An official website of the United States government
With technologies changing faster than ever before, engineering faculty must continuously update the technologies they use and teach to students to meet accreditation requirements and keep up with industry standards. Many do not, however. Additionally, existing models of technology adoption do not account for all variability within intention to use a technology, nor its actual use. Informed by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), this study examined which constructs from prior models apply to engineering faculty’s adoption of industry-specific technologies, as well as other factors influencing faculty adoption of these technologies for their teaching or research. We interviewed 21 engineering faculty at a Midwestern United States STEM-focused institution about their adoption of engineering technologies. Deductive and inductive coding were used to identify themes within the qualitative data. Constructs from existing models were confirmed to influence faculty engineering technology adoption. We also identified specific Facilitating Conditions (Other People, Digital Resources, Non-Digital Resources, Time, and Formal Training) that faculty leverage to adopt new engineering technologies, and uncovered two additional themes—Access and Personal Traits, including several component traits (Persistence, Humility, Self Efficacy, Growth Mindset, Ambiguity Acceptance, and Curiosity) that influence faculty engineering technology adoption. We propose a new Theory of Faculty Adoption of Engineering Technologies specific to faculty adoption of new engineering technologies. These findings have the potential to help universities determine how to effectively support faculty in providing their students with relevant technological skills for entry into the engineering workforce.
more »
« less
“It Can’t Tell You How to Do That.” Suggesting a Faculty-Focused Subgenre of Instructional Writing
As we prepare new engineers to take on the fourth industrial revolution, engineering faculty are tasked with selecting, learning, evaluating, using, and teaching new technologies to apprentice engineers. To understand how these important tasks are being achieved, 21 engineering faculty members in a STEMfocused Midwest US university were interviewed. Engineering faculty showed an awareness of the rhetorical power of manuals and other instructional resources. Unfortunately, these resources are often inadequately designed to meet the unique needs of engineering faculty. In this paper, we propose that there is an exigency for a faculty-focused subgenre of instructional writing which addresses the needs of engineering instructors who teach students how to use technology while simultaneously learning how to use it themselves. Because of the overwhelming roles that faculty perform, we propose that the composition of this sub-genre should be the duty of technical writers who work closely with technology developers and engineering faculty. We forward that such a subgenre may find space in digital and non-digital learning resources through the inclusion of both the technical information necessary to use the technology, as well as pedagogical tools and activities to support student learning. These materials should be released in accordance with technology updates to ensure faculty are best positioned to teach the most current technologies. The proposed faculty-focused instructional writing subgenre may have implications beyond engineering education, because the need for learning resources may not be unique to engineering faculty, and likely exists for all university faculty learning and introducing new technologies within their courses.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2024970
- PAR ID:
- 10439892
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 2022 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference (ProComm)
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 7 to 11
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
As essential facilitators in the process of the formation of future engineers, engineering faculty determine which technologies students learn and adopt during their engineering studies. Faculty members’ ability to accept new and relevant engineering technologies (such as programming languages, software, and instruments) and adopt them in their curriculum directly affects the relevance of engineering graduates’ technical skills. Additionally, by adopting and teaching new and relevant technologies, engineering faculty model life-long technology adoption to their students. This paper summarizes the preliminary results of an NSF project funded through the Directorate for Engineering, Engineering Education and Centers. A main goal of the project is developing an understanding of the factors that support or inhibit engineering faculty technology acceptance. This paper focuses on a portion of the results related to facilitating conditions that support technology adoption that emerged from the qualitative analysis of interview transcripts from engineering faculty at a Midwestern, USA, technologically-focused university. The accompanying poster session will present these findings, as well as provide a deeper understanding of the data related to one facilitating condition – Peers and Mentors.more » « less
-
Abstract BackgroundThe University of California system has a novel tenure-track education-focused faculty position called Lecturer with Security of Employment (working titles: Teaching Professor or Professor of Teaching). We focus on the potential difference in implementation of active-learning strategies by faculty type, including tenure-track education-focused faculty, tenure-track research-focused faculty, and non-tenure-track lecturers. In addition, we consider other instructor characteristics (faculty rank, years of teaching, and gender) and classroom characteristics (campus, discipline, and class size). We use a robust clustering algorithm to determine the number of clusters, identify instructors using active learning, and to understand the instructor and classroom characteristics in relation to the adoption of active-learning strategies. ResultsWe observed 125 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate courses at three University of California campuses using the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM to examine active-learning strategies implemented in the classroom. Tenure-track education-focused faculty are more likely to teach with active-learning strategies compared to tenure-track research-focused faculty. Instructor and classroom characteristics that are also related to active learning include campus, discipline, and class size. The campus with initiatives and programs to support undergraduate STEM education is more likely to have instructors who adopt active-learning strategies. There is no difference in instructors in the Biological Sciences, Engineering, or Information and Computer Sciences disciplines who teach actively. However, instructors in the Physical Sciences are less likely to teach actively. Smaller class sizes also tend to have instructors who teach more actively. ConclusionsThe novel tenure-track education-focused faculty position within the University of California system represents a formal structure that results in higher adoption of active-learning strategies in undergraduate STEM education. Campus context and evolving expectations of the position (faculty rank) contribute to the symbols related to learning and teaching that correlate with differential implementation of active learning.more » « less
-
What You Will Learn in This Chapter In this chapter, instructors will develop foundational knowledge about how to select and use computational tools to teach CRISPR-Cas technologies. Broadly speaking, CRISPR-Cas is a sequence-based technology. Computational resources provide a platform for managing and interacting with these sequences. With appropriate instructional design, computational tools are a valuable complement to lessons about CRISPR-Cas technologies and are essential support tools for CRISPR-Cas experiments. With an ever-growing suite of computational tools available, in this chapter, instructors will learn to navigate the landscape of these tools to select the most appropriate tools for their classroom or laboratory needs. Instructors will learn to identify when computational resources are appropriate for use in their classroom (and when they are not appropriate), then how to select the most appropriate tools for their unique needs. Additionally, we introduce instructors to best practices in instructional design for using CRISPR-Cas computational tools in the classroom. Throughout, instructors will learn both the rationale and principle behind selection so they can evaluate tools discussed in this chapter and new ones as they become available.more » « less
-
The University of Dayton and Central State University are engaged in a new collaborative NSF Research Experience for Teachers project that has an emphasis on international engineering research focused on human-centered design and appropriate technology for developing countries. This three year project will engage 36 G6-12 in-service and pre-service teachers in a variety of engineering research opportunities through the University of Dayton’s Engineers in Technical Humanitarian Opportunities for Service-Learning (ETHOS) Center which focuses on engineering and community engaged learning. This paper will summarize the project, present observations from the spring participant sessions, and discuss the unique opportunities and challenges associated with involving teachers in international community engaged learning.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1109/ProComm53155.2022.00006
