The Influence of External Forces, Institutional Forces,and Academics’ Characteristics on the Adoption of Positive Teaching Practices across Australian Undergraduate Engineering

• Autores: David Knight, Ian T. Cameron, Roger G. Hadgraft, Carl Reidsema
• Localización: The International journal of engineering education, ISSN-e 0949-149X, Vol. 32, no. 2 (Parte A ), 2016, págs. 695-711
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This study investigates how academics’ personal beliefs, perspectives on institutional forces, and perspectives on externalinfluences relate to their teaching and learning decision-making.Using a national-level survey of Australian engineering academics (n = 591; 16% of Australia’s engineering academics),analyses investigate (1) how influences external and internal to the university environment vary across characteristics ofacademics, and (2) how academics’ characteristics, organizational features, and external drivers relate to issues informingacademics’ teaching and their actual teaching practices. External and internal influences differed across academics basedon their individual characteristics and university contexts, and academics’ individual characteristics explained the greatestvariability in their teaching considerations and practices. For external influences (e.g., accreditation), promotingawareness of educational goals for undergraduate engineering—as opposed to forcing outcomes into course plan-ning—relates to more desirable teaching and learning practices. No internal institutional policy driver related to teachingpractice variables. This study points to informed, professional development that seeks to capitalize on academics’ personalinterests and characteristics and assists in helping them understand how curricula and outcomes may better align to helpstudent learning. Findings support working from a bottom-up model of change to improve the teaching and learningculture within engineering programs.