Advances in Engineering Education - Using Technology to Enhance Learning and Engagement in Engineering

Oct 15, 2026

The article examines how information, communications, and computational technology reshapes engineering teaching and learning. It frames a research, adoption, and policy agenda aimed at promoting effective computer technology use while preventing connectivity-related pitfalls. The discussion identifies six systemic issues for integrating technology into engineering education, derived from a Delphi study and informed by major policy reports and engineering and science education research. Recommendations address learning-focused technologies, instructional design, assessment, and faculty professional development, plus broader system-level impacts on students and faculty.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages53

Reading Time2 h 14 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Two perspectives: engineering practice and learning technologies

Systemic issues for integrating technology in engineering education

| | Ad | vances in Engineering Edu | cation | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | SPRING 2019 Using Technology to Enhance Learning and Engagement in Engineering MILO D. KORETSKY Oregon State University Corvallis, OR AND ALEJANDRA J. MAGANA Purdue University West Lafayette, IN ABSTRACT In this article, we explore how information, communications, and computational technology, or computer technology for short, influences the way that engineering is taught and learned. The goal of our analysis it to contribute towards a research, adoption, and policy agenda for propagating the effective use of computer technology in engineering education and for avoiding pitfalls associated with the connectivity that this technology enables. We seek to inform action and generate conversation amongst instructors, students, researchers, administrators, policy makers, and other key stakeholders in engineering education. We organize our discussion through six main issues as the focus for systemic change for the effective integration of technology in engineering education. These issues were identified through a Delphi study with a group of engineering education experts. Our analysis of the issues then drawson major policy reports of the use of technology in education and the extant research literature from engineering education and science education as well as technology studies and science studies. Discussion of each of these issues leads to a summary set of recommendations. Specifically, we address the role of technology in learning engineering, including both technologies developed specifically for learning engineering (learning innovations) and domain-specific computer technologies for engineering practice (computational tools) . We next address technology-related issues around instructional design including learning outcomes, assessment, and instructional practice. We include discussion of professional development that better prepares faculty to effectively use technology in the classroom. Finally, we outline the broader ways technology interacts with the work of engineering students and faculty at the systems level-for better and for worse. Key words: Computer technology, educational innovations, engineering practice, instructional design, assessment, faculty professional development. SPRING 2019 1 ADVANCES IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION Using Technology to Enhance Learning and Engagement in Engineering People were being drawn out of their familiar worlds into one more free, less personal, in which associations that once attached to each person, place, and object came undone. It was a leap forward of extraordinary liberation and equal alienation. Rebecca Solnit, 2003, River of Shadows, p. 11 INTRODUCTION The above excerpt could be describing the impact of the Internet, personal computers, and mobile devices on human interactions in the early 21st century. However, it was written about a different network – the network of trains that fundamentally changed transportation, and western society, in the early 19th century.1 Similarly, in The Signal and the Noise, Nate Silver (2012) comments about the invention of the printing press, created 400 years before the railroad infrastructure: “paradoxically, the result of having so much more shared knowledge was increasing isolation”(p. 3) . Engineers are centrally involved in continued improvement of these technologies punctuated by the creation of revolutionary technology breakthroughs that change the core ways humans interact with the world and with one another. With an eye toward liberation, it is ethically incumbent for members of society to reflect on implications of how technology is used, and how it affects the central practices in which they engage (Mitcham, 1994) . The “information age” that has ushered in the 21st century has been built squarely on information, communications, and computational technology (ICCT), which we

FAQs

What is the main focus of this article on technology in engineering education?

It explores how computer technology influences how engineering is taught and learned, and how to advance a research and policy agenda for effective adoption while avoiding connectivity pitfalls.

How does the article structure its discussion of technology integration?

It organizes the analysis around six main issues identified through a Delphi study with engineering education experts.

Which areas of instructional practice are covered in relation to technology?

It addresses learning engineering technologies, instructional design topics such as learning outcomes and assessment, and professional development to help faculty use technology effectively.

Oct 15, 2026

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