Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T22:55:16.618Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 22 - Understanding Disciplinary Cultures

The First Step to Cultural Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2015

By
Elizabeth Godfrey
Edited by
Aditya Johri  and
Barbara M. Olds
Elizabeth Godfrey
Affiliation:
University of Auckland and the Australasian Association for Engineering Education
Aditya Johri
Affiliation:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Barbara M. Olds
Affiliation:
Colorado School of Mines
Get access

Summary

Introduction

The need to “know where we are” has been identified (Rover, 2008) as the first step in moving to “where we want to go.” This chapter aims to demonstrate that understanding how our culture is formed and sustained, at a departmental, disciplinary, or institutional level, is the first step toward sustainable cultural change. The suggested conceptual framework of cultural dimensions has the ability to act as a practical tool for evaluating and positioning the culture of engineering education in a specific context, as a precursor to developing strategies for transformational change. These cultural dimensions are based on the work of Godfrey (2003a, 2007, 2009) and Godfrey and Parker (2010), who used ethnographic methods within an overarching interpretivist research paradigm to identify the shared assumptions and understandings that underpinned the lived experiences of staff and students as manifested in one institution as the basis for theory development.

References to “culture” and cultural change as key to systemic reforms have been plentiful in literature, including in engineering education (Bucciarelli, Einstein, Terenzini, & Walser, 2000, p. 141; Cordes, Evans, Frair, & Froyd, 1999; IEAust, 1996). The implicit assumption underlying these calls for cultural change – that a common, recognizable engineering education culture exists – has been questioned by scholars (Godfrey, 2007; Williams, 2002). Engineering educators undoubtedly recognize practices and behaviors that transcend differences in engineering specialization, institutions, and even national boundaries. Comments such as “[T]he predominant engineering school culture [is] based on compartmentalization of knowledge, individual specialization, and a wholly research-based reward structure” (Bucciarelli et al., 2000, p. 141), and “In engineering schools, it is generally assumed that propositional technical knowledge, discovered using a reductionist research paradigm, is the prime source of professional knowledge necessary for preparing students for the profession” (Radcliffe, 2006, p. 263), have been viewed as incontestable assumptions.

Type
Chapter
Information
Cambridge Handbook of Engineering Education Research , pp. 437 - 456
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

