Catalyzing a Research Agenda for Enhancing Engineering Education through Institutional Collaborations

对有效工程教学的研究表明，主动学习方法比传统的基于讲座的方法更有效，不仅在课堂上，而且在工程毕业生的整个职业生涯中都是如此。因此，为了影响所有工程专业学生的保留和毕业，更深入地了解工程教学方法是必要的。如何充分利用基于证据的研究和方法进行工程教育取决于机构、教师和课程。解决这些问题尤其及时，因为大型院校希望重组课程，以应对日益紧张的经济约束和对更多学生的需求，而小型院校则考虑高成本、住校学习的长期可行性，并根据行业和社会的期望改变证书模式。这些知识不仅对高等教育机构有益，而且对支持高等教育的联邦和州实体以及工程师的雇主也有益。提议的研讨会将汇集来自不同机构的一群思想领袖，制定一项研究议程，以便在以本科生为主的小型机构与具有广泛教育和研究使命的大型机构之间建立富有成效的合作。本次研讨会的目标是制定一个可行的研究计划，可以框架这些不同的机构如何有效地影响工程教育。正在考虑的问题是：如何扩展、适应和转移最佳实践？不同类型的机构在工程教育、研究和创新中扮演什么角色？如何加强各院校的工程教育研究？讲习班将通过参加讲习班的机构建立一个功能性的“网络的网络”。受邀参加研讨会的每个机构都有自己的利益相关者社区，支持他们在工程教育方面的努力，这次研讨会应该促进他们之间（包括与工业界）富有成效的沟通和合作。最终，该研讨会有可能成为确定和形成新的全球工程课程议程的催化剂。在小型和大型机构中，变革和创新的努力在个人教育使命中都有价值。不同机构的领导人所缺乏的是直接分享最有效的方法（以及不太有效的方法）的机会，以及在面对不同约束时考虑机构之间的双向可扩展性和适应性的机会。研讨会将提供一个框架，以制定一个更有影响力的工程教育研究议程，承认高等教育机构的类型和规模的多样性。该研究议程应告知NSF和更广泛的利益相关者社区，他们如何促进工程教育的更快变化。通过它，NSF将能够确定一个可操作的研究议程，以创建富有成效的合作，以支持具有更高可持续变化潜力的战略，并吸引更广泛的机构。参与者和参与机构将被授权为工程课程创新开发数据驱动的变化模型。

Research on effective engineering pedagogy has shown that active learning approaches can be more effective than traditional lecture based approaches for a broad diversity of students not only in the classroom but also throughout an engineering graduate's career. A greater understanding of approaches to engineering pedagogy across the spectrum of engineering programs is thus necessary in order impact retention and graduation of all engineering students. How to take best advantage of evidence based research and approaches to engineering education is institution, faculty, and course dependent. Addressing these issues is particularly timely as large institutions look to restructure their curricula to respond to increasingly tight economic constraints and demands for greater student accessibility, and small institutions consider the long-term viability of higher-cost, residential learning and changing models of credentialing with industrial and societal expectations. This knowledge would be beneficial not only for institutions of higher education, but federal and state entities that support higher education as well as employers of engineers.The proposed workshop will bring together a group of thought leaders from various institutions to develop a research agenda for creating productive collaborations between small, predominantly undergraduate institutions and large institutions with broad educational and research missions. The goal of this workshop is to develop a viable research plan that can frame how these diverse institutions can effectively impact engineering education. Questions being considered are: How to scale, adapt and transfer best practices? What are the roles of differing types of institutions in engineering education research and innovation? How can engineering education research at all institutions be enhanced? The workshop will build a functional "network of networks" through institutions that participate in the workshop. Each of the institutions invited to the workshop have their own stakeholder communities that support their efforts in engineering education, and this workshop should facilitate productive communication and collaboration among them, including with industry. Ultimately, the workshop has the potential to be a catalyst in identifying and shaping a new global agenda for engineering curricula.Change and innovation efforts, at both small and large institutions, have merit within individual educational missions. What is lacking are opportunities for leaders from various institutions to share directly what works best (as well as what does not work so well) and to consider the bi-directional scalability and adaptability between institutions in the face of differing constraints. The workshop will provide the framework for the development of a more impactful engineering education research agenda that acknowledges the diversity of types and sizes of institutions of higher education. This research agenda should inform NSF and the broader stakeholder communities about how they can catalyze more rapid change in engineering education. Through it the NSF will be able to identify an actionable research agenda for creating productive collaborations to support strategies that have higher potential for sustainable change and engage a broader spectrum of institutions. Participants and participating institutions will be empowered to develop data-driven models of change for engineering curricular innovation.