2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The ASEE Faculty Teaching Excellence Task Force has just completed its NSF IUSE ICT Capacity Building grant and started its next NSF grant (IUSE ICT Level 1). Both grants support the building of a recognition framework for engineering and engineering technology (EET) faculty in the US for their efforts and achievements in professional development (PD) as it relates to teaching.

Various arguments can and have been made about the need for EET faculty to receive training in how to teach. Such arguments are more than a century old and have continued to more recent calls. Indeed, the changing nature of the job responsibilities of a professor requires skill set (e.g., identifying mental health challenges of students) that were not considered in previous generations.

To promote the recognition of EET faculty PD in teaching, ASEE charged a task force with developing a plan to achieve such an outcome. The first step in this plan was to engage various diverse ASEE constituencies on the value of such a recognition system, as well as barriers to implementation. Such efforts were supported by a grant from the NSF IUSE ICT Capacity Building program. One of the key outcomes from this work, which was completed in August 2024, was a three-level recognition framework: (1) Registered Engineering Educator, (2) Certified Engineering Educator, and (3) Leading Engineering Education.

The first level, Registered Engineering Educator, is focused on the acquisition (through training) of key competencies. Such draft competencies were identified through literature investigation, focus groups, and surveys. The second level, Certified Engineering Educator, is focused on the implementation of some of the competencies learned during the previous level. The third level, Leading Engineering Educator, looks to recognize individuals who are improving engineering education outside of their own classroom.

The next stage of the larger project, which was recently funded via an NSF IUSE ICT Level 1 grant, will pilot the Registered Engineering Educator level at eight diverse partner institutions, aided by 24 additional partner institutions that serve as an Evaluation Team. Centers for Teaching and Learning at the partner institutions, plus nationally recognized content providers (e.g., NETI), will provide most of the content as EET faculty at the pilot institutions work towards achieving the requirements of the Registered Engineering Educator level.

Research for this grant will begin with how individuals are recruited to participate in faculty development programs and how they make their PD selections. Additionally, we explore items associated with value, access, and barriers to PD (both perceived and actual) for faculty, plus how this might vary by institution type. Finally, we explore how conversations and practices might change as a result of participation in PD.