Kacey Beddoes

Identifying Opportunities for Collaborations in International Engineering Education Research on Problem- and Project-based Learning

We report on the results of a study to examine the global state of engineering education research on problem- and project-based learning (PBL). This paper has two major aims. First, we analyze a large collection of conference papers and journal articles to report on research trends in PBL, including in specifi c, leading countries. Second, based upon our analysis as well as a literature review of meta-analyses/syntheses of PBL literature, we propose a theoretical model for conceptualizing international research collaborations. Based on this model, we make recommendations for future initiatives, including multinational collaborations for research on PBL in engineering education.

‘Different people have different priorities’: work–family balance, gender, and the discourse of choice

This paper contributes new perspectives on the underrepresentation of female faculty in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines by identifying how faculty themselves conceptualize or make sense of the problem. We conducted in-depth interviews with 19 STEM faculty members. The interviews were employed to identify discourses faculty engage in their explanations for underrepresentation. Work–family balance emerged as the leading theme, with participants identifying many challenges thereto. As participants discussed work–family balance, they engaged a discourse of choice to frame the challenges faced by female faculty members in particular. We relate the discourse of choice to the persistence of gender inequalities in STEM departments.

Advancing global capacity for engineering education research: relating research to practice, policy and industry

Findings are presented from a series of moderated interactive sessions held at international engineering education conferences between July 2007 and December 2008, where attendees discussed the current state and future trajectory of engineering education research. More specifically, this study examines how session attendees described: (1) the relationship between engineering education research and educational practice, policy considerations and industry; (2) important stakeholders, mechanisms/strategies and challenges for relating research to practice, policy and industry. Thematic analysis and open coding procedures were used to analyse the data collected at each session. In summary, frequent discussion and widespread consensus was observed about the need to relate engineering education research to the practice of engineering teaching. Discussions about relating research to policy and industry remain formative, but appear to be gaining traction. The paper concludes by proposing a cyclic model to better conceptualise how engineering education research can be strategically related to practice, profession and industry across diverse local and global contexts.

Feminist Scholarship in Engineering Education: Challenges and Tensions

This article examines the current state of feminism in the emerging field of engineering education and identifies barriers, challenges, and tensions experienced by scholars and educators who have been involved with feminist engineering education initiatives. Using data from fifteen in-depth interviews, I identified seven categories of barriers, challenges, and tensions. The categories were: engineering knowledge, culture, and training; engineering education as an emerging research field; publishing; institutional constraints; productive, non-alienating critique and the feminist label; legitimacy and risk; and sustainability. The findings reveal similarities with other academic fields and provide support for prior findings on factors that inhibit the growth of feminism within a field. The article offers a base of knowledge for those interested in further developing feminist projects, those interested in the history of engineering education, and those interested in the history of feminism in academic fields.

Mapping international perspectives on gender in engineering education research

In this paper, we analyze the approximately 60 publications concerned with women and/or gender from our much larger database of engineering education conference papers and journal articles. We focus on four regions that had at least two publications: North America, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East. In our review of these publications, we focus on geographic and disciplinary distribution of the researchers, topics and contexts represented, and the methods used. We found much overlap between regions, but also that certain topics, methods and contexts are more heavily represented in some regions than others. Regional variations as well as theoretical foundations are discussed here, and will be further analyzed in future work. Finally, we suggest that international research collaborations on gender would benefit from a theory-oriented model of collaboration.

Methodology discourses as boundary work in the construction of engineering education

Engineering education research is a new field that emerged in the social sciences over the past 10 years. This analysis of engineering education research demonstrates that methodology discourses have played a central role in the construction and development of the field of engineering education, and that they have done so primarily through boundary work. This article thus contributes to science and technology studies literature by examining the role of methodology discourses in an emerging social science field. I begin with an overview of engineering education research before situating the case within relevant bodies of literature on methodology discourses and boundary work. I then identify two methodology discourses – rigor and methodological diversity – and discuss how they contribute to the construction and development of engineering education research. The article concludes with a discussion of how the findings relate to prior research on methodology discourses and boundary work and implications for future research.

Feminist Methodologies and Engineering Education Research.

This paper introduces feminist methodologies in the context of engineering education research. It builds upon other recent methodology articles in engineering education journals and presents feminist research methodologies as a concrete engineering education setting in which to explore the connections between epistemology, methodology and theory. The paper begins with a literature review that covers a broad range of topics featured in the literature on feminist methodologies. Next, data from interviews with engineering educators and researchers who have engaged with feminist methodologies are presented. The ways in which feminist methodologies shape their research topics, questions, frameworks of analysis, methods, practices and reporting are each discussed. The challenges and barriers they have faced are then discussed. Finally, the benefits of further and broader engagement with feminist methodologies within the engineering education community are identified.

Panel — What is global engineering education for?: The making of International Educators

Leading educators who have made risky career commitments to international engineering education have often experienced challenges beyond the boundaries of home countries that made them critical analysts of their work and identities. This panel introduces the unique research process that helped sixteen educators make visible how their goals and motivations extend far beyond the commonly invoked image of global competence as a new skill. Short presentations follow from five contributors to the recently-published What is Global Engineering Education For?: The Making of International Educators. Their accounts of struggles and successes highlight the difficulties in moving international and global engineering education from the margins to the core of engineering curricula. Subsequent open discussion invites commentary from all present about strategies for maximizing the extent to which students gain access to international and global engineering education and genuinely confront and rethink assumptions and career trajectories born in home countries.

Advancing Global Capacity for Engineering Education Research: Preliminary findings

Advancing the Global Capacity for Engineering Education Research (AGCEER) is a joint initiative by the European Journal of Engineering Education (EJEE) and the Journal of Engineering Education (JEE). The purpose is to significantly advance the global capacity for engineering education research. A series of moderated interactive sessions are being offered at international engineering education conferences between July 2007 and December 2008. In these sessions, participants discuss what constitutes engineering education research, who is and should be involved, and what infrastructure is required to sustain engineering education research. To date, AGCEER sessions have been held at regional engineering education conferences in Europe, Hong Kong, Australasia, and at the ASEE Global Colloquium in Turkey. Future sessions are planned for Europe, the United States, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, and India. Transcripts of completed sessions were analyzed using qualitative, open coding methods. Common themes across all these sessions were (a) the need for more rigorous engineering education research, (b) improving resources and recognition for engineering education researchers, and (c) getting research results into the hands of practitioners. Variations across countries and regions include who is engaged in engineering education research (e.g., faculty, administrators, policymakers), their levels of activity, and their interest and expertise in engineering education research. Our analysis includes some background on engineering education in each of these regions to help explain variations in the current state of research efforts.

Using peer reviews to examine micropolitics and disciplinary development of engineering education: a case study

This article presents a case study of the peer review process for a feminist article submitted to an engineering education journal. It demonstrates how an examination of peer review can be a useful approach to further understanding the development of feminist thought in education fields. Rather than opposition to feminist thought per se, my experience reveals that opposing beliefs about what a feminist contribution to engineering education entails pose a challenge to those aiming to engage with feminist thought.