Engineering Education In Canada Research Articles

Thematic Review of Canadian Engineering Education Research between 2017-2021

Trends in engineering education have shifted over time, with teaching methods adapting to facilitate student learning [1], and the importance of equity, diversity and inclusivity (EDI) coming to the forefront [2]. It is important to understand the trends in engineering education to assess where we are coming from and where things currently stand in terms of teaching methods, culture, and pedagogy, to guide engineering educators and researchers moving forward. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of thematic trends in past CEEA papers over the previous five years (2017-2021), exploring shifts and evolutions in the major topics discussed as well as looking at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on engineering education research. Papers were analyzed from the 2017-2021 CEEA proceedings. By studying the frequency of main themes in papers for each year, the popularity of subjects that have been trending were determined, allowing for an analysis of the major trends seen year over year. During the period under review, institutions across Canada transitioned to online learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This resulted in a prevalent thematic shift in paper topics towards an increased interest regarding pure online delivery of a course during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the 2021 proceedings, which saw 41 (41.8%) papers discuss online learning in some form, research into this topic generally had little traction with 2017 having the next highest frequency of 17 (10.2%) publications, and 2018-2020 each having under five publications on this topic. Up until 2021, the focus on teaching beyond conventional formats had been primarily on mixed delivery (such as flipped classrooms and blended learning), as opposed to purely online. Other trends observed from the analysis include the importance of K-12 outreach with this theme seeing most focus at the CEEA 2020 conference with seven (7.9%) papers discussing this topic. In addition to the changing trends in topics, a discussion on the ambiguity of research and practice-based papers and their definition was undertaken. This analysis will assist engineering educators to understand the research topics of interest that past CEEA submissions have gravitated towards, and will highlight topics that are important, but are presently understudied.

Indigenizing Engineering education in Canada: critically considered

ABSTRACT This article critically considers the work being done to bring Indigenous Peoples, Knowledges, and perspectives into the dominant structures of engineering education in Canada. We use Gaudry and Lorenz’s (2018. “Indigenization as Inclusion, Reconciliation, and Decolonization: Navigating the Different Visions for Indigenizing the Canadian Academy.” AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous PeoplesAlterNative 14 (3): 218–227. doi:10.1177/1177180118785382) spectrum of Indigenization to evaluate self-reported contributions from 25 engineering programs and four engineering organizations. Findings show much of the work being done in Canada is in Indigenous Inclusion and Reconciliation Indigenization, with some Decolonial Indigenization. Efforts in reconciliation and decolonization are seen predominantly in integrated, grassroots initiatives, with institutional initiatives found largely in inclusion. We submit that a diversified strategy and decolonized policies are needed to achieve Decolonial Indigenization. The intention of this work is to create an ethical space where Indigenous and non-Indigenous engineering educators can listen to and learn from one another. Guided by Etuaptmumk (Two-Eyed Seeing), we can advance Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing in engineering education in Canada and around the world.

A Snapshot of Entrepreneurship Education at Canadian Engineering Schools – A Representative Overview from EETI SIG Members

With the rise of an innovation-based, technology-centric economy over the past two decades, there has been a shift in the market, enabling technological entrepreneurs to build business ventures that have realized accelerated growth and reached considerable scale. This “new economy” has created a need for individuals with a balanced skill set accompanying both business acumen, and technological innovation of complex systems. In esponse to this need, post-secondary engineering education institutions are teaching more business and entrepreneurship content. In Canada, most of the major post-secondary engineering education institutions offer some form of entrepreneurial education. However, approaches and programs offered by respective institutions vary in their approach to teaching engineering entrepreneurship, yielding a variety of different program implementations. There is, thus, a strong need to develop a Community of Practice focusing on engineering entrepreneurship education in Canada to foster a more rigorous and collaborative effort to evolve entrepreneurial teaching and learning. This paper is a first attempt to document and interpret the current state of a select number of Canadian Engineering Entrepreneurship Education programs. The founding members of the Canadian Engineering Education Association’s (CEEA) Engineering Entrepreneurship and technology innovation (EETI) Special Interest Group (SIG) have collaboratively collected information regarding the current practice of Engineering Entrepreneurship education within their affiliated institutions. This paper examines the Institutional Context, Strategy, Business Infrastructure, as well as the programs employed for Teaching and Learning at both the Undergraduate and Graduate levels. Our goal is to present a snapshot of the current practice for which entrepreneurship education is delivered at the institutions for which the founding members of the EETI SIG reside, as well as, discuss how entrepreneurship intersects with the other areas of engineering education, for example, design, the maker space movement, and professionalism, as well as, many of the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board’s twelve graduate attributes.

OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN UNDERGRADUATE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN UNDERGRADUATE CHALLENGES

Open Education Resources are pedagogical resources which are available under open licences for reuse and remixing. These resources support collaborative development of education material, the ongoing evolution and improvement of the material and easy access to both educators and students. Several initiatives exist for OER in Canada, and resources specifically targeting engineering are beginning to emerge. At the moment, those efforts are fragmented. In line with the mission to the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA) OER SIG, this paper presents an overview of current Canadian and international Engineering OER initiatives. Based on the findings, several challenges and opportunities pertaining to engineering OER are identified and recommendations are provided for engineering instructors and institutions who wish to increase the use of OER in engineering programs. For instructors, this could be adapting OER where available. For those looking to develop OER, there may be grants and resources at the institutional and provincial levels to support this. For institutions, this may be supporting instructors in using or developing OER through grants or recognition.

A SNAPSHOT OF THE CANADIAN ENGINEERING EDUCATION SYSTEM: REFLECTIONS FROM AN EMERGING SCHOLAR TRYING TO SUPPORT NATIONAL CURRICULUM CHANGE

The Canadian Engineering Education Challenge (CEEC) is an initiative with the goal of ‘developing a national collaboration to target engineering curriculum to graduate students who will be eminently prepared to take on the challenges of the future’. The National Coordinator performed a scan of the education system across Canadian engineering programs to determine existing initiatives, and common challenges. The objectives of this work are: 1. Identify needs and challenges of the Canadian Engineering Education system, and 2. Identify challenges and opportunities in providing support to curricular change initiatives. 
 This work is conceptually framed and driven through the Coordinator’s perspectives, assumptions and goals, using an action research framework. A qualitative inductive thematic analysis is used to identify common themes and trends from across visits and conversations with over 60 individuals from 14 institutions. A secondary goal of this work is to share the process, lessons learned, and personal reflections, with those who have contributed to generating the data, and others entering into the field of Engineering Education.
 Several trends emerged from the data, which elucidate needs and challenges. These include: distinct roles in the system, curricular initiatives relating to non-technical skills and design spine, challenges associated with Engineering Education Research and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, the impact and inertia of culture, modeling and instructor training related to non-technical skills, funding promotes change, and the importance of terminology and shared understanding.
 Considerations became apparent which may inform how to best support individuals and the system. These include: the need to align with the existing priorities of others, the desire for engineering educators to learn from each other, the power of culture, and incentives to promote engagement.
 This work will serve to identify potential opportunities for the CEEC to leverage collaboration between institutions with common alignment, as well as important considerations to be incorporated for the CEEC to maximize impact. Finally, this work hopes to provide valuable insight to others who wish to engage more deeply in Engineering Education.

A Systematic Review of Canadian Engineering Education Research 2004-2017

This paper provides a systematic review ofengineering education research papers from theC2E2/CDEN/CEEA-ACEG-ACEG series of conferencesfrom 2004 to the present. The purpose of the review is totrack the evolution of engineering education across the“engineering practice” and “engineeringresearch/theory” spectrum. The analysis is based on theNational Science Foundation-funded RREE committee’sproposed four levels of rigor in inquiry about teachingand learning. The results of the review show that although there is a trend towards an increasing proportion of theory-oriented papers, practice-oriented papers still dominate

Evolution of Canadian Engineering Education Assessment Practice 2010-2017

This paper explores graduate attribute assessment across Canadian engineering programs. Research papers from the 2010-2017 CEEA conferences were reviewed to gather a snapshot of how graduate attributes are assessed in the classroom. The purpose of the review is to begin the process of identifying gaps in GA assessment. The analysis is based on a framework by Wiggins and McTighe in Understanding by Design. A discrepancy in diagnostic, formative and summative assessment was found.

