Collaborative Research: Reform and Governance in Engineering Education

这个项目探讨了工程专业的支离破碎的结构及其机构构成如何使塑造和重塑美国国内的工程教育的努力成为可能，也是如何限制的。这项研究既是历史的，也是当代的。它考察了我们试图改善和规范工程教育的不同方式的广泛历史，从早期进步时代建立的以调查和报告最佳实践为基础的教育改革传统，到以学生学习结果为基础的最新形式的认证制度。除了探索这些“管理”工程教育的不同方法的历史渊源外，该项目还将采访工程教育家、教育政策制定者和专业工程师，以便在非常实际的水平上了解决策和认证在当代机构环境中实际上是如何发挥作用的。该项目将产生广泛的影响，因为STEM劳动力发展是当今经济全球化时代的核心挑战。为工程教育者和政策制定者，包括国会本身，提供更好地塑造和控制我们的工程教育体系的能力，将提高我们在竞争日益激烈的全球环境中有效培训熟练的STEM劳动力的能力。在进行这项工作时，该项目既借鉴并贡献了多样化的文献，包括但不限于职业社会学、组织社会学和科学与工程社会学的文献。利用访谈方法和历史记录，这个项目将收集不同机构和利益相关者--那些在工程专业协会中担任不同职位的人；许可机构；认证机构；以及工程教育机构(公立和私立大学；普通大学、工程学校，以及文科学院和少数族裔服务机构中的嵌入式STEM课程)--实际上如何为工程教育和政策的形成做出贡献的准确描述。将利用正式的面试成绩单分析技术(内容分析)，准确描述不同参与者如何为美国复杂的工程教育机构生态做出贡献并在其中导航。这种正式的理解将有助于在美国的背景下有效地管理工程教育。

This project addresses the ways in which the fragmented structure of the engineering profession, and its institutional makeup, both enable and limit efforts to shape and reshape engineering education as practiced within the United States. The study is both historical and contemporary. It examines the broad history of the different ways in which we have tried to improve and regulate engineering education, from the early Progressive Era educational reform traditions built around surveying and reporting on best practices, to the latest form of accreditation regime built around student learning outcomes. In addition to exploring the historical origins of these different approaches to "governing" engineering education, the project will interview engineering educators, educational policymakers, and professional engineers in order to understand, on a very practical level, how policymaking and accreditation actually functions within contemporary institutional settings. The project will have broad impact because STEM workforce development is a central challenge in the present era of economic globalization. Providing engineering educators and policymakers, including Congress itself, with the ability to better shape and control our system of engineering education will enhance our ability to effectively train a skilled STEM workforce in an increasingly competitive global arena.In pursuing this work, the project both draws on and contributes to a diverse literature, including but not limited to those of the sociology of the professions, organizational sociology, and the sociology of science and engineering. Using interview methods as well as historical records, this project will assemble precise descriptions of the ways in which different institutions and stakeholders -- those occupying different positions within engineering professional societies; licensing bodies; accreditation agencies; and engineering education institutions (public and private universities; general universities, engineering schools, and embedded STEM programs within liberal arts colleges and minority serving institutions)-- actually contribute to the shaping of engineering education and policies. Formal techniques for analyzing the interview transcripts (content analysis) will be utilized to bring forth accurate characterizations of how different players both contribute to and navigate through the complex institutional ecology for engineering education in the United States. This formal understanding will be instrumental to the effective governance of engineering education in the US context.