| NSF Org: |
EEC Division of Engineering Education and Centers |
| Recipient: |
|
| Initial Amendment Date: | July 9, 2020 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 17, 2022 |
| Award Number: | 2024970 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Alice Pawley
apawley@nsf.gov (703)292-7286 EEC Division of Engineering Education and Centers ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2020 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2024 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $199,633.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $238,946.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2022 = $39,313.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
|
| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1400 TOWNSEND DR HOUGHTON MI US 49931-1200 (906)487-1885 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
| Primary Place of Performance: |
1400 Townsend Drive Houghton MI US 49931-1295 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
| Parent UEI: |
|
| NSF Program(s): | EngEd-Engineering Education |
| Primary Program Source: |
01002021DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
|
| Program Element Code(s): |
|
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
With the world on the brink of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, engineering faculty must continually
teach new industry-relevant engineering technologies, such as new software tools or new programming
languages, to maintain the relevance of their course materials, as well as to model lifelong learning and
technology adoption to students. Although faculty regularly adopt new technologies for their own
research, these technologies are not necessarily those that are most important for practicing engineers
within industry. This project will develop an understanding of what aids and hinders engineering faculty ability to learn and teach new engineering technologies, which will inform a model of faculty technology acceptance as well as proposed interventions to increase faculty adoption of industry-relevant technologies. Properly trained engineers are an essential element of our country to navigate the Fourth Industrial Revolution and maintain both our long-term economic stability and our national security. The success of engineering programs within the technological revolution depends upon a quick and agile response from faculty and administration. This project will help position engineering faculty to be able to maintain the relevance of engineering programs and the skills of engineering graduates both now and in the long term.
This project will develop an understanding of factors that support or inhibit engineering faculty
technology acceptance, including the development of a faculty-specific model of such acceptance. Its
scope will focus on examining engineering faculty voluntary adoption and teaching of industry-relevant technologies. Previous studies of technology adoption among faculty have focused on instructional technologies, rather than the technologies that students will use in their careers. Additionally, the widely used Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been shown to be limited, only accounting for 60% of the variability in the ultimate adoption of a technology (Lee et al., 2003). Thus, additional factors remain to be uncovered that affect the adoption and teaching of industry-relevant technologies by university engineering faculty. The questions to be addressed in the research include: (a) What are the motivations that influence the adoption of new digital technologies by engineering faculty? (b) What are the barriers that inhibit the adoption of new digital technologies by engineering faculty? (c) What institutional policies and programs might aid faculty in the adoption of new engineering technologies? (d) What factors affect faculty decisions regarding which new engineering technologies to learn and adopt for their professional use? and (e) How do faculty determine which engineering technologies to teach in their courses? Qualitative interviews with engineering faculty will be used to gather data to identify the relevant variables which can then be tested in subsequent research. Identified themes in the data will be used to elaborate new constructs that may affect faculty technology acceptance. These new constructs will ultimately lead to a proposed revised TAM that is more applicable to engineering faculty, leading to a better understanding of technology adoption and use among these faculty. More importantly, the new understandings that are developed will inform proposed interventions to address the challenge of keeping the technological tools taught to students, and associated skills learned, in engineering courses relevant for engineering graduates.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
Note:
When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external
site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a
charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from
this site.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Prior studies of technology adoption among faculty have focused on instructional technologies, rather than the adoption of technologies that students will use in their future careers. This work aimed to advance knowledge of technology adoption by focusing on specific factors that impede or assist the adoption of industry-specific technologies by engineering faculty. The goals of the project were to (a) develop a conceptual model of technology adoption among engineering faculty, (b) identify interventions to support faculty development of new engineering technologies, and (c) support the transition of the project PI into engineering education research.