A networked social change lab approach to re-imagining engineering education

This paper presents a literature review of social laboratory and network approaches to change, and describes a collaborative approach being implemented in some Canadian engineering programs to rethink the engineering curriculum. As part of the Canadian Engineering Education Challenge in the Engineering Change Lab, the institutions present some proposed curriculum interventions and proposed research activities.

The Elephant and the Mouse: making a large department feel small and a small department feel large

Engineering Education in Canada is carried out at 44 currently accredited university programs. Collectively, the system graduates more than 12,000 new engineers each year. One quarter of those students study at a large schools having more than 1000 students in each yearly cohort. Many more study in medium-sized classes having more than 300 students each year. There also campuses where an engineering class is fewer than 30 students. How does the student experience differ from the opposite ends of this size spectrum?

CHARACTERIZING THE ENGINEERING EDUCATION GRADUATE STUDENT EXPERIENCE IN CANADA: DESCRIPTIVES

Abstract – Four Canadian Engineering Education graduate students from the Universities of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Toronto, and Calgary are conducting a national mixed-methods research study to characterize the identity of graduate students studying engineering education in Canada. The first phase of this study comprised of the dissemination of a survey designed using McAlpine’s Identity-Trajectory framework to explore whom our engineering education graduate students are, how our graduate studies are manifest in this field, and how our academic identities are formed through the construction of our unique intellectual, institutional, and networking experiences. This paper presents select findings and descriptive analyses from these survey data. Findings show that participants in our study predominantly identify as female, come from engineering backgrounds, are over-stretched in terms of commitments, need better access to research funding and peer communities, actively present at conferences, and are sufficiently supported by their institutions and supervisors to feel that they can conduct quality research in engineering education. Noteworthy, is that the gender demographic in our study participants, which is predominantly female, is in contrast to the minority female demographic found in engineering graduate studies. Significantly, findings suggest that graduate students pursuing degrees in engineering education may be guided by a potentially unconscious positivistic approach to their research.

CHARACTERIZING THE ENGINEERING EDUCATION GRADUATE STUDENT EXPERIENCE IN CANADA: RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT & REFLECTIONS

Four Canadian Engineering Education students from the Universities of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Toronto and Calgary have conceptualized conducting a national study to characterize the identities of graduate students studying Engineering Education in Canada. We developed the Canadian Engineering Education Student Identity Study (CEESIS). This is a mixed methods cross-case comparison research study designed to explore how Canadian Engineering Education graduate students’ identities are formed through the intersection of our intellectual, institutional and networking academic experiences nested within our personal lives.In this paper, we detail the realization, purpose, benefits, theoretical design and methodology of this study. The development of our theoretical framework and survey through the use of McAlpine’s identity-trajectory construct is discussed. We conclude with individual personal reflections on how this research process has shaped our own growth as Engineering Education graduate students and how participation in this research group has influenced our understanding and identity of being Engineering Education graduate students and emerging Engineering Education researchers in Canada

The Canadian Engineering Education Association Research Collaboration (CEEA-RC): Annual Survey of Canadian Engineering Instructors

This paper will focus on the design anddevelopment of the Survey of Canadian EngineeringInstructors (SCEI), from framework to final implementedversion. The primary goal of this project was to increasethe experience and capacity for rigorous educationalresearch within the CEEA community, and to benchmarkengineering faculty attitudes towards teaching andlearning.The development, approval and implementation of thestudy are a key focus presented in this paper, with theintent of providing a holistic view of how the project ismanaged and enacted. Alongside this narrative are thepreliminary findings from the project thus far. Thesefindings provide insight into faculty perceptions andattitudes towards teaching and learning. These responseshighlight the need for a more in-depth analysis todetermine the interesting trends observed in the data.

Navigating a Constitutional Moment: Reflections on Implementing Graduate Attributes in Canadian Engineering Education

This piece is a self-reflexive essay examining our experiences during an important transitional moment, what we will identify as a ‘constitutional moment’, in engineering education in Canada. We are a collection of scholars who specialize in the study of the interface between technology and the humanities and social sciences (most of us identify as Science and Technology Studies scholars). Housed within the Center for Engineering in Society, itself housed within a faculty of engineering, we find ourselves presented with dual challenges of introducing insights from the critical studies of the relationship between science, technology, and society into the engineering curriculum, while also maintaining legitimacy among the engineering faculty that we find ourselves a part of. This paper is a result of our attempts to understand the challenges in engineering education that are unique to our Canadian context and to systematize our responses to these challenges. The aim of this paper is to share our experiences navigating the relationship between the construction of our center's identity as an Engineering Studies hub and our critical participation in engineering education practice.

