Andrew Jackson
- Assistant Professor
Department of Career and Information Studies
Interests
- Technology and Engineering Education
- Design-Based Learning
- Design Cognition
- Motivation and Self-Efficacy (in STEM)
- Soft Robotics
Education
- PhD in Technology (Engineering and Technology Teacher Education), 2018
Purdue University - MS in Industrial Technology, 2015
Purdue University - BS in Technology and Engineering Education, 2013
Brigham Young University
Academic Affiliations
Contact
Research Summary
My research explores design learning and teaching in technology and engineering contexts to inform effective instruction. I am interested in both cognitive and non-cognitive effects of participation in design-based learning, including evolution of the design process, and students' motivation and self-efficacy beliefs. My past work has bridged cutting-edge soft robotics research to develop and evaluate novel design experiences in K-12 education, followed students' self-regulation and trajectories while designing, and produced new instruments for assessing design decision-making.
Grants
2020-2022
The COVID-19 global health crisis has forced educators to rapidly shift to online instruction methods. While this effort is already difficult, it is particularly challenging for courses with hands-on laboratory instruction, as in the case for many STEM courses. To offer the effective education in-person instruction affords, it is important to maintain the same educational and curricular value of laboratories while taking advantage of benefits that online education and online experimentation tools offer. This project will leverage the development and deployment of online labs and integrated online instruction modules to investigate the impact of using an exclusively online instructional mode for a fundamental electrical and computer engineering laboratory course. To reach this goal, the project will answer the following three research questions: A) How do faculty experience a top-down mandated, time-constrained, and rapid transition to exclusively online-based laboratory modules in engineering courses along the continuum of resistance towards the wholesale embrace of educational technologies? B) How does exclusively online laboratory instruction and online experimentation impact students? learning experiences in terms of engagement, investigated through self-regulation and motivation? C) What user experience factors influence the success of introducing exclusively online experimentation activities into engineering courses and curricula?
Awards and Accolades
Teaching Academy Fellow
University of Georgia, 2020
Outstanding Graduate Student Citation
International Technology and Engineering Educators Association, 2018
21st Century Leadership Academy Fellow
International Technology and Engineering Educators Association, 2017