An examination of the climate for quality teaching in engineering

There have been numerous calls to improve undergraduate teaching in engineering to attract and retain a larger and more diverse engineering student body. This work-in-progress paper will describe research that will explore the perceptions of engineering professors over the past 17 years to gain a better understanding of the climate for quality teaching in engineering. This study builds on surveys of faculty teaching practices that were collected from 1997, 1999, and 2002 in the Southeastern University and College Coalition for Engineering Education (SUCCEED). Faculty at the SUCCEED partner institutions were surveyed again in 2014. From the survey results, researchers will be able to analyze how engineering faculty perceive the climate for quality teaching at their institution and how this related to their individual teaching methods. The research considers a theoretical model proposed by Henderson and Dancy, 2007, which shows the relationship between the departmental climate and an individual's teaching methods. The model requires validation and possibly refinement.