Workshop: Building Research Capacity in Engineering Education Through a RIEF Virtual Community of Practice

该项目将通过促进首次学习教育研究方法的工程学教师和学生的虚拟社区来扩大工程教育研究的能力。通过这样做，该项目最终将支持在课堂上采用基于研究的实践，并为建议、规划和政策提供信息。工程教师持续参与教育研究将在工程教育研究和工程教育实践之间创造协同效应。特别是，该项目将延续一系列虚拟研讨会，发布可下载的信息表，并为工程教育新手研究人员制作短视频。讲习班将促进新的教育研究人员和有经验的导师组成的协作社区，帮助他们融入教育研究社区。新手研究人员获得的知识和人脉将对他们申请未来由NSF资助的工程项目的成功产生积极影响。该项目的成果包括1)关于工程教育研究的公开的、存档的资源，(2)支持新的工程教育研究人员成功的实践社区，以及(3)该项目创建的社区如何影响新手研究人员在更大的研究社区中的参与，以及导师如何帮助他们为此类研究建立网络和知识。虚拟研讨会系列将为NSF工程形成研究启动计划获奖者提供培训、结构化支持和虚拟实践社区，以通过开发与研究相关的社会资本来促进他们对工程教育研究的持续参与，这增强了信息流，发展了理想的资历，并强化了研究身份。该团队将在整个为期两年的项目中使用社交网络分析和调查，以研究(1)工程形成研究启动计划的受训者和导师之间的互动，以及(2)受训者和工程教育研究社区的现有成员之间的互动如何影响与研究相关的社会资本的发展。这些研讨会将支持工程形成项目中资助研究启动的成功，帮助计划参与者在他们的资助周期内和之后完全融入工程教育研究社区。它将通过为导师提供获取资源的途径、为被辅导者学习共同研究实践的外部支持结构以及其他研究导师的社区来最大限度地减少重复工作。该项目将通过增加过去和现在的项目导师、工程教育研究内容专家、该领域领导职位的人、潜在的未来合作者等的可用性和可及性，建立参与者的专业网络。它将加速参与者发展强联系和弱联系，并促进他们有目的地使用这些嵌入的资源，以帮助计划导师在为期两年的工程形成研究启动拨款周期及以后实现他们的工程教育研究目标。该项目将研究参与实践社区对培养工程教育研究中的工程教师的影响，并确定项目导师如何有效地建立被辅导者的社会资本。这项工作将通过创建和管理额外的公共资源，使任何新手工程教育研究人员受益。此外，该项目将为当前和未来在工程形成项目以及其他NSF计划中的研究启动建立研究能力。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 project will expand capacity for engineering education research by facilitating a virtual community for engineering faculty and students who are learning educational research methods for the first time. In doing so, the project will ultimately support the adoption of research-based practices in the classroom and inform advising, programming, and policies. Sustained engagement of engineering faculty in educational research will create synergies between engineering education research and engineering education practice. In particular, the project will perpetuate a series of virtual workshops, publish downloadable information sheets, and create short videos for novice engineering education researchers. The workshops will facilitate a collaborative community of new educational researchers and experienced mentors that will help them integrate into the educational research community. The knowledge and connections the novice researchers gain will positively influence their success applying for future engineering projects funded by the NSF. Outcomes of the project include 1) publicly available, archived resources about research in engineering education, (2) a community of practice that supports the success of new engineering education researchers, and (3) an understanding of how the community created by the project influences novice researchers’ engagement in the larger research community and how mentors help them build networks and knowledge for such research.The virtual workshop series will provide training, structured support, and a virtual community of practice for NSF Research Initiation in Engineering Formation program awardees to promote their sustained engagement in engineering education research through the development of research-related social capital, which enhances the flow of information, develops desirable credentials, and reinforces research identity. The team will use social network analysis and surveys throughout the two-year project to study how interactions (1) among Research Initiation in Engineering Formation program mentees and mentors and (2) between mentees and established members of the engineering education research community influence the development of research-related social capital. The workshops will support the success of funded Research Initiation in Engineering Formation projects, helping program participants fully integrate into the engineering education research community during and beyond their grant cycle. It will minimize duplication of efforts by providing mentors with access to resources, an external support structure for mentees to learn about common research practices, and a community of other research mentors. The project will build participants’ professional networks by increasing availability and accessibility of past and present program mentees and mentors, engineering education research content experts, people in leadership positions in the field, potential future collaborators, and others. It will accelerate participants’ development of both strong and weak ties and facilitate their purposive use of those embedded resources to help program mentees accomplish their engineering education research goals during the two-year Research Initiation in Engineering Formation grant cycle and beyond. The project will study the impact of participation in a community of practice in developing engineering faculty in engineering education research as well as identify how program mentors effectively build mentee social capital. The work will benefit any novice engineering education researchers by creating and curating additional public resources. In addition, the project will build research capacity for current and future Research Initiation in Engineering Formation projects as well as other NSF programs.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.