Work

Crowdsourcing an Outline for a Model Introductory Infrastructure Course Using a Modified Delphi Process

Year: 2016

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: The Center for Infrastructure Transformation and Education (CIT-E) is a community of faculty members from more than 20 institutions interested in the scholarship of infrastructure education. CIT-E activities have evolved in a short period of time, starting with sharing materials from existing infrastructure courses at University X and the University of Y, to collaboratively creating sample “showcase” course materials, to the current effort of creating a crowd-sourced model infrastructure course outline. This paper will describe the steps taken to create the course outline for a model infrastructure class using a modified Delphi process. The Delphi process utilizes a panel of experts to iteratively address a question or task. It works well to build consensus using a series of questionnaires administered iteratively over time (Hsu and Sandford, 2007). In our case, the expert panel consisted of members of the CIT-E community. The process was carried out entirely online during the summer and fall 2015. More than 35 people from more than 30 universities participated over 6 rounds. The rounds consisted of: • Round 1: A structured brainstorming technique was used at the second annual Infrastructure Education conference held in Salt Lake City in May 2015. • Round 2: Poll to request ideas of learning outcomes • Round 3: Poll to refine the learning outcomes • Round 4: A webinar in which the outcomes were shared and participants were asked to approve or disapprove of the outcomes • Round 5: Participants were asked to generate a list of possible content pieces and align them with the outcomes • Round 6: Participants were asked to comment on a sample course outline that was generated based on the activities proposed in Round 5 The learning outcomes and final model course outline will be presented in this paper. However, the focus of the paper will be on the process undertaken to arrive at the learning outcomes and the final model course outline. Lessons learned based on reflections of each of the members of the management team that oversaw the process will be analyzed and shared.

Source: ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

DOI: 10.18260/p.26615

Authors: Philip Parker, Michael Penn, Matthew Roberts, Steven Hart, Carol Haden, Michael Thompson

Institutions: University of Wisconsin–Platteville, Southern Utah University, Virginia Military Institute, Magnolia Consulting, LLC (United States)

Language: English

Topic: Engineering Education and Curriculum Development

Subfield: Media Technology

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: National Science Foundation