Digital Commons Network^™

Transnational Collaboration On Lifelong Learning Between Higher Engineering Education Institutions: A University Perspective, Jens Bennedsen, Geir Egil Dahle Øien

Research Papers

Lifelong learning (LLL) is in focus in all European countries. Workforce upskilling and reskilling are seen as central elements in ensuring national competitiveness. Universities are main players in this effort but often find it difficult to find sustainable models for LLL activities, in terms of e.g., economy, student intake, and academic resources. Collaboration between universities can be one possible way forward to overcome such obstacles, and given the enhanced post-Covid digitalization is also increasingly made possible, even across borders. However, many universities also find such collaboration challenging, e.g., due to outdated legislation, lacking financial predictability, lacking

1 J. Bennedsen [email protected] …

Exploring The Link Between Spatial And Communication Skills In Engineering Students, John William Lynch, Manjeera Vinnakota, Sheryl Sorby, Tj Murphy, Kelsey Shannon

Research Papers

Industry leaders rarely remark that the technical skills of engineering students are lacking; however, they frequently indicate that new engineers should be better prepared in communication skills, particularly written communication skills. In contrast, the visualization ability, or spatial skills, of engineering majors are typically excellent. Prior research has demonstrated that spatial ability is a significant predictor for graduating from STEM fields, particularly in engineering. This paper is part of a larger project that is exploring whether these two phenomena – poor written communication skills and well-developed spatial skills – are linked. In other words, is there a negative correlation between …

Assessing Engineering Students Preparedness For Lifelong Learning And Self-Reflection Competency, Rani Dujardin, Lynn Van Den Broeck, Greet Langie

Research Papers

Lifelong learning is becoming increasingly important in the field of engineering. Higher education institutions (HEIs) are responsible for the transfer of field-specific knowledge, but also for preparing students for LLL. To do so, HEIs need a clear view of the extent to which engineering students are prepared for LLL. Research suggests two approaches in the assessment of LLL, namely (1) a holistic approach measuring general preparedness for LLL and (2) a specific approach measuring a subcompetency of LLL. The current study combines both approaches by using Kirby’s lifelong learning scale (LLS) and Grant’s Self-Reflection and Insight Scale (SRIS). Firstly, a …

A Look Inside The Engineering Students’ Backpack: Differences In Engineering Capital According To Gender Or Migration Background., Mieke Cannaerts, Sofie Craps, Veerle Draulans, Greet Langie

Research Papers

Every student has a unique combination of experiences, resources and social networks related to engineering, called ‘engineering capital’, derived from Archer’s concept of ‘science capital’. The engineering capital gathered throughout life creates a backpack that impacts someone’s aspirations to study engineering, as well as the performance and persistence in the programme itself. Engineering technology is one of the most homogeneous fields within the STEM domain, being mostly white and male. To stimulate a more diverse engineering technology field, this research paper investigates the relationship between the level of engineering capital and gender or migration background, as well as the influence …

How Can Continuing Engineering Education Approaches Meet Societal And Industry Needs For Future-Focused, Lifelong Learning Skills And Competences?, Christopher Smith, Aniko Kalman

Workshops

In this workshop run by the Continuing Engineering Education and Lifelong Learning SIG, attendees were first given an overview of the changing skills landscape from 2011 to 2023 to set highlight some of the international recognised priorities around skills. Next, the workshop attendees then examined in separate groups three questions around what and how Continuing Engineering Education (CEE) is being approached within different institutions. Shared experiences show that there are a variety of approaches (short courses and microcredentials) that were targeted at relevant local industries, and/or responding to a specific skills need. It was apparent that strategic direction is required …

Teaching Competencies, Samuel Bengmark

Workshops

In search of a model of teaching competencies for engineering education, we led a focus group discussion as a workshop at SEFI2023, where we got practitioners’ perspectives on essential competencies for teaching. These were compared to a model of teaching competencies called the S2L model, developed and used at a technical university in Sweden. The aim of the workshop was to enrich the participants’ understanding of which competencies are essential for teaching and to challenge and improve the S2L model. After the workshop, the competencies collected from the participants were analysed using content analysis. The results show that the teaching …

