Collaborative Research: Are Engineering Departments Adopting Engineering Education Innovations? A National Survey to Assess Contributing Factors

合作研究：工程系是否采用工程教育创新？

• 批准号: 0835816
• 负责人: Jeffrey Froyd
• 金额: $ 1.5万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-01-01 至 2010-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0835816&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Engineering; Departments; Adopting

This research will use a survey to understand and ultimately accelerate adoption of proven engineering education innovations. The survey of 1,727 department heads, 271 academic deans, and 28 professional society leaders will test 14 hypotheses related to 8 engineering education innovations. Diffusion of Innovations theory, which emphasizes stages of the adoption process and the importance of social networks, will guide this research. The project outcomes include assessment of prior efforts at diffusing engineering education innovations, deeper understanding of dissemination mechanisms leading to specific recommendations, and increased awareness of eight established engineering education innovations through the survey process itself. Over the past 15 years, tremendous effort and funding have been invested in improving engineering education and producing innovations. The eight innovations that will be investigated in this project are Engineering Diversity Programs, Summer Bridge Programs, Learning Communities and Integrated Curricula, Design Projects in First-year Engineering Courses, Artifact Dissection, Student-active Pedagogies, Curriculum-based Engineering Service-learning Projects, and Interdisciplinary Capstone Design Projects. The 14 hypotheses will explore factors relating to dissemination, adoption, transportability, and success of the innovations. Improving engineering education to produce engineers who are better prepared for the future global economy is vital to the nation?s competitiveness. This survey directly addresses the effects the investments made in innovations in engineering and, through dissemination, has the potential to multiply that investment by informing a wide range of dissemination strategies and engineering administration customers. Applying Diffusion of Innovations theory to engineering education is a potentially transformative approach that may fundamentally change our thinking about engineering education reform. The data and analysis will provide new insight into decisions to adopt an engineering education innovation, which will contribute to both theory and practice.

这项研究将通过一项调查来了解并最终加速经过验证的工程教育创新的采用。此次调查对1727名系主任、271名学术院长和28名专业学会负责人进行了调查，将检验与8项工程教育创新相关的14个假设。创新扩散理论强调采用过程的各个阶段和社交网络的重要性，将指导这项研究。该项目的成果包括评估先前传播工程教育创新的努力，更深入地了解传播机制以提出具体建议，以及通过调查过程本身提高对八项已建立的工程教育创新的认识。在过去的 15 年里，我们在改善工程教育和产生创新方面投入了巨大的努力和资金。该项目将研究的八项创新是工程多样性计划、暑期桥梁计划、学习社区和综合课程、一年级工程课程设计项目、文物解剖、学生主动教学法、基于课程的工程服务学习项目和跨学科顶点设计项目。这 14 个假设将探讨与创新的传播、采用、可移植性和成功相关的因素。改善工程教育以培养为未来全球经济做好更充分准备的工程师对于国家竞争力至关重要。这项调查直接探讨了工程创新投资的影响，并且通过传播，有可能通过向广泛的传播策略和工程管理客户提供信息来增加投资。将创新扩散理论应用于工程教育是一种潜在的变革性方法，可能从根本上改变我们对工程教育改革的思考。数据和分析将为采用工程教育创新的决策提供新的见解，这将有助于理论和实践。