Sandra Ingram

Gender and Modes of Collaboration in an Engineering Classroom: A Profile of Two Women on Student Teams.

Research suggests that men and women have different communicative styles that contribute to womens lack of acceptance in male-dominated fields. However, this perspective can lead to stereotypes that limit the range of interactional strategies open to individuals. This article profiles two women from student engineering teams who participated in a study on collaboration and the role of gender. The study, which used a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis, showed that men and women alike displayed both gender-linked and non-gender-linked behavior. It also showed that successful collaboration was influenced less by gender and more by such factors as a strong work ethic, team commitment, and effective leadership.

The influence of gender on collaborative projects in an engineering classroom

Using a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis, the article discusses some of the findings from a larger study on collaboration and the role of gender. We profile three student engineering teams as they participate in processes leading to the submission of a report for a team-based technical communication course. While some theorists suggest that gender can play a significant role in achieving a successful team dynamic, our study only partially supports that claim. A synopsis of two women from two predominantly male teams reveals glimpses of what the literature describes as traditional gender-linked behaviors by both men and women, but the all-female team does not conform to stereotypical patterns and their behaviors call into question the existence of these interactional styles. We suggest that factors other than gender and independent of a teams gender composition exert a greater impact on collaboration. Nevertheless, the study does caution against assigning women to predominantly male teams, since when a teams social structure is mostly male, traditional gender-linked interactional behaviors as well as manifestations of the culture of engineering are more likely to emerge. Overall, the study underlines the importance of examining specific face-to-face interactions to see how behavior is situationally produced in order to more fully understand the interactional strategies open to individuals.

Advancing Intercultural Competency: Canadian Engineering Employers' Experiences with Immigrant Engineers.

This paper explores Canadian engineering employers’ perceptions of and experiences with internationally educated engineers (recent immigrants to Canada) employed in their organisations for varying lengths of time. Qualitative data were collected from employers using focus group methodology. Findings reflected employers’ observations of culturally different behaviours and characteristics in their internationally educated employees, employers’ reactions to cultural differences ranging from negative attributions to tolerance, and the implementation of largely ad hoc intra-organisational strategies for managing cultural differences in employer–employee relationships. Findings exposed the lack of corporate intercultural competency in the Canadian engineering profession. Equity and gatekeeping implications are discussed.

An Investigation of Canadian Women Engineers: Exploring the Role of Educational Work Experiences in Shaping Career Paths

There are a lack of in-depth studies on the career paths of Canadian women engineers, particularly as they unfold alongside their male counterparts. This paper is part of a larger study designed to investigate the career paths of women engineers in the province of Manitoba. The study utilized both an on-line survey and in-depth interviews to explore key areas related to career success including training and development, mentorship and networking, work/life balance and job satisfaction. Preliminary findings presented here emphasize the value of educational work experiences such as cooperative and internship work placements for women engineers under the age of 30, particularly as they relate to the acquisition of soft skills. However, results also point to anticipation of traditional demands of motherhood which may impose future career constraints. Implications are drawn for engineering education programs

Concurrent Teaching of Technical Communication and the Engineering Design Process

A fundamental component of any capstone design class is the preparation of a written design report and an oral presentation describing the design solution. The recording of project information is another essential communication skill that is critical to the engineering design process. Thus, it has long been recognized that communication is essential for the design engineer and essential to the engineering design process. For the last four years, technical communication has been formally integrated with the capstone design courses in the Department of Biosystems Engineering at the University of Manitoba. This paper will review the learning objectives, the technical communication curriculum, and the experiences from the past four years with emphasis on the lessons that have been learned. Currently, increased emphasis is being placed on the completion of project journals because students are unaware of the value associated with a detailed project journal.

INVESTIGATING THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE CEAB GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES: STUDY DESIGN AND INITIAL FINDINGS

This study represents the PhD thesis research of the lead author. The greater study is designed as a mixed-methods explanatory case study. The overarching objective is to explore whether the CEAB graduate attributes are emphasized in the engineering programs in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba in the most optimal way. The first phase of the study is designed to determine the relative importance and the levels of dependencies of the graduate attributes across three engineering stakeholder groups: faculty, students, and industry members. In this paper, the design and methodology of the first phase of this mixed methods research study are explained, and the preliminary findings from the participation rates and participants’ familiarity with the graduate attributes on the survey data are presented. Results show that a sizable percentage of students, faculty and industry members are not highly familiar with the CEAB graduate attributes. Therefore, work to develop a common knowledge about the CEAB graduate attributes needs to continue.

Action research: a methodology for transformative learning for a professor and his students in an engineering classroom

ABSTRACT An engineering professor of a first-year thermodynamics course and a PhD student with a focus in engineering education in a large research university in Canada participated in an ethnographic action research study with the intention of increasing active learning in the classroom to enhance student engagement and learning. Unexpected findings included transformative changes to the professor’s epistemology of teaching and learning. Through the action research cycle of planning, implementing, observing, and critically reflecting, modifications were made to the instructional strategies and the learning environment that created a micro engineering community of practice where both students and teaching assistants engaged in deep learning and legitimate peripheral participation on the trajectory to ‘becoming engineers’. Qualitative interview data from the professor, three students, and three teaching assistants are analysed through approaches to learning research and situated learning theory. Engaging in action research had profound repercussions in this case. The authors make the argument for action research as a catalyst for transformative learning required for teachers to engage students in the twenty-first century classroom.

The co-operative education work term: A comparison of expectations and outcomes for international engineering graduates in Canada

The completion of a co-operative education work term allows students to reflect on how their work experience aligned with their initial expectations. Such an opportunity presented itself within a larger, exploratory study examining the perceptions of international engineering graduates (immigrant engineers) on their participation in a university co-op education program as part of an alternative pathway for professional engineering licensing. The pathway combines an eight-month academic term with a four-month, paid work term. Previous research has indicated the potential for co-op education programs to support the integration of women and other underrepresented groups into the engineering profession by developing soft skills largely through positive mentoring and networking experiences. The potential for the co-op placement to offer similar advantages for international engineering graduates was explored in this study. Qualitative data were collected through focus group sessions with students and employers, co-op work term reports, and program documents. Findings indicate the value to international engineering graduates of the cooperative work term in simultaneously developing technical and cultural competencies including mentoring and networking. This study highlights the potential of the co-op work term to contribute human, cultural and social capital essential to the integration of international engineering graduates into the Canadian engineering profession.