Research

Defining and Assessment Comprehensive Systems Thinking

Systems thinking involves recognition of and decision making related to constituent elements and parts of an engineering problem and how these constituent elements and parts are embedded in broader economic, sociocultural, and temporal contexts. Our work focuses on defining and assessing systems thinking across a range of expertise, and understanding how life, educational, and work experiences contribute to expertise. The study includes a systematic literature review of strategies for assessing systems thinking, interviews with engineering students and practitioners across disciplines about their experiences solving complex problems, and follow-up card sort interviews to promote reflection on the emphasized dimensions of systems thinking across academic and professional contexts.

For an example of this research, please click here. 

Project partners: Shanna Daly, Lisa Lattuca, Erika Mosyjowski; Past/present student contributors: Kelley Dugan, Javiera Espinoza von Bischhoffshausen, Diana Karlsson, Maya Makhlouf

Nature of Engineering Work: Curricular Messaging and Alignment with Students’ Engineering Interests and Career Intentions

Required engineering courses emphasize core engineering technical skills but neglect the “comprehensive engineering skills” needed to address complex sociotechnical problems. Because undergraduate education trains students’ (mis)understanding of the nature of engineering work, it is important to understand when, where, and how students encounter messages about the nature of engineering work in their programs and the impact of these messages. We investigate how engineering curricula and instruction in required courses represent engineering practice and how these representations align with students’ values and interests to affect their sense of fit and thinking about future careers in the field. This multi-methods project includes student surveys and interviews, interviews, course observations, and faculty interviews.

Project partners: Shanna Daly, Lisa Lattuca, Joi Mondisa, Erika Mosyjowski; Past/present student contributors: Claire Boeck, Sarah Jane Bork, Alex Cabrera, Shannon Clancy, Judy Kim, Kayleigh Merz, Hayley Nielsen, Dianna Torres, Vibha Vempala, Jing Wu

Socially Engaged Engineering and Design Case Studies Research and Evaluation

C-SED’s Socially Engaged Engineering and Design (SEED) case studies offer a strategy for integrating original content at the intersection of technical and social dimensions of engineering decision making, tailored to the focus of a particular course. The case implementation is complemented by a comprehensive research and assessment strategy that aims to both understand faculty and student experiences and learning associated with the case studies and more broadly explore the conditions that facilitate the integration of sociotechnical content into the engineering curriculum. Our multi-dimensional approach includes faculty and student surveys, written assessments tailored to the content of each case, student focus groups, and interviews with faculty about their perspectives on integrating societal content in their engineering courses.

Visit the SEED Case Studies page to learn more.

Project partners: Shanna Daly, Sara Hoffman, Erika Mosyjowski, Steve Skerlos

Designing and Measuring the Impact of an Asynchronous Learning Block Model for Socially Engaged Design

Recognizing a need for additional tools and resources to prepare engineers to develop socially engaged engineering and design skills, this work included the design, implementation, and testing of asynchronous learning blocks. C-SED’s learning blocks include content related to problem definition, concept exploration, user requirements and specification, and a range of other design and engineering topics. The learning block model includes stages to support reflection on prior knowledge, develop understandings of core content, check understanding, apply new content to a real-world context and receive feedback, and reflect on shifts in their understanding about a topic. This project involved continuous data collection and iteration on the design and assessment of the impacts of the learning blocks on student learning.

Learn more about SEDA learning blocks here.

Project partners: Shanna Daly, Kathleen Sienko; Past/present student contributors: Robert Loweth, Betsy Strehl, Jin Woo Lee

Integration of Socially Engaged Engineering Content into Education and Training

In partnership with faculty across multiple institutions, this project aims to promote the adoption and study the impact of C-SED’s socially engaged engineering content across institutional contexts. A key focus of this work is supporting instructors in integrating socially engaged content into engineering training that is well-aligned with their course goals while reducing barriers to adoption of novel content. This research includes interviews with early adopter faculty and their students and the development of approaches to studying student learning associated with participation in C-SED learning experiences.

Project partners: Shanna Daly, Kate Fu, Jin Woo Lee, Erika Mosyjowski, Steve Skerlos, DeLean Tolbert Smith; Past/present student contributors: Kelley Dugan, Elizabeth Pollack

Engaging Stakeholders with Prototypes: Practitioner Approaches during Front-end Design

C-SED-affiliated researchers study a range of socially engaged design practices that support the integration of culture and context into design decisions. One such project explores the use of prototyping in medical device design problems. More specifically, this research investigates design practitioner behaviors and strategies for using prototypes during the front-end phases of design, especially for engaging stakeholders for the purposes of defining design problems and eliciting product requirements. Research methods include a combination of design project-centered semi-structured interviews (both retrospective and near real time), document review, and observations. Outcomes of this research include a framework for using prototypes to engage with stakeholders during early design phases and a series of case studies documenting how prototypes have been successfully leveraged.

View the prototyping tool here.

Project partners: Shanna Daly, Kathleen Sienko; Past/present student contributors: Nick Moses, Ilka Rodriguez-Calero