The scholarship of teaching: Building a foundation before reaching the pinnacle

Teaching and learning have received significant attention and have been the focus of voluminous research in the last few decades. In spite of this research, engineering educators, especially new ones, often wonder what they can do to improve student learning. To help answer this question, over eight hundred people - engineering students, alumni, and engineering faculty - were surveyed and asked to select the three instructor characteristics or pedagogical techniques they viewed as most effective in improving student learning. The results lead to the conclusion that engineering educators should initially focus on basic principles (the "foundation") before attempting to incorporate more advanced pedagogical techniques (the "pinnacle"). This paper describes the current educational climate regarding teaching, the survey and results, important pedagogical methods, and their significance for the scholarship of teaching.