Issue link: http://uwashington.uberflip.com/i/193116
Research Highlights PACTRANS RESEARCHERS DEVELOP DIGITAL DISSEMINATION PLATFORM FOR TRANSPORTATION EDUCATION MATERIALS Substantial national interest exists to improve engineering teaching methods and preparation of engineers for a dynamic and innovative workforce. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent by such organizations as the National Science Foundation developing innovative and effective teaching materials and methods to help students learn engineering. The impact of such efforts is hindered in large part by the lack of an efficient and effective means to share developed materials and methods. Compounding this concern is the tremendous amount of time and effort it takes to develop or modify courses. The purpose of this project is to develop a web-based system where innovative teaching materials can be uploaded and where course instructors can easily search and browse for materials as they develop and revise their engineering courses. The usability and sustainability of this system relies heavily on input from potential users. The project team is taking a design research approach to this project where we iteratively collect information from future users about how to structure the site and develop prototypes. This approach is grounded in theories of adoption such as the vastly studied and implemented Diffusion of Innovation Theory. Utilizing this theory and implementing an iterative approach allows for the final product to be usable by a broad range of individuals and ensures project success. The project team includes individuals with substantial experience developing sites using this approach and conducting research on how and why faculty adopt innovations. The long-term goal is for the system to house materials from diverse transportation engineering areas and levels of expertise. Educational materials will be gathered from transportation faculty and from workforce development experts from state DOTs. We have collected approximately 200 different exercises, homework problems and sets of course notes, with a particular focus on transportation faculty who are recognized as national leaders in educational innovation and effectiveness. Based on research in this area and data collected from future users we have determined that the materials need to be broken into relatively small pieces to enhance adoption by other faculty. For example, faculty very rarely adopt an entire set of notes, 20 Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium homework assignments and exam questions. Therefore, our approach is to break up the materials according to content area and application, so that faculty can utilize materials from different developers as they put together their materials for a particular content area. For example, a faculty could search for design and homework problems related to stopping sight distance. Two screen shots from the system are shown below. The first is the introductory screen. Users will be required to register before accessing materials and will be limited to faculty and instructors. This will alleviate concerns of students getting access to homework and exam problems and solutions by individuals who have shared their materials. Users will be able to browse all materials or search for materials as described above. We expect in the long run for this project to have a substantial impact on the effectiveness of transportation teaching methods by providing easy access to a diverse set of materials and that it will make the course refinement and development process much more efficient for faculty. The system will be usable by the summer of 2014. Please let me know if you have any questions about the system or if you would like to sign up to be a user when the system goes 'live'! Contact: Dr. Shane Brown Email: shane.brown@oregonstate.edu