Collaborative Research: Research Initiation: Defining 21st Century Lifelong Learning Skills for Engineering Practice

由于技术进步、不断变化的法规、海量数据的解释和综合以及许多其他因素，终身学习对工程领域至关重要。此外，工程技术认证委员会、专业执照委员会和工程教育研究都认为，需要促进终身学习，以更好地满足行业需求。目前，对于毕业后需要额外学习哪些技能，从业人员如何进行终身学习，或者学生对终身学习的看法与从业人员的现实有何不同，教育工作者没有一个清晰的、经过数据验证的图景。本研究的目的是调查从业人员对终身学习的经验和看法，以确定发展的技能和使用的学习方法。该研究还将调查这些技能和方法在整个职业发展过程中是如何变化的，以及它们与学生对终身学习的看法有多接近。对从业人员在职业生涯中学习和发展技能的内容和方式有更好的基本理解，将使工程教育界了解作为专业工程师终身学习所需的学习能力。本研究旨在了解三个研究问题：1)从业人员在不同的职业岗位上最需要发展的技能是什么；2)从业人员如何发现和消费有关他们想要发展的技能的信息；3)本科生对他们在整个职业生涯中需要发展的技能有什么看法，他们认为他们将如何发展这些技能？我们制定了一项研究计划，首先通过对太平洋西北地区执业工程师的半结构化访谈进行定性分析来调查和回答这些问题。访谈记录和笔录将使用解释性现象学分析进行分析，以获得对终身学习的从业者观点的丰富理解。然后，项目将对实习工程师和本科生终身学习调查结果进行定量分析。最后，研究人员将比较从业者和学生的调查结果，以确定对终身学习的看法的差异。混合方法研究的结果将量化在工程实践中发展的终身学习技能及其与职业定位的关系，这将增加我们对从业人员在职业发展中学习的技能的基本理解。确定学生关于终身学习的信念与实践现实之间的知识和观念差距，将为工程教育领域提供洞察，了解可能缺乏或未开发的技能，以及未来的工作如何进一步改善工程师的形成和准备。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

Lifelong learning is critical for the engineering field because of technological advancements, changing regulations, interpretation and synthesis of massive data, and a host of other factors. Furthermore, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, professional licensure boards, and engineering education research have identified that lifelong learning needs to be promoted to better meet industry needs. Currently, educators do not have a clear, and data proven, picture of what skills require additional study post-graduation, how practitioners engage in lifelong learning, or how student perceptions of lifelong learning may differ from practitioner's reality. The goal of this research is to investigate practitioner experiences and perceptions of lifelong learning to determine the skills developed and methods of learning utilized. The research will also investigate how those skills and methods change throughout career progression and how closely they match student perceptions of lifelong learning. A better fundamental understanding of what and how practitioners study and develop skills as they progress through their career will inform the engineering education community about what learning abilities are required to be prepared for lifelong learning as professional engineers.This study seeks to understand three research questions: 1) What skills are most developed by practitioners at different career positions, 2) How do practitioners find and consume information on the skills they want to develop, and 3) What perceptions do undergraduate students have about the skills they will need to develop throughout their career and how do they think they will develop those skills? A research plan has been developed to investigate and answer these questions first by conducting qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews of practicing engineers in the Pacific Northwest. Interview recordings and transcripts will be analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis to obtain a rich understanding of practitioner perspectives of lifelong learning. Then, the project will conduct quantitative analysis of lifelong learning survey results of practicing engineers and undergraduate students. Lastly, researchers will compare the practitioner and student survey results to identify differences in perceptions about lifelong learning. The outcomes of the mixed-methods study will quantify lifelong learning skills developed during engineering practice and their relationship to career position, which will increase our fundamental understanding about what skills practitioners study as they progress through their career. Identifying gaps in knowledge and perceptions between student beliefs about lifelong learning and the realities of practice will provide insight to the engineering education field about what skills may be lacking or less developed and how future work could further improve engineer formation and preparation.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.