Research Agenda for the New Discipline of Engineering Education, The

Journal of Engineering Education, Oct 2006

I. INTRODUCTION

Rapid changes in the worldwide engineering enterprise are creating a compelling rationale for us to rethink how we should educate future generations of engineers [1-4]. According to The Engineer of 2020 [5], tomorrow's graduate will need to collaboratively contribute expertise across multiple perspectives in an emerging global economy that is fueled by rapid innovation and marked by an astonishing pace of technological breakthroughs. Deteriorating urban infrastructures, environmental degradation, and the need to provide housing, food, water, and health care for eight billion people will challenge the analytical skills and creativity of engineers. From a U.S. perspective, a continuing decline in interest by American youths in engineering, a shrinking capacity for technological innovation, and an engineering research infrastructure in distress are early warning signs that the nation's prosperity and security are at stake if we fail to take action. Our leadership and capacity for innovation are destined to erode unless current trends are reversed [6-8].

Meeting these and future challenges requires a transformational change rather than incremental improvements in how we recruit and educate engineering students. Business, academic, and government leaders from across the engineering enterprise have repeatedly remarked that systematic research of how we educate engineers must be the path by which we transition from episodic cycles of educational reforms and move to continuous, long-lasting improvements in our education system1. Research in engineering education must become the engine that drives change to improve the technical fluency of students and teachers, increase interest in engineering and awareness of the social impact of the engineering profession, increase diversity in the engineering student body, and increase the U.S. contribution to the global engineering workforce. Such research will provide the principles, methodologies, and educational practices upon which to continuously build innovative curricula that lead contemporary engineering practice and meet the needs of the nation and the world. Ultimately, we assert that a rigorous research-based approach to our educational system, similar to the way in which research is performed and used in the traditional engineering disciplines, it will allow us to be more competitive on the global stage and position us to begin addressing national and global grand challenges.

The Engineering Education Research Colloquies (EERC) were designed with this transformational change in mind [9]. Representing a collaborative effort of more than 70 engineering, science, and mathematics educators and researchers, learning scientists, and practitioners, EERC participants worked to address the challenges and future needs of engineering education. This report presents five research areas that will collectively serve as the foundation for the new discipline of Engineering Education. We envision a synergistic research agenda that will profoundly enhance the U.S. capacity to educate future engineers by shaping our understanding of: what content (knowledge and skills in context) future engineers must possess; how said content is being learned; and how learning of the content should be assessed. This research in turn will inform how the content should be taught as well as how future leaning environments should be designed. Finally, understanding these fundamental areas will facilitate our ability to attract, engage and retain the diverse cadre of human talent needed to be a more inclusive and prosperous world community of engineers.

II. RESEARCH AREAS

The five research areas for the new discipline of Engineering Education consist of one or more interrelated strands of research that can be investigated independently or integrated with other areas of inquiry. The research areas include:

Engineering Epistemologies

Engineering Learning Mechanisms

Engineering Learning Systems

Engineering Diversity and Inclusiveness

Engineering Assessment

Areal-Engineering Epistemologies: Research on what constitutes engineering thinking and knowledge within social contexts now and into the future.

Engineering education prepares students to affect the world of tomorrow, thus engineering education researchers must explore what the engineer of tomorrow will need to know. Students and employers alike expect a high degree of synergy between what is learned in classroom and what is needed in the field for successful practice. Describing and defining the nature of engineering work as a professional enterprise and articulating the roles of engineers in that work are critical components of creating this synergy. Although there is an implicit understanding of the essence of engineering thinking and knowing, as evidenced both in our current educational system and in reports seeking to facilitate improvements in engineering education, the profession needs research that will help characterize the nature of engineering knowledge (i.e., its technical, social, and ethical aspects) and ways of engineering thinking that are essential for identifying and solving technical problems within dynamic and multidisciplinary environments. The everincreasing pace of change in the engineering enterprise makes characterizing engineering a particularly challenging yet essential step to developing a meaningful understanding of the nature and longterm needs of engineering education. Research that attends to the historical, contextual, and philosophical dimensions underlying the engineering profession is important in guiding such efforts.