The Social Web of Engineering Education: Knowledge Exchange in Integrated Project Teams

Engineering education is evolving to become an environment of project-based learning, research assistantships, and other mechanisms that approximate the research and collaborative aspects of true-tolife processes. From this diverse set of learning environments, students are expected to not only gain technical skills, but also social and group skills relevant to the realities of collaborative work in engineering. This expectation is in turn underscored by ABET accreditation standards, which extend beyond simply technical skills to include the development and learning of professional skills. In this paper, we ask: From an instructional perspective, how can learning outcomes be better observed so that faculty can provide appropriate guidance and occasional control? What are the sources of this diversity of learning within student groups? How do the ways that engineering students interact in team network environments matter for the skills that they develop through this experience? Scholars working in the science of learning argue that peer-relations form a social context of knowledge creation that constitutes a foundation for the development of team-skills. In this paper, we show how peer relations develop, and subsequently provide knowledge and learning resources within multi-ranked student teams over time. The data in this paper are based on a multi-year evaluation of the NSF-funded Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program at two institutions. The VIP Program brings together graduate and undergraduate students to solve applied engineering problems. Results show different patterns of knowledge seeking and exchange behavior across student groups. These results show that technical knowledge sources are distinct from project management and related information needs. Most interestingly, results show that knowledge exchange does not maintain its hierarchy. Undergraduate students develop their own information communities within teams, including regarding technical information. These results have important implications for the management of teams that include a range of students and expertise. INTRODUCTION The days of the lone inventor have been eclipsed. Modern innovations – from space exploration to the Internet – are the result of collaborations of hundreds of organizations and many thousands of people. These collaborations generate the networks of knowledge and skills that foster the ideas, technologies, and products needed for global-scale innovation. In response, student learning in engineering is increasingly conceived as a process and experience that is situated in a “complex web of social organization,” that is situated in the collaborative and social environment of applied engineering work [20]. In order to prepare for this this collaborative environment, students are expected to learn not only technical skills, but also managerial skills and related capacity [19]. Discussion in the profession is that students’ ability to recognize the contextual nature of knowledge and use evidence with a level of sophistication characteristic to the engineering profession is critical to their success [15]. The community of engineering educators has recognized that these goals cannot be achieved with the traditional knowledge-transmission based instructional methods alone, and that the effective learning experiences are those that support the development of expert professional practice [27]. Modifications of engineering instruction settings include movement to project-based learning, research assistantships, and other mechanisms that approximate the research and collaborative aspects of true-to-life processes. These active learning experiences typically focus on applied problems, which are important for the development of professional capabilities. Some experiences may be more cooperative and team based, whereas others may involve one-on-one collaboration of a student and faculty member. For team-based research and project experiences, skill development extends beyond technical skills to the social aspects of collaboration and team interaction. The core of cooperative learning is the promotion of learning through providing cooperative incentives rather than competition. In many ways, this emphasis