Jennifer Karlin

Bio: Jennifer Karlin is an academic researcher from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. The author has contributed to research in topics: Engineering education & Learning environment. The author has an hindex of 6, co-authored 20 publications receiving 239 citations.

Team Effectiveness Theory from Industrial and Organizational Psychology Applied to Engineering Student Project Teams: A Research Review

Abstract: Background Engineering student team projects are frequently used to meet professional learning outcomes. Industrial and organizational psychologists study teams in the industry settings for which we prepare students, yet this research does not effectively inform engineering education. Purpose This research review sought to demonstrate the relevance of literature on teams literature from industrial and organizational psychology to engineering education and to identify implications for practice and future directions for research. Scope/Method Phase 1 systematically reviewed 104 articles published from 2007 to 2012 describing engineering and computer science student team projects and sought to answer the following questions: What professional learning outcomes have been met by team projects? What negative student team behaviors have faculty sought to minimize? What literature has been used to inform development of teamwork outcomes? Phase 2 reviewed five team effectiveness constructs selected according to the results of Phase 1: social loafing, interdependence, conflict, trust, and shared mental models. Examples from Phase 1 articles and our own work explain how this research informs facilitation and assessment of engineering student teams. Conclusions Engineering faculty sought to achieve a variety of outcomes through team projects, including teamwork, communication, sustainability, and consideration of global/societal design context. They sought to avoid social loafing and conflict while building trust to ensure equal team effort. That few Phase 1 articles engaged the literature about team effectiveness indicates there is great opportunity to apply industrial and organizational psychology research to engineering education.

Metrics and the Holistic Learner

Abstract: The shift to a global economy, the move to lean management structures, and the need to develop an intellectually and culturally diverse engineering community requires a curriculum that more fully develops the complex thinking skills required by today's industries. This paper presents a summary of the holistic nature of student development which values alternative modes of intellectual inquiry as well as alternative measures of student development. A summary of suitable metrics by which to student development is included.

Situating the Research to Practice Cycle For Increased Transformation in Engineering Education

Abstract: The educational research to educational practice cycle is an important framework for connecting the fundamental research in engineering education to the real world of the classroom and other learning environments. When applied consistently, the educational research to practice cycle bonds the two halves by elucidating new questions from practice and finding new answers through research, which is then applied in practice. Ideally, the educational researchers are grounded in the needs and changing context of the practitioner and the educational practitioner is using evidence from the research as a key component in their pedagogical decision making. While we have seen some gains through this model, large-scale, systemic transformation has been largely elusive. This paper situates the research to practice cycle in the organizational context to illustrate key barriers to transforming engineering education. This paper is designed to start a conversation within the engineering education discipline about how better situating this model in organizational structure and organizational change can make the research to practice cycle in engineering education more effective. It will define organizational structure and barriers to organizational change within the context of the research to practice cycle, including how organizational infrastructure allows researchers to craft evidence-based implementations that are more likely to succeed in a particular location and to identify a set of initial potential barriers to success. Awareness of the, often unintended, messages that the organizational infrastructure sends are an important part of managing change in our educational practices and discovering under-studied areas of engineering education. This paper also ties to on-going work by the authors to examine specific implementations of engineering education transformation and identify mechanisms to overcome organizational and systemic barriers to evidence-based changes in engineering education practice.

Leading Large-Scale Change in an Engineering Program

Abstract: While many efforts have been made to improve technical and professional skills in engineering graduates, there has been little comprehensive change in the pedagogy of most engineering education institutions in the U.S. Many of these efforts involve changing only one or two aspects of the curriculum, and therefore are less likely to make significant changes in the student learning outcomes. For better success, engineering curricular changes will need to address the entire education system. In order to see real, sustainable improvement in engineering education practice, both the behaviors of the participants and the systems within which these participants act must have change. Changes in education practices are unlikely to develop and persist without concurrent and structural changes at the administrative level; thus this study focuses on understanding the activities of individuals during an administrative change. Further, this study highlights the importance of how change agents work with the various groups, or sub-cultures, within universities as well as the opportunity for leadership from the faculty and department chair ranks. This study seeks to better understand the change management activities and opportunities that occurred as the Iron Range Engineering program was developed and implemented. Iron Range Engineering (IRE) is a two-year, project-based program that allows students with two-year college degrees to complete a bachelor’s degree in engineering. The program is a partnership between a community college and a state university, separated geographically by several hundred miles. The program takes place at the community college, targeting students in that part of the state and responding to the needs of local industries. Because of the complex nature of the institutional partnership, as well as the project-based, team-focused emphasis, the program serves as an innovative model for engineering education.

Building Your Change-agent Toolkit: The Power of Story

Abstract: Dr. Ewert has been involved in cardiovascular engineering for over 25 years in both research and instruction. He has consulted for major medical device companies in the area of cardiovascular engineering and performed research with US and international colleagues. He has a broad background in mechanical and electrical engineering, and physiology with specific training and expertise. His work includes modeling the cardiovascular system, ventricular assist devices, cardiac physiology, instrumentation systems and leadless cardiac pacing. He help developed and was the inaugural director of a project-based-learning engineering curriculum. As Chief Innovation and Culture Officer in industry, He is now involved in discovery-based-learning on multi-disciplinary teams.

Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science

Abstract: The past half-century has witnessed a dramatic increase in the scale and complexity of scientific research. The growing scale of science has been accompanied by a shift toward collaborative research, referred to as “team science.“ Scientific research is increasingly conducted by small teams and larger groups rather than individual investigators, but the challenges of collaboration can slow these teams' progress in achieving their scientific goals. How does a team-based approach work, and how can universities and research institutions support teams? Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science synthesizes and integrates the available research to provide guidance on assembling the science team; leadership, education and professional development for science teams and groups. It also examines institutional and organizational structures and policies to support science teams and identifies areas where further research is needed to help science teams and groups achieve their scientific and translational goals. This report offers major public policy recommendations for science research agencies and policymakers, as well as recommendations for individual scientists, disciplinary associations, and research universities. Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science will be of interest to university research administrators, team science leaders, science faculty, and graduate and postdoctoral students.

Educating Engineers: Designing for the Future of the Field

Abstract: with whom they interact in the community. An emerging body of research suggests that service learning is experienced differently by students from underrepresented groups and that boundaries are blurred creating different outcomes for students and community members alike. The perspectives of students of color or students from working class families, for example, are also unheard voices in service learning. In illuminating the experiences and perspectives of community organizations in The Unheard Voices Stoecker and Tryon provide service learning educators (in the broadest and most inclusive definition) with a very useful resource for the effective and respectful design and implementation of service learning. If their findings and recommendations therein are taken to heart and seriously, service learning programs will not only look very different but so too will faculty involvement and most importantly, intended benefits to community organizations may actually be realized.

The Cambridge Handbook of Computing Education Research

Abstract: This Handbook describes the extent and shape of computing education research today. Over fifty leading researchers from academia and industry (including Google and Microsoft) have contributed chapters that together define and expand the evidence base. The foundational chapters set the field in context, articulate expertise from key disciplines, and form a practical guide for new researchers. They address what can be learned empirically, methodologically and theoretically from each area. The topic chapters explore issues that are of current interest, why they matter, and what is already known. They include discussion of motivational context, implications for practice, and open questions which might suggest future research. The authors provide an authoritative introduction to the field and is essential reading for policy makers, as well as both new and established researchers.