RCEE 2016 Keynote: Transformation in Engineering Education
We welcome you to our keynote session that will be delivered by a renowned speaker in engineering education, Professor Dr. Jeffrey E. Froyd.
Abstract
Engineering Education Practice: What Needs to Change?
Extensive research has developed teaching approaches to improve student learning and multiple evaluation studies, both individual and synthetic (e.g., meta-analysis), have concluded that evidence-based teaching approaches can improve student learning when compared to traditional lecture. Even though studies have shown that engineering faculty members are aware of evidence-based teaching approaches and studies supporting their efficacy, an overwhelming majority of engineering faculty members have not adopted these approaches nor are they likely to in the near future. To change this trend, changes are needed in one or more of the following four areas.
- The culture needs to change. In conversations about cultural change greater clarity is needed with respect to at least three things: (i) What is meant when the term culture is used? (ii) What culture is envisioned when calls for culture change are issued? and (iii) What strategies can be used to bring about cultural change?
- Conversations about teaching need to change. More emphasis needs to be placed on desired student learning before conversation shifts to how teaching should be done.
- Propagations plans for promoting adoption of instructional strategies and materials need to change. Shifts are needed from strategies focused on increasing awareness to strategies focused on increasing adoption.
- Research on faculty development is needed. What organizational structures promote faculty development? What approaches (e.g., lectures, workshops, learning communities, communities of practice, individual consultations, etc.) promote change in teaching practices? How will effectiveness of faculty development strategies be evaluated? These and other questions need to be addressed to provide research on which future faculty development programs can be designed.
The presentation will address each of the four areas.
Invited Speaker’s Biodata
Jeffrey E. Froyd, TEES Research Professor
Engineering Academic and Student Affairs
Dwight Look College of Engineering
Texas A&M University
Dr. Jeffrey E. Froyd is a TEES Research Professor in the Office of Engineering Academic and Student Affairs at Texas A&M University, College Station. He received the B.S. degree in mathematics from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. He was an Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. At Rose-Hulman, he co-created the Integrated, First-Year Curriculum in Science, Engineering and Mathematics, which was recognized in 1997 with a Hesburgh Award Certificate of Excellence.
He served as Project Director for a National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Education Coalition in which six institutions systematically renewed, assessed, and institutionalized innovative, integrated undergraduate engineering curricula. He has authored over 70 journal articles and conference papers and offered over 30 workshops on faculty development, curricular change processes, curriculum redesign, and assessment. He has served as a program co-chair for three Frontiers in Education Conferences and the general chair for the 2009 conference. He also serves on the IEEE Curricula and Pedagogy Committee, which is part of the University Resources Committee, which is part of the Educational Activities Board.
Prof. Froyd is a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), an ABET Program Evaluator, the Editor-in-Chief for the IEEE Transactions on Education, a Senior Associate Editor for the Journal of Engineering Education, and an Associate Editor for the International Journal of STEM Education.