Making knowledge accessible: A comparative study of engineering teaching across three countries

• Published in: 2022 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) pp. 1 - 5
• Main Authors: Pitterson, Nicole, Abdalla, Alaa, Agrawal, Ashish, Case, Jennifer, Goldschneider, Benjamin, McArthur, Jan
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 08-10-2022
• Subjects: approaches to learning; comparative study; Decision making; Education; Engineering education; Knowledge engineering; pedagogical content knowledge; Rhetoric; Shape; teaching strategies
• ISSN: 2377-634X
• DOI: 10.1109/FIE56618.2022.9962466

This is a full research paper. Intentional decision making around course design and execution by instructors is a very important aspect of teaching and learning. Understanding instructor beliefs about knowledge and their students is critical for any educational endeavor in that instructor beliefs often guide how they choose to structure their course and what they choose to evaluate. However, despite all the rhetoric on the need to improve teaching in engineering education, there are surprisingly few close-up studies on what contemporary instructors are doing in their classrooms. A further limitation is that most studies take place in one country which then comes to stand in for a sort of universal context. We seek to understand how instructors' knowledge and beliefs about disciplinary knowledge shape the design of instruction, assessment and perception of students. This work studies how engineering instructors in three different countries use their knowledge of disciplinary concepts and beliefs about teaching and learning, i.e. pedagogical content knowledge, to design their courses and teach content. We are interested in understanding how the different national and institutional contexts make possible potential differences in approaches to teaching.