Strategies for increasing use of instructional technology by engineering faculty: a case study (or teaching old engineers new tricks)

The new engineering educational paradigm requires more active teaching strategies and more emphasis on student problem solving, collaboration, and communication. Use of instructional technology (IT) is integral to this paradigm; however, many engineering faculty resist using IT due to heavy faculty workloads, lack of time to learn new technology, lack of release time, lack of appropriate resources, no forum for exchanging information, or no recognition for innovative use of technology. The author spent 18 months working with her engineering colleagues to develop strategies to enhance the incorporation of instructional technology in engineering classes. She concluded that (1) faculty development activities should first address the pedagogy, not the technology, (2) faculty peers must be involved in introducing instructional technology into an institution, and (3) the increase in technology use was directly related to the number of strategies in which the faculty participated. The efficacy of the various strategies is discussed.