ABET. (1996). Engineering criteria 2000. Engineering Accreditation Commission, Accrediting Board for Engineering and technology. Baltimore, MD.Google Scholar
Ambrose, S. (1998, June). Changing the culture: What's at the center of engineering education? In Proceedings of Annual Conference and Exposition American Society for Engineering Education, Seattle, WA.Google Scholar
Anon. (2006). The research agenda for the new discipline of engineering education. Journal of Engineering Education, 95(4), 257–261.Google Scholar
Baba, M. L., & Pawlowski, D. (2001, August). Creating culture change: An ethnographic approach to the transformation of Engineering Education. In Proceedings of International Conference on Engineering Education, Oslo, Norway.Google Scholar
Becher, T. (1989). Academic tribes and territories: Intellectual enquiry and the cultures of disciplines. Milton Keynes, UK: SRHE and Open University Press.Google Scholar
Becher, T., & Trowler, P. R. (2001). Academic tribes and territories: Intellectual enquiry and the culture of disciplines, (2nd ed.). Buckingham, UK: SRHE and Open University Press.Google Scholar
Bergquist, W. H. (1992). The four cultures of the academy. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Biglan, A. (1973). The characteristics of subject matter in different academic areas. Journal of Applied Psychology, 57(3), 195–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borrego, M. (2008, October). Creating a culture of assessment within an engineering academic department. In Proceedings of IEEE/ASEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Saratoga Springs, NY.Google Scholar
Brainard, S., Staffin-Metz, S., & Gillmore, G. (1999). WEPAN Pilot Climate survey: Exploring the environment for undergraduate engineering students. Retrieved from
Bucciarelli, L, Einstein, H. H., Terenzini, P. T., & Walser, A. D. (2000). ECSEL/MIT Engineering Education Workshop ’99: A report with recommendations. Journal of Engineering Education, 89(2), 141–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bullard, L., Visco, D., Silverstein, D., & Keith, J. (2010, June). Strategies for creating and sustaining a departmental culture. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference and Exposition of the American Society for Engineering Education, Louisville, KY.Google Scholar
Chachra, D., Kilgore, D., Loshbaugh, H., McCain, J., & Chen, H. (2008, June). Being and becoming: Gender and identity formation of engineering students. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference and Exposition of the American Society for Engineering Education, Pittsburgh, PA.Google Scholar
Clark, C. M., Froyd, J., Merton, P., & Richardson, J. (2004). The evolution of curricular change models within the Foundation Coalition. Journal of Engineering Education, 93(1), 37–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cordes, D., Evans, D., Frair, K., & Froyd, J. (1999). The NSF Foundation Coalition: The first five years. Journal of Engineering Education, 88(1), 73–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Courter, S. S., Millar, S. B., & Lyons, L. (1998). From the students’ point of view: Experiences in a freshman engineering design course. Journal of Engineering Education, 87(3), 283–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Covington, K., & Froyd, J. (2004, June). Challenges of changing faculty attitudes about the underlying nature of gender inequities. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference and Exposition of the American Society for Engineering Education. Salt Lake City, UT.Google Scholar
Cronin, C., & Roger, A. (1999). Theorizing progress: Women in science, engineering, and technology in higher education. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 36(6), 637–661.3.0.CO;2-9>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CuWaT (1998). Changing the curriculum – changing the balance. Uni of Central Lancashire, UK/European Union “Leonardo da Vinci Project.
Donald, J. G. (1984). Science students’ learning: Ethnographic studies in three disciplines. In Pintrich, P. R, Brown, D. R, & Weinstein, C. E (Eds.), Student motivation,cognition,and learning: Essays in Honor of Wilbert J. McKeachie (pp. 79–112). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Donald, J. G. (2002). Learning to think: Disciplinary perspectives. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Downey, G. L., & Lucena, J. C. (2005). National identities in multinational worlds: Engineers and “engineering cultures.” International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Lifelong Learning, 15(3–6), 252–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dryburgh, H. (1999). Work hard, play hard – Women and professionalization in engineering – Adapting to the culture. Gender & Society, 13(5), 664–682.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eckel, P. D. & Kezar, A. (2003). Taking the Reins: Institutional Transformation in Higher Education, Westport, CT: Praeger.
Eisenhart, M. (2001). Educational ethnography past, present and future: Ideas to think with. Educational Researcher, 30(8), 16–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foor, C. E., Walden, S. E., & Trytten, D. A. (2007). “I wish that I belonged more in this whole engineering group”: Achieving individual diversity.” Journal of Engineering Education, 96(2), 103–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fromm, E., & McGourty, J. (2001, June). Measuring culture change in engineering education. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference and Exposition American Society for Engineering Education, Salt Lake City, UT.Google Scholar
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York, NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Gilbert, A.-F. (2009). Disciplinary cultures in mechanical engineering and materials science. Equal Opportunities International, 28(1), 24–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godfrey, E. (2003a). The culture of engineering education and its interaction with gender: A case study of a New Zealand university (Doctoral dissertation). Curtin University of Technology, Perth. Retrieved from
Godfrey, E. (2003b, June). A theoretical model of the engineering education culture: A tool for change. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference and Exposition of the American Society for Engineering Education. Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Godfrey, E. (2007, June). Cultures within cultures: Welcoming or unwelcoming for women? In Proceedings of 2007 Annual Conference and Exposition of American Society for Engineering Education, Honolulu, HI.Google Scholar
Godfrey, E. (2009). Exploring the culture of engineering education: The journey. Australasian Journal of Engineering Education, 15(1), 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godfrey, E., & Parker, L. (2010). Mapping the cultural landscape in engineering education. Journal of Engineering Education, 99(1), 5–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hacker, S. (1983). Mathematization of engineering: Limits on women and the field. In Rothschild, J. (Ed.), Machine ex dea (pp. 38–58). New York, NY: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
IEAust. (1996). Changing the culture: Engineering education into the future. ACT: Institution of Engineers Australia.Google Scholar
IPENZ. (2003). Requirements for initial academic education for professional engineers. Wellington: Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand.Google Scholar
Jamieson, L., & Lohmann, J. (2009). Creating a culture for scholarly and systematic innovation in engineering education. Phase 1 Report. Washington, DC: American Society for Engineering Education. Retrieved from Google Scholar
