The development of engineering education research: a UK based case study

Abstract

This work adopts a case study approach to examine the emergence of engineering education research (EER) within the UK. First, a summary of the contextual factors influencing UK EER activity are presented. This section includes information pertaining to higher education (HE) policy, networks, and funding. Semi structured interviews are used to investigate who identifies as an engineering education researcher; how they define engineering education as a field of research; who they consider their audience to be; and the factors that inform their research questions, methodologies, collaborators and where they disseminate their work. The findings are discussed in relation to the social, political, and economic systems in which engineering education exists. The study reveals a landscape in which EER research is largely unfunded, and is primarily conducted by intrinsically motivated academics who concentrate on topics of personal interest or local context, and who do not usually collaborate or publish within journals.