Building New Engineering EducationTheory and Practice for Interdisciplinary Pervasive Computing Design

Virginia Polytechnic Institute And State University, Blacksburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This engineering education research award to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University will employ researchers to develop, assess, and disseminate a process model for teaching students how to collaborate in learning environments with multiple disciplines. A theory-driven model of design thinking will be developed, implemented, and tested. The research is theoretically informed by work on interdisciplinarity as an individual skill and interdisciplinary collaboration as an interactive process between two or more people from different disciplines. A mixed-methods case study approach will be used to assess pedagogical approaches to interdisciplinary teaming, construction of learning environments, and integrated, interdisciplinary design processes. The results of this research will contribute to theoretical and applied work on the nature of interdisciplinary collaboration and how it is taught to engineers. Producing more engineering graduates who are well prepared for interdisciplinary collaboration is necessary for a competitive workforce in the global economy. The process and products of the student collaborations in this research will advance the field of pervasive computing, both through design methods and technical innovations.