Small study looking at our cohort

Purpose:

To understand the similar experiences of our cohort that lead to potential overlap across their habitus' (or disposition).

Research Question:

What are the shared experiences of our cohort? In what ways (if any) might these shared experiences be indicative of overlap across habitus?

Methodology:

1. Developed survey based on the Inez research paper we read and discussed in two of our classes.

2. Distributed the survey as a paper instrument and collected it anonymously.

3. Analyzed the data and write up results for this blog.

Results & Conclusions:

1. There was strong family support for college education but students had much weaker college advising on average (Q1, Q4).

2. ½ of cohort answered that they worked during their undergraduate years. While this is at best a proximate measure of socioeconomic status, the fact that so many held a job could indicate that this half of the cohort were less likely to be from a high socioeconomic status. (Q7)

3. College statistics on major and department changing suggest that the rate of major or department change in our cohort is normal. (Q 13, Q 17, Q18)

Reaching the level of a PhD degree is not equivalent to entering college or vocational school; more effort must be made and recognizable skills must be demonstrated to be accepted. Some of the experiences of our cohort, particularly poor advising and potentially lower socioeconomic status or at least financial hardship during college years work as barriers to college success. Their appears to also be a considerable amount of social support for educational pursuits, from the family, which could facilitate success. These two experiences seem to be at play for many of the members of our cohort and may effect their habitus and their subsequent entry into PhD studies here. More variables may be behind these circumstances, but from the variables we have identified it appears that the barriers were not as resilient as the facilitators for success.

This research is meaningful because it sheds some light on what type of students this department has attracted. It offers an opportunity for some reflexivity and further studying may afford deeper insight into the shared experiences of students attracted to and accepted into this field (in the academic and Bourdieuian sense).

Limits of Research:

1. Small sample size, non randomized sampling. Both undercut ability to conduct statistical analysis.

Next Steps

1. Consider Qualitative Study in the Spring

2. Considering writing paper for a conference

3. Consider expanding to all ENE grad students

References:

DiMaggio, Paul. (1979). Review: On Pierre Bourdieu. The American Journal of Sociology. 84(6) 1460-1474.

Foor, C.E., Walden S.E. & Trytten D.A. (2007). “I Wish That I Belonged More in this Whole Engineering Group:” Achieving Individual Diversity. Journal of Engineering Education. 103-115

Data: The Responses people could give were:

*Really not like my experiences at all* 1

*Not usually what I experienced* 2

*Sometimes occurred or fits my experience* 3

*Often occurred and a pretty good experience fit* 4

*Very close fit to my experiences* 5

*Not able to answer* 6

Graphs:

free video camera and editting help at Hicks Undergraduate library

Class
After Ben found this place I went to the Hicks undergraduate library to get a 2nd video camera on Friday, reserved for 3 days. They said in the lab in the subbasement that they are open and usually staffed  7x24 to help with Windows Moviemaker this week. They were not sure if they will always staff 2-600am. There are  Sony video cameras at Hicks available with a purdue ID to use for free for 1-3 days.I am at Hicks now at 10:43pm and it like downtown Chicago at Rush Hour. But there is staff to help with Windows Moviemaker, conversion of tapes and any MovieMaker editing problems that you have. They are really customer  friendly.You have to go to Hicks to reserve cameras. you can reserve video conversion machines at http://www.dlc.purdue.edu/
click on reserve a compeuter
search by device for miniDV deck if you are using tape was we were.
reserve a PC, stations 3,4,5,10
you need the same amount of conversion minutes as you have DV tape.
dan, Natalie, Ben

a different kind of data, PhD comic strips!

In case you are stuck on your essays and papers this week, here is a link to an example of using PhD comic strips as examples of dicussion points. I make no representations as to its quality just to the uniqueness of the approach. When you are stuck, as I was stuck on an essay until i talked with Ruthie this morning, whatever works to get the juices flowing might be considered an option.

https://blackboard.purdue.edu/webct/urw/lc4614621886031.tp4708705173151/displayContentPage.dowebct?pageID=5346537813121&resetBreadcrumb=false&displayBCInsideFrame=true

This link goes to the Methods section of Inquiry in the folder for Narrrative Presentation, Methods presentation number 6, the file labeled Narrative research_comics .

