Create Knowledge
Definition
To create knowledge in engineering education is to discover implications or solutions from conducted research projects. It is also displaying knowledge of research methods to fill the gaps that are not explained in current research. This competency relates to my desire to find the disconnect between empathy and the engineering pedagogy. Achieving this competency will assist me in uncovering what the issues are in relation to these two areas, understanding why the issues exist, and creating suggestions to bridge the gap between the areas.
Prior/Current Work
As a part of my Explorers Fellowship experience, I was able to participate in two research projects. In the first project, my peers and I spent five weeks analyzing the interpretations first year students had of the engineering disciplines Purdue offers after watching orientation videos about each discipline. It was a quantitative study in which we looked for the commonalities students had in their responses and questions to the videos. We did this in attempts to provide department heads with suggestions about the questions and aspects they should address in their orientation videos for the incoming students they have in the following years.
In my second research project, I worked with Dr. Tamara Moore and Dr. Karl Smith to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the book How To Model It: Problem Solving for the Computer Age. This was a qualitative study focuses on obtaining a synthesized understanding of what modeling means to faculty with an immense amount of experience in modeling, why it is important for engineers to model, and the impact the book has had on different generations of engineers. I conducted and transcribed interviews during this ten week project and presented my results to the engineering education department in November 2020. In both of these projects, I was able to apply research methods to engineering education topics to obtain an introduction to creating knowledge in this field.
I recently worked on a project with Beata Johnson and Dr. Joyce Main that focused on institutional supports for student experiential learning in hybrid learning contexts. On this project, I helped conduct interviews with staff members across campus that focus on student support. Using thematic analysis, we condensed our findings into a paper which was presented at the ASEE conference in Summer 2021.
I am currently working on a research project titled Intersections Between Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Ethics in Engineering with Isil Anakok, Dr. Brent Jesiek, Dr. Justin Hess, Dr. Andrew Katz, and Dr. Donna Riley. In this project, we have screened over 300 articles to create a systematic literature review on the current relationship between DEI and Engineering Ethics and a WIP paper has been produced from that. We are using discourse analysis to code the articles and determine themes. We also have created an interview protocol to conduct interviews with professional practitioners and academics throughout the summer of 2022.
In my second research project, I worked with Dr. Tamara Moore and Dr. Karl Smith to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the book How To Model It: Problem Solving for the Computer Age. This was a qualitative study focuses on obtaining a synthesized understanding of what modeling means to faculty with an immense amount of experience in modeling, why it is important for engineers to model, and the impact the book has had on different generations of engineers. I conducted and transcribed interviews during this ten week project and presented my results to the engineering education department in November 2020. In both of these projects, I was able to apply research methods to engineering education topics to obtain an introduction to creating knowledge in this field.
I recently worked on a project with Beata Johnson and Dr. Joyce Main that focused on institutional supports for student experiential learning in hybrid learning contexts. On this project, I helped conduct interviews with staff members across campus that focus on student support. Using thematic analysis, we condensed our findings into a paper which was presented at the ASEE conference in Summer 2021.
I am currently working on a research project titled Intersections Between Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Ethics in Engineering with Isil Anakok, Dr. Brent Jesiek, Dr. Justin Hess, Dr. Andrew Katz, and Dr. Donna Riley. In this project, we have screened over 300 articles to create a systematic literature review on the current relationship between DEI and Engineering Ethics and a WIP paper has been produced from that. We are using discourse analysis to code the articles and determine themes. We also have created an interview protocol to conduct interviews with professional practitioners and academics throughout the summer of 2022.
Future Work
I assume that I will be constantly creating knowledge throughout my time in this program. I am participating in another research project that focuses on the adjustments student-oriented university programs and organizations at Purdue have had to make in the fall 2020 semester and the difficulties they have had in making those adjustments due to the pandemic. Synthesizing those interviews will be a great way to create knowledge. Ultimately, I recognize that I will be using my dissertation as the artifact demonstrating my competency, as it will be a project fully conducted by me.
Timeline
Spring 2025