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This NSF Grantees poster discusses an early phase Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) project which is designed to address preparing engineering students to address large scale societal problems, the solutions of which integrate multiple disciplinary perspectives. These types of problems are often termed “convergent problems”. The idea of convergence captures how different domains of expertise contribute to solving a problem, but also the value of the network of connections between areas of knowledge that is built in undertaking such activities. While most existing efforts at convergence focus at the graduate and post-graduate levels, this project supports student development of capabilities to address convergent problems in an undergraduate disciplinary-based degree program in electrical and computer engineering. This poster discusses some of the challenges faced in implementing such learning including how to decouple engineering topics from societal concerns in ways that are relevant to undergraduate students yet retain aspects of convergence, negotiations between faculty on ways to balance discipline-specific skills with the breadth required for systemic understanding, and challenges in integrating relevant projects into courses with different faculty and instructional learning goals. One of the features of the project is that it builds on ideas from Communities of Transformation by basing activities on a coherent philosophical model that guides theories of change. The project has adopted Amartya Sen’s Development as Freedom or capabilities framework as the organizing philosophy. In this model the freedom for individuals to develop capabilities they value is viewed as both the means and end of development. The overarching goal of the project is then for students to build personalized frameworks based on their value systems which allow them to later address complex, convergent problems. Framework development by individual students is supported in the project through several activities: modifying grading practices to provide detailed feedback on skills that support convergence, eliciting self-narratives from students about their pathways through courses and projects with the goal of developing reflection, and carefully integrating educational software solutions that can reduce some aspects of faculty workload which is hypothesized to enable faculty to focus efforts on integrating convergent projects throughout the curriculum. The poster will present initial results on the interventions to the program including grading, software integration, projects, and narratives. The work presented will also cover an ethnographic study of faculty practices which serves as an early-stage baseline to calibrate longer-term changes.
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Long-Term Impact of Humanitarian Engineering Projects on Views of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Preliminary Qualitative Results from Alumni
This paper details a poster presented in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Grantees Poster Session for the 2022 ASEE Annual Conference. The study, aptly titled, aims to examine the ‘Long-Term Effect of Involvement in Humanitarian Engineering Projects on Student Professional Formation and Views of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).’ As part of the larger study, this poster details the results from alumni (n=19) of the Lipscomb University engineering program collected through an open-ended questionnaire. The research team performed an inductive coding analysis of the qualitative data to understand the connections between humanitarian engineering projects, professional formation, and views of DEI. Quantitative results as well as data from other participant groups, including current students and non-alumni engineering professionals, will be presented elsewhere. Emergent codes showed that participants found both outward and inward value in serving others. Outward value reflected a better quality of life for the person benefiting from service while inward value provided personal satisfaction, learning, or growth for the participant. This inward value was also evident with respect to views of DEI where participants mentioned learning or growing from past events. Two participants directly mentioned a connection between their experiences with humanitarian engineering projects and their views of DEI. Additionally, the codes connected to existing literature in engineering education as well as theories like empathy, identity development, and emotional intelligence. These results are promising for this study and will be expanded upon through interviews where these connections will be examined at a deeper level.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2024525
- PAR ID:
- 10347916
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ASEE Annual Conference proceedings
- ISSN:
- 1524-4644
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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