Collaborative Research: The Impacts of Service on Engineering Students (ISES) - A Longitudinal Study

这个工程教育研究项目将增加我们对通过服务学习（LTS）项目的理解，特别是旨在确定国际服务学习是否是一种可行的课程方法，以发展所需的工程属性。由于越来越多的工程专业学生以个人和机构的费用参与国际服务项目，因此提案中讨论的研究问题是及时的。该项目假设LTS在不影响技术能力的情况下提高了整体思维，并且通过一组定义良好的研究问题来验证这一假设。本研究更广泛的意义和重要性在于验证服务学习是一种有效的工科学生教育策略。尽管这类项目很受欢迎，但它们可能会增加大学教育的成本，而且有关其有效性的一些问题仍未得到解答。这项研究可能会深入了解LTS，并提供一套“最佳实践”，可以为希望采用这种教学法的项目提供信息。有可能证明在征聘和保留任职人数不足的群体方面有所改善。

This engineering education research project will increase our understanding of learning through service (LTS) programs, specifically aiming to determine whether international service learning is a viable curricular approach with respect to developing desired engineering attributes. The research questions addressed in the proposal are timely since an increasing number of engineering students participate in international service projects at some personal and institutional expense. The project hypothesizes that LTS improves holistic thinking without detracting from technical ability, and this hypothesis is tested through as well-defined set of research questions.The broader significance and importance of this project is to validate service learning as an effective educational strategy for engineering students. Although such programs are popular, they can potentially add costs to college education and some questions about their effectiveness remain unanswered. This study may develop insights into LTS, and a set of "best practices" that can inform programs that wish to adopt this pedagogy. There is the potential to demonstrate improved recruitment and retention of under-represented groups.