Making an Impact on Engineering Education Communities: Learning from the Past and Looking Forward

Allendoerfer, Cheryl; Yasuhara, Ken; Turns, Jennifer; Atman, Cynthia J.

doi:10.18260/p.25655

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Throughout the development of engineering education as a field, the community's actions have sought both to support the efforts of its members to positively impact engineering education and to facilitate the individual success of new and more experienced members. These actions have included (1) developing national funding opportunities for engineering education research (Allendoerfer et al, 2016;Borrego & Bernhard, 2011;Daniels et al, 2011), (2) creating publication venues and opportunities to share engineering education research and innovations (Froyd & Lohmann, 2014), and (3) creating professional development opportunities to support entry into the field (e.g., Adams et al, 2014;Faber et al, 2018;Hixson et al, 2015;Huband et al, 2004;Mirabelli et al, 2020;Pawley et al, 2014;Sattler et al, 2012). In addition, over the last 15 years, members of the community have established engineering education doctoral programs with goals that include the development of future faculty who can serve as change agents within engineering education (e.g., Aning et al, 2005;Benson et al, 2010;Borrego & Bernhard, 2011;Christy et al, 2019;Diefes-Dux et al, 2006;Katehi et al, 2004).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Career Faculty Transitions: Negotiating Legitimacy and Seeking Support in Engineering Education

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Smith-Orr

Bodnar

et al. 2021

Studies in Engineering Education

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Background: There is limited research exploring the experiences of engineering education scholars transitioning into faculty positions. It is an opportune time to explore these transitions because there is a growing number of scholars identifying with the community, a growing number of doctoral programs being developed, and growing interest in hiring people with engineering education expertise. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study is to examine the transitions experienced by our research team of early career engineering education faculty. We describe and systematically analyze our personal experiences to capture the significant events and isolating factors that impacted our transitions. Design/Method: We engaged in a multiphase, multi-method, longitudinal research design grounded in collaborative autoethnography and collaborative inquiry. We leveraged Transition Theory and a multiple case study approach to examine written reflections recorded monthly for two years and ultimately identify the incidents that were critical to defining our experiences within our new roles. Results: While we each held positions in different institutional contexts, we found ourselves negotiating our legitimacy as faculty members, researchers, educators, and administrators. Three themes emerged: 1) understanding the expectations of our roles, 2) establishing our visibility, and 3) fulfilling our own purpose within our institutions. In response to these experiences, we sought support from others within our institutional context and among the engineering education community. Yet, the success of this support-seeking strategy varied across our group. Conclusions: The results of this work signify a need to support early career engineering education scholars in the development of local support networks as well as in their attempts to negotiate their legitimacy in faculty positions. Continued education of administrators and faculty members on the differences between engineering education research and scholarship will be helpful in ensuring that early career engineering education faculty have the support and resources necessary to succeed as researchers and educational change agents.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Career Faculty Transitions: Negotiating Legitimacy and Seeking Support in Engineering Education

Strong

Smith-Orr

Bodnar

et al. 2021

Studies in Engineering Education

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“…Since the first Engineering Education graduate in 2006 [12], the spectrum of candidates and prospective positions for EER graduates has drastically evolved. Early-career engineering education researchers now come with a wide array of training, interests, and professional expectations [13,14], which we are also seeing in job postings. Academic position opportunities for early-career engineering education researchers vary in focus from teaching and research to student support and administration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

I Graduated, Now What? An Overview of the Academic Engineering Education Research Job Field and Search Process

McCave

Bodnar²,

Smith-Orr

et al.

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access Proceedings

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after completing a postdoctoral/lecturer position split between the General Engineering program and the Engineering & Science Education Department and a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Clemson University. Erin's research interests include preparing students for their sophomore year, minority student engineering identity development, and providing mentoring relationships to help foster student growth and success.

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“…In the United States, the foundation for the field of engineering education was established by the actions, work, and sacrifices of numerous people (Allendoerfer et al, 2016). These "pioneers" reported impacts related to supporting the T A B L E 1 Overview of backgrounds, roles, and desired impact of the six researcher-participants developing community, defining the field, and changing instructional practice-activities often completed on the side of their day-to-day responsibilities.…”

Section: Engineering Education As An Evolving Field and Communitymentioning

confidence: 99%

In pursuit of impact: Toward a contextualized theory of professional agency of engineering education scholars

Strong

Faber

Lee

et al. 2023

J of Engineering Edu

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Background Engineering education scholars (EES) seek to advance innovation, excellence, and access within education systems and the engineering profession. To advance such efforts, the intentional and strategic actions taken by scholars must be better understood. Purpose/Hypothesis This study aimed to advance the field's understanding of agency toward impact by (1) closely examining the experiences of early career EES pursuing impact in engineering education and (2) co‐constructing a contextualized theory of agency. We define agency as taking strategic actions or perspectives toward professional goals that matter to oneself and goals that relate to impacting engineering education. Design/Method Building on previous work about faculty agency, we leveraged approaches from grounded theory and integrated multiple qualitative approaches to analyze our experiences as six early career EES over the course of a 4‐year longitudinal study. Results Seven key insights about the professional agency toward impact in engineering education of early career EES emerged from the analysis. The contextualized theory and resulting visual representation illustrate this agency as a cyclical process with three components: (1) the factors influencing one's agency, (2) the agentic process itself, and (3) the output of the agentic process. Conclusions Our co‐constructed contextualized theory extends previous work by incorporating the temporal nature of agency, the generation and assessment of available moves, and the importance of feedback on future agentic practices. Our results have implications on how the engineering education community supports graduate students, early career scholars, and new members in their efforts to impact change.

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Making an Impact on Engineering Education Communities: Learning from the Past and Looking Forward

Cited by 6 publications

References 9 publications

Early Career Faculty Transitions: Negotiating Legitimacy and Seeking Support in Engineering Education

Early Career Faculty Transitions: Negotiating Legitimacy and Seeking Support in Engineering Education

I Graduated, Now What? An Overview of the Academic Engineering Education Research Job Field and Search Process

In pursuit of impact: Toward a contextualized theory of professional agency of engineering education scholars

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