Engineering Commons^™

Professional Identity Of Female Engineering Graduates: An Exploration Of Identity Status Through Life History Research, Natascha Van Hattum-Janssen, Maaike D. Endedijk

Research Papers

The number of students entering engineering programmes is too low to meet the need for engineering graduates. Still, many leave for jobs outside the technical sector right after graduation. Professional identity is a concept that helps to explain why they stay in or leave the technical sector (Cech 2014). It is the result of the process of professional socialisation. This study uses life history research to understand the professional socialisation of engineering graduates from kindergarten age until a few years after graduation. An analysis of the life experiences of male and female engineering graduates shows differences in how they describe …

A Possible Solution To Avoid The Consequences Of The Covid-19 Pandemic And Reduce Dropout In Calculus Education, Brigitta Szilágyi, Csaba Szabó, Anna Koós, Bence Sipos

Research Papers

The effects of the COVID-19 are likely to stay in education for a long time to come. First year students of 2022 have completed the last two years of their high school education, which are the most important for further studies, during the worst period of the pandemic. Compared to previous years, far fewer students were able to meet the requirements of Calculus 1. Although there was a wide range of support material (interactive online interface, films, notes, elaborate calculation exercises) available to the students, they were not able to catch up and progress independently, regardless.

The calculus course consists …

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). …

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.

Who Funds Engineering Education Research? Content Analysis Of Funding Sources Described In Three Top-Tier Engineering Education Research Journals, Andrew Valentine, Natalie Wint, Bill Williams

Research Papers

Engineering education research (EER) is becoming a globally connected field of inquiry but there is a lack of sustained funding opportunities available. Currently, it is not quantitatively known which entities are most prolific for providing funding for EER globally. This study attempted to map which entities were most commonly cited as providing funding for EER. Three top-tier EER journals were chosen, articles published in the journals during 2021 were identified. Metadata about each publication was downloaded from Scopus. Funding information for each publication was qualitatively analysed, then synthesised to provide a quantitative understanding of EER funding sources. There was a …

Teaching Sustainability Through A Role-Play Case Study Of E-Scooter Use On College Campuses, Shruti Mehta, Ashish Hingle, Aditya Johri

Research Papers

Sustainability has developed into a pressing concern across disciplinary domains, and the need for teaching sustainability concepts to students has grown significantly. In this paper, we present a research study that assessed undergraduate students’ understanding of sustainability after participating in a case study discussion. We designed and implemented a role-play case study of e-scooters on a college campus. The case facilitated “near transfer,” as it focused on an issue most students have personally experienced. Furthermore, the role-play component simulated a real-world context and allowed students to take different perspectives related to the topic, resulting in a discussion of social, political, …

Inclusive Engineering Classrooms: Student Teaching Assistants’ Perspectives, Joelyn De Lima, Siara Isaac, Helena Kovacs

Research Papers

Inclusive teaching is the intentional practice of recognising biases, working to mitigate their impact, and ensuring that students have equitable learning opportunities. In addition to improving students' sense of belonging and self efficacy, inclusive teaching improves retention, improves academic performance, and reduces achievement gaps. In many large enrollment introductory classrooms, student teaching assistants (TAs) contribute to the classroom climate in addition to the teachers and the students. In this qualitative study, 262 TAs were asked about their teaching strengths, areas that need improvement, obstacles, and ideas about their role in reducing incidents of discrimination or harassment. We coded their open-ended …

Addressing Long-Term Challenges In Energy For Sustainable Futures By Applying Moonshot Thinking, Andreas Sumper, Marc Jené-Vinuesa, Carlos González-De-Miguel, Maria Marin-Macaya

Research Papers

The rapid and exponential changes in our world require the education of engineers who can develop solutions to future and long-term challenges such as climate change. Exploration and innovation methodologies such as Futures Thinking and Moonshot Thinking have the potential to equip engineering students with useful tools and skills to build sustainable futures. To this end, the InnoEnergy MSc Energy for Smart Cities programme at BarcelonaTech (UPC) has developed a challenge-based learning (CBL) course that applies moonshot thinking to tackle major energy problems. This paper presents the methodology refined over three years of implementing the CBL course with second-year Masters's …

Conversations: Teaching Sustainability In Engineering, Alicia Gonzalez Buelga, Dorottya Cserzo, Irina Lazar

Research Papers

Our research focuses on embedding sustainability in the engineering curriculum in ways that are efficient, coherent and inclusive. An important strand of work within this wider remit is finding suitable approaches for promoting collaboration between institutions and academics and advance the understanding of what ‘sustainability’ means in engineering education in the first place, by producing reliable data that can inform our future practice, leading to institutional change. In this paper, we report and discuss the organisation and the findings of a series of inter-institutional conversations that took place during two in person workshops, with the central theme of embedding sustainability …

From Rookies To Synthesis: Agile Solutions For Sustainable Doctoral Studies, Maija Taka, Jaana Suviniitty, Olli Varis

Research Papers

Modern doctoral education in engineering lies at the intersection of three topical phenomena: firstly, the surge of wicked sustainability concerns and the subsequent burgeoning demand for cross-disciplinarity. Secondly, the rapidly developing new technologies and global knowledge economy provide a thriving problem-solving potential, although – thirdly – this requires proactive and innovative collaboration beyond the scope of a single discipline. Thus, doctoral education needs new practices to ensure that students are equipped with new kinds of competencies to solve unpredictable and wicked sustainability problems. In order to reach these demands, we need to favor collaboration over competition. Here we approach these …

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 …

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 …

A Framework For A Scoping Review Of Digital Transformation Of Engineering Education, