Transforming Instruction in Key Engineering Courses at the University of Texas at Austin

在德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校（UT Austin）的科克雷尔工程学院（Cockrell School of Engineering），留校率损失最大的是前两年，这种损失不成比例地影响了历史上代表性不足的学生。有证据表明，通过将关键工程课程的教学实践转变为包括情境驱动的、主动的学习体验，可以大大提高一年级和二年级学生的学习体验。这个名为“德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校关键工程课程教学改革”的项目将针对两类第一年和第二年的工程课程，以提高学生的成绩。一类是多个工程院系的必修课程（如工程静力学）；第二种是基础概念相同的课程，但不同工程学科的课程以不同的方式应用基本原理（例如热力学）。课程改革将适用于大学和中学课堂，可能会影响很大一部分西班牙裔学生，从而提高他们的保留率、毕业率，并最终提高就业安置。在大学一级，调查人员将通过出版物和讲习班等机制传播该项目的结果，特别是针对UT系统各机构其他学院和工程学院的同事。西班牙裔或拉丁裔学生占德州大学所有本科生的40%。由于目标课程在全国范围内的工程课程中是通用的，因此这些实践也可能引起其他机构的兴趣，并且很容易转移。在中学阶段，创建的学习模块将用于补充“工程师你的世界”，这是一个创新的、以设计和挑战为基础的、为期一年的高中工程课程（在该项目的首席研究员的领导下开发），目前在12个州的77所学校开展。这将有助于培养高中学生对工程设计的兴趣，并为他们提供参与的机会，从而为下一代未来的工程师做好准备。该项目的具体目标是：(1)发展教师学习社区，探索和适应目标课程的循证教学实践；(2)在两类课程（即多个工程领域的学生选修的共同核心课程，涵盖不同工程部门单独教授的共同概念的课程）的每一类课程中进行一个或多个例子的“概念证明”活动；(3)发展变革理论，为广泛实施教学变革制定战略计划。预期的结果包括提高学生对目标课程概念的掌握，提高学生的表现和保留率，增加和持续使用基于证据的教学实践，持续参与教师学习社区，教师对教学和学习的信念与教育研究更好地结合，以及发展和初步验证变革理论。结果的实现将使用混合方法进行评估，该方法将需要收集和分析反映学生学习改善的数据（例如概念清单，课程通过率，学期到学期和第一年到第二年的保留率等），教师参与教学改进（例如参与学习社区，教师访谈，内部课程改进补助金申请的质量和数量），以及学校和教职员工为转型做好的准备。

In the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), the greatest losses in retention are in the first two years and such losses disproportionately affect students from historically underrepresented populations. Evidence indicates that the learning experiences of first and second year students could be greatly enhanced by transforming instructional practices in key engineering courses to include context-driven, active learning experiences. The project entitled "Transforming Instruction in Key Engineering Courses at the University of Texas at Austin" will target two categories of first and second year engineering courses to improve student outcomes. One category is courses required by multiple engineering departments (e.g., Engineering Statics); the second is courses where the underlying concepts are the same, but courses in different engineering disciplines apply the basic principles in different ways (e.g., Thermodynamics). The course transformations will be applicable in both university and secondary classrooms, and will likely impact a large fraction of Hispanic students, thus improving their retention, graduation, and ultimately, workforce placement. At the university level, investigators will disseminate the results of the project through mechanisms such as publications and workshops targeting, in particular, colleagues in other colleges and schools of engineering at UT System institutions. Hispanic or Latino students comprise 40 percent of all undergraduates across the UT System. Because the targeted courses are common to engineering curricula nationwide, the practices will also likely be of interest to other institutions, and will be easily transferable. At the secondary level, the learning modules created will be used to supplement "Engineer Your World," which is an innovative, design- and challenge-based, year-long high school engineering curriculum (developed under the leadership of the Principal Investigator of this project) that is currently in 77 schools in 12 states. This will help foster interest and present opportunities for engagement of high school students in engineering design, thus preparing the next generation of prospective engineers.Specific aims of the project will be to: (1) develop faculty learning communities to explore and adapt evidence-based instructional practices for targeted courses; (2) perform "proof of concept" activities for one or more examples in each of the two categories of courses (i.e., common core courses taken by students in multiple fields of engineering, courses covering common concepts that are taught separately in different engineering departments); and (3) develop a theory of change that will inform a strategic plan for widespread implementation of instructional transformations. Anticipated outcomes include improved student mastery of concepts in targeted courses, improved student performance and retention, increased and sustained use of evidence-based instructional practices, sustained participation in faculty learning communities, faculty beliefs about teaching and learning that are better aligned with educational research, and development and preliminary validation of a theory of change. Attainment of the outcomes will be evaluated using a mixed-methods approach that will entail collection and analysis of data reflective of improved student learning (e.g. concept inventories, course pass rates, semester-to-semester and first-to-second year retention, etc.), faculty engagement in instructional improvement (e.g. participation in learning communities, faculty interviews, quality and quantity of applications for internal curriculum improvement grants), and school and faculty readiness for transformation.