Improving Student Performance and Engagement via the Human side of Engineering: Human Systems Engineering Education

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

There is a growing need for engineers who can solve complex problems at the intersection of engineering and human behavior. Many of these problems affect the broad economic, defense, public health, and social well-being of the nation. For example, one of the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges for Engineering is to "secure cyberspace." Potential engineering solutions include better hardware, sensors, and secure programming languages. However, the National Academy of Engineering also directly targets "the psychology of computer users," including "how people interact with their computers, with the Internet, and with the information culture in general" as well as the "psychology and sociology that leads to deliberate computer crime." Human Systems Engineering education, training and instruction that integrates psychology and engineering, is hypothesized to prepare future engineers to better address human needs, goals, capabilities, and limitations. This approach is expected to ultimately result in engineered systems and solutions that are more functional, usable, empathic, and socially-engaged. Project activities will include: (1) analyses of how student projects incorporate human-centered principles; (2) development and testing of lessons that infuse psychology into project-based engineering courses; and (3) a longitudinal evaluation of an introductory Human Systems Engineering course and students' perceptions of engineering, psychology, coursework, and careers. Findings from the first and second activities will reveal human-centered engineering principles that may otherwise be ignored in students' projects, and which offer critical targets for human systems engineering instruction. The second activity will begin to test instructional resources for filling those gaps. This effort will first identify particular examples, scenarios, and problems that can both inform and engage engineering students. Subsequently, researchers will generate free, field-tested, instructional modules that help students understand the synthesis of psychology and engineering. Findings from the third activity will shed light on students' beliefs about the role of psychology in engineering, reveal new ways to teach human-centered principles, and may contribute to better student engagement and retention. This activity will also adapt and validate a new survey-based measure of perceptions of engineering and engineering careers that takes into account Human Systems Engineering concepts and themes. All materials and findings will be disseminated via an interactive website that encourages community discussion.