;;Will They Revolt?;;: An Examination of Student Response to Types of Instruction in the Engineering Discipline

higher education;active learning;engineering education;evidence-based instructional practices;Education;Social Sciences;Higher Education

DeMonbrun, RobertMcCall, Brian P ;

University of Michigan

关键词: higher education;    active learning;    engineering education;    evidence-based instructional practices;    Education;    Social Sciences;    Higher Education;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/149825/mdemonbr_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Researchers have long emphasized the need to improve the quality of undergraduate teaching through the use of evidence-based instructional practices (EBIP), particularly for courses in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fields. Despite research supporting the benefits of EBIP in the engineering field, the response from faculty to incorporate a diversity of practices in their classrooms has been mixed. Prior research has found that there are a number of barriers to the adoption of these practices, including student resistance to active learning. Concerns about student resistance, whether evidenced through formal course evaluations or expressed in other ways, has an alarming effect on instructors’ willingness to adopt EBIP.This study seeks to explain the relationship between student response to various types of instruction in their prior and current courses, the frequency with which each type of instruction is used in engineering courses, and how students ultimately evaluate their courses and instructors. The following broader research questions guide this study:1.What types of instruction are being used in introductory engineering courses at a large research university?2.How do students respond to different kinds of instruction in these courses? How does their previous experience with different kinds of instruction influence their response to its use in their current course?3.What relationships exist between prior response, current response, the frequency with which each type of instruction is used in the current course, and how students subsequently evaluate the course and instructor?To answer the research questions in this study, I employed a mixed methods approach to data collection and analysis, integrating quantitative and qualitative data. Specifically, I randomly selected one large, gateway course from each of the five largest engineering disciplines in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan. From a total population of 539 students, 242 students participated in two surveys, and 20 students (who completed both surveys) participated in one of five focus groups.I discovered that the perceived use of EBIP practices in these five courses at the University of Michigan shows promise of more active types of instruction being used in these engineering classrooms. Additionally, I found that students in this sample often have similar positive responses to constructive and active types of instruction as they do passive ones. In contrast, I found that students often placed a lower value on the interactive type of instruction examined in this study, and based on focus groups, found that this was often caused by poor prior experiences with group work in past courses. Furthermore, through a hierarchical multiple regression model, I found relationships between student evaluations and their prior response to the passive type of instruction and current response to active, constructive, and interactive types of instruction. I also found that the frequency with which each type of instruction is used is associated with similar increases/decreases in students’ evaluation of the course and instructor.While my findings suggest that instructors may need to worry less about negative student response to these practices, future research should focus on how to positively engage students in these practices, and institutions should support the use of instructor strategies to highlight the benefits of EBIP to the students in their classrooms.