Instructors’ Beliefs on the Importance of Inter-Departmental Curriculum Planning for Engineering Student Learning

Background: Foundational courses in engineering curricula (FECs) are critical to student success in engineering but tend to consist of large lecture-style learning environments at many universities, which can be challenging for many learners. Moreover, faculty from multiple departments within and external to engineering tend to be responsible for teaching and managing FECs. Thus, it can be challenging to streamline students’ learning outcomes and experiences across these courses despite having a shared purpose of developing conceptual knowledge and skills for more discipline-specific courses.

Purpose: This study considered several FECs taught at a large research institution. It sought to describe the educational environments (RQ1) and the factors that influence curricular decision-making processes (RQ2) in these courses from instructors’ perspectives.

Design/Methods: This study utilized case study methodology and organized data collection and analysis with the Academic Plan Model. Data consisted of semi-structured interviews, participant-provided documents, project artifacts, and publicly accessible institutional data. Analysis consisted of two qualitative coding cycles.

Results: Results indicated similarities in participants’ descriptions of the educational environment in their courses and the factors that influence curricular decision making. Similarly, they expressed the need for more collaboration across multiple departments to facilitate learning and transfer across the curriculum, but the institution currently lacks the mechanism for this collaboration.

Conclusions: Institutions should consider thinking about teaching experiences holistically across curricula. We recommend a student-focused, collaborative, and holistic academic plan that encompasses all courses in the foundational curriculum and engages instructors of FECs across multiple departments as equal partners in the learning process.