Studies in Engineering Education (Jul 2024)

'Surviving the Wilds of Academia': Personas Depicting Early-Career Engineering Education Scholars Role Crafting to Achieve Their Goals

  • Cheryl A. Bodnar,
  • Erin McCave,
  • Courtney Smith-Orr,
  • Alexandra Coso Strong,
  • Courtney J. Faber,
  • Walter C. Lee

DOI
https://doi.org/10.21061/see.135
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5, no. 2
pp. 47–66 – 47–66

Abstract

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Background: The increase in doctoral programs and certifications in the area of engineering education has led to an increase in Engineering Education Scholars (EES) on the job market. As EES seek to find the position that is the correct fit for them, it is important that they have an understanding of the variety of roles that exist, and the flexibility within these roles, to be able to attain their desired career goals. Purpose/Hypothesis: Through our work, we leveraged the model of job crafting to address the following research questions: (1) How do early-career EES craft their roles and responsibilities to achieve their personal and professional goals? and (2) What job crafting practices do early-career EES use as part of their position enactment to make meaning of their positions? Design/Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with early-career EES to determine the responsibilities of their roles, the ways in which they are evaluated, and the participants’ own belief and goals for the role, as well as the challenges they encountered and the advice they would provide to others. The job crafting model was used to draft a provisional coding framework that was then applied across each of the transcribed interviews. Finally, memos were reviewed for synergies to develop the personas presented in the results. Results: We identified three personas that characterize the diverse approaches EES take within their positions. Each of these personas employed different job crafting strategies in their position to achieve their goals. While each persona relied heavily on relational crafting, not all personas used all job crafting strategies. Conclusions: This work identified research-based representations of engineering education faculty roles and how job crafting strategies are useful for allowing EES to align their professional and personal goals with their desired role.

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