At the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of British Columbia (UBC) a system of providing and refining time estimates for student completion of homework assignments has been introduced in two integrated second-year Engineering and Math courses. Particular attention has been given to individual homework questions. In this paper findings to date are presented after two offerings of the courses in which this system was implemented. By using student feedback from the first offering to adjust instructor time estimates, instructors were able to obtain time estimates accurate to within 5 minutes of student reported averages for 77% of ELEC211 and 64% of BMEG 220 questions. Student perception of the usefulness of time estimates was generally positive, ranging from 35% to 64% of students reporting the initiative to be either ‘useful’ or ‘very useful’ over 3 years of data. Examples drawn from both courses will be discussed to demonstrate how the collected data is being used to identify areas of further improvement to assignment questions and course structure.
{"title":"Benefits of Establishing Accurate Student Learning Time Estimates in Two Second-Year Integrated Engineering and Math Courses","authors":"N. M. Harandi, Carol P. Jaeger","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15934","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15934","url":null,"abstract":"At the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of British Columbia (UBC) a system of providing and refining time estimates for student completion of homework assignments has been introduced in two integrated second-year Engineering and Math courses. Particular attention has been given to individual homework questions. In this paper findings to date are presented after two offerings of the courses in which this system was implemented. By using student feedback from the first offering to adjust instructor time estimates, instructors were able to obtain time estimates accurate to within 5 minutes of student reported averages for 77% of ELEC211 and 64% of BMEG 220 questions. Student perception of the usefulness of time estimates was generally positive, ranging from 35% to 64% of students reporting the initiative to be either ‘useful’ or ‘very useful’ over 3 years of data. Examples drawn from both courses will be discussed to demonstrate how the collected data is being used to identify areas of further improvement to assignment questions and course structure.","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"138 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123166263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Throughout each academic semester, software engineering students are often provided with opportunities to explore open-ended project-based activities. Within the confines of specific courses, many of these explorations have resulted in interesting and impactful, partially or fully engineered software solutions. However, after student-developed solutions are explored, tested, and delivered within a classroom setting it has been the author’s experience that they often don’t progress beyond the course in which students explored and created them in. The results of this are missed opportunities for innovation as well as missed opportunities for further creative and collaborative explorations. This work-in-progress explores the following question: what could a model, process, and/or framework look like that would enable software engineering educators to create a learning environment that facilitates continued exploration, collaboration, and iteration of project-based student work beyond individual courses? This paper will describe an exploratory hybrid framework called ORhiDeCy that the author has designed and has been exploring in his courses over the last several years. This paper describes ORhiDeCy, an example of its successful use in the author’s software engineering teaching practice, collaborator and student feedback, and the author’s reflections and ideas for continued explorations.
{"title":"Facilitating Cross & Beyond Course Project-Based Software Engineering Learning Experiences","authors":"Timothy Maciag","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15838","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15838","url":null,"abstract":"Throughout each academic semester, software engineering students are often provided with opportunities to explore open-ended project-based activities. Within the confines of specific courses, many of these explorations have resulted in interesting and impactful, partially or fully engineered software solutions. However, after student-developed solutions are explored, tested, and delivered within a classroom setting it has been the author’s experience that they often don’t progress beyond the course in which students explored and created them in. The results of this are missed opportunities for innovation as well as missed opportunities for further creative and collaborative explorations. This work-in-progress explores the following question: what could a model, process, and/or framework look like that would enable software engineering educators to create a learning environment that facilitates continued exploration, collaboration, and iteration of project-based student work beyond individual courses? This paper will describe an exploratory hybrid framework called ORhiDeCy that the author has designed and has been exploring in his courses over the last several years. This paper describes ORhiDeCy, an example of its successful use in the author’s software engineering teaching practice, collaborator and student feedback, and the author’s reflections and ideas for continued explorations.","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"18 1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121034965","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
There are many challenges related to the implementation of project-based learning (PBL) in the engineering curriculum. The amount of work required by instructors to design well-posed projects is a barrier to the broad adoption of PBL. On the other hand, poorly designed PBL activities often cause frustration among students, create extra work for instructors and students alike, and generally detract from the intended learning outcomes. In this paper we introduce a unique co-curricular program that supports instructors in the creation of high-quality and high-impact PBL activities. The program is innovative as it involves and benefits multiple stakeholders including students employed through the program, faculty, industry, and the engineering curriculum. The ongoing efforts to improve the program are also described.
