2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

In this paper, we will present research findings that analyze the impact of the Making Academic Change Happen (MACH) curriculum. Engineering education graduate students who were enrolled in different doctoral programs were exposed to the MACH curriculum in one of three settings: the MACH workshop in 2017, which included a number of graduate students among the participants; the Emerging Engineering Educators MACH workshop that was designed specifically for early career faculty and graduate students in 2019; and the National Science Foundation Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) projects change community monthly Zoom calls that occurred from 2015 to 2023. Through interviews with previous attendees–all of whom are now working in the field of engineering education–we identify the continuing impact of MACH interventions on these individuals as they work to transform engineering education at their respective institutions.

First deployed in 2013 in a stand-alone workshop on the campus of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, the MACH curriculum provides specific knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that research suggests are key to successful change projects (Quinn 2010; Eckel et al, 1999). These KSAs are frequently noted in the research literature produced by fields such as higher education theory and organizational change management, but are often not a part of the disciplinary preparation of engineering education graduate students. We believe that graduate students are particularly in need of these KSAs, since many of them are hired to do important work in programs and departments related to improving undergraduate STEM education (Stains et al, 2018; Borrego et al, 2010; Henderson et al, 2011). Our work in preparing individuals for change work has been documented elsewhere (Margherio et al, 2017; Williams et al, 2022).

In this paper, we will examine the experiences of former graduate students who are now working within the field of engineering education in both the US and abroad. Through analysis of interview data, we will evaluate the impact of the MACH curriculum on the former graduate students’ attitudes about change and how those attitudes influence their current work in engineering education. We will argue that the outcomes associated with the MACH curriculum–such as understanding academic contexts and cultures and using effective communication, among others–provide an important foundation for academic change work.

References
Borrego, M., J.E. Froyd, & T.S. Hall. (2010). Diffusion of engineering education innovations: a survey of awareness and adoption rates in U.S. engineering departments. Journal of Engineering Education 99(3), 185-207.

Eckel, P., M. Green, B. Hill, &W. Mallon. (1999). On Change III: Taking Charge of Change: A Primer for Colleges and Universities. An Occasional Paper Series of the ACE Project on Leadership and Institutional Transformation. American Council on Education Publications. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED450621

Henderson, C., A. Beach, & N. Finkelstein. (2011). Facilitating change in undergraduate STEM instructional practices: An analytic review of the literature. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 48(8), 952-984.

Margherio, C., Litzler, E., & Doten-Snitker, K. (2017). Developing a Shared Vision for Change: New results from the Revolutionizing Engineering Departments Participatory Action Research. In Proceedings of the 2017 ASEE Annual Conference.

Quinn, R.E. (2010). Deep change: discovering the leader within. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

Stains, M., J. Harshman, M. K. Barker, S. V. Chasteen, R. Cole, S. E. DeChennePeters, M. K. Eagan Jr., J. M. Esson, J. K. Knight, F. A. Laski, M. Levis-Fitzgerald, C. J. Lee, S. M. Lo, L. M. McDonnell, T. A. McKay, N. Michelotti, A. Musgrove, M. S. Palmer, K. M. Plank, T. M. Rodela, E. R. Sanders, N. G. Schimpf, P. M. Schulte, M. K. Smith, M. Stetzer, B. Van Valkenburgh, E. Vinson, L. K. Weir, P. J. Wendel, L. B. Wheeler, A. M. Young. (2018). “Anatomy of STEM teaching in North American universities.” Science, 359 (6383), 1468-1470.

Williams, J.M., Andrijcic, E., Mohan, S., Margherio, C., Litzler, E., and Swan, A.L. (2022). Faculty Development for Academic Change in the National Science Foundation Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (NSF RED) Context. In Linder S.M, Lee, C.M., Stefl, S.K., High, K.A. (Eds.), Handbook of STEM Faculty Development. Information Age Publishing.
https://www.infoagepub.com/products/Handbook-of-STEM-Faculty-Development