Revolutionizing an Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Virginia Tech
The topics of papers here include: considering transfer students through curricular complexity, rigor, threshold concepts, the personas technique, and faculty curricular decision-making.
Considering Transfer Students through Curricular Complexity
This paper details quantifying the interconnectedness of a curriculum. We draw from Heileman’s Curricular Analytics tool and the curricular complexity metric. We extend this metric to highlight how it can be used to forecast issues in transfer student experiences in redesigned
curricula. We focus on structural complexity in this paper by consolidating transfer student pathways using plans of study from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at a four-year institution, Virginia Tech, undergoing a large-scale programmatic change, with those
from the department’s feeder community colleges. We transformed the 24 pre and post-change prerequisite structures in the plans of study into networks, allowing for graph-theoretic metrics to be calculated and compared (pre-/post-change). These networks enabled us to identify
bottlenecks in the curriculum and negotiate how transfer students could be supported in the new program. We discuss extensions to the curricular complexity approach, like using agent-based modeling to simulate student flow through a curriculum and predicting four, five, and six-year
graduation rates.
curricula. We focus on structural complexity in this paper by consolidating transfer student pathways using plans of study from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at a four-year institution, Virginia Tech, undergoing a large-scale programmatic change, with those
from the department’s feeder community colleges. We transformed the 24 pre and post-change prerequisite structures in the plans of study into networks, allowing for graph-theoretic metrics to be calculated and compared (pre-/post-change). These networks enabled us to identify
bottlenecks in the curriculum and negotiate how transfer students could be supported in the new program. We discuss extensions to the curricular complexity approach, like using agent-based modeling to simulate student flow through a curriculum and predicting four, five, and six-year
graduation rates.
Curricular Complexity as a Metric to Forecast Issues with Transferring into a Redesigned Engineering Curriculum | |
File Size: | 1338 kb |
File Type: |
Rigor
Modeling the Perception of Rigor in Large-Scale Curricular Change* (2019)
In response to a call from the National Science Foundation, “Revolutionizing Engineering Departments” (RED), several departments across the United States are engaged with reforming their curricula, program structures, and culture. This work-in-progress paper presents a preliminary causal loop diagram (CLD) drawing from the engineering education literature. A CLD consists of variables and positive and negative relations between them describing the dynamics of a system. One RED team in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech developed a CLD to conceptually connect project goals and the challenges associated with change. The challenges were hypothesized to be linked to a perception of rigor in the department creating a “culture” that exacerbated difficulties in the change effort, which was supported by the literature. Goals of the grant including broadening participation in Electrical and Computer Engineering and adopting alternative pedagogical strategies were tied to the culture of rigor. Extending the model as a tool for the change effort is discussed.
In response to a call from the National Science Foundation, “Revolutionizing Engineering Departments” (RED), several departments across the United States are engaged with reforming their curricula, program structures, and culture. This work-in-progress paper presents a preliminary causal loop diagram (CLD) drawing from the engineering education literature. A CLD consists of variables and positive and negative relations between them describing the dynamics of a system. One RED team in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech developed a CLD to conceptually connect project goals and the challenges associated with change. The challenges were hypothesized to be linked to a perception of rigor in the department creating a “culture” that exacerbated difficulties in the change effort, which was supported by the literature. Goals of the grant including broadening participation in Electrical and Computer Engineering and adopting alternative pedagogical strategies were tied to the culture of rigor. Extending the model as a tool for the change effort is discussed.
Modeling the Perception of Rigor in Large-Scale Curricular Change | |
File Size: | 374 kb |
File Type: |
Threshold Concepts
Threshold concepts as ‘jewels of the curriculum’: rare as diamonds or plentiful as cubic zirconia? (2019)
The framework of threshold concepts has been used across several disciplines in higher education. Although the literature surrounding the identification of threshold concepts and their nature has flourished, their conceptualization has seemingly diverged across disciplinary lines, which should be recognized by educational developers who work with multiple disciplines. Inspired by a failed implementation of one framing of threshold concepts in Engineering, this article compares the conceptualization of threshold concepts in Engineering with their framing in Writing Studies and Information Literacy by drawing on Bernstein’s notion of knowledge structures. Recommendations for educational developers are provided and situated within the framework of ‘ways of thinking and practising’ (WTP).
