Communicating Across the Researcher Practitioner Divide

尽管做出了许多努力来改变工程教育，但在教学、学习和管理方面的挑战依然存在。一些人认为，这些持续不断的挑战的原因之一是研究与实践之间联系不畅。不幸的是，没有现有的工具来衡量这个问题在工程教育的研究人员和实践者中的程度。这项研究的目的是设计和实施一项调查，以衡量工程教育研究者和实践者对研究在教育中的作用的看法。数据将在2019年工程和计算多样性合作网络(CoNECD)上收集，这是一个专门为联系研究和实践而设计的会议。这项研究的结果将产生具体的数据，揭示教育研究人员和实践者在教育中最棘手的问题之一--如何将研究转化为实践--上的潜在差异。对工程教育背景下研究与实践之间差距的更好理解将导致开发工具和专业发展资源，这些工具和专业发展资源将有助于弥合工程教育和其他STEM教育学科的这种差距。加强工程教育研究与实践之间的联系将提高公共资助的STEM教育研究的影响。它还将有助于发展一支更多样化和更有能力的劳动力队伍，为应对社会最大的挑战和机遇做好充分准备。该项目的目标是双管齐下的：1)开发一种有效和可靠的工具，使用Bulterman-Bos框架衡量教育研究人员和实践者对研究在教育中的作用的看法；2)在即将举行的一次会议上实施这一工具，该会议专门旨在将工程教育研究人员和实践者聚集在一起，以确定根据参与者的角色，在回答方面是否存在统计上的显著差异。这项工作产生的有效和可靠的工具将广泛借鉴研究人员和实践者的观点，以及其他相关学科发展的理论和方法。因此，它将与工程教育和其他STEM教育相关领域的广泛利益攸关方有关，这些领域正在努力弥合研究与实践之间的联系。在CoNECD会议上部署这一工具将确保两组利益相关者以及最有能力就如何促进研究与实践之间的联系提供见解的人了解调查结果。两种观点的存在，如果被数据证实，可能会导致无数可以做的实际事情，以改变研究人员和实践者之间的沟通方式，并为彼此的工作提供信息。这一奖项反映了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。

Despite numerous efforts to transform engineering education, challenges in teaching, learning, and administration persist. Some have argued that one reason for these persistent challenges is because of poor connections between research and practice. Unfortunately, there are no existing tools to measure the extent of this problem among researchers and practitioners in engineering education. The purpose of this study is to design and implement a survey that measures engineering education researchers' and practitioners' views on the role of research in education. The data will be collected at the 2019 CoNECD (Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity), which is a conference specifically designed to link research and practice. The findings of this study will generate concrete data that will reveal underlying differences between education researchers' and practitioners' perspectives on one of the thorniest issues in education: how to convert research to practice. Gaining a better understanding of what bolsters the gap between research and practice in engineering education context will lead to the development of tools and professional development resources that will be useful in bridging this divide in engineering education and other STEM education disciplines. Strengthening connections between research and practice in engineering education will improve the impact of publicly-supported STEM education research. It will also contribute to the development of a more diverse and competent workforce that is well prepared to address society's greatest challenges and opportunities. The goal of this project is two-pronged: 1) to develop a valid and reliable instrument for measuring education researchers' and practitioners' perspectives on the role of research in education using a framework Bulterman-Bos; and 2) implement it at an upcoming conference specifically designed to bring together engineering education researchers and practitioners in order to determine if there are statistically significant differences in responses based on the participants' role. The valid and reliable instrument resulting from this work will draw broadly on the perspectives of researchers and practitioners, as well as theories and methods developed by other related disciplines. As such, it will be relevant to a wide variety of stakeholders in engineering education and other STEM education-related fields struggling to bridge connections between research and practice. Deploying this instrument at the CoNECD conference will ensure that the findings are informed by both groups of stakeholders, and the people who are in the best position to offer insights about how to foster connections between research and practice. The existence of dichotomous views, if found to be substantiated by data, could leads to a myriad of practical things that could be done to change how researchers and practitioners communicate with and inform one another's work.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.