{"title":"Designing a co-curricular program to support project-based learning in the engineering curriculum","authors":"D. Richert, Michael Benoit","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15835","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15835","url":null,"abstract":"There are many challenges related to the implementation of project-based learning (PBL) in the engineering curriculum. The amount of work required by instructors to design well-posed projects is a barrier to the broad adoption of PBL. On the other hand, poorly designed PBL activities often cause frustration among students, create extra work for instructors and students alike, and generally detract from the intended learning outcomes. In this paper we introduce a unique co-curricular program that supports instructors in the creation of high-quality and high-impact PBL activities. The program is innovative as it involves and benefits multiple stakeholders including students employed through the program, faculty, industry, and the engineering curriculum. The ongoing efforts to improve the program are also described. ","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"132 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125125307","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Active learning classrooms (ALCs) are spaces explicitly designed to encourage collaborative learning, often through the use of technology. To learn more about teaching activity in ALCs, a study was designed to observe an engineering calculus course during the winter 2020 term. A large-scale active learning classroom was selected for classroom observation using the extended Teaching Dimensions Observation Tool (TDOP+). The TDOP+ is a descriptive classroom observation protocol based on the Teaching Dimensions Observation Tool, enhanced with elements from the Active Learning Classroom Observation Tool (ALCOT). This case study compares the class orchestration of different instructors teaching two different sections of the same course at a large, public university. Twenty class sessions were coded for this study: 10 for each section (5 for each instructor). The coded instructor behaviour was analyzed using a conceptual framework described by Nocera (i.e., a version of Activity Theory), focusing on mediating artifacts and instructor goals. While we observed differences in the frequency and duration of active learning activities and in the type and number of tools used in each class session, the results from this case study suggest that flexible space design enables instructors with the same lesson plan (and content) to create different technological frames to achieve their varied pedagogical goals, while encouraging increased adoption of new tools.
{"title":"Observing Instructor Behaviour in an Active Learning Classroom: A Case Study of an Undergraduate Calculus Course","authors":"Iflah Shahid, Allison Van Beek, S. McCahan","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15911","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15911","url":null,"abstract":"Active learning classrooms (ALCs) are spaces explicitly designed to encourage collaborative learning, often through the use of technology. To learn more about teaching activity in ALCs, a study was designed to observe an engineering calculus course during the winter 2020 term. A large-scale active learning classroom was selected for classroom observation using the extended Teaching Dimensions Observation Tool (TDOP+). The TDOP+ is a descriptive classroom observation protocol based on the Teaching Dimensions Observation Tool, enhanced with elements from the Active Learning Classroom Observation Tool (ALCOT). \u0000This case study compares the class orchestration of different instructors teaching two different sections of the same course at a large, public university. Twenty class sessions were coded for this study: 10 for each section (5 for each instructor). The coded instructor behaviour was analyzed using a conceptual framework described by Nocera (i.e., a version of Activity Theory), focusing on mediating artifacts and instructor goals. \u0000While we observed differences in the frequency and duration of active learning activities and in the type and number of tools used in each class session, the results from this case study suggest that flexible space design enables instructors with the same lesson plan (and content) to create different technological frames to achieve their varied pedagogical goals, while encouraging increased adoption of new tools. ","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117141769","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mackenzie Campbell, Cindy Rottman, Jessica Li, Andrea Chan, Dimpho Radebe, Emily Moore
Strong leadership has been required during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect public health and ease the adaptation to living “remotely.” This study explores whether and how COVID-19 has impacted engineers’ leadership identities through the lens of Relational Leadership Theory. From qualitative survey responses, leadership identity was found to be both strengthened and weakened, as well as both changed and not changed by Relational, Structural, and Personal Agency factors. The quantitative data showed that women, racialized people, and internationally trained engineers were more likely to be affected by the pandemic in some way than male, white, or Canadian trained engineers. Implications for engineering educators include the importance of teaching students about structural barriers to leadership and ways to support the leadership development of students who are returning to in-person learning with transformed leadership identities.
