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About VADERs

Full title: Improving Engineering Student Engagement, Self-Efficacy, Diversity Awareness, and Retention using Visualization and Virtual/Augmented Reality Technologies (VADERs)

Funding Foundation: National Science Foundation (NSF #2202290)

Goals: 

  1. A VADERs framework with evidence-based design and implementation principles articulated for each level, wherein a given module is developed for specific knowledge/cognitive skill development and interest level in AEC/engineering
  2. Evidence of how the VADERs intervention impacts students' engagement, self-efficacy, diversity awareness, and retention, both across demographics and different types of institutions, as well as across an undergraduate engineering curriculum

Objectives: 

  • Objective 1 (Development): Design and optimize four Model of Domain Learning (MDL) framework-informed VADERs modules.
  • Objective 2 (Research): Investigate the impact of VADERs modules on students’ engagement, self-efficacy, diversity awareness, and retention. (See Table 1 for key definitions.)
  • Objective 3a (Propagation within AEC): Propagate the use of VADERs modules to investigate transferability to educational setting with different demographics.
  • Objective 3b (Propagation across Engineering): Conceptualize freshmen-level discipline-specific engineering VADER-1 modules for other engineering disciplines.