The project developed the Theory of Faculty Adoption of Engineering Technologies as an overlay to former technology adoption models (Jarvie-Eggart, et al., 2024). This model theorizes that, in the presence of access to an engineering technology, the progression from Behavioral Intention to Use to actual Use Behavior is influenced by various Facilitating Conditions (Other People, Digital Resources, Non-Digital Resources, Time, and Formal Training) and by Personal Traits (Persistence, Humility, Self Efficacy, Growth Mindset, Ambiguity Acceptance, and Curiosity) as shown in the figure below. Importantly, none of the existing models of technology adoption include characteristics of user personality, only their perceptions of the technology’s usefulness and ease of use, which expands the field’s understanding of faculty technology adoption.
Through faculty interviews, surveys, and focus groups, several potential interventions were identified that might support faculty adoption of engineering technologies. These interventions included financial support and performance incentives, establishment of university-sanctioned software or programming languages, workload reductions for the purpose of learning a new technology, short courses provided to faculty on campus, and efforts to connect faculty with established technology users on their campuses. Development of these interventions will be the focus of future research.
The project has made an impact on the development of a new engineering education faculty member and two Ph.D. students by providing them with hands-on training and experience in qualitative research methods. What they learned working on the project will support their future research and overall career development.
The findings of this project have the potential to impact engineering education, as well as the field of technology adoption, through the development of the Theory of Faculty Adoption of Engineering Technologies, and through suggesting specific interventions that promote adoption of new engineering technologies by faculty. Understanding faculty technology adoption has the potential to improve engineering education by encouraging faculty to continually adopt and implement new technologies for their research and/or teaching. Such adoption will ensure that the future engineers are proficient with up-to-date technologies and have the dispositions and skills to continue to learn new technologies throughout their careers.
The new constructs related to technology adoption that emerged from the work are likely to apply to faculty across all disciplines and thus will be relevant to university faculty beyond those in engineering fields. These new constructs may also apply to faculty learning any new material about which they have anxiety or nervousness. The findings related to how universities might support faculty in adopting new technologies are also likely to be widely applicable.
References/Products:
M. Jarvie-Eggart, S. Stockero, A. Owusu-Ansah*. (2024). “Factors Influencing Faculty’s Adoption of Engineering Technology: A Qualitative Study.” Currently Under Final Review – Computers and Education Open. Volume 7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeo.2024.100221
Jarvie-Eggart, M. E. (2023), “Potential Interventions To Promote Engineering Technology Adoption Among Faculty.” 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. https://sftp.asee.org/43006
M. Jarvie-Eggart, May, D., Moyaki, D.*, Carlson, K.*, Smith , L.** (2023). “Co-sharing secondary qualitative research data to understand technology adoption in engineering education courses.” 2023 IEEE Frontiers in Education (FIE) Conference, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, College Station, Texas, Oct 17-21. DOI: 10.1109/FIE58773.2023.10342944
M. E. Jarvie-Eggart, A. Owusu-Ansah*, (2022). “Workshop: Promoting Technology Adoption Among Engineering Faculty.” Frontiers in Education (FIE), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Uppsala, Sweden, Oct 8-11. DOI: 10.1109/FIE56618.2022.9962521
M. E. Jarvie-Eggart, A. Owusu-Ansah*, S. L. Stockero, (2022). “Facilitating Conditions for Engineering Faculty Technology Adoption.” American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference and Exposition. Minneapolis, MN, USA. June 26-29. https://peer.asee.org/41942
A. Owusu-Ansah* (presenter), M. E. Jarvie-Eggart, (2022). ““It can’t tell you how to do that.” Suggesting a faculty-focused subgenre of instructional writing,” International Processional Communication Conference (ProComm), Limerick, Ireland, July 18-20. DOI: 10.1109/ProComm53155.2022.00006
M. E. Jarvie-Eggart, A. Owusu-Ansah*, S. L. Stockero, (2021). “Factors Motivating Engineering Faculty to Adopt and Teach New Engineering Technologies,” Frontiers in Education (FIE), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Lincoln, NB, USA, Oct 13-16. Paper # 34113. pp.1-5
doi: 10.1109/FIE49875.2021.9637235
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9637235
Last Modified: 10/22/2024
Modified by: Michelle E Jarvie-Eggart
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