Reflection On Your Personal Perspective Through Other Perspectives. A Step In Dealing With Wicked Problems, Pleun Hermsen, Sjoerd Van Dommelen, Paula Hueso Espinosa

Workshops

Don’t we all sometimes seek the perspective of someone unrelated to our work, to get unstuck, or when we seek creativity? Engineers, educators, and students put their trust into science, protocols, procedures and models. Rightfully so, from the perspective of the laws of engineering this makes sense. This also explains why when people deal with challenges, they often tackle them (consciously or unconsciously) with their preferred strategies (Hayashi 2018) (Mezirow 2000). However, these preferred strategies might offer a false sense of security because they oversimplify the complicated nature of the challenge. People might focus on a part of problem which …

Sustaining Engineering Education Research: Sharing Qualitative Research Data For Secondary Analysis, Jennifer Case, Holly Matusovich, Marie Paretti, Susan Lord, Lisa Benson

Workshops

The need for secondary data analysis practices emerges from multiple sources. Qualitative researchers often have rich data sets that far exceed the time available for data analysis, and many of us wish that someone could spend more time with the data. We also recognize that local data sets would benefit from further analysis that linked our data with related data collected in different contexts. Many also grapple with increasing data sharing requirements from funding agencies that raise concerns about participant confidentiality and data integrity. This workshop provides a chance to explore potential responses to these concerns through a robust dialogue …

How To Use New Tools To Integrate Sustainability Into Engineering Teaching, Sarah Jayne Hitt, Jonathan Truslove, Cindy Cooper

Workshops

Recently, three projects have addressed the challenge that while many excellent resources on sustainability education exist, there aren’t many that explicitly guide engineering educators to integrate these into their teaching, or indeed that are intended to upskill engineering academics to be able to deliver this teaching. These projects are the Reimagined Degree Map project undertaken by Engineers Without Borders UK (sponsored by the Royal Academy of Engineering), the Sustainability Toolkit project undertaken by the UK’s Engineering Professors’ Council (sponsored by Siemens and the Royal Academy of Engineering), and the Engineering for One Planet Framework and two companion guides, co-created by …

Promoting Engineering To K12 Students Through Spatially Challenging Making And Outreach Activities, Gavin Duffy, Marten Westerhof, Deborah Keogh, Colm O'Kane

Workshops

Outreach activities are an important and valuable approach to promoting engineering education and careers to young people. They provide an excellent way to show that engineering can be fun, challenging and rewarding. With some careful thinking, they can also be used to promote and develop spatial ability, a cognitive ability that is very important to engineering. The purpose of this workshop is to demonstrate examples of outreach activities that are the result of such careful thinking. Those who attend this workshop will be able to:

1. Explain why and how spatial ability is so important to success in engineering education
2. Summarise …

Future Perspectives Of Capacity Building In Engineering Education, Jennifer Ann Griffiths, Yousef Jalali, Aniko Kálmán, Klara Kövesi, Greet Langie, Johanna Lönngren, John Mitchell, Madeline Polmear

Workshops

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Retention And Transfer Of Mathematics In Engineering Education, Annoesjka J. Cabo, Renate Gerarda Klaassen

Workshops

This article is a reflection of a SEFI workshop on Retention. In the workshop, a SWOT Analysis has been realised of four pedagogical solutions addressing Retention in undergraduate STEM education. The pedagogical solutions are programmatic assessment, micro-credentials for online mathematics (support) learning modules, autonomous and self-regulated learning and mathematical competencies for learning. Results have provided insights into the relevance and feasibility of implementation.

