This project is a collaboration between the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University and the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. Interactive Knowledge Networks for Engineering Education Research (iKNEER) is an interactive knowledge platform to help members of this growing community explore the current state of engineering education research, identify future directions for research, and find potential collaborative partners. The aim is to overcome three primary gaps in the current state of our institutional knowledge: “who knows what” (expertise), “who works with whom” (networks), and “what the network consists of” (community of practice).
The data for this project is mined from publicly available sources such as engineering education journals, conference proceedings, and funding databases. Advanced scientific visualization techniques let you build and display networks of authors, research topics, and more. These visualizations can help reveal key knowledge relations and collaborative opportunities, both within and beyond the field. Freely available through the iKNEER portal, these representations are freely created and modified, saved and shared.
For engineering teachers, iKNEER makes it easier to find examples of best teaching practices, novel educational interventions, and creative ways to deliver course content. For those engaged in the scholarship of teaching, iKNEER can be used to uncover assessment strategies, including evaluations of “innovative” teaching styles and methods across a wide range of engineering courses and fields.
Engineering education researchers may use iKNEER to perform comprehensive literature reviews, explore relationships between research and practice, identify collaborative opportunities, and map research trends and communities over time. The platform also helps open a window onto new research horizons, such as emerging literatures that engage policy considerations or examine industry contexts of engineering practice.
We envision iKNEER as a transformative platform for engineering education research. Is it living up to that promise? Let us know.
Interactive Knowledge Networks for Engineering Education Research (iKNEER) is supported through National Science Foundation Grants EEC-0957015, EEC-0935109, EEC-0935124.
