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

该项目将通过为第一次学习教育研究方法的工程教师和学生建立一个虚拟社区来扩大工程教育研究的能力。在这样做的过程中，该项目将最终支持在课堂上采用基于研究的实践，并为咨询，规划和政策提供信息。工程教师在教育研究的持续参与将创造工程教育研究和工程教育实践之间的协同作用。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，并为工程教育研究新手制作短视频。讲习班将促进新的教育研究人员和经验丰富的导师的协作社区，这将有助于他们融入教育研究社区。新手研究人员获得的知识和联系将对他们成功申请NSF资助的未来工程项目产生积极影响。该项目的成果包括：（1）关于工程教育研究的公开可用的存档资源，（2）支持新工程教育研究人员成功的实践社区，以及（3）了解项目创建的社区如何影响新手研究人员参与更大的研究社区，以及导师如何帮助他们建立网络和知识，以进行此类研究。该系列将提供培训，结构化的支持，和实践的NSF研究启动工程形成计划获奖者的虚拟社区，以促进他们在工程教育研究的持续参与，通过研究相关的社会资本的发展，这增强了信息的流动，发展可取的凭据，并加强研究身份。该团队将在整个两年的项目中使用社会网络分析和调查，以研究（1）工程形成项目的研究启动计划学员和导师之间的互动以及（2）学员和工程教育研究社区的既定成员之间的互动如何影响与研究相关的社会资本的发展。这些研讨会将支持资助的工程形成项目研究启动的成功，帮助计划参与者在资助周期期间和之后完全融入工程教育研究社区。它将通过向导师提供资源、为学员提供外部支持结构以了解共同的研究做法以及其他研究导师社区，尽量减少工作重复。该项目将通过增加过去和现在的计划学员和导师，工程教育研究内容专家，该领域领导职位的人员，潜在的未来合作者等的可用性和可访问性来建立参与者的专业网络。它将加速参与者的发展强和弱关系，并促进他们有目的地使用这些嵌入式资源，以帮助计划学员在两年的工程形成研究启动资助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在工程教育研究中发展工程教师的影响，并确定项目导师如何有效地建立学员的社会资本。这项工作将有利于任何新手工程教育研究人员通过创建和策划额外的公共资源。此外，该项目将为当前和未来的工程形成项目以及其他NSF项目的研究能力建设。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.