{"title":"Leaders in Isolation: Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Engineers’ Leadership Identities","authors":"Mackenzie Campbell, Cindy Rottman, Jessica Li, Andrea Chan, Dimpho Radebe, Emily Moore","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15914","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15914","url":null,"abstract":"Strong leadership has been required during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect public health and ease the adaptation to living “remotely.” This study explores whether and how COVID-19 has impacted engineers’ leadership identities through the lens of Relational Leadership Theory. From qualitative survey responses, leadership identity was found to be both strengthened and weakened, as well as both changed and not changed by Relational, Structural, and Personal Agency factors. The quantitative data showed that women, racialized people, and internationally trained engineers were more likely to be affected by the pandemic in some way than male, white, or Canadian trained engineers. Implications for engineering educators include the importance of teaching students about structural barriers to leadership and ways to support the leadership development of students who are returning to in-person learning with transformed leadership identities.","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"74 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122012980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Menatalla Ahmed, A. Mowafy, Lina Yañez Jaramillo, Marnie V. Jamieson
This paper introduces a methodology to investigate the impact of utilizing multilayered peer learning pedagogical strategies to integrate the Canadian Engineering Grand Challenges into a large first-year engineering design course. The Canadian Engineering Grand Challenges (CEGC) evolved from the seventeen UN sustainable development goals (UNSDG). The CEGC focus on achieving access to safe water; resilient infrastructure; sustainable energy, industry, and cities; and inclusive STEM education. The incorporation of the CEGC into higher education can be viewed as a tool to empower students to understand the significance of engineering in society with respect to the achievement of the UNSDG. Consequently, their inclusion in the first-year engineering education curriculum serves to engage students with urgent and complex societal problems and the socio-contextual impact of engineering decisions and designs. Peer learning has regularly been applied as an active learning strategy, often with smaller class sizes. A multilayered peer learning strategy was implemented to engage students with the CEGC in a large class of ~1100 students. This strategy is reviewed with respect to delivery logistics and observed efficacy.
{"title":"Curriculum Integration of the Canadian Engineering Grand Challenges in a First-year Undergraduate Design Course Using Multi-layered Peer Learning: A Methodology","authors":"Menatalla Ahmed, A. Mowafy, Lina Yañez Jaramillo, Marnie V. Jamieson","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15957","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15957","url":null,"abstract":"This paper introduces a methodology to investigate the impact of utilizing multilayered peer learning pedagogical strategies to integrate the Canadian Engineering Grand Challenges into a large first-year engineering design course. The Canadian Engineering Grand Challenges (CEGC) evolved from the seventeen UN sustainable development goals (UNSDG). The CEGC focus on achieving access to safe water; resilient infrastructure; sustainable energy, industry, and cities; and inclusive STEM education. The incorporation of the CEGC into higher education can be viewed as a tool to empower students to understand the significance of engineering in society with respect to the achievement of the UNSDG. Consequently, their inclusion in the first-year engineering education curriculum serves to engage students with urgent and complex societal problems and the socio-contextual impact of engineering decisions and designs. Peer learning has regularly been applied as an active learning strategy, often with smaller class sizes. A multilayered peer learning strategy was implemented to engage students with the CEGC in a large class of ~1100 students. This strategy is reviewed with respect to delivery logistics and observed efficacy.","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"10 1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116932886","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The new educational imperative is to empower students to manage their own learning in a variety of contexts throughout their lifetimes. This is particularly true for fields that rely on fast-changing technology, like engineering. As such, lifelong learning is gaining increased recognition. This paper describes a holistic framework for addressing lifelong learning in undergraduate engineering programs. The authors draw on existing literature to support this novel framework which consists of: 1) course design that intentionally aligns lifelong learning outcomes, teaching strategies, and assessment methods, 2) experiential learning opportunities that scaffold students’ development of lifelong learning in authentic and relevant ways, 3) instructor commitment to their own lifelong learning, and 4) conceptualization of lifelong learning as an overarching graduate attribute that can be incorporated alongside the others.