Available here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1360144X.2019.1694934
The framework of threshold concepts has been used across several disciplines in higher education. Although the literature surrounding the identification of threshold concepts and their nature has flourished, their conceptualization has seemingly diverged across disciplinary lines, which should be recognized by educational developers who work with multiple disciplines. Inspired by a failed implementation of one framing of threshold concepts in Engineering, this article compares the conceptualization of threshold concepts in Engineering with their framing in Writing Studies and Information Literacy by drawing on Bernstein’s notion of knowledge structures. Recommendations for educational developers are provided and situated within the framework of ‘ways of thinking and practising’ (WTP).
Available here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1360144X.2019.1694934
Conversation: Curriculum Development using Threshold Concepts and Personas (2018)
Faced with a curriculum ready for a thorough examination beyond reshuffling content, whether for a course or for a program, significant reform can be difficult to conceptualize, let alone enact. Moreover, beyond the discrete topics populating the syllabi, a deeper question about the courses
concern the utility of the ideas and activities to the diverse population of students in the classroom. At the program level, the flow of students into a department is not just a set of admissions statistics; rather, we must consider who the program is designed to serve and how the curriculum can be
intentionally formulated to compensate for the wide range of abilities and interests. The intended flow out of the program should also be accounted for, as a factory of workers laid upon a conveyor belt from “diploma to desk” at the typical portfolio of companies is not driven by educational values. In this conversation session we will present two novel methods for curriculum development originating from economics and user interface design, threshold concepts and personas respectively. Examples of both methods from an ongoing project to rejuvenate Virginia Tech's Electrical and Computer Engineering department’s curriculum will be offered to contextualize the discussion.
Faced with a curriculum ready for a thorough examination beyond reshuffling content, whether for a course or for a program, significant reform can be difficult to conceptualize, let alone enact. Moreover, beyond the discrete topics populating the syllabi, a deeper question about the courses
concern the utility of the ideas and activities to the diverse population of students in the classroom. At the program level, the flow of students into a department is not just a set of admissions statistics; rather, we must consider who the program is designed to serve and how the curriculum can be
intentionally formulated to compensate for the wide range of abilities and interests. The intended flow out of the program should also be accounted for, as a factory of workers laid upon a conveyor belt from “diploma to desk” at the typical portfolio of companies is not driven by educational values. In this conversation session we will present two novel methods for curriculum development originating from economics and user interface design, threshold concepts and personas respectively. Examples of both methods from an ongoing project to rejuvenate Virginia Tech's Electrical and Computer Engineering department’s curriculum will be offered to contextualize the discussion.
Curriculum Development using Threshold Concepts and Personas | |
File Size: | 125 kb |
File Type: |
Using Threshold Concepts to Restructure an Electrical and Computer Engineering Curriculum: Troublesome Knowledge in Expected Outcomes* (2017)
Virginia Tech is in the process of an intensive restructuring of its Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department, driven by an NSF Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) grant. As a natural first step, discussion has centered on how the curriculum can be meaningfully enhanced to go beyond a mere reshuffling of core content without tangible changes in pedagogy. Accordingly, we have adopted the threshold
concept framework, initially developed by Meyer and Land, as a lens to view elements of the curriculum that are often considered “troublesome” for students to learn and are both transformative and integrative in nature. We opted to frame the discussion of threshold concepts in terms of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), the knowledge associated with communicating concepts in such a way that others – primarily students – can understand. To capture PCK, we used an instrument called a “content representation” (CoRe). This paper describes one element of our sequential qualitative investigation, which had three primary stages: an individual reflection with CoRe, a series of focus groups discussing and synthesizing the CoRes, and the development of a culminating card sort workshop. The findings from the focus groups will be presented, which include the set of big ideas and the associated threshold concepts within ECE from the literature.
