With new technological developments and non-curricular resources and opportunities, sites of engineering work and learning have expanded. There is now a greater need to better understand how students learn engineering across different contexts, both formally designed and informal opportunities. In this paper we present a review of current literature on informal learning in engineering and outline a framework, drawn from the situated learning paradigm, for better understanding informal learning within engineering. We present findings from preliminary empirical research we have undertaken. Our review and preliminary studies provide evidence for the efficacy of informal opportunities for improving engineering learning. Finally, we discuss directions for future theoretical and empirical work.
Aditya Johri is Associate Professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology at George Mason University. Dr. Johri studies the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for learning and knowledge sharing, with a focus on cognition in informal environments. He also examine the role of ICT in supporting distributed work among globally dispersed workers and in furthering social development in emerging economies. He received the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Early Career Award in 2009. He is co-editor of the Cambridge Handbook of Engineering Education Research (CHEER) published by Cambridge University Press, New York, NY. Dr. Johri earned his Ph.D. in Learning Sciences and Technology Design at Stanford University and a B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering at Delhi College of Engineering.
Lori C. Bland, Ph.D., is a clinical associate professor of curriculum and research, and the Director of Curriculum, Center for Gifted Education at The College of William and Mary. She teaches courses in program evaluation, educational assessment, educational psychology, data-driven decision-making, and gifted education. Bland received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Virginia. Her current research focuses on assessing learning and professional outcomes in formal and informal STEM learning environments; how data are used to inform decision-making; and the uses of different research, evaluation, and assessment methods to solve educational problems.
Stephanie Kusano is an assessment specialist at the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching at University of Michigan. She has a Ph.D. in Engineering Education, M.S. in Biomedical Engineering, and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, all from Virginia Tec
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