Narrating the Experiences of First-year Faculty in the Engineering Education Research Community: Developing a Qualitative, Collaborative Research Methodology

摘要

In this work-in-progress, we will illustrate how we used two collaborative, qualitative research methods to narrate the experiences of six engineering education researchers (EERs) as we transition into new faculty roles within the EER community. To explore this phenomenon, we developed a community of practice where we shared our experiences and informed our practice through written reflections and weekly meetings. Using the Q3 qualitative research framework as a guide for establishing procedures, we combined elements from collaborative autoethnography and collaborative inquiry to narrate our experiences. We analyzed a subset of our first semester reflections to understand the challenges we faced in our new positions and support we received from our weekly meetings. We found the time management of teaching, research, and service to be overarching challenges. Additionally, the support from our weekly meetings provided a sense of community and place to receive advice to address these and other challenges. We found that the proposed collaborative qualitative research methodology was useful for not only exploring the experiences of new faculty, but also supporting the development of EERs.