Virginia Tech is in the process of an intensive restructuring of its Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department, driven by an NSF Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) grant. As a natural first step, discussion has centered on how the curriculum can be meaningfully enhanced to go beyond a mere reshuffling of core content without tangible changes in pedagogy. Accordingly, we have adopted the threshold
concept framework, initially developed by Meyer and Land, as a lens to view elements of the curriculum that are often considered “troublesome” for students to learn and are both transformative and integrative in nature. We opted to frame the discussion of threshold concepts in terms of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), the knowledge associated with communicating concepts in such a way that others – primarily students – can understand. To capture PCK, we used an instrument called a “content representation” (CoRe). This paper describes one element of our sequential qualitative investigation, which had three primary stages: an individual reflection with CoRe, a series of focus groups discussing and synthesizing the CoRes, and the development of a culminating card sort workshop. The findings from the focus groups will be presented, which include the set of big ideas and the associated threshold concepts within ECE from the literature.
Using Threshold Concepts to Restructure an Electrical and Computer Engineering Curriculum | |
File Size: | 463 kb |
File Type: |
How are Threshold Concepts Applied? A Review of the Literature** (2017)
Funded by a recently awarded NSF RED grant, we aim to transform the curriculum and culture of a large electrical and computer engineering department with a model that foregrounds design and innovation to offer students a variety of pathways to a degree. We are developing a combination of approaches to create a program with disciplinary depth and a range of learning experiences, including a participatory design approach that involves not only curriculum redesign, but also engagement of faculty and students in industry and K-12 outreach. Through these combined approaches, we hope to increase the diversity of students entering the program, the variety of pathways through the program, and the kinds of careers graduates pursue.
We begin with the goal of effectively employing the Threshold Concepts Framework to identify transformative targets for curricular revisions. Our first step in approaching the RED grant from the perspective of curriculum develop includes a literature review that both systematically canvases existing resources and summarizes and synthesizes themes that enable us to answer the following questions:
1. What research findings have been reported about threshold concepts across disciplines, in the field of engineering, and in electrical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science?
2. What are the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the threshold concepts framework, both in theory and practice?
3. Which methods are most effective for identifying threshold concepts?
4. How have threshold concepts been used to enact change?
In exploring these questions, we investigate the history and evolution of the threshold concepts framework with attention to sociotechnical patterns such as whether and how “professional” and “technical” concepts are delineated. In terms of methodology, we consider whether data collection prompts guide people away from the center of their discipline, and whether there is less of a and whether there is less of a dichotomy between social and technical than often portrayed in engineering education narratives.
Finally, we are employing a participatory design process in which we are not only asking department stakeholders to identify sites of threshold concepts, but also to enroll them in a grassroots, transformative effort. To that end, we explore ways that the process of understanding threshold concepts serves as an opportunity for dialog that can kick-start the culture shift of the department.
This paper will be framed as a literature review beginning with the seminal three volume collection on threshold concepts (edited by subsets of the team Ray Land, Jan Meyer, Jan Smith, Caroline Baillie, and Michael Flanagan), a search of ASEE and Frontiers in Education proceedings, then concluding with the Education Research Complete database for other relevant articles between 2003 and 2016. In this review, we will (1) summarize the theory of threshold concepts, (2) identify what threshold concepts have been proposed in both Electrical and Computer Engineering, (3) explain how the concepts have been used in curriculum development to enact change, and (4) discuss how the existing literature will inform our participatory design process in revolutionizing the ECE department.
Funded by a recently awarded NSF RED grant, we aim to transform the curriculum and culture of a large electrical and computer engineering department with a model that foregrounds design and innovation to offer students a variety of pathways to a degree. We are developing a combination of approaches to create a program with disciplinary depth and a range of learning experiences, including a participatory design approach that involves not only curriculum redesign, but also engagement of faculty and students in industry and K-12 outreach. Through these combined approaches, we hope to increase the diversity of students entering the program, the variety of pathways through the program, and the kinds of careers graduates pursue.
