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‘We are not going to educate people’ : How students negotiate engineering identities during collaborative problem solving
Khosronejadtoroghi, Maryam Reimann, Peter Markauskaite, Lina
Khosronejadtoroghi, Maryam
Reimann, Peter
Markauskaite, Lina
Abstract
Professional identity development is central to engineering education and has been an important focus of design for learning. However, little is known about how learners develop different aspects of engineering identity in response to the constraints and enablements of their learning environment. The purpose of this paper is to propose an analytical approach for the exploration of how the learning environment facilitates engineering professional identity practices. We illustrate the application of the Implied Identity approach by looking at a group of four engineering students working collaboratively on a task about sustainability. We apply conversation analysis for an in-depth investigation of students’ talk to explore how engineering identities are negotiated. Results show that the group’s collaborative processes involve their identification with the engineering profession by excluding aspects of other professions from the (professional) self. This process is mediated by implied identities that are negotiated by participants. Applying this approach enables one to investigate the interplay between learner and learning environment and highlights the role of individuals’ agency in relation to the contextual effects.
Keywords
collaboration, engineering education, implied identity, professional identity
Date
2021
Type
Journal article
Journal
European Journal of Engineering Education
Book
Volume
46
Issue
4
Page Range
557-574
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Education
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
All rights reserved
File Access
Controlled