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Previous work has identified that one third of Americans live in an engineering education desert, or a county without a face-to-face 4-year accredited engineering degree or a two-year face-to-face pre-engineering program, regardless of whether it results in a credential. Iron Range Engineering (IRE) is an upper division engineering program designed to help provide access to individuals who due to financial and/or geographic location would be otherwise unable to participate in engineering. In this paper we present data demonstrating how this model of engineering education supports students from a range of geographical areas by addressing the research questions: Is IRE supporting students from engineering education deserts, are those students returning to their home region with a paid engineering position, and if so, with what income? In 2022, students at IRE were surveyed about their co-op experiences, feelings of belonging, and demographic information. This data was analyzed using descriptive statistics of location, salary, and demographic data. Our data supports the idea of this model of education attracting participation of students who otherwise may not have access to an engineering degree. Of the students in IRE, 67% come from engineering education deserts. Of those, 17 returned to their home state with a co-op and 8 returned to their home county with a paid co-op, at an average salary of $22/hour. Our results contribute to our understanding of engineering education deserts in the United States, and the IRE Bell co-op model as a curricular model to provide access to an affordable engineering degree for students in a wide range of locations.
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Empathy In Engineering And Ethics Education: Resources To Support The Engineering Education Global Community
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Previous work has identified that one third of Americans live in an engineering education desert, or a county without a face-to-face 4-year accredited engineering degree or a two-year face-to-face pre-engineering program, regardless of whether it results in a credential. Iron Range Engineering (IRE) is an upper division engineering program designed to help provide access to individuals who due to financial and/or geographic location would be otherwise unable to participate in engineering. In this paper we present data demonstrating how this model of engineering education supports students from a range of geographical areas by addressing the research questions: Is IRE supporting students from engineering education deserts, are those students returning to their home region with a paid engineering position, and if so, with what income? In 2022, students at IRE were surveyed about their co-op experiences, feelings of belonging, and demographic information. This data was analyzed using descriptive statistics of location, salary, and demographic data. Our data supports the idea of this model of education attracting participation of students who otherwise may not have access to an engineering degree. Of the students in IRE, 67% come from engineering education deserts. Of those, 17 returned to their home state with a co-op and 8 returned to their home county with a paid co-op, at an average salary of $22/hour. Our results contribute to our understanding of engineering education deserts in the United States, and the IRE Bell co-op model as a curricular model to provide access to an affordable engineering degree for students in a wide range of locations.more » « less
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Background: The National Science Foundation (NSF) and other organizations have spent millions of dollars each year supporting well-designed educational innovations that positively impact the undergraduate engineering students who encounter them. However, many of these pedagogical innovations never experience widespread adoption. To further the ability of innovation developers to advance engineering education practice and achieve sustained adoption of their innovations, this paper explores how one community-based model, engineering education guilds, fosters propagation across institutions and individuals. Engineering education guilds seek to work at the forefront of educational innovation by creating networks of instructor change-agents who design and implement a particular innovation in their own context. The guilds of interest are the Consortium to Promote Reflection in Engineering Education (CPREE) and the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN). With these guilds as exemplars, this study’s purpose is (1) to articulate how the approaches of engineering education guilds align with existing literature on supporting sustained adoption of educational innovations and (2) to identify how these approaches can advance the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education community’s discussion of propagation practices through the use of the Designing for Sustained Adoption Assessment Instrument (DSAAI). The DSAAI is a conceptual framework based on research in sustained adoption of pedagogical innovations. It has previously been used in the form of a rubric to analyze dissemination and propagation plans of NSF educational grant recipients and was shown to predict the effectiveness of those propagation plans. Results: Through semi-structured interviews with two leaders from each guild, we observed strong alignment between the structures of CRPEE and KEEN and evidence-based sustained adoption characteristics. For example, both guilds identified their intended audience early in their formation, developed and implemented extensive plans for engaging and supporting potential adopters, and accounted for the complexity of the higher education landscape and their innovations in their propagation plans. Conclusions: Our results suggest that guilds could provide another approach to innovation, as their structures can be aligned with evidence-based methods for propagating pedagogical innovations. Additionally, while the DSAAI captures many of the characteristics of a welld-esigned propagation strategy, there are additional components that emerged as successful strategies used by the CPREE and KEEN guild leaders. These strategies, including having mutual accountability among adopters and connecting adoption of innovations to faculty reward structures in the form of recognition and funding should be considered as educational innovators work to encourage adoption of their innovations.more » « less
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A growing body of literature suggests that neurodiverse learners may possess assets that are highly desirable within engineering disciplines. Even so, despite the potential of neurodiverse individuals to contribute to innovation in science and engineering, neurodiverse students, such as those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, or dyslexia, remain highly underrepresented in engineering majors. We argue that the predominant perception of neurodiversity as a disability limits the participation of neurodiverse students in engineering education, ultimately impacting the diversity and creativity of the engineering workforce. In this paper, we review the emerging literature on neurodiversity that takes a social ecology approach and moves away from deficit-based models. We then describe the potential benefits and challenges of neurodiversity in the context of engineering education. We conclude with a concept analysis of how a strengths-based perspective of neurodiversity may be integrated within engineering education in particular, as well as in higher education overall, as we present our vision for a transformative education system that moves beyond mere accommodation of learning differences and empowers all students to leverage their unique strengths. In presenting a strengths-based approach to neurodiversity, we aim to contribute to a paradigm shift that transforms how university faculty and staff understand and perceive neurodiversity, improves the educational experiences of neurodiverse students in higher education and enhances the creativity of the engineering workforce.more » « less
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- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.21427/5ZAR-JD81
