Collaborative Research: EAGER - Developing a Consortium Model for the Successful Implementation of the Rising Engineering Education Faculty Experience (REEFE)

在STEM社区内，专家们呼吁改善我们教育未来科学、技术、工程和数学领导者的方式。因此，我们需要有意识地将学习和教育学的前沿科学研究与教学实践联系起来。为了弥合研究-实践周期中的这一差距，我们提出了新兴工程教育教师体验（REEFE），这是一个为未来工程教育专业人员（研究生）提供的一学期沉浸式课程。该计划的好处是双重的，因为它为工程教育研究的研究生提供了将他们的技能应用于实际环境的机会，并发展合作和专业身份，同时也使经验丰富的教育从业者接触到工程教育研究的好处。在每个学期，一名研究生（目前就读于工程教育博士课程）与主办机构的教职员工一起研究选定的项目或学校确定的问题。接收院校具有较高的工程教育实践经验，但工程教育研究经验有限。通过这个项目，研究生将学习如何将他们的教育理论、评估、研究方法和技能应用于变革推动者，同时从经验丰富的工程教育工作者那里获得有关工程教学的实用知识。作为交换，主办机构的教职员工与工程教育研究专家（后期研究生）合作，并发现研究如何使他们的教学和课堂受益。这个EAGER项目将支持一个扩展的试点项目，最终为一个更大的Rising工程教育教师体验联盟开发一个完整的、可持续的模式。在这个试点项目中，研究生将从弗吉尼亚理工大学和普渡大学的工程教育项目中招募，并与罗斯-霍尔曼理工学院和加州理工学院圣路易斯奥比斯波分校的教师合作。该计划之前的两次测试在研究人员和从业者之间产生了积极的合作，并证明了参与者的专业发展。这些结果、同行学校的兴趣表达以及独立利益相关者的肯定表明，有必要探索一个更大、可持续的财团模式。本课程的重点是将未来的工程教育专家（工程教育研究生）整合到传统的工程项目中，以便为研究人员开发的教育干预措施的实施和维持提供支持。通过将后期研究生注入传统的工程部门，该计划旨在扩大工程社区对将和维持研究型实践纳入课程和部门的好处和能力的理解。总体而言，该联盟将促进以下活动：1)招募和匹配工程教育研究生到合作机构，他们将在工程教育研究活动中与工程教师密切合作；2)在项目体验之前，期间和之后为研究生和教师提供发展指导；3)进行研究对研究-实践周期的影响的研究。通过这些努力，我们寻求对工程教育实践和研究生发展产生积极影响。

Within the STEM community, experts call for improving the way we educate future science, technology, engineering, and mathematics leaders. Therefore, we need intentional ways to connect cutting-edge scientific research on learning and pedagogy to teaching practice. To bridge this gap in the research-practice cycle, we propose the Rising Engineering Education Faculty Experience (REEFE), a semester long, immersive program for future engineering education professionals (graduate students). The benefits of the program are two-fold in that it provides graduate students in engineering education research the opportunity to apply their skills in a practical setting and develop collaborations and professional identity while also exposing experienced education practitioners to the benefits of engineering education research. During each semester, a graduate student (currently enrolled in an engineering education PhD program) works with faculty members at a host institution on selected projects or problems identified at the school. Host institutions have high levels of practical engineering education experience, but limited engineering education research experience. Through this program, graduate students learn how to apply their knowledge of educational theory, assessment, research methods, and skills at being a change agent while gaining practical knowledge about teaching engineering from experienced engineering educators. In exchange, faculty members at the host institution collaborate with engineering education research experts (late-stage graduate students) and discover how research can benefit their teaching and classrooms.This EAGER project will support an extended pilot program ultimately leading to the development of a full, sustainable model for a larger Rising Engineering Education Faculty Experience Consortium. In this pilot program, graduate students will be recruited from Virginia Tech and Purdue's Engineering Education programs and collaborate with faculty at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Two prior tests of the program produced positive collaborations between researchers and practitioners and evidence of participants' professional development. These results, expressions of interest from peer schools, and affirmations from independent stakeholders indicated a need to explore a larger, sustainable consortium model. This program focuses on integrating future engineering education experts (engineering education graduate students) into traditional engineering programs in order to provide support for implementing and sustaining educational interventions developed by researchers. By infusing late-stage graduate students into traditional engineering departments, this program seeks to broaden the engineering community's understanding of the benefits to and ability to incorporate and sustain research-based practices into courses and departments. Overall, the Consortium will facilitate the following activities: 1) recruit and match engineering education graduate students to partner institutions where they will work closely with engineering faculty on engineering education research activities, 2) provide developmental coaching for graduate students and faculty before, during, and after the program experience, and 3) conduct research on the impact to the research-practice cycle. Through these efforts, we seek to positively impact engineering education practices and graduate student development.