Course taken: EGR811 – Foundations of Engineering Education
Semester taken: Fall 2017
Instructor: Dr. Geoffrey Recktenwald
Description
The discipline of Engineering is built upon a set of seemingly contradictory foundations. On one side, the large repertoire of theory and practice developed over the years and on the other side there is the constant need for innovation. While many engineers nowadays have been (successfully) taught using traditional teaching methods, it is clear that there are ways that engineering education could be improved by using more modern pedagogical techniques.
Much of the theoretical background in engineering disciplines can be traced back a few centuries, if not millennia. Due to this, much of the theoretical content taught to engineering students, specially in the basic courses) has remained mostly unchanged for many years. At the same time, the fundamental understanding on how humans learn and what the best practices in teaching and learning have drastically changed in this period. Therefore it is imperative that new engineering educators incorporate better teaching methods into the education. Similarly, the students and society has changed. Understanding the context in which education is happening is an important step in creating better courses and a better curriculum.
The contents of the EGR811 course combined three basic elements (from the Syllabus): “developing practical skills and knowledge of pedagogy, understanding engineering education literature and best practices, special topics relevant to building a successful academic career.” During the course, a large emphasis was put on the principle of backward design, which proposes that the best way to teach a topic is by looking at the final desired learning objectives, then building measurable learning outcomes. This process makes organizing the course content and developing good assessments easier, as they must fit on the structure set by the previous steps.
In the course, we were also taught about two different types of assessment, formative and cumulative. As an undergraduate student, I became very familiar with cumulative assessments, as most of final course scores depended on the average of midterm and final exams. While cumulative assessments are necessary, formative assessments are equally necessary for a good learning experience. Through formative exercises, students can learn and gauge how well they understand a topic, while also providing invaluable feedback information to the instructor as well, so the pacing can be adjusted accordingly.
The teaching practicum and peer review parts of the course were also very helpful as we have practiced critically thinking about the delivery of the material and the peer review helped me to notice habits of speech that I had not been able to pick up on my own.
Finally, we developed our teaching statements as part of the course. Similarly to backward design, having developed a teaching statement can help one to stay centered at ones beliefs and adjust their teaching accordingly. Also, similar to developing a course, a teaching statement is an ever evolving document, where new insights and better understanding of what teaching is and how to best do it can be incorporated as time goes by.
Artifact #1 & Rationale
As an artifact, I chose the Syllabus of the EGR811 course (linked above), which contains a summary of the topics covered during the course, as well as being a meta-model for a course syllabus built upon the principles of backward design.
The syllabus clearly delineates the courses’ objectives in measurable items. For example “being able to set course objectives” and “implement backward course design”. Also, “be able to write a Teaching Philosophy Statement”, which is included in this portfolio.
Additionally, it proactively sets out the expectations for grading criteria, assignments and classroom policies (such as electronics use, communication and attendance). Setting proactive communications policies not only helps instructors from receiving unprofessionally written, but also helps students know what is expected of them and practice “soft” professional skills that are also very important for one’s career.
Materials Developed during the Course
Throughout EGR811, several assignments aimed at developing student’s ability to create course materials, these include:
- Syllabus
- Concept map for the course
- Design of one course module, including:
- Learning Outcomes
- 4 Assessments
- Rubrics for a project report and final exam
Rationale for these materials
These materials demonstrate the skills acquired during the course, which, although in simplified form, demonstrate my ability to design a new course from the ground up utilizing the backward design approach.
The Syllabus includes a list of clear and testable learning outcomes, which students can expect to be able to complete by the end of the Semester. Also, it includes “Audience”, “Pre-requisites” and “Course Objectives” so students can know what to expect from the course and what is expected of them, and, thus, adjust their expectations and judge whether to take the course or not. It also includes the modules and content of each module with a rough timeline. This aids students to keep track of materials and also assists instructors on how to quickly modify the course content in case unforeseen events (like classes being cancelled) prevent the original timeline from being followed. The required time for each topic is helpful to gauge which portions of the course can be cut in such circumstances.
The concept map shows the relationships between each of the concepts in the course. Pre-requisite concepts are also shown with their respective courses. The relationships allow concepts to be laid out in an intuitive manner, so students have the tools to better comprehend concepts when they are presented. On a bigger scheme, knowing which concepts are required and which concepts are taught is very helpful when designing a full curriculum to reduce material overlap and offer students a clear path to explore particular fields.
The module planning includes clearly stated and testable learning outcomes. The document also includes 5 sample assignments that would be applied in the module. Each assignment is linked with its intent (whether the assignment is formative or summative, whether it will be graded, if it is a group exercise and what learning outcomes it is connected with and what Bloom’s cognitive levels it reaches). Knowing the intent of the assignment is essential in designing the exercise, as it provides useful information on what kind of questions to ask, how long the assignment should take and what format the assignment may take.
Finally, the rubrics are helpful tools for grading. Designing the rubric requires the instructor to carefully consider what kind of answer are they looking for (and, indirectly, what concepts or learning outcomes it is testing) and also decide on where to draw the lines between a good answer, a developing answer and an unacceptable answer. Additionally, this delineation aids in maintaining a fair grading criterion for all students, reduces guesswork on partial credits and allows multiple graders to work on the same assignments and obtain comparable (if not identical) grades. Good comprehensive rubrics do require significant additional work, as the instructor must be able to foresee what kind of answers (right and wrong) will students give, but with experience and after iterations, they become invaluable tools for instructors.
Interpretation
Similar to engineering itself, teaching requires both hard (technical) and soft (personal/human) skills. In EGR811, I have learned how personal aspects, such as ownership and motivation relate to effectiveness of teaching. Additionally, I have been exposed to a repertoire of evidence-based teaching techniques that have been shown to improve markers associated with learning. Also, similar to engineering, it is important to have a good foundation on the theory in order to know which approaches to use and how to justify and adapt them according to the circumstances.
Two principles that from the course I have found most beneficial were to be proactively prepared and to use backward design. The use of backward design is similar to project specifications in Engineering, first a set of testable goals must be set (specifications) and only afterwards the rest of the project can start. When the end goals are specified, it is much easier to design lectures, activities and assignments to reach those goals, rather than simply expositing the material, applying summative assignments and hoping that the learning outcomes have been met.
Additionally, proactively preparing a course with active learning in mind takes more time and effort, but once complete, the actual course goes much more smoothly and require less effort to manage. On top of that, the increased engagement lends itself to a better quality (and quantity) of learning. I have learned the value of testing frequently as a way to both help students self-assess their understanding, but also for adjusting the pace to an optimal level. Rubrics are helpful to reduce the amount of time and increase the consistency of grading.
Developing the course material in EGR811 gave me a greater sense of what is involved in developing a new course, with strategies to plan out the semester as a whole, but also, individual lectures and assignments. By starting with the learning outcomes, one can design assessments that test them, with those assessments in mind, lectures and laboratory exercises can be developed to prepare students.
The course also opened my mind to techniques such as flipped classrooms, peer instruction, massive open online courses (MOOCs) or blended learning. While it is “scary” to let go of the control that traditional lecturing techniques provide, flipped classrooms and peer instruction have been shown to outperform traditional lectures. While it is indeed faster to go through the material in a traditional lecture, if the students haven’t been able to learn the material, nothing is gained by this speed. While I still believe the quality of in-person interaction is higher, Massive online courses and blended learning techniques are now more necessary than ever. Also, through online resources, an instructor is able to provide enrichment opportunities (such as self-guided exploration) that would not be possible in-person.