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Session 1122

Engineering Faculty Teaching Styles and Attitudes toward Student-Centered and Technology-Enabled Teaching Strategies

Malgorzata S. Zywno Ryerson University

Abstract

This paper presents results of a survey assessing learning preferences and teaching strategies of engineering faculty. Of particular interest were questions pertaining to technology implementations and to professional development. The survey pointed to lack of interest in educational activities and low use of innovative instructional methods and instructional technologies, particularly among junior engineering faculty. Results of a recent national faculty survey are reviewed to provide the context for discussion. Professional development of engineering faculty, long an area of concern, becomes more urgent as accumulated applied engineering and teaching experience is being lost through impending retirements. Ironically, with faculty renewal, there is a risk of the dominant culture in engineering departments becoming even less responsive to students’ needs. Such concerns have been highlighted before and this study confirms them.

I. Introduction

Background

This paper is a follow-up to a previous study1, 2 of the relationship between learning styles and academic achievement in a hypermedia-enhanced learning environment. A majority of engineering students in the 2000-2002 study were Active, Sensing, Visual, and Sequential learners, according to the Felder Learning Styles Model3, 4. The model focuses on aspects of learning styles significant in engineering education. Its associated psychometric instrument, the Index of Learning Styles5, assesses four modalities: Processing (Active/Reflective), Perception (Sensing/Intuitive), Input (Visual/Verbal), and Understanding (Sequential/Global). The model provides insight into how teaching strategies can be modified to broaden their appeal to a larger cross-section of the student population. To increase the support for learners with different individual preferences, Felder advocates a multi-style approach to science and engineering education and incorporation of active, experiential, collaborative student-centered learning6, an approach long advocated as an effective learning environment for engineering education7, 8, 9.

Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2003, American Society for Engineering Education

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Zywno, M. (2003, June), Engineering Faculty Teaching Styles And Attitudes Toward Student Centered And Technology Enabled Teaching Strategies Paper presented at 2003 Annual Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. 10.18260/1-2--12372