation in the Division of Undergraduate Education, and was on the faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Segal Design Institute at Northwestern University. Dr. McKenna received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

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Abstract

This theory paper describes the creation of a conceptual framework with aim to inform strategies for supporting pedagogical risk-taking among engineering faculty. The framework, and the development and implementation of ensuing strategies, are part of a research project that is funded by the NSF’s “Revolutionizing Engineering and Computer Science Departments” (RED) program. Influencing the behaviors and mindsets of faculty members related to their undergraduate teaching practices is one focus of the project, with particular emphasis on instructors of mezzanine level courses. In this paper, we discuss our process for developing the framework, provide the framework itself, and give an example of how it has informed the development of a specific intervention.

The proposed framework is influenced by previous work in organizational change theory, higher education, and STEM teaching practices. It characterizes the potential degree of success for an intervention (i.e., its degree of effectiveness in generating increased pedagogical risk taking mindsets and behaviors among faculty) as a function of attributes including duration and nature of faculty engagement, alignment with departmental culture, and degree of agreement with accepted faculty motivators. Within the local RED project, the framework is used both to “screen” potential interventions for feasibility and to increase the likelihood of success for those that ultimately do get implemented.

The framework was recently used as part of the project to guide the development of a faculty-led intervention. Faculty self-formed working groups to advance ongoing areas of shared interest in our undergraduate multi-disciplinary engineering program. Groups will meet and work throughout the 2016-2017 academic year, with nominal support provided by the RED project. A discussion of both how this intervention aligns with the framework and an evaluation of the framework’s success will be presented in the full paper.

Bekki, J. M., & Ayela-Uwangue, A., & Brunhaver, S. R., & Kellam, N. N., & Lande, M., & McKenna, A. F. (2017, June), I Want to Try That Too! Development of a Conceptual Framework for Interventions that Encourage Pedagogical Risk-Taking Among Faculty Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--28454

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