Enhancing Creative Strengths in Engineering Technology Students Through Curriculum and Pedagogy Modification

The paper addresses an early investigation of how engineering and engineering technology students develop and communicate novel, relevant, and creative ideas in selected coursework. A specific goal is to trace how this creative thinking process manifests in their senior design projects, the capstone of the student’s educational experience as well as the first step into their careers. The extent to which engineering students’ creativity is enhanced as they proceed through creativity infused pedagogy in their electrical and computer engineering (ECE) and engineering technology (ET) courses is assessed. In addition, results of the interaction between learning and instruction as a function of the creativity infused curriculum and pedagogy of ECE and ET faculty and their students as displayed in senior design projects will be evaluated. Specifically, how do the instructors modify their instructional approaches to facilitate creative thinking and behavior in students and in turn, how do engineering students’ creative strengths enhance the quality of their senior design projects. Project Description & Goals To address the current demand for creative students, this project aims to assist electrical and computer engineering and engineering technology students and faculty in building a strong and confident orientation towards generating and implementing new ideas in engineering and engineering technology courses related to successful outcomes. Through a new interdisciplinary research collaboration between faculty in engineering, engineering technology, psychology and education, we plan to address the need for understanding how engineering students develop ways of deriving novel ideas and communicating these ideas in the context of the classroom and trace how their creativity manifests in their senior design projects. The goal of this project is to study the extent to which engineering and engineering technology students’ creativity is enhanced as they proceed through electrical and computer engineering (ECE) and engineering technology (ET) programs, how ECE and ET faculty modify their instructional approaches to facilitate creative thinking and behavior demonstrated in students and in turn, how engineering students’ creative strengths enhance the quality of their senior design projects. This two-year pilot study will assess the development of the creative abilities of approximately 70 electrical and computer engineering and engineering technology students as they progress from junior to senior years in their respective programs. Two measures will be administered to all the students: the Reisman Diagnostic Creativity Assessment (RDCA) will be given to students before and after their courses (some of which will embed faculty creativity training) and the Torrance Tests for Creative Thinking (TTCT) will be given to a random sample of these students as a measure of concurrent validity. To complement these creativity assessments, a smaller sample of approximately 15 engineering technology students will take an Experience