Jennifer DeBoer

Changing “Course” Reconceptualizing Educational Variables for Massive Open Online Courses

In massive open online courses (MOOCs), low barriers to registration attract large numbers of students with diverse interests and backgrounds, and student use of course content is asynchronous and unconstrained. The authors argue that MOOC data are not only plentiful and different in kind but require reconceptualization—new educational variables or different interpretations of existing variables. The authors illustrate this by demonstrating the inadequacy or insufficiency of conventional interpretations of four variables for quantitative analysis and reporting: enrollment, participation, curriculum, and achievement. Drawing from 230 million clicks from 154,763 registrants for a prototypical MOOC offering in 2012, the authors present new approaches to describing and understanding user behavior in this emerging educational context.

Tracking progress: predictors of students' weekly achievement during a circuits and electronics MOOC

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) provide learning materials and automated assessments for large numbers of virtual users. Because every interaction is recorded, we can longitudinally model performance over the course of the class. We create a panel model of achievement in an early MOOC to estimate within- and between-user differences. In this study, we hope to contribute to HCI literature by, first, applying quasi-experimental methods to identify behaviors that may support student learning in a virtual environment, and, second, by using a panel model that takes into account the longitudinal, dynamic nature of a multiple-week class.

Student Involvement as a Vehicle for Empowerment: A Case Study of the Student Platform for Engineering Education Development.

This paper examines the mission, structure and outputs of one organisation, the Student Platform for Engineering Education Development (SPEED), as a case study for how student-led organisations can use student involvement to promote and sustain student self-efficacy in an academic field. SPEED attracts young people to engineering through student participation in engineering education (EE). SPEED is a global, non-profit student organisation that functions as an interdisciplinary network to diversify dialogue, stimulate change and impact the development of EE and its effect on society. SPEED is directly attracting young people to engineering in various ways: the organisation of its keynote event, the Global Student Forum; facilitating interactions between globally minded, socially inclined engineers with aspirations to change the world; and through the global dissemination of SPEEDs work and practices through broad and relevant channels. Short-term outcomes are highlighted here. This case study can serve as a model for student engagement and involvement in other disciplines.

Centralization and Decentralization in American Education Policy

This issue examines the trend toward centralization in American education policy over the last century through a variety of lenses. The overall picture that emerges is one of a continuous tug-of-war, with national and local policymakers stumbling together toward incrementally more standardized and centralized policies. There is a center of power that increasingly wants to dictate even the minutiae of research methods but cannot immediately manage the oversight and regulation of a large, complex, piecemeal system of education. The diversity of needs, philosophies, and opportunities overwhelms this system. Local policymakers are approaching the use of a common language from different corners of the country, but they have historically been so separated that they continue to grapple with this newfound integration.

Factors affecting the educational and occupational trajectories of women in engineering in five comparative national settings

Issues surrounding womens participation in engineering have confounded policymakers around the globe for a number of years. While substantial progress has been documented for women in engineering and in computing and information technology in the Middle East, the recruitment and retention of women in these fields continue to face substantial challenges. The primary objective of our new multi-site case study is to identify the factors underlying and contributing to the educational and occupational trajectories of women in engineering and computing in Jordan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the US. These countries vary substantially in their economic, educational, cultural, historical, legal, geographic, and political contexts AND in womens engineering and computing representation. Perhaps most importantly, they differ in their levels of prosperity, the democratization of their political and social institutions, and in the prevailing cultural understandings of engineering and computing, including its gender labeling. Our research questions are: (1) What motivates womens choice of engineering or computing as an educational/occupational path? (2) How do women perceive professionals in these fields and the work they do? (3) What societal, cultural, legal, and policy factors are perceived to support or constrain womens participation in engineering or computing fields of study and occupations? (4) What common themes emerge in different national sites and for women at different stages of study or professional practice? (5) What can we learn from one another? In addition to these general research questions, our collaborating teams in each of the five case study contexts (Jordan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and the USA) have created context-specific questions based on relevant literature and national metrics for each respective site. Our collaborators in Saudi Arabia have developed a set of context-specific research questions related to computing as well, which has enjoyed strong female participation in that nation. We will include Saudis first female engineering program, opened in 2011, in the second phase of our study when its first cohort has graduated. In this paper, we describe general and country-specific research questions and solicit input from diverse stakeholders in the IFEES community on the relevance, validity, and scope of these questions. By eliciting varied and broad perspectives, the research questions and resulting interview protocol for this study will gather rich qualitative data and will encourage buy in from the IFEES community for scale up survey work during our next phase.

