Refinement and Dissemination of a Digital Platform for Sharing Transportation Education Materials

Allie S Peters; Shane A. Brown; Kevin Chang; Katherine N Thorton; Kristen Shinohara; Kacey D Beddoes

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Conference: 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Seattle, Washington
Publication Date: June 14, 2015
Start Date: June 14, 2015
End Date: June 17, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-692-50180-1
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Civil Engineering Division Poster Session
Tagged Division: Civil Engineering
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 10
Page Numbers: 26.1321.1 - 26.1321.10
DOI: 10.18260/p.24658
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/24658
Download Count: 503

Shane Brown is an associate professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University. His research interests include conceptual change and situated cognition. He received the NSF CAREER award in 2010 and is working on a study to characterize practicing engineers’ understandings of core engineering concepts.

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Kevin Chang P.E. University of Idaho, Moscow

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Kevin Chang, Ph.D., P.E., is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Idaho, where he is focusing on traffic operations and safety, transportation security, and engineering education. Prior to his current position, Kevin was a traffic engineer with the King County Department of Transportation where he managed the Traffic Management Center and supervised the implementation of neighborhood transportation plans, livable communities, and pedestrian and school safety programs. Kevin is the current Chair of the ITE Transportation Education Council, Chair of the TRB School Transportation Subcommittee, member of the TRB Safety Management Committee, and Past President for the Washington State Section of ITE. He is registered as a Professional Engineer in Washington and California, and received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Washington.

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Katherine N Thorton

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Kristen Shinohara

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Kacey D Beddoes Oregon State University

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Kacey Beddoes is a Research Associate in the School of Civil and Construction Engineering at Oregon State University. She received her Ph.D. in Science and Technology Studies (STS) from Virginia Tech, along with graduate certificates in Women’s and Gender Studies and Engineering Education. She serves as Managing Editor of Engineering Studies and Assistant Editor of the Global Engineering Series at Morgan & Claypool Publishers. Her current research interests include gender in engineering education research, interdisciplinarity, peer review, engineers’ epistemologies, and global engineering education.

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Abstract

Refinement and Dissemination of a Digital Platform for Sharing Transportation Education MaterialsWhile development of an abundance of learning tools and teaching methods have been shown to be aneffective means of improving student learning and other important educational outcomes, these effortshave been limited by inefficiencies associated with duplicating development efforts. For example, thereare approximately two hundred introduction to transportation engineering courses taught annually in theUnited States but little evidence to suggest that materials (other than textbooks) are being shared betweenthe instructors of these courses.This study utilized two parallel and integrated methods to understand, facilitate and encourage materials-sharing between transportation instructors. Research is being conducted to determine where instructorsget resources as they develop and revise transportation courses. An iterative action research is beingutilized to develop a web-based system for uploading and downloading materials.Thirty transportation instructors were interviewed and asked about a particular transportation course thatthey had recently developed or revised, where they got materials for this course, how they chose thesematerials, and why they made these choices. They were asked to refer to specific lessons in the chosencourse so that their responses were grounded in actual decisions. Instructors commonly obtain notes,slides, and assignments from other instructors, but nearly always modify these materials to suit theirpersonal model.This project utilized Diffusion of Innovations (DI) theory and the characteristics known to affectadoption. Multiple sets of interviews were conducted at different developmental stages of the site togather insights from potential users about how to optimize the site for widespread utilization bytransportation educators. Through the usability testing we have determined that faculty want to determinewho has access to their materials. As a result the site allows for specific settings with each item shared,ranging from one individual to the general public. The system developed as part of this research effortallows faculty to ‘push’ their materials to the site and make announcements about their newly sharedmaterials while also pulling tangible materials from the site for their use. Approximately one hundreddifferent activities were developed for sharing transportation curriculum and best practices by educationalexperts in transportation education and uploaded to a prototype website.The developed site now serves as a clearinghouse prototype for all university transportation center-developed curricular materials; eventual growth into a national site for storing and sharing peer-reviewed,high-quality educational materials for transportation (and possibly all collegiate) instruction is targeted.The adoption research has contributed to improving the dissemination and sharing practices across thecountry by making practical and theoretical advances in DI theory related to web-based curriculumrepositories.

Citation
Format

Peters, A. S., & Brown, S. A., & Chang, K., & Thorton, K. N., & Shinohara, K., & Beddoes, K. D. (2015, June), Refinement and Dissemination of a Digital Platform for Sharing Transportation Education Materials Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.24658

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -                   Refinement and Dissemination of a Digital Platform                   for Sharing Transportation Education MaterialsWhile development of an abundance of learning tools and teaching methods have been shown to be aneffective means of improving student learning and other important educational outcomes, these effortshave been limited by inefficiencies associated with duplicating development efforts. For example, thereare approximately two hundred introduction to transportation engineering courses taught annually in theUnited States but little evidence to suggest that materials (other than textbooks) are being shared betweenthe instructors of these courses.This study utilized two parallel and integrated methods to understand, facilitate and encourage materials-sharing between transportation instructors. Research is being conducted to determine where instructorsget resources as they develop and revise transportation courses. An iterative action research is beingutilized to develop a web-based system for uploading and downloading materials.Thirty transportation instructors were interviewed and asked about a particular transportation course thatthey had recently developed or revised, where they got materials for this course, how they chose thesematerials, and why they made these choices. They were asked to refer to specific lessons in the chosencourse so that their responses were grounded in actual decisions. Instructors commonly obtain notes,slides, and assignments from other instructors, but nearly always modify these materials to suit theirpersonal model.This project utilized Diffusion of Innovations (DI) theory and the characteristics known to affectadoption. Multiple sets of interviews were conducted at different developmental stages of the site togather insights from potential users about how to optimize the site for widespread utilization bytransportation educators. Through the usability testing we have determined that faculty want to determinewho has access to their materials. As a result the site allows for specific settings with each item shared,ranging from one individual to the general public. The system developed as part of this research effortallows faculty to ‘push’ their materials to the site and make announcements about their newly sharedmaterials while also pulling tangible materials from the site for their use. Approximately one hundreddifferent activities were developed for sharing transportation curriculum and best practices by educationalexperts in transportation education and uploaded to a prototype website.The developed site now serves as a clearinghouse prototype for all university transportation center-developed curricular materials; eventual growth into a national site for storing and sharing peer-reviewed,high-quality educational materials for transportation (and possibly all collegiate) instruction is targeted.The adoption research has contributed to improving the dissemination and sharing practices across thecountry by making practical and theoretical advances in DI theory related to web-based curriculumrepositories.
AU  - Allie S Peters
AU  - Shane A. Brown P.E.
AU  - Kevin Chang P.E.
AU  - Katherine N Thorton
AU  - Kristen Shinohara
AU  - Kacey D Beddoes
CY  - Seattle, Washington
DA  - 2015/06/14
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Refinement and Dissemination of a Digital Platform for Sharing Transportation Education Materials
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/24658
DO  - 10.18260/p.24658
ER  -