Overview of the NAE Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education

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Overview of the NAE Center for the Advancement
of Scholarship on Engineering Education

• Norman L. Fortenberry, Sc.D.
• Director, CASEE
• http//www.nae.edu/CASEE
• nfortenb_at_nae.edu
• [phone]

University of Idaho May 1, 2003
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NAE/NAS History

• NAS chartered in 1863 by act of Congress signed
  by President Lincoln
• Honorific, self-perpetuating membership society
• Advisors to the Nation
• Every working day we produce a report
• 200-300 pages, with 50-pages of citations to the
  literature
• Fact-based (no opinion)
• Peer-reviewed
• NAE gained independent identity in 1964 to
  promote the technological welfare of the nation
  . . . .

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NAE Program Office Overview

• Engineering Education, Practice, and Workforce
• Engineering and the Environment
• Engineering, the Economy and Society
• National Security and Crime Control
• Information Technology and Society
• Public Policy

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NAE Education Programs

• Next Generation of Researchers FOE
• Undergraduate Education CEE
• Engineer of 2020
• IT-based Educational Materials Workshop
• Bernard Gordon Prize
• Diversity - CDEW
• K-12 and Informal TL and PUE
• Research on Education CASEE

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Why Research on Engineering Education? (1/2)

• What if we could
• Dramatically raise student retention and
  graduation rates, and
• Increase participation by underrepresented
  populations, while also
• Increasing the depth and breadth of learning?
• What if we could
• Increase the time new faculty devote to
  establishing their research programs because of
  greater confidence in the quality of their
  teaching?

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Why Research on Engineering Education? (2/2)

• What would it mean, in terms of
• Reduced Costs of Education?
• Enhanced Workforce Productivity?
• Realized Human Potential?

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Why NAE Wm. A. Wulfs 4-legged stool

• 1999, established the Committee on Engineering
  Education
• Stream of reports, workshops, etc. of intrinsic
  value
• Implicit, repeated message that NAE values
  engineering education
• 2000, reinterpreted NAE membership criteria to
  better recognize contributions to engineering
• 2001, initiated the Bernard M. Gordon Prize for
  Innovation in Engineering and Technology
  Education
• 500,000 on par with Draper (engineering and
  society) and Russ (bioengineering) Prizes
• 2002, inaugurated CASEE as a center for
  scholarship on engineering education

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CASEE Provenance

• Builds upon precursor work in education research
  by various National Academies committees and
  boards.
• Implements the mission enunciated at the January
  2002 NAE education retreat.

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CASEE Vision

• An engineering education system that, through
  continuous improvement and dedication to the
  highest quality, contributes to the sustained
  maintenance of an engineering workforce of
  unquestioned excellence.

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CASEE Mission

• Enable engineering education to meet, in a
  significantly better way, the needs of employers,
  graduate schools, and society at large.

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CASEE Goal(s)

• Improve the quality of engineering education by
• Increasing its efficiency and effectiveness,
• Strengthening its appeal to diverse domestic
  communities, and
• Improving its ability to contribute to the
  professional success and personal satisfaction of
  students and faculty.

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Goals include increasing

• Efficiency
• Increase retention
• Reduced time-to-degree
• Less faculty prep time

• Effectiveness
• More flexible graduates
• Tighter alignment with workplace and further
  education needs

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CASEE Objectives

• Working collaboratively with key stakeholders,
  CASEE seeks to
• Build the body of knowledge that will support and
  sustain continuous improvement in engineering
  education by encouraging rigorous research on all
  elements of the engineering education system,
• Cultivate a respected community of scholars to
  replenish this body of knowledge, and
• Encourage broad dissemination, adoption, and use
  of this knowledge.

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CASEE Strategies

• CASEE works with other stakeholders in order to
• Enhance the capacity for the conduct of high
  quality research on engineering education.
• Integrate engineering education research and
  practice, and
• Leverage and promote the efforts and interests of
  relevant stakeholders.