Twentieth-Century American Education Reform in the Global Context

As detailed in the articles throughout this issue, the U.S. education system experienced a number of structural developments throughout the 20th century. These changes served to shift the landscape of decision-making authority in multiple areas of primary and secondary schooling. This article provides an international perspective on the changes undergone by the American system, painting a broad picture of where the trends in the United States’ educational system fit within changes worldwide. To best understand the possible implications of changes in the United States, I describe trends in educational centralization and decentralization in other nations, placing the American changes in a broader context shedding light on where education in the United States could be headed.

Perspectives on pedagogical change: instructor and student experiences of a newly implemented undergraduate engineering dynamics curriculum

ABSTRACT Engineering education has been slow to adopt research-based educational innovations. Few prior works on such adoption have investigated the combined classroom experiences of instructors and students when such innovations are being implemented. Therefore, this work focuses on the lived experiences of an instructor and her students when adopting an active, blended, and collaborative learning environment, known as Freeform, in a second-year dynamics course. Weekly reflections from the instructor were processed alongside student interviews using Thematic Analysis to discern prominent themes in their perspectives for comparison and discussion. The results indicate that the instructor navigated internal tensions between her previous instructional preferences and the philosophy and resources of Freeform. Similarly, students had to adapt to this new philosophy and suite of resources that were uncommon for their institution. Ultimately, this work highlights the contextual natures of teaching and learning, and how situational factors can influence educational innovation.

Hands-on engagement online: using a randomised control trial to estimate the impact of an at-home lab kit on student attitudes and achievement in a MOOC

ABSTRACT A shortcoming of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is the lack of substantive integration of hands-on activities into online classrooms. We conducted a randomised control trial (RCT) in a MOOC where we sent the treatment group at-home lab kits with which they could perform experiments in their own homes. In our intervention research, we found that, at the end of the course, students in the treatment group had significantly higher exam scores and levels of self-efficacy to perform in the topic area than their control group counterparts. Students’ growth in self-concept was not significantly different. Findings have implications for distance courses in engineering and other science, technology, engineering, and math areas that traditionally have laboratory components. Furthermore, our findings illustrate the potential amplifying effect of this learning environment configuration for engineering instructors. Finally, this study illustrates how the dispersed nature of MOOCs facilitates RCTs and a recursive process linking theory and practice.

Leveraging Professional Networks for an Equitable, Smart Society - A Case Study on the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies

Professional networks provide for the rapid exchange of important information, the facilitation of action around important tasks, and other activities that could lead to the promotion of equitable, smart societies. The field of engineering education has strongly relied on professional networks for growth as an academic field as well as for dissemination of scholarly findings and concrete impact. The International Federation on Engineering Education Societies (IFEES) serves as a global professional society for the field of engineering education and has worked to enhance global engineering education by leveraging its networks of engineering educators and partners. In its mission to lead global engineering education into the 21st century, IFEES has established strategic branches of actors and initiatives within its network to target global objectives: Top Down Academic Support, Capacity Building, Bottom-Up academic support [student involvement], and Cross-Sector Relations. IFEES acts a scholarly network and has developed a strategic plan in which linking actors to operate as a whole can provide return greater than the sum of its parts. These include best practices for academic leaders via the Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC), capacity building with the International Institute for Developing Engineering Academics (IIDEA), student engagement with the Student Platform for Engineering Education Development (SPEED). These initiatives and partnerships are presented to illustrate how the IFEES network is leveraged to provide for success within the global engineering community.

Perspectives on Engineering Education Quality in Tunisia After 50 Years of Statehood

Background and Purpose More than 50 years after independence, engineering education (EE) in Tunisia continues to evolve. In the past 20 years, the structure of the engineering diploma has changed drastically. This chapter investigates recent developments and stakeholder perspectives on the changes that have been made to the 5-year engineering degree. The education of Tunisian engineers is a strict and specific path, replete with exams and nationally standardized requirements. The system retains many characteristics of its French heritage, but it is struggling to adapt itself to Tunisia’s changing demographics and socioeconomic needs.