Shared Governance Structure for the Pioneering Engineering Alliance through Research in Learning (PEARL)
Roles
- Research & Innovation Director – Dr. Oenardi Lawanto
- Engineering Education Graduate Program Director – Dr. Ning Fang
- Curriculum Chair – Dr. Cassandra McCall
- Assessment Chair – Dr. Angela Minichiello
- Exam and Scholarship Chair – Dr. Wade Goodridge
- Community Engagement & Outreach Director – Dr. Yashin Brijmohan
Research Areas
Broadening Participation in Engineering
Globally, we face unprecedented economic, environmental, societal, and technological 21st-century challenges. Consequently, our nation’s engineers are called to rise to new levels to create enduring, sustainable solutions on a global scale.
Broadening participation in engineering is critical to ensure our professional workforce is equipped with the range of experiences, perspectives, and talents needed to meet these challenges. our faculty members and students have conducted a significant amount of research to understand how the diverse experiences of engineering undergraduates affect their professional formation and academic success, and how to develop new assessments to measure the experiences of diverse students. These student groups include nontraditional, first generation, and veteran undergraduates, as well as those with learning disabilities.
The goal of our research is to identify and examine the curricular, extra-curricular, and institutional barriers they are forced to navigate in order to develop multiple, sustainable pathways to engineering education for all students.
Engineering Learning & Problem Solving
An important goal of engineering education is to improve student learning and problem-solving skills. This prepares students to meet the program requirements defined in the most recent Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, or ABET, criteria, in addition to increasing industry demands.
ABET requires engineering programs to demonstrate seven student outcomes. These include an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics; and an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning.
Over the past ten years, our faculty members and students have conducted a significant amount of research on student learning and problem-solving skills in both cognitive and meta-cognitive domains. We have conducted research studies to investigate how experts and novices perform engineering designs in different ways; how self-regulation plays a critical role in problem solving; and how student experiences, prior knowledge, and cultural backgrounds affect student learning and problem solving.
Engineering Workplace & Training
As we prepare the next generation of global engineers to meet the requirements of 21st-century engineering professional competencies in ABET, it will be important to help engineering students learn about workplace practices and prepare them for the complex projects they will face. This area of research focuses on the spectrum of areas, from the research to the workplace, regarding the preparation of potential and current engineering students. In addition, preparation of pre-service teachers and in-service teachers as they help develop the next generation of professional engineers is considered in this research area.
K-12 STEM Education
Science, technology, engineering, and math, often called STEM, education is receiving growing attention in recent years due to a high demand for these skills in the workforce. The United States Department of Education defines STEM education programs as those primarily intended to provide support for or to strengthen STEM education for all levels of students from elementary schoolers to adult learners.
our faculty members and students have conducted a significant amount of research and outreach activities in the K-12 STEM education area. This includes engineering design thinking, cognition, meta-cognition, and problem-solving. The goal is to inspire K-12 students’ interest in engineering and prepare them for an undergraduate study in engineering.
Our faculty members have been making efforts to engage K-12 students in hands-on and innovative learning activities, and provide students fun, interesting, and meaningful learning experiences. Our research efforts also include a study on how different instructional methods impact the K-12 classroom and promote STEM teaching and learning at the K-12 level.
Online Engineering Education
Online education can be a highly rewarding and effective alternative method of learning, especially in engineering-related disciplines. Furthermore, online learning offers flexibility and convenience while still retaining the integrity and academic rigor prescribed in traditional classroom learning experience.
The state of online education is changing rapidly and much work needs to be done to improve students’ learning experience and ensure the quality of learning. Emerging issues in online learning research include online pedagogy, including online educational curriculum development; cutting-edge computer and internet-based technologies that promote personalized and collaborative learning; and learning assessments.
Our faculty and students have engaged in this research area with great success. Some studies include efforts to investigate student’s self-efficacy and metacognitive strategies while engaged in interactive learning modules, the role of students’ professional experience in online learning, and the effectiveness of students’ learning while they participate in broadcast delivery instruction.
The College of Engineering at Utah State University offers a course for doctoral students to learn the development of a sound online educational curriculum that not only focuses on the technology but also the teaching and learning sides of the online instruction. The College of Engineering also initiated a preliminary effort to develop an online certificate program designed to give the participating students mastery in several theories and practicum-based topics in engineering education.
Technology Enhanced Learning
As the rapid development of computer and internet technologies continues, a wide variety of educational technologies have been developed and employed to support teaching and learning in higher education. Representative examples include Classroom Response Systems (nicknamed clickers), various classroom management systems (such as Canvas and Blackboard), and various multimedia education systems (such as computer simulations and animations, virtual reality, and intelligent tutoring systems).
Over the past ten years, our faculty members and students have conducted a significant amount of work to develop and implement a variety of innovative educational technologies to support teaching and learning in foundational engineering courses. We are among the first group of faculty members who implemented clickers in engineering classrooms at USU. Research efforts have also been made to assess the effects of computer simulations and animations on student learning.