2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper analyzes the undergraduate electrical engineering technology curriculum at an engineering technology college at a private R2 (based on Carnegie Classification) university in the USA. The purpose of this analysis is to identify key elements of the curriculum being studied including selection, sequencing, pacing of the course content, and evaluation criteria. Data for this work include the undergraduate plan of study, course outlines, and course syllabi for the required discipline-specific courses at the research site. Data analysis was guided by the theory of the pedagogic device developed by the British sociologist Basil Bernstein. Bernstein notes that disciplinary knowledge is recontextualized into the curriculum through the pedagogic discourse. The framing element of recontextualization focuses on the process through which the disciplinary knowledge is transformed into the disciplinary curriculum. Framing involves both regulative discourse (related to social order and relation between actors) and instructional discourse (related to the content and delivery). Data were analyzed using Bernstein’s concept of instructional discourse to highlight the selection, sequencing, and pacing of the course content, and its evaluation criteria in the curriculum under study. Findings highlight how curricular requirements are distributed across major vs. general education courses and required vs. elective courses; how major-specific required courses are sequenced and paced across semesters; and how course requirements expect students to demonstrate their learning. These exploratory findings point to the need for future studies to better understand how different aspects of the curriculum came into being and how they shape students’ learning experiences, academic success, and development as future professionals.