Jost, R. (2004). Benchmarks for cultural change in engineering education. Newcastle: University of Newcastle.
Kezar, A., & Eckel, P. (2002). The effect of institutional culture on change strategies in higher education. Journal of Higher Education, 73(4), 435–461.Google Scholar
King, R. (2008). Addressing the quality and supply of engineering graduates for the new century. ALTC/ACED. Retrieved from
Kuh, G. D., & Whitt, E. J. (1988). The invisible tapestry: Culture in American colleges and universities. ASHE_ERIC Higher Education Report 17(1). Washington, DC: The George Washington University, Graduate School of Education and Human Development.Google Scholar
Lattuca, L. R., Terenzini, P. T., & Volkwein, J. F. (2006). Engineering Change: A study of the impact of EC2000. Baltimore, MD: ABET Inc.Google Scholar
Lewis, S., McLean, C., Copeland, J., & Lintern, S. (1998). Further explorations of masculinity and the culture of engineering. Australasian Journal of Engineering Education, 8(1), 59–78.Google Scholar
McGrath, E., & Sheppard, K. (2007, September). Growing a culture of intellectual inquiry in engineering education and research. In Proceedings of International Conference on Engineering Education, Coimbra, Portugal.Google Scholar
McKenna, A., Hutchison, M., & Trautvetter, L. (2008, July). The engineer of 2020: Case studies of organizational features of effective engineering education. Paper presented at the Research in Engineering Education Symposium, Davos, Switzerland.Google Scholar
McLean, C., Lewis, S., Copeland, J., Lintern, S., & O’Neill, B. (1997). Masculinity and the culture of engineering. Australasian Journal of Engineering Education, 7(2), 143–156.Google Scholar
Merton, P., Froyd, J. Clark, C., & Richardson, J. (2004, June). Challenging the norm in engineering education: Understanding organizational culture and curricular change. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference and Exposition American Society for Engineering Education. Salt Lake City, UT.Google Scholar
Mills, J., Ayre, M., & Gill, J. (2011). Guidelines for the design of inclusive engineering education programs. Australian Learning and Teaching Council. Retrieved from
Murphy, T. J., Shehab, R. L., Reed-Rhoads, T., Foor, C. E., Harris, B. J., Trytten, D. A., Walden, S. E., Besterfield-Sacre, M., Hallbeck, M. S., & Moor, W. C. (2007). Achieving parity of the sexes at the undergraduate level: A study of success. Journal of Engineering Education, 96(3), 241–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parikh, S., Chen, H., Donaldson, K., & Sheppard, S. (2009, June). Does major matter? A look at what motivates engineering students in different majors. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference and Exposition of the American Society for Engineering Education, Austin, TX.Google Scholar
Pierrakos, O., Beam, T. K., Constantz, J., Johri, A., & Anderson, R. (2009, October). On the development of a professional identity: Engineering persisters vs engineering switchers. In Proceedings 39th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education conference, San Antonio,TX.Google Scholar
Radcliffe, D. (2006). Shaping the discipline of engineering education. Journal of Engineering Education, 95(4), 263–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radcliffe, D., Crosthwaite, C., & Jolly, L. (2002, June). Catalyzing cultural change in a research intensive university. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference and Exposition American Society for Engineering Education, Montreal, Canada.Google Scholar
Rover, D. T. (2008). Engineering Identity. Journal of Engineering Education, 97(3), 389.CrossRef
Schein, E. H. (1985). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Schein, E. H. (1992). Organizational culture and leadership (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Seymour, E., & Hewitt, N. M. (1997). Talking about leaving: Why undergraduates leave the sciences. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Shivy, V., & Sullivan, T. (2003). Engineering students’ perceptions of engineering specialties. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 67 (1), 87–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stake, R. E. (1994). Case Studies. In Denzin, L. K. & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 236–247). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.Google Scholar
Stevens, R., Amos, D. L., Jocuns, A., & Garrison, L. (2007, June). Engineering as lifestyle and a meritocracy of difficulty: Two pervasive beliefs among engineering students and their possible effects. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference and Exposition American Society for Engineering Education. Honolulu, HI.Google Scholar
Stevens, R., O’Connor, K., Garrison, L., Jocuns, A., & Amos, D. L. (2008). Becoming an engineer: Toward a three dimensional view of engineering learning. Journal of Engineering Education, 97(3), 355–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stonyer, H. (2001). The problem of women in engineering – is it women, engineering academics, curriculum or engineering – where to act? Australasian Journal of Engineering Education, 9(2), 147–160.Google Scholar
Stonyer, H. (2002). Making engineering students -- Making women: The discursive context of engineering education. International Journal of Engineering education, 18(4), 392–399.Google Scholar
Tierney, W. G. (1988). Organizational culture in higher education. Journal of Higher Education, 59(1), 2–21.Google Scholar
Tonso, K. L. (1996a). The impact of cultural norms on women. Journal of Engineering Education, 85(3), 217–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tonso, K. L. (1996b). Student learning and gender. Journal of Engineering Education, 85(2), 143–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tonso, K. (1999). Engineering gender-gendering engineering: A cultural model for belonging. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 5, 365–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tonso, K. L. (2006a). Student engineers and engineer identity: Campus engineer identities as figured world. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 1, 273–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tonso, K. L. (2006b). Teams that work: Campus culture, engineer identity, and social interactions. Journal of Engineering Education, 95(1), 25–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tonso, K. L. (2007). On the outskirts of engineering; Learning identity,gender and power via engineering practice (Vol. 6). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense.Google Scholar
Trytten, D., Walden, S., & Rhoads, T. R. (2005, October). Industrial engineering student perceptions of computer science, computer engineering, and electrical engineering. In Proceedings of ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Indianapolis, IN.Google Scholar
Walker, M. (2001). Engineering identities. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 22(1), 75–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walther, J., Boonchai, C., & Radcliffe, D. F. (2008, July). Understanding fundamental assumptions underlying educational research through the lens of a cultural ‘Verfremdungseffekt.’ Paper presented at the Research in Engineering Education Symposium, Davos, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Williams, R. (2002). Retooling: A historian confronts technological change. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Yost, S., Roberts-Kirchhoff, E., & Zarkowski, P. (2011, June). “We're all in the same boat”: Promoting an institutional culture of assessment. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference and Exposition of the American Society of Engineering Education, Vancouver, BC, Canada.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×