Teaching Beyond Survival: Empowering Engineering Educators

Teaching Beyond Survival: Empowering Engineering Educators

NETI Facilitators

According to the American Society for Engineering Education, emerging engineering faculty members receive little to no training in how to teach. Coupling this with the fact that most new assistant professors have not taught a course prior to their appointment, they enter academia unprepared for the challenges of effective classroom instruction.

As a result, there is a need to provide pedagogical development opportunities for engineering educators after they enter academia — and beyond.

The National Effective Teaching Institute (NETI) is a highly regarded option for effective training in engineering education. Since 1991, NETI workshops have drawn more than 2,800 participants from more than 365 universities, making it one of the most widely recognized faculty development programs for engineering instructors in the U.S.

The program offers varying levels of workshop types, facilitated by nationally recognized experts, including Drs. Susan Lord (University of San Diego), Matthew Ohland (Purdue University) and Michael Prince (Bucknell University). These workshops aim to increase engagement, enhance motivation and promote conceptual understanding among the NETI participants.

“The goal the first time you teach something is survival,” Lord admits bluntly, emphasizing the importance of helping early-career faculty focus on learning objectives and avoid overloading students and themselves. “Most faculty do not know how to teach and try to do too much. They need to be clear, but they do not need to have all the answers to everything.” 

In January 2025, the University of San Diego (USD) hosted NETI-1 and NETI-2 workshops for about 90 participants from across the country. Aspirations ran high for the participants in hopes of making meaningful connections with colleagues who share an interest in effective teaching. 

Collaborative work on board

NETI-2, Student Teams and Advanced Student Engagement, was held January 3-4, 2025, catering to faculty with a few years of teaching under their belts. A sample of learning objectives for these participants includes defining cooperative learning and summarizing its research-proven benefits; helping students develop high-performance teamwork skills and managing conflicts; and designing problem-based learning experiences.

“The training was extremely useful in understanding the scenarios and techniques to implement problem-based learning and student teams in the classroom,” says Associate Professor and Chair of computer science, Nikhil Yadav, who joined USD in Fall 2024. “The amazing speakers used various approaches and activities to increase audience participation, inspiring me to incorporate some of the same in my upcoming classes.”

NETI-1, Course Design and Student Engagement, followed on January 6-8, 2025, with learning objectives covering areas such as identifying ways to increase student motivation; writing appropriate learning outcomes; designing active learning strategies; and implementing inclusive environment strategies.

Participants found the workshops extremely useful. Tenure-track Assistant Professor of computer science, Nafee Al Islam, who started with USD in Fall 2024 after receiving his PhD, shares his thoughts on the NETI-1 workshop.

“For someone like me, who is new to teaching, this workshop has been incredibly helpful. I gained valuable insights from experienced instructors who have been teaching for decades, learning both what to do and what to avoid in the classroom.” He plans to implement active learning techniques that “enable students to engage in meaningful activities fostering a deeper understanding compared to traditional lectures.”

When Lord participated in the workshops early in her career, she found the training to be very meaningful. “NETI changed my life and changed how I taught.”  Today, she finds her work as a facilitator to be one of the most fun and rewarding things she does. 

“I am proud of the work we do,” Lord says emphatically. “At the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, we care enough to offer something to our faculty so they can learn to be more effective. This is good for our faculty, it is good for the reputation of USD and it strengthens our partnerships with other universities. It is also good for our existing and prospective students — demonstrating our commitment to their academic experiences and outcomes.”

NETI workshops provide a vital service in preparing engineering educators to move beyond survival mode and become effective, engaging instructors. By focusing on practical skills and evidence-based teaching methods, these programs help create a more robust and student-centered engineering education landscape that has impacted thousands of students.

— By Michelle Sztupkay