This engineering education research project seeks to expand the use of a pedagogy developed by the PIs, project enhanced learning (PEL), significantly extending the scope of it use across engineering science courses and at two partner universities. The project will document difficulties encountered in spreading the PEL method across departments and universities, thereby contributing to the STEM community's understanding of barriers for broad adoption of effective pedagogies.
The broader significance and importance of this project will be to build partnerships and networks in support of an adaptation of a teaching method that has been well-established by rigorous research to be effective at improving learning for engineering students. The partnership addresses inclusion of under-represented groups in engineering, particularly those from urban environments. All three partner universities are located in urban centers. Should this project be successful, it could have broad impact on how "core" engineering science courses are taught.
Half of entering US engineering undergraduate students drop out, ‘weeded-out’ or ‘turned-off’ before experiencing interesting design, applications or laboratory work. Even students who obtain good grades by memorizing facts and problem-solving recipes have difficulty applying the knowledge imparted. Diverse students with challenging life situations at urban institutions are particularly at risk of drop out of engineering study. Beyond the freshman engineering experience, retention after entering the major is connected to learning and self-efficacy in key sophomore and junior courses. In particular, students perceive the early courses on engineering science fundamentals of their major as abstract, difficult, and not obviously connected to their aspirations. Learning enhancements in these highly analytical courses must illuminate logically structured course topics, and must be manageable both for students and for instructors who may have high workloads. Research already indicates that well-designed project assignments can significantly enhance student learning. Project-enhanced learning (PEL) uses a well-integrated project within a traditional lecture-based course, implementable in a gradual and transferable way, and across multiple sections and instructors. PEL is structured around the sequence of topics in a traditional course on fundamentals of engineering, mathematics, or analytical science. It integrates course topics with one or two term-long projects that provide a scaffold for anchoring concepts and lessons. The work on this grant expanded and disseminated a PEL model over multiple courses, departments and institutions by learning from prior difficulties, replicating best practices, identifying barriers, and assisting faculty. PEL was implemented in three different courses at multiple urban institutions. Unlike open-ended design projects, PEL is carefully structured to maximize learning of the most challenging topics while minimizing additional workload in these already difficult courses. The goals include increasing student motivation and self-efficacy, providing realistic application of abstract concepts, and long-term learning retention. Teamwork, peer-to-peer learning, increased communication with engineering faculty, and professionalism were also emphasized. Instructor acceptance is critical to dissemination of any proposed non-traditional learning approaches. The target courses typically have instructors with traditional training and high research workloads. Their prior views, training needs, and perceived barriers were considered. Prior to their PEL experience, interviews of instructors were conducted, focused on instructional planning and reflections on PEL as a pedagogical strategy. Again, during and after implementation of PEL in their courses, some faculty members were further interviewed. Faculty perceptions of the use of PEL strategies in sophomore and junior-level engineering science courses were recorded. Surveys of a larger group of engineering instructors from the three institutions were also conducted. Both practitioners and researchers of science technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) education can benefit from this work. For practitioners, the major benefits in pedagogy are improved learning in target courses, and potentially greater retention of students. Student benefits beyond improved learning and knowledge retention are improved self-efficacy in target courses, sense of belonging in the discipline, peer-to-peer learning, enhanced communication and team skills, professionalism, and project management skills. Benefits for the instructor include early feedback on student difficulties and misconceptions, and feasible workload required for the structured project. The benefit for researchers is the identification of barriers and facilitators to disseminate effective learning interventions. This grant allowed identification of a wide range of reactions and attitudes of instructors to adopting PEL. Ultimately, higher graduation rates and STEM workforce success are intended. The broad grant outcomes were implementation, dissemination, barrier identification, and faculty training, through sharing of experiences, mentoring, and partnerships across disciplines. Dissemination and impact were accomplished through workshops conducted for engineering faculty at the international ‘Frontiers in Education’ conference, and at the three participating universities, and a workshop for STEM faculty in general conducted at the renowned E.C. Moore symposium Indianapolis. Papers and presentations at conferences included results of evaluation of the work using observations, interviews, surveys, and document review. PEL materials for three courses - thermodynamics, dynamics, and probabilistic methods - were distributed to partner institutions and are available from the principal investigator. PEL in two additional courses in the past year showed positive results in instructor and student acceptance. The work showed what project ideas worked well and that participating instructors became very enthusiastic. It showed why some faculty members were reluctant to try PEL and indicated ways to overcome perceived barriers. A doctoral student and a post-doctoral researcher were guided to innovation in teaching.
