This research paper is an examination of four researchers’ methodological approaches to an explanatory case study investigating the identities and experiences of the graduate student population engaged in engineering education scholarship in Canada. The researchers are members of this target population from four separate institutions across Canada. To attend to procedural validation, we have engaged in a collaborative autoethnography to explore how our dual identities as researchers and future participants have shaped our study design and survey items. Using qualitative research development documents, this research paper critically explores our experiences as both participants and researchers. We position our study within Walther, Sochacka, & Kellam’s process-oriented quality framework for interpretive research, identifying our roles, influences, and biases in order to develop methodological awareness, and make transparent our subsequent knowledge generation. Initial findings are interpreted through the lens of situated learning theory, and the conceptualization of an underdeveloped community of practice leading to an identity quandary. These findings will be used to inform the development of our larger research study.
Jillian Seniuk Cicek is a PhD Candidate in Engineering Education in the Faculty of Graduate Studies, and a research assistant and sessional instructor for the Centre for Engineering Professional Practice and Engineering Education in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg, Canada. Her areas of investigation include exploring innovative ways to teach and assess the CEAB graduate attributes; Engineering stakeholder perceptions of the CEAB graduate attributes; program accreditation; outcomes-based teaching and assessment; student-centered instruction and active learning strategies; instructor pedagogical practices and belief-systems; experiences of Engineering newcomers; and Engineering Education graduate students' identities.
Patricia Sheridan is a PhD candidate in the Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering and the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry at the University of Toronto. She holds a B.A.Sc. and M.A.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, and is a core member of the Praxis cornerstone design teaching team. Her teaching and course development focus on creating interactive learning activities at the intersection of design, leadership, teamwork, and identity formation. Her research focuses on methods to improve the teaching and learning of team effectiveness in engineering design courses.
Elizabeth Kuley is a graduate of civil engineering at the University of Saskatchewan and currently completing a Masters of Science studying the retention of engineering students at the University of Saskatchewan.
Robyn Paul is the Program Evaluation and Planning Specialist in the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary. She is responsible for supporting the decision-making and reporting needs of SSE, particularly those related to accreditation and the teaching and learning processes. Robyn is also finishing up her master’s thesis in engineering education where she is looking at the impact of engineering leadership development on career success.
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