Thermal Transport And Rheological Properties Of Hybrid Nanofluids Based On Vegetable Lubricants, Helio Ribeiro, Jaime Taha-Tijerina, Ofelia Gomez, Ever Acosta, Gabriel M. Pinto, Lorena R. C. Moraes, Guilhermino J. M. Fechine, Ricardo J. E. Andrade, Jefferson Reinoza, Victoria Padilla, Karen Lozano

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Nanofluids based on vegetal oil with different wt.% of carbon nanotubes (CNT), hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), and its hybrid (h-BN@CNT) were produced to investigate the effects of these nano-additives on the thermal conductivity and rheological properties of nanofluids. Stable suspensions of these oil/nanostructures were produced without the use of stabilizing agents. The dispersed nanostructures were investigated by SEM, EDS, XRD, and XPS, while the thermal conductivity and rheological characteristics were studied by a transient hot-wire method and steady-state flow tests, respectively. Increases in thermal conductivity of up to 39% were observed for fluids produced with 0.5 wt.% of the hybrid …

A Crazy Little Thing Called Sustainability, Linda Steuer-Dankert

Research Papers

Achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations (UN) in 2015 requires global collaboration between different stakeholders. Industry, and in particular engineers who shape industrial developments, have a special role to play as they are confronted with the responsibility to holistically reflect sustainability in industrial processes. This means that, in addition to the technical specifications, engineers must also question the effects of their own actions on an ecological, economic and social level in order to ensure sustainable action and contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. However, this requires competencies that enable engineers to apply all …

Engineering Students Reflect On Work-Life Relevant Learning, Camilla Björn, Kristina Edström, Viggo Kann

Research Papers

As engineering education is a professional education, it should prepare students for working life. However, there are obvious limitations to the amount of content that is possible to cover and the authenticity of the learning environments. In this study, we investigate the students’ awareness and perception of these limitations by answering the following two research questions: What competencies do the students view as work-life relevant? How do students reflect on their opportunities to learn these competencies? The context of the study is the five-year Master of Science in Engineering and Computer Science at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Throughout the …

Congruence And Friction Between Teachers’ Intentions And Students’ Perceptions Of Cbl Courses, Kerstin Helker, Selina Michel, Michael Bots, Patrik Mottl, Aet Michelson

Research Papers

Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) has become specifically popular in higher engineering education as it embraces authentic, active, and interdisciplinary learning that requires students’ self-direction and collaborative decision-making. The CBL compass (van den Beemt et al. 2023) has been widely applied to capture the variety of educational innovations under the CBL label regarding their vision, teaching and learning, and support. As the tool only captures the teachers' intentions and goals, the question remains whether discrepancies occur with student perceptions of the CBL learning environment that may cause friction.

Epistemologies Of Assessment Instruments, Raenita Fenner, Peggy O'Neill, Kerrie Douglas, Elliot P. Douglas

Research Papers

Understanding our epistemological perspective when conducting engineering education research is important for situating the knowledge claims we are making. Depending on that perspective, we may situate the knowledge claims as definitive, representing an absolute Truth, or as contingent, representing a contextualized truth. Traditionally, quantitative research has been identified as positivist, while qualitative research is diverse in its epistemological assumptions, ranging from positivist to interpretivist to Critical and the “posts.” Thus, results from quantitative studies are often treated as generalizable, absolute, and decontextualized, while quantitative studies are treated as particular, contingent, and contextualized. Assessment instruments, being quantitative, are associated with positivist …

Resilience-Related Competencies In Engineering Education – Mapping Abet, Eur-Ace And Cdio Criteria, Ann-Kristin Winkens, Felix Engelhardt, Carmen Leicht-Scholten

Research Papers

In view of the increasing intensity and frequency of natural disasters due to climate change, engineers need to be able to design systems and infrastructures that are resilient to disruptions. Resilience, here, describes the ability of systems to not only be prepared for sudden crises and to recover from these, but also to learn in order to build adaptive capacity. However, research has shown that there is a lack of system resilience and related competencies in engineering education at various levels. First, there are only a few studies that address resilience on a system level in engineering education. Second, studies …

