Preparing for Participation in SPEED: An ASEE Initiative for a Nationally Recognized Development Program for Engineering Educators

Engineering and engineering technology departments have a long history of adapting to changing
societal needs so that their graduates will possess relevant skills and knowledge vital to potential
employers. In parallel with the changing engineering and engineering technology curriculum,
there has also been a long-standing call to strengthen engineering and technology educators’
capabilities and preparation to perform the task of educating students. This latter call, however,
had remained virtually unanswered for more than a century. A recent response to this call is
SPEED: Strengthening the Performance of Engineering and Engineering Technology Educators
across the Disciplines. SPEED is a concept for a formal, nationally recognized continuing
education program for engineering and technology educators being developed with the support
of the ASEE. In the introductory part of this paper, the authors briefly present an overview of
previous work which has led to the development of a vision for SPEED and its conceptual
design. This overview includes comments on current professional development opportunities for
faculty across the world, and the challenges, opportunities and critical elements that would be
associated with a successful professional educational development program. We then offer a set
of core competencies areas which would likely be required of faculty who finish such
professional development. Finally, we conclude with some specifics about the proposed SPEED
program. We offer some details on its current design and describe plans to engage relevant
constituencies and create buy-in from the community.