I-Corp: Advancing Diagnostic Skills Training in Undergraduate Technology and Engineering Curriculum

Indiana State University, Terre Haute IN

Investigators

Abstract

Through the NSF Innovation Corps for Learning Program, (I-Corps L), this project will develop ways to achieve more widespread use of a teaching method proven to improve the diagnostic skills of engineering and technology students throughout the US. Diagnostic skill is one of the key competencies to be cultivated in many undergraduate technology or engineering curricular. As engineering/technology education shifting towards more outcome-based, learner-centered practice, developing effective teaching material to provide students with appropriate conceptual understanding and needed factual knowledge of technical diagnosis has become a critical task. Under prior support from the National Science Foundation a team of Indiana State University (ISU) faculty have developed a diagnostic skills training software for undergraduate technology and engineering students. Preliminary data collected from multiple technology programs at several institutions has shown that software enhances student learning on diagnostic thinking and skills. The features and flexible configuration of the software make it ideal for other STEM disciplines where diagnostic training is highly sought. With the support of I-Corps L, the project team will develop the means to promote widespread adoption, adaptation, and utilization of this promising practice. Engineers and technicians have long used decision-trees or trouble-shooting guides to assist the diagnostic process while identifying problems in technical systems. The idea of using interactive training strategies centered around the creation and use of visual maps to develop diagnostic thinking beyond the use of decision-trees or trial-and-error is grounded in the ineffectiveness of these traditional means to solve problems. The interactive experimental setting adopted by this project uses both content knowledge and process knowledge to prompt learners to create visual (concept) maps of a diagnostic strategy, which helps learners develop a more agile habit of mind when considering solutions to problems in complex technical systems. This training strategy is designed and evaluated to determine its usefulness in supplementing existing courses, work-based students or interns, and essentially to help fill the gap between engineering and technology schools and the technical workplace.