2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This Work-In-Progress paper is designed to capture College of Engineering (COE) faculty and students’ perceptions of the integration of the arts and engineering into engineering courses and curricula. There is a lack of prior investigation into the subject of faculty and student perception and curriculum development concerning the integration of the arts and engineering. This study intends to create a baseline understanding of how COE faculty and students perceive the integration of the arts and engineering and measure the interest around courses and curriculum development concerning the arts and engineering.

The study utilizes a mixed-methods approach, combining results from quantitative survey data with coded results of open-ended survey questions. The survey was administered online using Qualtrics to both College of Engineering (COE) faculty and students at a large, research-one university in the Eastern United States. Two similar, but separate surveys were used for the two populations. Faculty survey questions included gathering information on how COE faculty integrate the arts into their teaching and research, how much they think the arts and engineering impact one another (if at all), and what initiatives they would like to see the COE initiate in support of the integration of engineering and the arts. Initial findings show faculty have strong preferences for professional development, seed grants, and workshops sponsored by the COE on how they can better integrate the arts into their teaching and research. Results also show that COE faculty are interested in more collaborations with Arts & Architecture faculty, including the creation of new arts courses for engineering students, and adding arts components into existing courses. Faculty participants from over 14 departments are represented.

The student survey gathered responses explaining students' level of interest in integrating engineering and the arts, if and how often they can identify examples of integrating the arts and engineering have been utilized in their course instruction/coursework, their level of agreement that the arts and engineering impact one another, and their level of interest in curricular and co-curricular initiatives focused on the integration of engineering and the arts. The student survey is still live, so we do not currently have any preliminary results for this section.