Course Description
An overview of the discipline of engineering education research from a historical, methodological, and content perspective to explore the current paradigmatic transformation of engineering education. In this context, the course critically investigates the discourse of the emerging discipline around research areas, accepted methodologies, and areas of inquiry.
Athena Title
ENG EDU RESEARCH
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to: • Describe the distinctions and mutual relationships between the notions of scholarly teaching, the scholarship of teaching and learning and educational research in the context of engineering. • Describe the context, strands of inquiry and methodological approaches adopted in engineering education research. • Critically analyze research from a range of methodological and epistemological traditions. • Synthesize existing research approaches, areas of inquiry and existing research into a definition of a personal research or practitioner perspective.
Topical Outline
1. Context, need and scope of engineering education research 1.1. Grand challenges and the imperative for change of engineering education systems 1.2. Paradigmatic transformations of engineering education 2. The role of the scholarship of teaching and learning in the professional development of engineering educators 2.1. Evidence-based frameworks to improve teaching practice 2.2. Case study: Creating a community of practice around educational improvement, innovation and reform 3. Emergence of engineering education as a research discipline 3.1. Self-definitional discourse of the field 3.2. The development of context-specific research approaches 4. Methodological and epistemological foundations 4.1. The spectrum from materialist ontology to social constructivism 4.2. Methodological diversity of the field 5. Semester-long project: Application of educational research to inform teaching practice 5.1. Framing the need for an educational innovation 5.2. Developing innovative educational approaches grounded in the scholarship of teaching and learning
Syllabus
Public CV