Environmental engineering education in Canada

Environmental engineering education has been an active option for engineers from all disciplines for nearly 50 years at the graduate level. Some graduate programs expanded to integrate students with undergraduate science degrees with the engineering programs, since the cross discipline interaction is required outside the academic programs. In the mid-1980s interest increased to such a level that undergraduate programs began to form. Several of these programs have been accredited in their various forms recognizing the diversity of the field and those presenting the programs. The progression from graduate-degree-based specializations to broad-based undergraduate programs reflects both the increased knowledge in the field and the increased demand for professional engineers capable of responding to public health and environmental protection issues. Graduate programs greatly expand fundamental knowledge of physical, chemical, and biological processes and their application to protection problems. Of course, the doctorate is dedicated to the development of significant new knowledge. This paper defines several of the basic components of the environmental engineering profession and the educational process needed to produce qualified environmental engineers. Key words: environmental engineering, education, courses, undergraduate environmental engineering, graduate environmental engineering.

Environmental engineering education in Canada: Reply

Environmental engineering education in Canada: Reply

Environmental engineering education in Canada: Discussion

Environmental engineering education in Canada: Discussion

Observations of geological engineering education in Canada

A review of geological engineering education in Canada was conducted in order to assess the effectiveness of current undergraduate university curricula by e-mailing a survey to geological engineering students and to practising geological engineers across the country. The lists of courses taught by each of the eight universities currently offering geological engineering in Canada were appraised for content and it was found that there are three "pillars" related to earth materials: Soil, Water and Rock. Although only 25% or less of each university's curriculum was focused on these, they were judged by the survey respondents to be the most useful courses and the subject of the top five job categories.

Environmental engineering education in Canada

Environmental engineering education has been an active option for engineers from all disciplines for nearly 50 years at the graduate level. Some graduate programs expanded to integrate students with undergraduate science degrees with the engineering programs, since the cross discipline interaction is required outside the academic programs. In the mid-1980s interest increased to such a level that undergraduate programs began to form. Several of these programs have been accredited in their various forms recognizing the diversity of the field and those presenting the programs. The progression from graduate-degree-based specializations to broad-based undergraduate programs reflects both the increased knowledge in the field and the increased demand for professional engineers capable of responding to public health and environmental protection issues. Graduate programs greatly expand fundamental knowledge of physical, chemical, and biological processes and their application to protection problems. Of course, the doctorate is dedicated to the development of significant new knowledge. This paper defines several of the basic components of the environmental engineering profession and the educational process needed to produce qualified environmental engineers.Key words: environmental engineering, education, courses, undergraduate environmental engineering, graduate environmental engineering.

Biomedical Engineering Education in Canada, 1996

This paper updates the information contained in a previously published paper, ¿Bioengineering Education in Canada, 1988,¿ which appeared in the Journal of Clinical Engineering (Volume 13, No. 5). It describes the current biomedical engineering and biomedical engineering technology programs available in Canada, but does not attempt to evaluate them. There are no undergraduate degree programs specifically in biomedical engineering, although three universities have created options in biomedical engineering in undergraduate programs. Also, the clinical engineering program at the University of British Columbia has been discontinued.

Civil Engineering Education in Canada

SUMMARY Although the establishment of the Free Trade Pact between Canada and the US in 1989 was thought to be a solution to foreseeable economic difficulties in Canada, the reality is that North America is in an economic recession at the present time. Economists and politicians grasp at every positive economic indicator that shows the slightest trend upward, but unemployment stands at an average of 14% across the country. Despite a downturn in economic activity, Canadian engineering services captured about 8% of the international design market, with the US being the single largest market segment [l]. In view of the development of more global markets for engineering services, it is important that Canadian engineers be trained to be competitive in other world markets, i.e. in Europe and Pacific Rim countries. This paper outlines the professional and educational systems in Canada relative to the training of engineers but centres on the training of civil engineers at the University of New Brunswick and the ev...