EAGER Collaborative Proposal: Building a Community of Mentors in Engineering Education Research Through Peer Review Training

这个探索性研究早期概念助学金(EARGER)项目探索了研究人员在审查工程教育研究(EER)奖学金方面的指导作用，导致了期刊手稿和拨款提案同行评审培训的发展。作为一个领域，EER受益于旨在改善工程教育和挑战现有工程师专业形成模式的不同视角，但有必要正式确定学者如何通过审查磨练自己的研究和沟通技能。我们提出了EER同行评审培训(EER PERT)计划，利用在工程教育杂志(JEE)指导审稿人计划中开发的知识和组织结构，在该计划中，被辅导者和导师(经验丰富的审稿人)三人组合作撰写及时的、建设性的JEE稿件评论。EER PERT参与者包括指导对象、导师和指导教练。将通过竞争性的申请程序和通过包括HBCU和MSI网络在内的个人和专业网络招聘来挑选不同的参与者。教练将通过定期调查和会议来监控导师/学员三合会中的导师关系的质量，并向项目团队提供反馈。在开发和实施这项培训的同时，我们将研究评价者如何发展EER的心理模型。正在进行的关于同行审查进程的研究发现了一些问题，包括缺乏审评员培训、审查前后不一致且有偏见，以及缺乏合格的审查员。低质量的同行评议可能导致低质量的学术研究；过于苛刻、负面的评议可能会排斥社区中的不同声音，并扼杀创新。我们将利用通过JEE指导审查员计划开发的培训框架，在该框架中，参与者描述了扩大专业知识的积极结果，更好地理解了研究质量，并将关于同行审查的主要(负面)论述转变为对知识生产和出版的更积极的看法。从社会文化的角度认识到社会互动在知识和元认知的共同构建中的作用，我们提出了这样的研究问题：学者们如何通过协作构建同行评议来发展质量工程教育研究的图式？EER PERT项目将提高EER手稿和提案的质量，并最终提高EER学术影响力。通过在EER社区内发展奖学金审查技能而创建的积极反馈循环将使NSF在EER项目中的投资最大化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Early-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) project explores mentorship of researchers in reviewing engineering education research (EER) scholarship, leading to the development of training in peer review of journal manuscripts and grant proposals. As a field, EER benefits from diverse perspectives aimed at improving engineering education and challenging existing models of professional formation of engineers, but there is a need to formalize how scholars hone their own research and communication skills through reviewing. We propose the EER Peer Review Training (EER PERT) program, leveraging the knowledge and organizational structure developed in the Journal of Engineering Education (JEE) Mentored Reviewer Program in which triads of mentees and mentors (experienced reviewers) collaboratively write timely, constructive reviews of JEE manuscripts. EER PERT participants include mentees, mentors, and mentor coaches. Diverse participants will be selected through a competitive application process and recruitment through personal and professional networks, including HBCU and MSI networks. Coaches will monitor the quality of the mentoring relationships within mentor/mentee triads through periodic surveys and meetings, and will provide feedback to the project team. In parallel with developing and implementing this training, we will study how reviewers develop mental models of EER. Ongoing studies about the peer review process have identified problems including lack of reviewer training, inconsistent and biased reviews, and dearth of qualified reviewers. Poor quality peer reviews can lead to poor quality scholarship; overly harsh, negative reviews can exclude diverse voices in the community and stifle innovation. We will leverage a training framework developed through the JEE Mentored Reviewer Program, in which participants have described positive outcomes of expanded expertise, a greater understanding of research quality, and shifting the dominant (negative) discourses about peer review to a more positive view of knowledge production and publishing. Taking a sociocultural perspective that recognizes the role of social interaction in co-construction of knowledge and metacognition, we pose these research questions: How do scholars develop schema for quality engineering education research through collaboratively constructing peer reviews? What are the similarities and differences between schema development for manuscript and grant proposal review?The EER PERT program will enhance the quality of EER manuscripts and proposals, and ultimately increase the impact of scholarship in EER. The positive feedback loop created through developing scholarship review skills within the EER community will maximize NSF investments in EER projects.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.