Research Initiation: Assessing the Impact of Digital Badging in Makerspaces on the Formation of Engineers

研究启动：评估创客空间中的数字徽章对工程师培养的影响

基本信息

批准号：
2204738
负责人：
Hannah Budinoff
金额：
$ 20万
依托单位：
University of Arizona
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2022
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2022-06-01 至 2025-05-31
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2204738&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Research Initiation Assessing Impact Digital

项目摘要

Academic makerspaces provide engineering students with the means to prototype, experiment, and collaborate, allowing students to gain experience with common engineering tasks. Participation in these spaces can help students to feel connected to the engineering profession and to build their engineering identity, which can impact recruitment, retention, and persistence. However, makerspaces do not always attract and retain diverse students, so students may benefit unequally from participation in these spaces. In this study, a makerspace micro-credentialing program, where students earn digital badges as they master making skills such as digital design and 3D printing, will be explored as a strategy to promote equitable student engagement in makerspaces. Digital badges make student competencies visible, both to students who earn the credential and to their peers and instructors, helping students gain recognition of their skills and helping them feel more secure in their identity as engineers. This study will explore how digital badging in makerspaces impacts identity development in engineering students, exploring the potential of makerspaces to act as a complementary pathway for students to become engineers. Additionally, new strategies to promote equitable makerspace involvement resulting from this study will help engineering educators support the development of an innovative and inclusive engineering workforce. This project will evaluate digital badging in makerspaces as a pedagogical strategy to support professional formation through the development of engineering identity and belongingness. This research seeks to answer two critical research questions: How do digital badges impact the development of students’ sense of belonging in engineering and engineering identity?; and How do digital badges influence students’ participation in makerspaces? To explore these questions, first-year students in an engineering design course will earn digital badges in a university makerspace. The study uses a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative survey measures of students’ engineering identity and sense of belonging and inductive coding of student interviews to identify themes in students’ experience with the makerspace and digital badging activities. The study will provide: 1) Evaluation of the impact of digital badges on the types and frequency of activities students undertake in makerspaces; 2) Increased knowledge of student professional formation by exploring how credentialing in a makerspace supports student identity formation for diverse populations; 3) Exploration of how students’ perceptions of badge relevance affect their engagement with badging activities and their resulting professional formation; and 4) Deeper understanding of engineering identity development in first-year engineering courses at a Hispanic-serving institution.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

学术创造者领域为工程专业的学生提供了原型，实验和协作的手段，使学生能够获得常见的工程任务的经验。参与这些空间可以帮助学生感到与工程专业人士的联系并建立其工程身份，从而影响招聘，保留和持久性。但是，Makersspaces并不总是吸引和保留潜水员的学生，因此学生可能会从参与这些空间中受益不平等。在这项研究中，将探讨一项制造商空间微观奖励计划，该计划将在掌握数字设计和3D打印等技能的情况下获得数字徽章，以探讨促进公平学生参与创客空间的策略。数字徽章使学生能力可见，无论是赢得证书的学生还是为同龄人和讲师，帮助学生认识到自己的技能，并帮助他们在工程师身份方面更加安全。这项研究将探讨Makersspaces中的数字徽章如何影响工程学生的身份发展，并探索Makerspaces成为学生成为工程师的完整途径的潜力。此外，这项研究引起的新策略来促进公平制造空间的参与，将有助于工程教育者支持开发创新和包容性的工程劳动力。该项目将评估Makersspaces中的数字徽章，作为一种教学策略，通过发展工程身份和归属感来支持专业形成。这项研究旨在回答两个关键的研究问题：数字徽章如何影响学生在工程和工程身份方面的归属感的发展？数字徽章如何影响学生参与创客空间？为了探讨这些问题，工程设计课程的一年级学生将在大学制造商中获得数字徽章。该研究使用了混合方法方法，结合了学生工程认同的定量调查度量，以及学生访谈的归属感和归纳性编码感，以确定学生在Makerspace和数字徽章活动中的经验中的主题。该研究将提供：1）评估数字徽章对学生在制造商中进行的活动类型和频率的影响； 2）通过探索制片人空间中的资格支持学生身份形成的学生形成，以增加对学生专业成立的知识； 3）探索学生对徽章相关性的看法如何影响他们参与徽章活动及其由此产生的专业成立； 4）在西班牙裔服务机构的一年级工程课程中，对工程认同发展的更深入了解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并且使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估审查标准，认为值得通过评估值得支持。