2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

To meet the needs of our evolving world, engineers must play a role in tackling complex problems that consider not only technical, but also socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental factors. Practice-based learning is a unique pedagogical model that gives students experience working with complex problems in authentic work settings while they are completing their engineering coursework. This approach allows them to practice working with complex problems in a space where they can grow and develop. Practice-based learning environments are defined by the presence of an authentic engineering practice experience, the support of learners’ agency as they develop professionally, and the opportunity to work and learn simultaneously. This integration of learning and work environments offers a unique opportunity for students to develop as practicing engineers, but it is challenging to describe the nature and extent of learning occurring.

To gain a better understanding of the nature of learning in practice-based settings, epistemic network analysis (ENA) and the Community of Practice framework may be of value. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to determine the potential validity of using ENA and Community of Practice framework elements. The preliminary coding scheme was developed using a dataset of ten senior papers written by students in a practice-based learning program. Students spend their last four semesters of their engineering degree working full-time in engineering internships and co-ops while taking their technical courses at night. Their learning culminates in the form of a senior paper that describes their technical, design, and professional learning both in the classroom and on the job.

Communities of practice can be described using five epistemic frames: knowledge, skills, values, identity, and epistemology. Students participating in practice-based learning settings are part of a unique community of practice that bridges their engineering learning and coursework with their engineering work at their internships or co-ops. Excerpts from the senior papers were grouped into the five epistemic frames to answer the following research questions: 1) How frequently do students discuss each of the five epistemic frame elements in their senior paper?, 2) How frequently do these epistemic frame elements co-occur within their senior paper?, and 3) Do instances of co-occurrence provide us with insight into student learning?

This study demonstrates the potential of epistemic network analysis to be used to better understand student learning in practice-based engineering environments. By performing analysis on a set of ten senior paper excerpts, it was shown that students mention all or most of the five epistemic frame elements (Knowledge, Skills, Identity, Values, and Epistemology), that these frame elements co-occur with enough frequency to create epistemic networks, and that these epistemic networks align with the student writing and provide insight on how students are integrating their learning.