Lifelong and lifewide learning for the perpetual development of expertise in engineering

ABSTRACT

Increasing digitisation of engineering and social practices has altered the relationship between formal schooling and development of expertise for professional engineering work. What does the development of expertise look like when knowledge is generated and shared at an accelerated pace due to shifts in technology? In this paper, I present case studies of two early career software engineers. Using methodological insights from digital ethnography, I trace their professional journeys over two decades. I empirically demonstrate how the development of engineering expertise is a continuous and perpetual endeavour and engineers learn throughout their lives (lifelong) and across all the different spaces they inhabit at any given time (lifewide). I argue for extending engineering work practices research and research in engineering education more broadly to take larger timescales of learning into account to build a comprehensive understanding of engineering expertise development.

KEYWORDS:

• Engineering expertise
• lifelong learning
• lifewide learning
• virtual ethnography
• digital participation

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to the study participants for their time and for sharing their experiences with me openly. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agencies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work is partly supported by US National Science Foundation Awards#EEC-1939105 and DUE-1712129.

Notes on contributors

Aditya Johri

Aditya Johri is Professor of Information Sciences & Technology at George Mason University. He studies how technology shapes learning in both formal and informal spaces, including the workplace, online communities, and extra-curricular activities. His research has been recognized with several best paper awards and the Cambridge Handbook of Engineering Education Research (CHEER), co-edited with Barbara Olds, received the 2015 Best Book Publication Award from Division I of AERA. His work is supported primarily by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), including an Early CAREER Award. For details and most current information, please refer to his webpage: http://mason.gmu.edu/~johri.