2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Beliefs Matter: The Interplay and Influence of Engineering Faculty Beliefs on Instructional Practices

Presented at Pedagogy and Instructional Practices

This work-in-progress paper describes a battery of scales and the validation process assembled to examine the influence of engineering faculty's beliefs in different domains, specifically engineering ability, entrepreneurial ability, and teaching ability, on instructional practices. The study leverages Dweck's Growth/Fixed mindset framework, which posits that a growth/fixed mindset is a belief that intelligence (or other abilities) is/is not malleable and can/cannot be improved through practice and training. The data being analyzed were collected by deploying the survey to engineering faculty at a large Mid-Atlantic university. Preliminary t-test and correlation findings are shared. In the next steps, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) will be performed to determine how the underlying factor structure corresponds to the faculty's beliefs and teaching practices. It is hypothesized that the three mindset categories and instructional practices will likely emerge as distinct factors. The factors that emerge from the EFA will be used to study the interplay and influence of beliefs instructional practices.

Authors

Dr. Rohini N. Abhyankar Penn State University, State College [biography]

Rohini Abhyankar is a post-doctoral researcher at the Leonhard Center for Enhancement of Engineering Education at Penn State. She has a doctoral degree in Engineering Education Systems and Design from Arizona State University. She also has an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University, an M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Delhi, India, and an MBA. Dr. Abhyankar’s research examines diversity-related workplace behaviors of engineers using an acculturation lens. She also studies faculty beliefs and mindsets to facilitate faculty development and improve instructional practices. In addition, Dr. Abhyankar has over a decade of industry and teaching experience.
Dr. Sarah E. Zappe Penn State University [biography]

Dr. Sarah Zappe is Director of the Leonhard Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Education and Assistant Dean of Teaching and Learning at Penn State. She holds a doctoral degree in educational psychology emphasizing applied measurement.
Dr. Stephanie Cutler Penn State University [biography]

Dr. Stephanie Cutler has degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering, and a PhD in Engineering Education from Virginia Tech. She is an Associate Research Professor and the Director of Assessment and Instructional Support in the Leonhard Center at Penn State.

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