IUSE/PFE:RED: Reinventing the Instructional and Departmental Enterprise (RIDE) to Advance the Professional Formation of Electrical and Computer Engineers

电气和计算机工程(欧洲经委会)技术已经从简单的电子和计算设备和工具发展到深刻改变我们生活的世界的复杂系统。设计这些复杂的系统不仅需要技术知识和技能，而且需要新的思维方式和发展社会、专业和道德责任。通过RIDE项目，爱荷华州立大学电气与计算机工程系正在让学生、教职员工、工程师和其他人参与合作、以探究为导向的过程，以集体和系统地改变该系及其培养的工程师。学生不仅在二年级和三年级(初中)的核心课程中学习基本的欧洲经委会技术，而且还学习超越硬件和软件走向负责任发展的社会技术背景。学生们正在扩展他们的分析和设计技能，以创造出对个人和社会有效的解决方案。为了实现这些目标，教师们正在使用基于证据的教学策略重塑核心课程，并共同努力加强他们对这些策略的理解，并将其整合到课程中。这项工作正在通过新的协作结构进行，并通过部门改革进程加以促进。该项目预计将在全部门推动学术教学和教育研究；成为全国各地欧洲经委会、计算机和工程学部门的典范；提高爱荷华州进行工程教育研究的能力；培养一支多样化的、注重社会技术的欧洲经委会工作人员队伍；通过包容性学习经验，扩大代表不足的群体，特别是妇女在欧洲经委会的参与。这一转变是由该项目名为X-Teams的课程设计和专业形成的新型跨职能、协作教学模式推动的。在中期，X-Teams正在通过以下教学办法重塑欧洲经委会的核心技术课程：(A)促进设计思维、系统思维、领导力和包容性等专业技能；(B)结合课程概念；(C)促进为未来智能系统开发欧洲经委会技术的创造性、社会性和技术性。X-Team还通过被称为Y圈的实践社区，为该部其他部门充当变革推动者。Y圈由X-Team成员、教员、员工以及系中的本科生和研究生组成，他们正在为一种组织文化做出贡献，这种文化通过一个敏捷的框架来促进和支持工程教育中的创新，该框架融合了几个有案可查的变化理论，包括协作转变、关键对话和基本紧张。Y圈子正在进行一种发现和探究的过程，以弥合工程教育研究与实践之间的差距。正在进行研究，以回答问题，以了解(1)参与X-Team的教育工作者如何使用设计思维创造新的教学解决方案；(2)中期的专业形成教学法如何影响学生作为设计思考者的职业认同发展；(3)欧洲教育学生如何克服障碍，做出选择，并在中期坚持他们的教育和职业道路；以及(4)部门结构、政策和程序对教师态度、动机和行动的影响。这些研究正在为项目活动提供信息和改进，促进知识，并支持其他人的适应。

Electrical and computer engineering (ECE) technologies have evolved from simple electronics and computing devices and tools to complex systems that profoundly change the world we live in. Designing these complex systems requires not only technical knowledge and skills but also new ways of thinking and the development of social, professional and ethical responsibility. Through the RIDE project, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University is involving students, faculty, engineers and others in collaborative, inquiry-driven processes to collectively and systematically transform the department and the engineers it trains. Students are not only learning about fundamental ECE technologies in core courses during their sophomore and junior years (middle years), but also the socio-technical context to go beyond the hardware and software toward responsible development. Students are expanding their analysis and design skills to create solutions that work for individuals and society. To accomplish these goals, faculty are reshaping core curricula using evidence-based pedagogical strategies and are working together to enhance their understanding and integration of these strategies in courses. This work is being done through new structures for collaboration and facilitated through departmental change processes. The project is expected to advance scholarly teaching and education research department-wide; serve as a model for ECE, computing and engineering departments across the country; enhance the capacity to conduct engineering education research at Iowa State; develop a diverse, socio-technical-minded ECE workforce; and broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in ECE, especially women, through inclusive learning experiences.Through this project, the ECE department is undergoing a transformation to a more agile, less traditional organization able to respond to industry and society needs and sustain innovations. This transformation is being driven by the project's novel cross-functional, collaborative instructional model for course design and professional formation, called X-teams. X-teams are reshaping the core technical ECE curricula in the middle years through pedagogical approaches that (a) promote design thinking, systems thinking, professional skills such as leadership, and inclusion; (b) contextualize course concepts; and (c) stimulate creative, socio-technical-minded development of ECE technologies for future smart systems. X-teams are also serving as change agents for the rest of the department through communities of practice referred to as Y-circles. Y-circles, comprised of X-team members, faculty, staff, and undergraduate and graduate students in the department, are contributing to an organizational culture that fosters and sustains innovations in engineering education through an agile framework that blends several documented change theories, including collaborative transformation, crucial conversations, and essential tension. Y-circles are engaging in a process of discovery and inquiry to bridge the engineering education research-to-practice gap. Research studies are being conducted to answer questions to understand (1) how educators involved in X-teams use design thinking to create new pedagogical solutions; (2) how professional formation pedagogy in the middle years affects student professional ECE identity development as design thinkers; (3) how ECE students overcome barriers, make choices, and persist along their educational and career paths in the middle years; and (4) the effects of department structures, policies, and procedures on faculty attitudes, motivation and actions. These studies are informing and improving project activities, advancing knowledge, and supporting adaptation by others.