Engineering Commons^™

Self-Assessment Or Peer Assessment? Which Is Better Predictor Of Test Results, Nárcisz Kulcsár

Research Papers

Internationally accredited engineering programmes are becoming increasingly important in the internationalisation agenda of universities. ABET has highlighted transversal skills in its accreditation criteria for engineering degrees. Preferred transferable skills include the ability of students to reflect on their own performance, the ability to give constructive feedback and the ability to make judgements. Students' self- and peer-assessment was examined in the context of a basic mathematics course. During the maths midterm tests, students self-assessed on each task, and assessed another student’s test. These assessments were compared with the points given by the teacher. 84% of students overestimated their actual performance and …

Empathy In Engineering And Ethics Education: Resources To Support The Engineering Education Global Community, Diana Bairaktarova, Inês Direito

Workshops

No abstract provided.

Supporting Students From Different Universities And Backgrounds To Improve Their Academic And Social Outcomes: Euniwell Masoee Project Workshop, Neil Cooke, Jörgen Forss, Enrica Caporali, Pascal Chargé, Kamel Hawwash, Jesper Andersson, Gianni Bartoli, Sarah Chung, Daniel Cottle

Workshops

There is a notable discrepancy between the relative prosperity of Europeans and the global security and sustainability challenge. The mission of the ERASMUS+ 2020 European University for Well-Being (EUniWell) alliance is to address this. Our project, “Maximizing Academic and Social Outcomes in Engineering Education” (MASOEE) interprets this contradiction for engineering educators, exploring how to ensure graduates make the utmost contribution to societal wellbeing by narrowing attainment gaps. We are combining the expertise of British, French, Italian, and Swedish faculties to identify, share, and ultimately transfer best practices for professional, business, and sustainability skill teaching that is aligned to the EU …

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 …

Prep - Pragmatic Research On Educational Practice, Samuel Bengmark, Laura Fainsilber, Jan-Fredrik Olsen, Olow Sande

Research Papers

We investigate a concept called PREP – Pragmatic Research on Educational Practice, with the goal of engaging engineering educators in studying, documenting and sharing their initiatives to improve teaching practices. This concept is compared to other methodologies where the researcher and educational practitioner sometimes coincide. The study is based on a pilot, with six participants following the PREP program for three months, which we study autoethnographically. We also carried out a focus group discussion (n=12) to investigate to what extent university teachers regard the ideas from the PREP program as helpful for studying educational activities and sharing what they do …

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 …

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.

Practical Toolkit For Embedding Ethics In The Engineering Curriculum, Sarah Jayne Hitt, Stella Fowler, Sarah Junaid, Johnny Rich

Workshops

The need to embed ethics into the engineering curriculum is a collective imperative if we are to successfully navigate complexity, uncertainty and challenging ethical issues to build a sustainable society that works for everyone. To maximise positive impact, behaviours such as inclusivity and sustainability must become instinctive – golden threads running through everything that engineers think and do. Proactively, bringing engineering ethics to the fore in engineering programmes is one way UK higher education equips future engineers with the skills and mindset they need to succeed.

This workshop brings together best practice from expert practitioners across the UK, introducing a …

Development In Students' Perceptions Of Sustainability And Responsibility As Relevant Aspects Of The Role Of Engineers, Clara Lemke, Ann-Kristin Winkens, Marie Decker, Inanma Elif, Carmen Leicht-Scholten

Research Papers

Engineering and technology-based solutions can address the global challenges associated with sustainable development. In this context, engineers have a substantial responsibility in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Meeting the challenges of all SDGs influences economic, political and social aspects of human life. However, engineering students’ understanding of sustainability is often limited to its ecological and economic dimension, not taking into account or even neglecting social issues. Therefore, teaching approaches in engineering education should address the different dimensions of sustainability and the responsibility of technological development concerning society.

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.

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 …

Exploring The Fabrication Lab Concept For Learning Sustainable Co-Innovation In Industrial Engineering Education – An Action Research Case From Austria, Selim Erol, Alice Grano

Research Papers

According to recent studies, cooperative innovation between universities and industry, especially with small and medium firms, is not as frequent as expected. Case-studies of regional innovation systems have shown that open access to state-of-the-art research infrastructure, services, skills and activities are needed to achieve long-term innovation partnerships. Co-innovation requires particular skills beyond technical knowledge, which are not always addressed in engineering curricula at university. Fab labs are a concept that potentially fosters students in the acquisition of such skills. In this paper, we describe our experiences in designing, building and running a fab lab as a new element for industrial …

Student’S Experience Of Feedback Practices And Recommendations For Improvement, Keith Willey, Anne Gardner

Research Papers

There have been numerous research studies and recommendations as to what feedback should look like to improve student learning and the learning experience. These recommendations include being timely, fed forward, provided using different modes and sources and to support students to know how to best use the feedback they are given.

The Faculty of Engineering and IT (FEIT) at The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is currently focusing on improving the quality, effectiveness and delivery of feedback provided to their students on their learning and demonstrated achievement in a variety of settings.

