2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The last decade has seen rapid advancements in educational and pedagogical technologies. Those who promote these educational technologies claim that their innovations are designed and developed, to enhance students’ learning experiences in school (including the context of higher education). In response, instructors who are eager to revamp or enrich the learning experience in the classroom often seek and try out these technologies. Even engineering instructors are affected by the pull to adopt and integrate educational technologies into their curriculum to provide hands-on experiences, foster problem-solving skills, and translate theoretical knowledge into practical application for their students.

However, whether educational innovations are adopted or accepted for classroom use depends on many factors. Over the past decades, researchers have conducted numerous studies on the design and implementation of educational technologies among instructors and students to identify, explain, and predict their behavior toward technology acceptance and adoption. Although the technology adoption in engineering education has grown significantly, there has been minimal effort to synthesize that literature to coalesce the scope of existing knowledge about factors that enhance or inhibit technology adoption, and the best practices for ensuring better buy-in, adoption, implementation, and acceptance of emerging educational technologies that can revolutionize the engineering pedagogy and student experience. However, such synthesis can increase our knowledge on how to better incorporate technology to enhance the engineering curricular experience within and outside the classroom and enhance engineering workforce development. Such synthesis may also enhance our understanding of effective technology integration for students within engineering education and highlight gaps in the technological adoption literature in engineering education.

In the proposed study, we will conduct a scoping review that examines the current landscape of technology adoption research in the field of engineering education – with particular emphasis on students’ technology acceptance and adoption within engineering education. The study will highlight which factors are considered major influencers and moderators of technology acceptance. The scoping review will involve sixty-two articles that met defined inclusion criteria and were analyzed. In ensuring a quality review, ​we will use the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and​ ​Meta-Analysis extension for Scoping​ Review (​PRISMA-ScR​), a standardized reporting tool for scoping reviews. Our preliminary findings will reveal barriers, antecedents, moderators, and environmental factors that influence engineering students' technology acceptance and adoption. These findings uncover existing gaps for future exploration and methodological improvements in the use of technology as a transformative tool for effective pedagogical practices in the preparation of relevant and competitive engineering graduates.