Expansion of "How People Learn" Metrics in Engineering Classrooms

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The focus of this engineering education research project is to develop and to pilot the Observations of Pedagogy in Educational Environments (OPEE) instrument, a direct observation instrument that collects real-time data about the implementation of "How People Learn" (HPL) framework principles within observed engineering courses. The PIs will develop the OPEE instrument from portions of VaNTH Observation System. The OPEE will be used to record and quantify the frequency and sequence of classroom activities that incorporate dimensions of the HPL framework within engineering classrooms. The PIs plan to collect data from graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) teaching in innovative first-year laboratories at Purdue University. The study will use an HPL Index to give observed GTAs feedback on the observed instances of traditional (nonHPL) pedagogy, HPL-oriented pedagogy, and classroom organization that are present within their laboratories. Qualitative questions related to the GTAs' ease in implementing open-ended problems called model-eliciting activities (MEAs), barriers or constraints within laboratories, GTAs' comfort with implementing HPL framework principles, and GTAs' intentions to use HPL principles in the future will be asked as well. Such quantitative and qualitative feedback is needed since GTAs who receive training, mentoring, and feedback from faculty about their teaching have been found to demonstrate higher self-esteem in their teaching abilities and have been reported to provide higher quality instruction within undergraduate courses.The PIs anticipate that undergraduate students who are taught by OPEE-observed GTAs will have higher levels of learning as demonstrated from their laboratory grades and their individual and team solutions to open-ended laboratory problems than undergraduate students within who are taught by GTAs that receive no formal feedback about their teaching. In addition, they anticipate that GTAs who receive HPL-based formative feedback about teaching during the semester are more likely to demonstrate the traits of "expert teachers" as seen by their integration of both pedagogical and engineering content knowledge versus GTAs who receive no formative feedback.