This paper reports the first stage of this …

What Do Engineers Do With What They Know: Observing Specialized Technical Knowledge In Practice, Zach Simpson, Corrinne Shaw, Nicky Wolmarans

Research Papers

The gap between engineering education and practice has been subject to considerable research attention. We look at studies of engineering practice with a view to informing education. Our interest is in identifying technical knowledge and how it is used in practice, as well as what kind of technical knowledge is used but not taught. This paper seeks to systematically review the existing literature on engineering practice, drawing from and adding to a prior data set developed by Andrea Mazzurco and colleagues, who found that there was a gap in studies of specialised technical knowledge in practice. Investigating their dataset we …

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 …

Soft Skills Of Engineering Students, Nael Barakat, Aziz Shekh-Abed

Research Papers

Soft skills are a combination of personal qualities and interpersonal abilities that enable individuals to work effectively with others, communicate clearly, and collectively solve problems. Soft skills are required for effective problem-solving and decision-making. Soft skills, such as communication, teamwork, and empathy, are essential for developing a collaborative culture that encourages high order thinking and building relationships. By developing these soft skills, engineering students can improve their chances of success both in their academic pursuits and in their future careers. The goal of the study was to evaluate soft skills among engineering students, to provide insight to educators that can …

‘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 …

Descriptions Of Peer Mentors As Told By Undergraduate Engineering Student Mentees, Darcie Christensen, Idalis Villanueva Alarcón

Research Papers

Peer mentorship is a relationship between two people who are at a similar level. In this study, the setting is academic, namely peer mentorship amongst undergraduate engineering students. Within peer mentorship, participants aim to help one another through various activities, such as sharing information, helping motivate, providing advice, lending support, etc. The outcomes of peer mentorship are generally positive and mutually beneficial for mentors and mentees, but the focus of peer mentoring research in undergraduate engineering has primarily been focused on implementing and evaluating formalized peer mentoring efforts, not necessarily on the needs of students who may be in these …

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.

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 …

Ai For Leadership: Implementation And Evaluation Of An Ai Education Program, Aikaterini Bagiati, Andrés F. Salazar-Gómez, Annalyn Bachmann, Kathleen D. Kennedy, Cynthia Breazeal

Research Papers

AI education is rapidly becoming the next frontier when it comes to solving the world's grand challenges; however, ways to introduce AI to large complex organisations are still vastly understudied. To address this gap in 2021, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) entered into a collaboration with the US Air Force (USAF). The goal of this relationship is to develop, study, and evaluate different learning modalities and online/in-person experiences to introduce AI to the diverse USAF workforce. The USAF is a very complex organisation and its employees vary in terms of educational and cultural backgrounds, as well as in their work-related …

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 …

Teachers’ Reflections On Their Experiences Teaching Interdisciplinary Project-Based Courses, Malin Kjellberg, Michael O'Connell, Becky Bergman, Christian Stöhr, Johanna Larsson

Research Papers

In project-based, interdisciplinary engineering courses, teachers face the challenge of not only imparting technical knowledge but also facilitating effective project- and teamwork. In this study we conducted a thematic qualitative analysis of 11 teachers' reflections on interdisciplinary project-based learning (PjBL). The results show that teachers appreciated PjBL as a means to motivate students and that one challenge was handling differences in terms of student disciplinary background. While most teachers did not see a need for further training, teachers who did identify such needs also seemed to already apply a wider range of PjBL teaching strategies. We discuss the implication of …

How To Develop Teachers' Well-Being?, Beatrix Séllei, Emma Lógó

Research Papers

The well-being of teachers is one key to students’ and education’s success. As an innovative solution, we hold a training program for educators using design thinking based on the “Designing Your Life” program that can be familiar with engineering educators’ mindsets. We adopted it for the Hungarian circumstances and made one pilot program and one real program with the self-applying teachers at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. We surveyed teachers’ well-being with the PERMA Profiler at the beginning of the program and one month after the program in both samples and had in total of 41 answers (n=23). …

Engineering Students’ Dynamic And Fluid Group Practices In A Collaborative Design Project, Jonte Bernhard, Jacob Gorm Davidsen, Thomas Ryberg

Research Papers

There is a growing interest in engineering education that the curriculum should include collaborative design projects. Collaboration and collaborative learning imply a shared activity, a shared purpose, a joint problem-solving space, and mutual interdependence to achieve intended learning outcomes. The focus, in this study, is 1 Corresponding Author J Bernhard jonte.bernhard@liu.se on engineering students’ collaborative group practices. The context is a design project in the fifth semester of the problem-based Architecture and Design programme at Aalborg University. Students’ collaborative work in the preparation for an upcoming status seminar was video recorded in situ. In our earlier studies video ethnography, conversation …

Sense Of Belonging Among Technology Students In Finland, Susanna Bairoh, Johanna Naukkarinen

Research Papers

This paper examines Finnish technology students’ belonging in technology. The phenomenon is studied at the level of the field (belonging in the field of technology) and at the level of institution (belonging in one’s study community). The data were collected within the annual student survey conducted by a professional organization for academic engineers in 2022, and analysed statistically. Results suggest that men strongly experience they belong in technology while women express some doubts, and non-binary respondents are even less certain of their belonging. Gender differences in belonging in the field of technology are more prominent than those of belonging in …