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

这项研究将使用调查来了解并最终加速采用经过验证的工程教育创新。这项对1727名系主任、271名学术院长和28名专业学会领导人的调查将检验与8项工程教育创新相关的14个假设。创新扩散理论将指导这项研究，该理论强调了采用过程的各个阶段和社交网络的重要性。项目成果包括对以前在传播工程教育创新方面所做努力的评估，对导致提出具体建议的传播机制的更深入了解，以及通过调查过程本身提高对八项既定工程教育创新的认识。在过去的15年里，在改善工程教育和创新方面投入了巨大的努力和资金。本项目将研究的八项创新是：工程多样性计划、夏日桥梁计划、学习社区和综合课程、一年级工程课程中的设计项目、人工制品解剖、学生主动教学法、基于课程的工程服务学习项目和跨学科的顶石设计项目。这14个假设将探索与创新的传播、采用、可移植性和成功有关的因素。改善工程教育，培养出更好地为未来全球经济做好准备的工程师，对国家-S的竞争力至关重要。这项调查直接涉及对工程创新的投资的影响，并通过传播，通过向广泛的传播战略和工程管理客户提供信息，有可能使投资成倍增加。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看法。这些数据和分析将为采取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。

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.