{"title":"Systems Theory Framework for Embedding Lifelong Learning Holistically in Undergraduate Engineering Education","authors":"Amanda Saxe, Rehab Mahmoud, N. Razavinia","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15885","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15885","url":null,"abstract":"The new educational imperative is to empower students to manage their own learning in a variety of contexts throughout their lifetimes. This is particularly true for fields that rely on fast-changing technology, like engineering. As such, lifelong learning is gaining increased recognition. This paper describes a holistic framework for addressing lifelong learning in undergraduate engineering programs. The authors draw on existing literature to support this novel framework which consists of: 1) course design that intentionally aligns lifelong learning outcomes, teaching strategies, and assessment methods, 2) experiential learning opportunities that scaffold students’ development of lifelong learning in authentic and relevant ways, 3) instructor commitment to their own lifelong learning, and 4) conceptualization of lifelong learning as an overarching graduate attribute that can be incorporated alongside the others.","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127035331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Canadian engineers are expected to uphold high ethical standards as part of their responsibility to the profession and society. This expectation is echoed in the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) graduate attributes and in the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer [1], [2]. Part of upholding high ethical standards as an engineer involves the essential skill of being able to detect and identify ethical issues. This refers to one’s Ethical Sensitivity (ES), which is often overlooked in Engineering Ethics Education (EEE) currently. EEE in North America primarily focuses on the action plans and justifications developed to address presented ethical dilemmas, not on how to identify ethical dilemmas. This then leads to the question, are students’ ES skills being developed over the course of their undergraduate career? While there is some existing research on ethical decision-making and the factors that influence it, there is markedly less research on ES, less on ES assessment, and even less on ES assessment in engineering students. Additionally, the majority of ES assessment tools currently used are either not designed to specifically assess ES, are not designed for engineering, and/or cue the participant in some way to the ethical dilemmas presented, which could misrepresent the participant’s actual ES abilities. This research will investigate current literature on ethical sensitivity and will also describe a research method to assess ES development in undergraduate engineering students. The focus of this paper will be on a pilot study currently in progress along with the next steps for this research. These results can provide insight to educators, ideally resulting in more effective teaching practices, and ultimately creating more ethically conscious engineering graduates.
{"title":"Assessing Ethical Sensitivity Development in Undergraduate Engineering Students","authors":"A. Thoo, D. Strong","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15923","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15923","url":null,"abstract":"Canadian engineers are expected to uphold high ethical standards as part of their responsibility to the profession and society. This expectation is echoed in the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) graduate attributes and in the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer [1], [2]. Part of upholding high ethical standards as an engineer involves the essential skill of being able to detect and identify ethical issues. This refers to one’s Ethical Sensitivity (ES), which is often overlooked in Engineering Ethics Education (EEE) currently. EEE in North America primarily focuses on the action plans and justifications developed to address presented ethical dilemmas, not on how to identify ethical dilemmas. This then leads to the question, are students’ ES skills being developed over the course of their undergraduate career? While there is some existing research on ethical decision-making and the factors that influence it, there is markedly less research on ES, less on ES assessment, and even less on ES assessment in engineering students. Additionally, the majority of ES assessment tools currently used are either not designed to specifically assess ES, are not designed for engineering, and/or cue the participant in some way to the ethical dilemmas presented, which could misrepresent the participant’s actual ES abilities.\u0000This research will investigate current literature on ethical sensitivity and will also describe a research method to assess ES development in undergraduate engineering students. The focus of this paper will be on a pilot study currently in progress along with the next steps for this research. These results can provide insight to educators, ideally resulting in more effective teaching practices, and ultimately creating more ethically conscious engineering graduates.","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130190887","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jannik Eikenaar, Natalie Forssman, G. Webb, L. Patterson, A. Eisenstein
Following the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other guiding documents, engineering schools in Canada have begun the work of Indigenous reconciliation by helping students develop competencies relevant to engineering study, research, and practice. In our School, a curricular project has been implemented in the undergraduate program: a key element is the Indigenous Community Consultation Project (ICCP) delivered through a required communication course. Through a case study approach, students learn intercultural communication skills in the specific context of preparing to work with Indigenous communities in Canada. In developing and delivering the ICCP, course instructors are also empowered to take part in relevant professional development initiatives and to grow their pedagogical practices. We are now studying the impact of the ICCP on students’ learning and plan to share results in future publications.
