2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Response Process Validity of the CBE Adaptability Instrument When Used with Engineering Instructors

Presented at Instrument Design and Development

Abstract

This research study focused on the collection and analysis of validity evidence for an instrument that measures individual adaptability in the engineering instructional context. There is a wide array of teaching practices and strategies that have been shown to improve students’ learning. The recent pandemic has illustrated how new practices can be externally imposed and adopted by instructors. However, there is little known about how instructors’ cognitive, behavioral, and emotional (CBE) adaptability interacts with imposed changes. The purpose of this study was to collect and evaluate response process validity evidence of an adaptability instrument when used with engineering instructors. Response process validity evidence is one of the five sources of validity evidence within the Contemporary Validity Framework. The overarching research question was “How do participating engineering instructors interpret and make meaning of the CBE adaptability instrument’s items?” Data were collected through interviews with five participants from an R1 university in the USA. Cognitive interviews were used to explore the participants’ interpretation of the adaptability survey instruments’ items. Participants verbalized their thinking while responding to the items. The analysis of the participants’ responses highlighted interpretation concerns for specific items. Findings include recommendations for changes to the instrument instructions and changes to individual items. Long term, the adaptability instrument may be used to look at individual, department, and college level adaptability as a means of identifying and developing strategies to support change.

Keywords: faculty, qualitative, interviews, affective, response validity

Authors

Mr. Yashin Brijmohan http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2485-9808 University of Nebraska Lincoln [biography]

Yashin Brijmohan is a registered professional engineer currently pursuing his PhD in Engineering Education Research. He previously held engineering and management portfolios within the power industry and academia and is known for his thought leadership in education and capacity building. He is currently Co-Chair of the Africa Asia Pacific Accord, Board Member of the UNESCO International Centre for Engineering Education and Chairperson of the Engineering Education Committee of the Federation of African Engineering Organisations. He previously served as founding Executive Dean of Business, Engineering and Technology at Monash South Africa, Vice President of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO), Chair of Chairs of the ten Technical Standing Committees (WFEO), Chairperson of Engineering Capacity Building Committees (continental and global), and Board Director of the Southern African Business and Technology Incubation Association.
Grace Panther University of Nebraska - Lincoln [biography]

Dr. Grace Panther is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln where she conducts discipline-based education research. Her research interests include faculty change, 3D spatial visualization, gender inclusive teamwork, and studying authentic engineering practice. Dr. Panther has experience conducting workshops at engineering education conferences both nationally and internationally, has been a guest editor for a special issue of European Journal of Engineering Education on inclusive learning environments, and serves on the Australasian Journal of Engineering Education advisory committee.
Prof. Heidi A. Diefes-Dux http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3635-1825 University of Nebraska - Lincoln [biography]

Heidi A. Diefes-Dux is a Professor in Biological Systems Engineering at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln (UNL). She received her B.S. and M.S. in Food Science from Cornell University and her Ph.D. in Food Process Engineering from the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue University. She was an inaugural faculty member of the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. Her current role in the College of Engineering at UNL is to lead the disciplinary-based education research initiative, growing the research enterprise and the engineering education research graduate program. Her research focuses on the development, implementation, and assessment of modeling and design activities with authentic engineering contexts; the design and implementation of learning objective-based grading for transparent and fair assessment; and the integration of reflection to develop self-directed learners.

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