The majority of engineering educators receive little or no training before they begin teaching. Often the models of learning they have are based on a tabula rasa view of students’ minds resulting in an approach that is primarily that of transmitting information. Faculty developers often have to persuade educators away from such views. Faculty developers would be helped if they knew that the experienced educators with whom they have to deal had had substantial initial training. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the determinants of such initial training.
Since part of the raison d’ȇtre of Schools of Education is to provide initial training it is useful to begin this discussion from their perspective. Two approaches may be distinguished. The first relies heavily on experience in the classroom and is focused on teaching. The second focuses more generally on all aspects of the educational process. Eric Hoyle has distinguished between restricted and extended professionalism. It may be argued that the course that focuses on technique alone will encourage restricted professional, a professionalism that governments who control education encourage. It is supportive of information giving models. In contrast a courses that is focused on extended professionalism will encourage participants to take a broad view of the educator’s role.
A description will be given of attempts by the authors to develop a program that meets the requirements of extended professionalism. This approach is supported by the fact that research in higher education on effective institutions shows that improvements in the quality of student learning arise as much from the role the educator takes within the institution in regard to students as they do from attention to technique. To achieve that goal educators have to acquire defensible philosophies and theories of learning.
Elizabeth leads the Engineering Management and Statistics competencies at Iron Range Engineering, an ABET-accredited project-based engineering education program of Minnesota State University, Mankato. She enjoys helping student engineers develop entrepreneurial mindsets through project-based and experiential learning. Her research interests include improving engineering education through faculty development, game-based learning, and reflection. Elizabeth was a Certified Public Accountant and Controller in a manufacturing company; her Ph.D. in Organization and Management is from Capella University, Minneapolis. Elizabeth and her husband have a photography business in northern Minnesota.
Mani Mina is with the department of Industrial Design and Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University. He has been working on better understanding of students' learning and aspects of technological and engineering philosophy and literacy. In particular how such literacy and competency are reflected in curricular and student activities. His interests also include Design and Engineering, the human side of engineering, new ways of teaching engineering in particular Electromagnetism and other classes that are mathematically driven. His research and activities also include on avenues to connect Product Design and Engineering Education in a synergetic way.
John Heywood is professorial Fellow Emeritus of Trinity College Dublin- The University of Dublin. he is a Fellow of ASEE and Life Fellow of IEEE. he is an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Ireland. He has special interest in education for the professions and the role of professions in society, and the work of ASEE's TELPhE division from whom he has received a best paper and meritorious service awards. He is author of Engineering Education. Research and Development in Curriculum and Instruction which received an outstanding research publication award from the Division for the Professions of the American educational Research Association. He is also author of The Assessment of Learning in Engineering Education: Practice and Policy; The Human Side of Engineering, and Empowering Professional Teaching in Engineering
http://orcid.org/https://0000-0002-5184-4743
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)
[biography]
Arnold Pears received his BSc(Hons) in 1986 and PhD in 1994, both
from La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. He is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Learning in Engineering Sciences at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. Previous positions as lecturer and senior lecturer at La Trobe
University between 1991 and 1998. In 1999 he was appointed senior lecturer at
Uppsala University, Sweden. He was awarded the Uppsala University Pedagogy
Prize in 2008, and inducted as Professor of Computing
Education Research in 2017. He has served on the Uppsala University Academic Senate,
as Programme Director for the IT Engineering programme,
selection committee for the Uppsala University Pedgogy prize
and the educational advisory board of the
Faculty of Technology and Natural Sciences.
He has a strong interest in teaching and
learning research in computer science and engineering,
Professor Pears has published more than 40 journal articles,
and is well known as a computing And engineering education
researcher through his professional activities in the ACM, and IEEE.
Other appointments include Board of Governors of the IEEE Computer
Society, steering committee of the Frontiers in Education Conference and as Chair of
the Special Technical Community (STC) for Education.
He is a Director of CeTUSS (The Swedish National Center for
Pedagogical Development of Technology Education in a Societal and
Student Oriented Context, www.cetuss.se) and the IEEE Education Society Nordic
Chapter.
Are you a researcher? Would you like to cite this paper? Visit the ASEE document repository at peer.asee.org for more tools and easy citations.