We begin with the goal of effectively employing the Threshold Concepts Framework to identify transformative targets for curricular revisions. Our first step in approaching the RED grant from the perspective of curriculum develop includes a literature review that both systematically canvases existing resources and summarizes and synthesizes themes that enable us to answer the following questions:
1. What research findings have been reported about threshold concepts across disciplines, in the field of engineering, and in electrical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science?
2. What are the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the threshold concepts framework, both in theory and practice?
3. Which methods are most effective for identifying threshold concepts?
4. How have threshold concepts been used to enact change?
In exploring these questions, we investigate the history and evolution of the threshold concepts framework with attention to sociotechnical patterns such as whether and how “professional” and “technical” concepts are delineated. In terms of methodology, we consider whether data collection prompts guide people away from the center of their discipline, and whether there is less of a and whether there is less of a dichotomy between social and technical than often portrayed in engineering education narratives.
Finally, we are employing a participatory design process in which we are not only asking department stakeholders to identify sites of threshold concepts, but also to enroll them in a grassroots, transformative effort. To that end, we explore ways that the process of understanding threshold concepts serves as an opportunity for dialog that can kick-start the culture shift of the department.
This paper will be framed as a literature review beginning with the seminal three volume collection on threshold concepts (edited by subsets of the team Ray Land, Jan Meyer, Jan Smith, Caroline Baillie, and Michael Flanagan), a search of ASEE and Frontiers in Education proceedings, then concluding with the Education Research Complete database for other relevant articles between 2003 and 2016. In this review, we will (1) summarize the theory of threshold concepts, (2) identify what threshold concepts have been proposed in both Electrical and Computer Engineering, (3) explain how the concepts have been used in curriculum development to enact change, and (4) discuss how the existing literature will inform our participatory design process in revolutionizing the ECE department.
How are Threshold Concepts Applied? A Review of the Literature | |
File Size: | 479 kb |
File Type: |
The Personas Technique
Using Personas as Curricular Design Tools: Engaging the Boundaries of Engineering Culture* (2019)
This innovative practice paper introduces the use of personas as a design technique to guide the large-scale curriculum reform of an Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) program at Virginia Tech, a large Mid-Atlantic research-intensive institution. The team has created five personas to explore the potential breadth of the curriculum and expand the faculty perspective on who could be a successful ECE student in the department. The concept of personas originated in the field of human-computer interaction to represent subsets of potential users as abstracted sets of
characteristics. Drawing from qualitative data including observations of team meetings and document analysis, this work describes the ethnographic inquiry designers used to develop profiles not solely based on their biases. Responses to personas during implementation show that they can be used to engage the boundaries of culture, bringing to light not only characteristics of students who are not typically present in the program, but
also faculty members' assumptions about characteristics needed for success.
This innovative practice paper introduces the use of personas as a design technique to guide the large-scale curriculum reform of an Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) program at Virginia Tech, a large Mid-Atlantic research-intensive institution. The team has created five personas to explore the potential breadth of the curriculum and expand the faculty perspective on who could be a successful ECE student in the department. The concept of personas originated in the field of human-computer interaction to represent subsets of potential users as abstracted sets of
characteristics. Drawing from qualitative data including observations of team meetings and document analysis, this work describes the ethnographic inquiry designers used to develop profiles not solely based on their biases. Responses to personas during implementation show that they can be used to engage the boundaries of culture, bringing to light not only characteristics of students who are not typically present in the program, but
also faculty members' assumptions about characteristics needed for success.
Using Personas as Curricular Design Tools | |
File Size: | 1289 kb |
File Type: |
Conversation: Curriculum Development using Threshold Concepts and Personas (2018)
Faced with a curriculum ready for a thorough examination beyond reshuffling content, whether for a course or for a program, significant reform can be difficult to conceptualize, let alone enact. Moreover, beyond the discrete topics populating the syllabi, a deeper question about the courses
concern the utility of the ideas and activities to the diverse population of students in the classroom. At the program level, the flow of students into a department is not just a set of admissions statistics; rather, we must consider who the program is designed to serve and how the curriculum can be
intentionally formulated to compensate for the wide range of abilities and interests. The intended flow out of the program should also be accounted for, as a factory of workers laid upon a conveyor belt from “diploma to desk” at the typical portfolio of companies is not driven by educational values. In this conversation session we will present two novel methods for curriculum development originating from economics and user interface design, threshold concepts and personas respectively. Examples of both methods from an ongoing project to rejuvenate Virginia Tech's Electrical and Computer Engineering department’s curriculum will be offered to contextualize the discussion.
