Teaching Techniques and How Faculty Engage the Engineering Classroom
- Conference
- Location
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Minneapolis, MN
- Publication Date
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August 23, 2022
- Start Date
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June 26, 2022
- End Date
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June 29, 2022
- Conference Session
- Page Count
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18
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--40649
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/40649
- Download Count
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276
Paper Authors
David Saftner University of Minnesota Duluth
Dr. David Saftner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering. He earned a BS from the United States Military Academy and an MS and PhD from the University of Michigan. Prior to pursuing a career in academics, Dr. Saftner spent five years as an engineer officer in the US Army and serving in Missouri, Colorado, Kuwait, and Iraq. His areas of research include beneficial reuse of waste soil material, geotechnical site investigation and characterization, and teaching and learning in engineering education. He currently serves as his Department's Head, an American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Excellence in Civil Engineering Education (ExCEEd) Mentor, and the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Civil Engineering Division Freshman Director.
Scott Hamilton York College of Pennsylvania
Scott Hamilton is a Professor of Civil Engineering at York College of Pennsylvania. He is a registered Professional Engineer in California and has both a MS and PhD in civil engineering and a MS in engineering management from Stanford University and a BS from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He is a retired US Army Corps of Engineers officer who has had assignments in the US, Germany, Korea, and Afghanistan. During his military career he spent over 10 years on the faculty at the US Military Academy at West Point teaching civil engineering. He also served as the Director, Graduate Professional Development at Northeastern University’s College of Engineering. He is the recipient of the 2021 NSPE Engineering Education Excellence Award and the 2019 ASCE Thomas A Lenox ExCEEd Leadership Award.
Camilla Saviz University of the Pacific
Camilla Saviz is Professor and Chair of the Civil Engineering Department at University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA where she has happily taught since 1999. She received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University, an M.B.A. from the New York Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Davis in the area of hydrodynamic and water quality modeling. She is a registered Professional Engineer (California), an Envision Sustainability Professional, was elected Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 2017, and was honored to receive the Thomas A. Lenox ASCE ExCEEd Leadership Award in 2020. Her teaching, research, and professional interests include water resources engineering, sustainability, and engineering education.
Tanya Kunberger Florida Gulf Coast University
Dr. Tanya Kunberger is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering and Construction Management in the U.A. Whitaker College of Engineering at Florida Gulf Coast University. Dr. Kunberger's educational research interests are in self-efficacy, persistence, and effective learning approaches in engineering and the development of an interest in STEM topics in K-12 students.
Abstract
Historically, the concept of learning diversity in the classroom was characterized to an extent by learning styles, which provided insights about teaching and learning [1]. However, the implementation of learning styles seems to have veered towards an emphasis on pigeonholing individuals as certain types of learners. Concerns have been raised about students not being able to learn unless taught in their “preferred” learning style, students overly self-identifying as a particular type of learner, and the lack of evidence of the existence of learning styles in general [2] [3] [4].
More recently research has emphasized using varied teaching techniques to enhance learning [2]. Additionally, discipline and course content play a role in which instructional methods may be most effective [5]. This potential connection between course content, instructional methods, and different techniques to engage students, led the researchers to ask: To what extent do faculty members value and implement a variety of teaching techniques in their classes?
The researchers created a survey to answer this question. Participants provided general information about a recent course, how often they taught the course, and information about their institution. Respondents were asked to identify the perceived importance and frequency of use for each of 27 different teaching techniques or activities. To share information about more than one course, participants were given the opportunity to complete the survey multiple times.
Almost 400 individuals completed the survey. Respondents included faculty at public and private institutions and serving both graduate and undergraduate populations. A plurality (36%) of respondents were in the civil and environmental engineering disciplines, 33% were from other engineering disciplines, 7% were from outside of engineering, and 24% did not specify a discipline, but provided other data. This paper discusses the results from this study, presents a review of relevant current literature, and explains plans for future work.
Saftner, D., & Hamilton, S., & Saviz, C., & Kunberger, T. (2022, August), Teaching Techniques and How Faculty Engage the Engineering Classroom Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40649
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