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The authors designed and delivered a workshop on Instructional Design for Colombian engineering faculty at three different universities. The workshop drew from the backwards design model and scholarly literature on engineering education. 1 he participants were asked to assess the workshop using a pre-post survey with Likert-type items and openended questions. Results from the assessment o f the first offering o f the workshop suggested a change in participants' perspectives th a t the instrument could not fully capture. A revised instrument used during the second offering allowed deeper insights into this change. Based on these results, the authors argue th a t a professional development program can transform faculty's perspectives, particularly when it is aimed a t helping faculty inform their teaching practice using evidence-based educational research. The assessment o f such a program must, therefore, move from an incremental to a transformational notion o f learning. The research question driving this work was: How can one assess the transformative learning o f engineering faculty about instructional design? This experience with Colombian faculty suggests th a t a transformative learning framework can inform the assessment o f participants' learning in professional development programs for engineering faculty. Preliminary results o f the application o f this framework suggest th a t most workshop participants transitioned from a teacher-centered to a learner-centered conception o f teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current cyberinfrastructure is changing the way scientists and engineers interact and work using digital technologies. In particular, online experimentation systems are revolutionizing how scientists and engineers collect data, simulate physical behaviors, and perform experiments. This study explores the role of virtual, local and remote laboratories in supporting students' abilities to conduct experiments with dynamic systems and observe their frequency response. We compare three different technologies that afford students access to conduct experiments and perform computer simulations through local and remote laboratories. Our sample consisted of 57 students from three groups of the same course, offered in subsequent semesters. The results suggest that students increased their understanding of frequency response of dynamic systems with each of the learning tools. Similarly, students reported positive perceptions about the use of these tools, but they identified computer simulations as being easier to use. Although students' perceptions of the acquisition of conceptual knowledge through the different experiences varied significantly across experiments, results are inconclusive as to what specific tool--or sequence of tools they favored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]