In any case listening again to 106 yr old Ann Nixon Cooper, the living example of narrative research at Spellman College from our Narrative Research discussion, is a great treat on any day of the week.
Here is the Youtube link to Ann,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95hAIlwyY78
Good writing and Youtubing this week.
dan

your first graduate student holiday joke-to lighten your mood for dead week

A man in Scotland calls his son at Cambridge in graduate school the day before Christmas Eve and says,
"I hate to ruin your day but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough".
"Dad, what are you talking about?'" the son screams.
"We can't stand the sight of each other any longer", the father says.   "We're sick of each other and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister at the University of Edinburgh, and tell her".
Frantically, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone, "Like hell they're getting divorced", she  shouts, "I'll take care of this". 
She calls home immediately and screams at her father, "You are NOT getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing,  DO YOU HEAR ME?"and hangs up.

The man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife.
"Done! They're coming for Christmas - and they're paying their own way." 

happy graduate student holidays!

the scale of the universe and of the history and philosophy of engineering education

Class,
I can't decide where the concepts in H/P fit metaphorically in this universe scale. Some seem to me to be of the size of galaxies in the concept of engineering, some are like DNA, some are hard to place. I share this scale of the universe model with you so you can ponder both realms as I have been doing for a long time in thinking about man's role in the universe as we are thinking about engineering's role in our societies. I stand in awe of both concepts and of how our thinking about engineering has been stretched.
dan
Move the blue button right and left.


http://primaxstudio.com/stuff/scale_of_universe/

 

An author who has done a lot of thinking about these kind of questions and blended his thoughts on the meaning of life [and some fantastic creative engineering] into science fiction stories  turned 90 yrs old not so long ago, Arthur C Clarke. If you haven't ever met him, his Rama series is absolutely out of this world.[see below].  If you would like to meet him, here is one of his last Youtube recordings.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qLdeEjdbWE  

Arthur C. Clarke stretched my imagination as few others have done. He died in 2007.

 

Rama [great holiday reading]
1. Rendezvous with Rama (1972)
2. Rama II (1989) (with Gentry Lee)
3. The Garden of Rama (1991) (with Gentry Lee)
4. Rama Revealed (1993) (with Gentry Lee)

Where did i learn about engineering education this semester?

My learning about engineering education and engineering education rigorous research this semester took place in my judgment in order of impact on my skills and knowledge in these 13 ways:

in my  History and Philosophy, Inquiry, and Seminar class sessions,
through my writings of the papers, essays and research proposals,
in my discussions in faculty offices,
through my readings of articles and text book chapters,
in my meetings with Amy Van Epps and my meetings with Dr Ohland,
through my writing and editing of the NSF Essays,
through books and articles i obtained from Hesse, Amazon and the Purdue libraries links
through my attendance at the Thursday research seminars,
through discussions with ENE graduate students,
through my regular meetings with Michele Strutz, James Cawthorne and Mark Carnes,
through readings on the blogs,  
through the CITI online learning modules,
in my discussions in my work groups and teams.

where and how did you learn this semester?
dan
. 

the engineering education researcher

From discovery,

learning rigorous research,

springs a researcher.

Women in Engineering comment, a little data to update Bix articles.