Faced with a curriculum ready for a thorough examination beyond reshuffling content, whether for a course or for a program, significant reform can be difficult to conceptualize, let alone enact. Moreover, beyond the discrete topics populating the syllabi, a deeper question about the courses
concern the utility of the ideas and activities to the diverse population of students in the classroom. At the program level, the flow of students into a department is not just a set of admissions statistics; rather, we must consider who the program is designed to serve and how the curriculum can be
intentionally formulated to compensate for the wide range of abilities and interests. The intended flow out of the program should also be accounted for, as a factory of workers laid upon a conveyor belt from “diploma to desk” at the typical portfolio of companies is not driven by educational values. In this conversation session we will present two novel methods for curriculum development originating from economics and user interface design, threshold concepts and personas respectively. Examples of both methods from an ongoing project to rejuvenate Virginia Tech's Electrical and Computer Engineering department’s curriculum will be offered to contextualize the discussion.
Curriculum Development using Threshold Concepts and Personas | |
File Size: | 125 kb |
File Type: |
Faculty Decision-Making
“We’ve Always Done it that Way,” An Exploration of Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Curricular Decisions* (2018)
Making curricular decisions about critical content is fundamental to the operation of any academic unit in an institution with teaching responsibilities. The literature provides a wealth of information about how instructors plan for instruction and assessment but does not detail how instructors identify core concepts. This work in progress explores curricular decision-making from the instructor’s perspective within the context of large-scale programmatic change in an Electrical and Computer Engineering department. We thematically analyzed existing data from a Content Representation (CoRe) instrument used to capture instructor pedagogical content knowledge and teaching strategies for big ideas in a curriculum. The emergent themes for teaching the big ideas concerning the faculty member’s perceptions of student attitudes were: instructors valuing systems thinking (but not seeing it in students) and appreciating versatility/adaptability, as well as seeing students struggling with the value of concrete vs. abstract, and having a low tolerance for ambiguity. Teaching strategies were dominantly instructor-centered. This work in progress builds upon what is known about curricular decision-making while offering insights about faculty perceptions of content knowledge and strategies for teaching it.
Making curricular decisions about critical content is fundamental to the operation of any academic unit in an institution with teaching responsibilities. The literature provides a wealth of information about how instructors plan for instruction and assessment but does not detail how instructors identify core concepts. This work in progress explores curricular decision-making from the instructor’s perspective within the context of large-scale programmatic change in an Electrical and Computer Engineering department. We thematically analyzed existing data from a Content Representation (CoRe) instrument used to capture instructor pedagogical content knowledge and teaching strategies for big ideas in a curriculum. The emergent themes for teaching the big ideas concerning the faculty member’s perceptions of student attitudes were: instructors valuing systems thinking (but not seeing it in students) and appreciating versatility/adaptability, as well as seeing students struggling with the value of concrete vs. abstract, and having a low tolerance for ambiguity. Teaching strategies were dominantly instructor-centered. This work in progress builds upon what is known about curricular decision-making while offering insights about faculty perceptions of content knowledge and strategies for teaching it.
“We’ve Always Done it that Way,” An Exploration of Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Curricular Decisions | |
File Size: | 249 kb |
File Type: |
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Papers on this page are shared in accordance with the copyright holder. The following statements are from the copyright holders. Note that year in parentheses is the appropriate year to replace the YEAR placeholder in the copyright statement.
*“© (YEAR) IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.”
** © (YEAR) American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015
*“© (YEAR) IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.”
** © (YEAR) American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015