Validity Of Student Professional Practice Competency Claims, David Lowe, Anthony Kadi

Research Papers

The University of Sydney has introduced a program of engaging engineering students throughout their degree program in diverse forms of self-selected exposure to, and engagement with, professional practice. To gain recognition of completed activities students are required to submit “claims” that include identification of the core competencies that were developed and demonstrated during the activity, along with a detailed reflection on their learning. Given that the claims are highly individualised and often unsupervised, assessment is predominantly limited to evaluation of the reflections along with evidence of the activity. A key question in the program relates to the validity of the …

Sustainability And Innovation: Exploring The Relationship Between Sustainability And Companies’ Engagement In Innovation Ecosystems In The German Engineering Industry, Thies Johannsen

Research Papers

This study identifies sustainable companies in the engineering industry in Germany and investigates their engagement in innovation ecosystems based on varying collaborative formats and transfer pathways. To this end, 200 medium and large companies were interviewed. For the analysis of the data, the study operationalised sustainability and identified sustainable companies based on responses concerning their environmental, social, and economic performance. These results were then cross-referenced with activities within innovation ecosystems. Results are consistent with the state of research and indicate that sustainable companies are more engaged in innovation ecosystems than non-sustainable companies. This suggests that companies considered sustainable are more …

Assessment Of Online Accreditation Of Engineering Programs: A Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (Chat) Analysis, Kasongo Didier Nyembwe, Tajudeen Mojisola, Zach Simpson

Research Papers

This paper shows how Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) can provide a practical framework for online accreditation of engineering programmes in South Africa. Far from being inaccessible, CHAT can provide engineering accreditation bodies with a conceptual framework and theory of change for online accreditation of engineering programs. Within the context of program accreditation in South Africa, the paper leverages CHAT to comprehend the dynamic interplay of digital technologies as deployed during online accreditation including, amongst others, video conferencing, social media and cloud storage, and how these affect online accreditation of engineering programmes. It is concluded that theory-based research and practice …

Innovating Pedagogy, Space And Technology In A South African Engineering Classroom, Fatima Mohamed Darsot, Zach Simpson

Research Papers

The use of technology has become ubiquitous in higher education; however, many university teachers, particularly in the global South, are not confident with using technology when teaching. As a result, engineering curricula often maintain the predominance of “chalk and talk” modes of pedagogy, which often leave students disengaged from what they are learning. Technology offers access to new modes of teaching and learning, but needs to be used in pedagogically meaningful ways. Lecturers are required to teach in innovative ways, using innovative technologies, but are required to do so in classrooms designed and built many decades ago. This is problematic …

Learning Through Screens During Covid-19 Crisis: Foresee Tomorrow's Education By Analyzing Yesterday's Setbacks And Barriers, Hanen Kooli-Chaabane, Antoine Lanthony, Nicolas Peyret

Research Papers

This paper aims to enrich the state of the art on engineering and management learning and education by shedding light on the barriers encountered during the COVID-19 crisis due to the imposed digital transformation. Our research question is: what were the barriers encountered in remote and hybrid learning during pandemic experiences and what lessons can be drawn for higher education in the context of Problem-Based Learning (PBL)? This paper aims to enrich the debate on how digitalization impacted the learning and teaching experience in teaching modules traditionally achieved face-to-face.

Effect Of Engineering Education On Students’ Ethical Attitudes, Ulla-Talvikki Anniina Virta, Hannu-Matti Järvinen

Research Papers

Integrating teaching about ethics in engineering degree has challenges: Teachers focused on the degree core topics may lack the expertise to handle the ethics, and teachers with an ethics background may struggle to connect the ethics teaching to the field-specific issues. In addition, a portion of the students themselves may consider the non-core topic to be unnecessary or demotivating, which poses further challenges for the teaching. In the paper, we explore the ethical attitudes of students based on a survey conducted on information technology, electrical engineering and computer sciences students at our university.

