Strategies For Embedding Scholarship In The Educational Experiences Of Engineering Technology Undergraduate Students

Abstract

The hallmark of Engineering Technology (ET) programs is its student-centered curriculum and hands-on approach to teaching. Many institutions with ET programs now require scholarship of their ET faculty in addition to their teaching duties. In many institutions that have always emphasized scholarship and research, undergraduate student education has often times taken a back seat to research. The question that arises for ET programs as we begin to engage in scholarly activities is: how do we insure that ET scholarship is student-centered similar to ET teaching and curriculum? The benefits of scholarship to ET students include enhancement of their critical thinking, innovative, lifelong learning skills, skills that many ET employers today are looking for in our students. In this paper, the author examines issues relating to the importance of scholarship to ET undergraduate students, barriers to ET student scholarship, mechanisms for embedding scholarship in the ET curriculum, resources required to facilitate ET student scholarship, and feedback from ET student scholars who recently worked on a scholarly project with the author. The author concludes that embedding scholarship in the ET curriculum is very desirable and suggests some ways and means to facilitate and nurture student scholarship in ET.

An Undergraduate Research Experience In Engineering Technology

“…There are several avenues for melding research within an undergraduate engineering technology curriculum including the formation of a special topics or independent study course, the organization of seminars covering research activities such as independent study, analysis of data, and presenting scholarly work, the inclusion of a scholarship component within an existing course such as the development of research reports, developing product innovations courses, using a scholars program with a required thesis component, and funding for undergraduate research assistants 3 . Each method for providing undergraduate research opportunities has its own advantages and disadvantages.…”

“…There are multiple levels of engineering research including research at the system level, which is typically referred to as system integration, research at the technology level which investigates an individual technology removed from any applied contexts, and research at the theory level that is concerned with the development of new mathematical and scientific processes. While many engineering research projects are focused on the scholarship of discovering, engineering technology research is best focused on the scholarship of discovery 3 .…”

Undergraduate Environmental Engineering Research Experiences in a Predominantly Undergraduate Teaching Institute

“…4 Given these and other similar studies, universities are increasingly looking for ways to integrate research into undergraduate curriculum with undergraduate research activities proliferating across the United States and faculty members increasingly engaging undergraduate students to pursue research activities. 6 The Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University has called for action towards engaging undergraduate students in research and emphasized 'learning based on discovery of new knowledge.' 7 There has been a sustained growth in local undergraduate research conferences, symposiums and journals at various Universities 8 while at the national level, targeted programs and conferences such as "Research Experiences for Undergraduates" (REU) funded through the National Science Foundation and the National Conference on Undergraduate Research has provided additional impetus to include research experience as holistic learning experience at the baccalaureate level.…”