Debra Fowler

Frameworks for faculty development

Faculty development is pivotal to improvement in engineering education. Faculty perceptions of these efforts as well as their attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions about learning and teaching, in addition to their experience and operational confidence regarding implementation of innovative approaches all impact translation of innovative approaches to actual classroom practice. Improvement efforts can be derailed due to faculty mental models that result in misunderstanding and/or misapplication of new content and pedagogy. Therefore, more understanding about the nature of faculty development activities is a necessary co-requisite for efforts to improve engineering education. The MESSAGE framework applies concepts from learning theory approaches to faculty development and offers structural factors to consider in developing learning activities for faculty members. The goal of this paper is to provide a framework for non-traditional approaches to faculty development as well as traditional approaches such as workshops and individual consultations and to explore these approaches within the MESSAGE framework

A Cross-Case Analysis of the Use of Web-Based ePortfolios in Higher Education.

Higher education is mandated to document student learning outcomes and ePortfolios have been offered as a panacea for assessment, evaluation, and accreditation. However, the student voice regarding the value students construct from building and utilizing web-based electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) in higher education has been sparse or non-existent in a number of disciplines. In the current study, a total of 459 undergraduate and graduate students’ perceptions were collected through structured surveys, reflective journals, emails, and reflection papers. This mixed methods study reviews the historical foundations of contemporary web-based ePortfolios within a constructivist theoretical frame and presents four case studies from two universities in southwest USA from four disciplines (education, industrial technology, chemical engineering, and human resource development). A compilation of research findings from the four case studies yielded 27 categories that were later condensed through cross-case analysis resulting in five emerging themes: career-focused, big picture of learning, social and visual learning, enablers of ePortfolios, and barriers of ePortfolios. Each theme is discussed and illuminated by extracts of student work and supported by relevant literature. Recommendations include greater communication with students regarding expectations and requirements of the ePortfolio, providing student and faculty training on web-based ePortfolios, and forming a community of practice.

Data-driven curriculum redesign in civil engineering

Fundamental concept gaps in math, science, and physics, as well as other gaps students and faculty perceive in the curriculum, can have crucial implications for faculty teaching courses and for students progressing through a civil engineering program. Faculty noted anecdotally that students were getting midway through the curriculum and having extreme difficulty with concepts in certain courses. A data gathering process was designed to identify the perceived concept gaps as well as the intentional redundancies, and this paper presents the gathered data and explains their influence on proposed changes to the curriculum. The data collection included: faculty and student surveys regarding conceptual gaps, student helpdesk survey, student pre-requisite survey, student supplemental resource analysis, and student focus groups as senior exit interviews. Survey formats were both qualitative and quantitative. Program learning outcomes were clarified and performance criteria defined for each outcome at several developmental levels. Conclusions and implications for civil engineering curriculum redesign and curriculum design in general are discussed.

Curriculum redesign: Concurrently addressing content mastery and development of cognitive abilities

Design or redesign of undergraduate engineering curricula is a complex process. Curriculum redesign addresses both development of content mastery as well as development of cognitive abilities that are common across engineering disciplines. Concurrently addressing learning outcomes in both cognitive ability and content mastery presents a substantial challenge for faculty curriculum committees. This paper outlines a process and offers tools to facilitate curriculum redesign for student learning.

Preparing veterinary students for entry-level practice by identifying new graduate outcomes

751 F colleges of veterinary medicine in the United States, accreditation by the AVMA Council on Education (COE) is a critical requirement with important implications for both the institution and its students. Certain federal loan programs, for instance, are available only to students attending accredited colleges, and many state licensing boards list graduation from a COE-accredited institution as a prerequisite for licensure. More broadly, however, accreditation by the COE ensures that colleges meet accepted standards of quality and are committed to the concept of continuous improvement. According to the AVMA, one of the most important purposes of accreditation is to ensure that “graduates have achieved specified learning goals and are prepared to begin professional practice.” At the very core of this is identifying the knowledge, skills, and attributes required for new graduates to succeed in entry-level positions in the veterinary profession. At the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (TAMU), faculty and administrators have recently developed a set of new graduate outcomes that define the specific knowledge, skills, and attributes graduates of the veterinary program would be expected to possess at the time of graduation and be able to employ the first day of practice. Once created, the new graduate outcomes became the framework for the college’s curriculum and served as the foundation for subsequent curriculum reviews, enabling the college to identify gaps and deficiencies in the curriculum and objectively evaluate, streamline, and optimize the teaching and learning process. With the new graduate outcomes framework in place, TAMU is able to focus its efforts on strengthPreparing veterinary students for entry-level practice by identifying new graduate outcomes

Curriculum Redesign in Veterinary Medicine: Part II

Curricular review is considered a necessary component for growth and enhancement of academic programs and requires time, energy, creativity, and persistence from both faculty and administration. At Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (TAMU), the faculty and administration partnered with the universitys Center for Teaching Excellence to create a faculty-driven, data-enhanced curricular redesign process. The 8-step process begins with the formation of a dedicated faculty curriculum design team to drive the redesign process and to support the college curriculum committee. The next steps include defining graduate outcomes and mapping the current curriculum to identify gaps and redundancies across the curriculum. Data are collected from internal and external stakeholders including veterinary students, faculty, alumni, and employers of graduates. Data collected through curriculum mapping and stakeholder engagement substantiate the curriculum redesign. The guidelines, supporting documents, and 8-step process developed at TAMU are provided to assist other veterinary schools in successful curricular redesign. This is the first of a two-part report that provides the background, context, and description of the process for charting the course for curricular change. The process involves defining expected learning outcomes for new graduates, conducting a curriculum mapping exercise, and collecting stakeholder data for curricular evaluation (steps 1-4). The second part of the report describes the development of rubrics that were applied to the graduate learning outcomes (steps 5-8) and engagement of faculty during the implementation phases of data-driven curriculum change.

The Graduate Teaching Academy: Implementing graduate learning communities

The graduate teaching academy at Texas A&M University has provided a graduate student learning community across all academic disciplines focused on preparing students for future faculty positions. PhD candidates in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics constitute the majority of program participants. Participation statistics and surveys during the 2005, 2006, and 2007 academic years indicate that program participation has doubled and student retention has improved based on the establishment of learning community groups led by experienced graduate students in the early stages of each program cycle. Senior graduate students in the second level learning community plan, implement, and assess the overall program as an academic unit and participate in center for teaching excellence programs, courses offered through the center for the integration of research, teaching, and learning network, and teaching as research projects with faculty mentors.