The survey received 224 responses. We compare …

‘There’S A Machine On The Team’: Employers’ Perspectives On Graduate Employability In Digitised Workplaces, Chris. Winberg, Simon Winberg

Research Papers

The implementation of interconnected digital and cyber-physical technologies across engineering fields is changing the nature of professional work. These new forms of work present both technical and social challenges; it is therefore timely to consider the implications of the digital transformation of work for engineering education. In this study the focus is on the technical and social skills that employers have identified as desirable for productive work practices in digital/cyber-physical environments. The research question guiding the study is: What technical and social skills do employers in digitised/cyber-physical workplaces value in engineering graduates? The study drew on Legitimation Code Theory’s Specialization …

Going Beyond Intentions: A Methodology For Assessing Entrepreneurial Activity Among Engineering Education Alumni, Saul Garcia Huertes, Ramon Bragós Bardia

Research Papers

This research paper proposes a novel methodology for evaluating entrepreneurial activity among engineering education alumni using their public CVs as our main source of information. The objective is to go beyond measuring entrepreneurship intentions or mindset through surveys, and instead analyse actual career data to assess the impact of entrepreneurship education. The study utilises shared user data and employs GPT (Generative Pretrained Transformer) models to infer entrepreneurial activity that extends beyond job titles, delving into the specific responsibilities and achievements associated with each position.

How To Characterise Performance In Engineering Freshmen’S Modelling Tasks?, Sophie Charles, Nicolas Peyret

Research Papers

This paper presents a study aiming at characterising engineering freshmen’s performance in modelling tasks, as well as the strategies they adopt to execute them, before and after taking a 3-D modelling course. 97 freshmen in a French engineering school were asked to produce 3-D models of a part, using three views and the product development platform Onshape. The accuracy of their models was assessed using geometrical, dimensional and functional criteria. The students’ performance was also investigated with regards to their modelling strategies. We characterised more specifically the strategies they adopted to constrain the overall length of the part, and pierce …

Emotional Labor Experienced In Team-Projects: A Comparison Of Engineering And Hospitality Students, Nihat Kotluk, Roland Tormey, Rachel Germanier, Annick Darioly

Research Papers

Team projects are an integral part of the student learning experience. However, emotions can significantly affect student performance during team projects. Students use different emotion regulation strategies, such as surface-acting (emotive dissonance) and deep-acting, to regulate their emotions during team projects. These strategies can result in different ‘emotional labor’ levels, leading to emotional exhaustion, dissonance, and burnout. The level of emotional labor may also vary depending on the discipline and the nature of the work. This study thus investigated if engineering and hospitality students have different levels of emotional labor in team projects. Data were collected using a modified Emotional …

A Framework For Investigating The Application Of Educational Theories In Engineering Education Research, Vivian Van Der Werf, Gitte Van Helden, Johannes Schleiss, Gillian N. Saunders-Smits

Research Papers

Grounding the design of educational interventions and their analysis in theory allows us to understand and interpret results of interventions and advance educational theories. Moreover, building an understanding of which educational theories are used and how they are used can build a consensus among researchers and mature the research in a field. In this paper, we investigate the extent to which educational theories are used to ground the design, analysis, and evaluation of learning activities in engineering education. For this purpose, we developed a coding instrument to determine: (1) which educational theories are expressed in studies investigating learning activities and …

Nurturing Community: Using Community-Based Service Learning In Biopharmaceutical Engineering Education., Miriam I Jiménez-Pérez, Yocanxóchitl Perfecto-Avalos., Mariana C Orellana- Haro

Research Papers

This project evaluates the use of CBSL as a strategy for teaching clinical investigation in the development of biopharmaceutical products based on the nutritional needs of children of a low-income community. To achieve this purpose, our students formulated various functional foods that provided the necessary nutrients for the children in the target community. Afterwards, they drafted the corresponding clinical protocols for each formulation, considering possible ethical implications. The academic evaluation was based on the comparison of courses with and without CBSL. The study found that students showed a slight improvement in academic performance with CBSL. This suggests that CBSL can …