Factors Controlling the Number of Women Holding Engineering Faculty Positions

Introduction Growth in the number of women teaching engineering in US universities has been of high priority for several decades. The benefits of such growth have been discussed by others and there is no need to restate them here. The present study considered the factors that control the increase in the number of women faculty members. Engineering Doctorates Awarded to Women Essentially all engineering faculty have doctoral degrees. Thus, the supply of women who are candidates for academic positions is limited in part by the number of doctorates awarded to women. The number of doctoral degrees in engineering awarded to women since AY1984-85 is shown in the graph below along with the number of women holding academic positions. Both total numbers of doctoral degrees awarded to women and doctorates awarded to US citizens are shown. The number of potential candidates for faculty positions will be less than the former and greater than the latter. In general, the total number of doctorates annually awarded to women has increased substantially and almost linearly for two decades (an average increase of about 50 per year). The number of doctorates awarded to women who were US citizens has been essentially constant since AY1994-95. The number of women in each of the three faculty ranks has increased substantially since data began to be collected in Fall 2000. It is noteworthy that the number of assistant professors is greatest and the number of full professors is least. The growth in the number of women in the three academic ranks would appear to indicate that women have had increasing success in obtaining academic positions and also have been successful in being promoted to higher ranks. Further, the increases in numbers of doctorates since AY1984-85 would appear to indicate that this success will be maintained in the future. Total numbers of engineering doctorates and faculty are shown in the graph below for comparison to the data for women shown in the graph above. The data shown above exhibit trends unlike those for women. The total number of doctorates awarded annually from AY1998-99 through AY2002-03 was essentially constant. AY2003-04 data indicate that the significant growth in doctoral enrollments since Fall 1997 has begun to yield increasing numbers of doctoral graduates. Faculty numbers (all three ranks) have increased slightly since Fall 2000. In addition, the number of full professors is greatest and the number of assistant professors is least. It should be anticipated that the number of women holding associate and full professor positions will increase faster than those in assistant professor positions in the future, leading to a ranking of "full professor highest and assistant professor lowest" as shown for all engineering faculty. Relative Numbers of Women Awarded Doctorates and Holding Academic Positions The trends for women in terms of doctorates awarded and faculty positions become tempered when data relative to total numbers of doctorates and faculty are considered. The data presented in the graph below indicate that the relative number of doctorates awarded to women has been essentially constant since AY2001-02. However, these data show that a minimum in doctorates awarded to women reaches a minimum every five years. As is the case in many trend studies, next year will be critical. In terms of faculty positions, the relative growth of associate and full professors is more modest than would be inferred from the growth in total numbers of women in these positions. Most disturbing is the fact that little significant change has occurred in the relative number of assistant professors. Women Awarded Doctorates in Engineering Fields Making the Transition to Academia The transition from doctoral graduate study to an appointment as an assistant professor was investigated. The number of women who are assistant professors in a specific year were awarded doctorates over a previous span of years. This span was assumed to be approximately six years; data were obtained for five and seven years as well. The calculations yielded the fraction of women who were awarded doctorates that made the transition to an academic career, presumably as assistant professors. The results for each of the three years for which assistant professor data are available (Fall of 2001, 2002 and 2003) varied little; the data reported below are the averages for the three-year period. Using a six-year span of doctorate degrees prior to appointment as an assistant professor, 14.6% of the women awarded doctoral degrees became engineering faculty members. The fractions using five- and seven-year spans were 17.2% and 12.6%. The six-year span fraction will be used throughout the remainder of this report. It is noteworthy that the fraction of women awarded doctorates that obtain faculty positions (14.7%) is almost the same as that for all awardees of doctorates (12.5%). Thus, a higher fraction of women receiving doctorates is necessary for the relative number of women holding academic positions to increase. For AY2003-04, 1136 doctorates in engineering were awarded to women and 550 to women who were US citizens. Assuming that 14.6% will enter academia, these degrees should result in 166 women becoming assistant professors (80 if degrees awarded to US citizens are considered). The average annual increase since Fall 2001 in the total number of women holding faculty positions (all ranks) was 146. Thus, continued substantial growth in the number of women teaching in US engineering colleges should be expected. Summary The continued, substantial growth in the number of doctoral degrees awarded annually to women in engineering should continue to provide an expanding source of candidates for academic positions. It is important to note, though, that the number of doctorates awarded to women in engineering who are US citizens has been constant for about a decade and the fraction of women awarded doctorates has been essentially constant since AY2001-02. The number of women teaching in engineering colleges continues to increase over the period for which data are available (Fall 2001 through Fall 2003). On the other hand, data indicate that the fraction of women at the assistant professor rank has been essentially constant during this period. About 14.6% of women awarded doctorates currently embark upon careers in engineering education. If this number, only slightly higher than the fraction for all doctoral degree recipients (12.5%), remains constant, the growth of the relative number of women with academic appointments should continue to increase, but only very slowly.

