2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This abstract is for a work in progress (WIP) paper investigating organizational barriers to conducting engineering education research in education-adjacent industries, such as educational technology companies.

Engineering education researchers in university settings have many resources available to conduct efficient and effective research. Some examples include an Institutional Review Board (IRB) to review human subject research, the use of university libraries for literature, and access to classrooms to conduct experimental research. Thus, it is no surprise that engineering education research is most often conducted within and by researchers in universities. As interest in engineering education grows, members of engineering industry are looking for ways to get involved with the engineering education research community and conduct engineering education research. Organizations like ASEE encourage industry-academia collaborations through offering workshops and highlighting divisions such as the College Industry Partnerships Division. However, these collaborations rely heavily on the resources of the academic partner. Is it possible for industry to conduct engineering education research without an academic partner? Do other barriers exist for conducting engineering education research?

This work in progress paper aims to build upon the work done by Boden and Borrego on understanding organizational barriers to research in industries that are education-adjacent (Boden & Borrego, 2011). We identify two companies with strong ties to engineering education: a software company whose product is widely used and taught in engineering courses across US universities, and an educational technology company whose product supports student learning and faculty classroom management. Both companies have an interest in ensuring their products support engineering learning and would like to conduct research around this area. We aim to conduct in-depth interviews about their motives, research goals, processes,and barriers they’ve encountered. We then will conduct qualitative analysis resulting in a descriptive case study that highlights key barriers for conducting engineering education research when not in a university setting.

From this research, we hope to gain a better understanding of how industry members can overcome barriers to conducting engineering education research. We also hope to shed light on specific barriers that academic collaborations should be aware of, and ways academia can support industry in conducting engineering education research.

Key words: industry involvement, research-to-practice, educational technology

Boden, D., & Borrego, M. (2011). Academic Departments and Related Organizational Barriers to Interdisciplinary Research. Higher Education in Review, 8.