{"title":"Preparing Engineering Students for their Professional Obligations for Meaningful Engagement with Indigenous Communities in Canada","authors":"Jannik Eikenaar, Natalie Forssman, G. Webb, L. Patterson, A. Eisenstein","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15862","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15862","url":null,"abstract":"Following the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other guiding documents, engineering schools in Canada have begun the work of Indigenous reconciliation by helping students develop competencies relevant to engineering study, research, and practice. In our School, a curricular project has been implemented in the undergraduate program: a key element is the Indigenous Community Consultation Project (ICCP) delivered through a required communication course. Through a case study approach, students learn intercultural communication skills in the specific context of preparing to work with Indigenous communities in Canada. In developing and delivering the ICCP, course instructors are also empowered to take part in relevant professional development initiatives and to grow their pedagogical practices. We are now studying the impact of the ICCP on students’ learning and plan to share results in future publications.","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131828449","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maryam Moridnejad, Wendy H. Fox-Turnbull, P. Docherty
To find solutions to complex problems, engineering practice needs to adapt and embrace diverse thinking. The lack of female participation in engineering fields, in the western world including New Zealand, at the tertiary education level (post secondary/high school level e.g., university, polytechnic, etc.) has been a barrier for diversity, equity and innovation in both the industry and academic professions. Non-diverse professions miss out valuable contributions and new ways of approaching problems that a varied workforce brings. New Zealand needs to mitigate the gender bias to ensure a diversity of skills and knowledge in the engineering profession is fostered. This paper presents findings from three studies as part of a larger research project aimed at investigating influencing factors that contribute to female participation in engineering studies at the tertiary level in New Zealand. In the three studies researchers explored student teachers, current polytechnic engineering students and high school students’ perceptions, experiences, and influences related to engineering. The first study investigated future teachers of children aged 11-13 years perceptions of engineering and engineers. The second study investigated the impacts and influences that led domestic and international female engineering students choose the Civil Engineering programme at Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec). The third study investigated the impacts and influences that led to Year 12 and 13 students to enrol in a trades engineering related course at Wintec. The three completed studies deployed qualitative research methods using focus group and individual interviews. The first study found that participants held very strong stereotypical views about who engineers are and described them as: white, male, middle-aged, good at maths and science who may be antisocial, and that they design and build stuff while getting dirty. The second study found that barriers to selection of engineering for women include the school system; lack of career and subject choice guidance available to students at school, lack of promotion of the profession, and society’s perception of engineers as being masculine. The third study found that young women were exposed to strong stereotypical thinking and behaviours throughout their lives that could potentially steer them away from a career in engineering. Other barriers included a lack of timely, accurate career advice, outdated school facilities and inauthentic enactment of curriculum. However, exposure to positive role models and strong support networks, along with developing self-efficacy, assisted them to overcome these barriers enabling them to explore engineering as a potential career pathway. Given the strong stereotypical views about engineering from future teachers, incorrect perceptions about engineering in society and lack of engineering career and subject choice guidance available to students at school, it is not surprising that the
{"title":"Influencing Factors Impacting Women to select Engineering- A Range of Perspectives","authors":"Maryam Moridnejad, Wendy H. Fox-Turnbull, P. Docherty","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15847","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15847","url":null,"abstract":"To find solutions to complex problems, engineering practice needs to adapt and embrace diverse thinking. The lack of female participation in engineering fields, in the western world including New Zealand, at the tertiary education level (post secondary/high school level e.g., university, polytechnic, etc.) has been a barrier for diversity, equity and innovation in both the industry and academic professions. Non-diverse professions miss out valuable contributions and new ways of approaching problems that a varied workforce brings. New Zealand needs to mitigate the gender bias to ensure a diversity of skills and knowledge in the engineering profession is fostered. This paper presents findings from three studies as part of a larger research project aimed at investigating influencing factors that contribute to female participation in engineering studies at the tertiary level in New Zealand. In the three studies researchers explored student teachers, current polytechnic engineering students and high school students’ perceptions, experiences, and influences related to engineering. \u0000The first study investigated future teachers of children aged 11-13 years perceptions of engineering and engineers. The second study investigated the impacts and influences that led domestic and international female engineering students choose the Civil Engineering programme at Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec). The third study investigated the impacts and influences that led to Year 12 and 13 students to enrol in a trades engineering related course at Wintec. The three completed studies deployed qualitative research methods using focus group and individual interviews. \u0000The first study found that participants held very strong stereotypical views about who engineers are and described them as: white, male, middle-aged, good at maths and science who may be antisocial, and that they design and build stuff while getting dirty. The second study found that barriers to selection of engineering for women include the school system; lack of career and subject choice guidance available to students at school, lack of promotion of the profession, and society’s perception of engineers as being masculine. The third study found that young women were exposed to strong stereotypical thinking and behaviours throughout their lives that could potentially steer them away from a career in engineering. Other barriers included a lack of timely, accurate career advice, outdated school facilities and inauthentic enactment of curriculum. However, exposure to positive role models and strong support networks, along with developing self-efficacy, assisted them to overcome these barriers enabling them to explore engineering as a potential career pathway. \u0000Given the strong stereotypical views about engineering from future teachers, incorrect perceptions about engineering in society and lack of engineering career and subject choice guidance available to students at school, it is not surprising that the","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131681362","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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