A REAL ENGINEER

"In 1984 Bernard F Gordon, the inventor of the analog to digital converter, winner of the U.S. National Medal of Technology, and benefactor of the Gordon Prize for Engineering Education of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, stated in a speech before the European Society of Engineering Education that A REAL ENGINEER is one who has attained and continuously enhances technical, communications, and human relations knowledge, skills and attitudes, and who contributes effectively to society by theorizing, conceiving, developing, and producing reliable structures and machines of practical and economic value." (Crawley, 2007, pp. 10-11) Gordon goes on to define the knowledge required for a real engineer as "relational understanding of the data from which he/she can synthesize new information to solve problems. He also maintains that this knowledge is not limited to science and technology but also should include an understanding of societal evolution through a study of history, economics, sociology, psychology, literature and the arts " (Crawley, 2007, p. 11)  Gordon defines skills as "the problem solving techniques of design exercised with creativity and judgment with communication skills critical to the engineer's roles of follower and leader." (Crawley, 2007, p. 11) Finally Gordon defines the attitudes of a real engineer as "a leader of a team of resources, with a spirit of curiosity and courage that leads to creativity and innovation, and  who accepts the challenges of competition with a perseverance to succeed."(Crawley, 2007, p. 12)

Conceive and Design

Conceive and design 

build and operate machines

makes engineering.

There was a great ENE blog

There was a great ENE blog
that discussed things from Dewey to bogs
Some people wrote lots
on philosophy spots
but I like to write in a fog.

There was a young girl at Purdue

There was a young girl at Purdue
who didn't know quite what to do
but she found E N E
and a great P H D
and now she's a professor too.

There was a young man at Purdue

There was a young man at Purdue
who created designs from the blue
His emergent mind
was caught in a bind
until Purdue turned him into an engineer too.

Concieve and Design

Concieve and design
build and operate machines
makes engineering.

creative design

Creative design
in many emergent minds
makes engineering.

Becoming an Engineering Education Researcher: Intersections, extensions and lessons learned among three researchers stories

http://www.ce.umn.edu/~smith/docs/Adams-Fleming-Smith-Becoming_an_engineering_education_researcher-ICREE2007.pdf

This article tells three very different and very interesting stories about becoming an engineering education researcher (EER).
It contains three narrative stories about doing something not well understood or accepted but very rewarding, a pioneer in a new field as it were. Pioneers are said to be on exciting, rejected, surprise laden, risk filled journeys and live sometimes short but often quite fulfilled lives. One of the best stories I have ever read is Endurance : Shackleton's Incredible Voyage Alfred Lansing (Preface). It is a narrative. 

Narratives are defined in the article by referring to Bruner (1991) as
-taking place over some sense of time
-dealing with particular events
-having characters that have beliefs, values, desires, theories...
-being interpretted personally and publically
-about something unusual
-providing information on the reality of the narrative
-generic as to be classified as to genre
-making a claim about how to act
-providing meaning to the reader through sharing the discourse
-become part of a shared body of knowledge

I believe narratives are among the most powerful influencers in our lives and i can recall narratives ( stories) told by my uncles, father and mother as if they were talking to me at this moment.
After reading this article I feel closer to Karl Smith and Robin Adams because they have shared their life stories with me.

 I am interested in learning and sharing our EER stories. If anyone else is interested let's talk.
dan

A different approach to discussion than arguement; DeBono and six hat thinking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3ew6h5nHcc

Listening for three minutes may change the way we work together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjVxSk1MqO4&feature=related

A brief explanation of the six hat thinking system.

What is engineering?, updated from 87 to 118 words.

What is engineering?

Engineering is people working as engineers.

What is an engineer?

A person, working in teams, who conceives, designs, implements and operates products, processes or systems that use new or existing technology to meet society's changing needs.(Crawley, 2007)

What is education?

Education is the acquisition of knowledge by people.

What is engineering education?

Engineering education is the acquisition of knowledge by people so that they can be effective engineers.(Crawley, 2007)

What is the School of Engineering Education (ENE) at Purdue?

ENE is a place where people learn how to improve knowledge acquisition by people who are or want to be engineers.

Crawley, E. F. S. L. (2007). Rethinking engineering education the CDIO approach. New York: Springer.

what is engineering?

What is engineering?

Engineering is people working as engineers.

What is an engineer?

A person, working in teams, who conceives, designs, implements and operates products, processes or systems that use new or existing technology to meet society's changing needs.(Crawley, 2007)

What is education?

I believe education is the acquisition of knowledge by people.

What is engineering education?

Engineering education the acquisition of knowledge by people so that they can be effective engineers.(Crawley, 2007)

Crawley, E. F. S. L. (2007). Rethinking engineering education the CDIO approach. New York: Springer.