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The Engineering Education System
Goals/Objectives Depts., Univs., Prof.
Societies, Employers, etc.
Constraints and Ext. Influences
Teachers Learners
Tools (Curriculum Labs, Tech, etc.)
Teaching and Learning Processes
Input
Output
Inspired by Hubka and Eder (1988)
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Research Areas

• 1. Teaching, learning, and assessment
• 2. Teachers and learners
• 3. Instructional/learning tools and technologies
• 4. Educational management and goal system
• 5. Political, economic, and social influences on
  engineering education
• 6. Diffusion of Educational Innovations

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CASEE Advisory Committee

• Representative of Key Constituencies
• Engineering Researchers
• STEM Education Scholars
• Industry
• Diverse Set of Engineering Institutions,
• Engineering Deans
• ABET
• Professional Societies
• Funders

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CASEE Affiliated Organizations

• CASEE Research Community
• CASEE Implementation Network
• CASEE Dissemination Channels
• Organizational affiliates include existing
  academic centers, corporations, and receptive
  Federal agencies

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CASEE Affiliated Individuals

• CASEE Affiliated Scholars
• CASEE Senior Fellows
• CASEE Post-doctoral Fellows
• Individual affiliates include independent
  scholars and supported fellows on, typically, 1
  semester to 2-year appointments to extend and
  apply research on teaching and learning in
  engineering.

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Scope of Activities (1/2)

• STRENGTHEN THE RESEARCH BASE
• Facilitation of the communitys development,
  dissemination, and implementation of standards
  for the conduct, review, and communication of
  education research
• Enhance the environment for pursuit of research
  through development of tools and attention to
  reward structures
• Targeted research by CASEE Senior and
  Post-doctoral Fellows in support of CASEEs
  overall goals and objectives
• Linkage and information sharing activities among
  CASEEs coalition of organizational and
  individual affiliates advancing the frontiers of
  knowledge as well as demonstrating practical
  implementation strategies

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Scope of Activities (2/2)

• TRANSLATE RESEARCH RESULTS INTO PRACTICE
• Increase faculty access to high quality research
  results via broad dissemination and pilots
• Provide guidance to classroom faculty on what
  works, under specific circumstances and with
  specific populations, to promote optimal
  learning
• Outreach activities to broaden appreciation for
  the value and benefits of education research
  within engineering and
• CORE OPERATIONS OF A LEAN CENTRAL STAFF

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Initial Activities

• Priorities survey lthttp//fs3.formsite.com/witan/f
  orm400193157/index.htmlgt
• Journal of Science and Engineering Education
  Research (J-SEER)
• Workshops on Education Research for Department
  Chairs
• What Works (under what circumstances and why)
  Clearinghouse
• Making the public case for the value of
  education research

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Sector and Discipline Focus (1/2)

• CASEE operates within well-defined sectors
• Industrial sectors (e.g. ,aerospace,
  semi-conductors, telecommunications, etc.), and
• Disciplinary sectors (e.g., systems, aerospace,
  materials)
• Choice of sector will imply a unique set of
  priorities within CASEEs broad research areas
• Senior and Post-doctoral Fellows will be chosen
  for their sector focus and Implementation Sites
  will be the key schools and departments that
  operate within the sectors.
• CASEE leverages core knowledge between sectors
  but provides unique value to individual sectors.

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Near-term Outcomes

• Within the next 12 months
• Greater awareness of and attention to industrial
  satisfaction gap w.r.t. the (human, intellectual,
  and technological) capital of production.
• Within 5-10 years
• Reduced expenditures on worker training and
  re-training.
• Faster, more efficient introduction of new
  technologies into curricula and, thence, into
  practice by future and current workers.
• Quicker technology development and transfer by
  faculty and students able to devote more time to
  their traditional research.

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Assessment

• Consistent with COSEPUP recommendations for GPRA
  implementation by RD agencies, assessment of
  CASEE will occur via
• Annual review of the quality, relevance, and
  leadership of its activities by the CASEE
  Advisory Committee ,
• Triennial review to assess the balance of
  research areas and activities as well as progress
  toward its goals by external reviewers
  (comparable to visiting committees on a campus).
• Intermediate metrics will serve to assess
  progress toward ultimate goal of achieving
  improvements in engineering education.
• Time-to-degree, retention and graduation rates,
  etc.
• National Survey of Faculty Engagement
• Monitor campus-generated ABET outcomes data
• Participation in CASEE events and projects

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CASEE Sustainability

• Seeking endowment and operating funds
• Funds needed for core support and specific
  projects support may be targeted to specific
  sectors and actors.
• Have received a mix of operating and project
  grants from
• corporations (e.g., Applied Materials),
• individuals (e.g., NAE member Walter Robb),
• private foundations (e.g., NAE Fund), and
• government agencies (e.g., NSF).
• Modest user fees or in-kind contributions from
  affiliates
• Seeking to make CASEE of tangible value.

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Value to Stakeholders

• As a collective effort to improve substantially
  the quality of engineering education, CASEE
  represents a foundational investment in national
  prosperity, safety, and health.
• As a systemic construct, CASEE represents a
  leveraged opportunity to advance specific
  industrial and academic sectors while providing
  an opportunity for competitive advantage to early
  entrants.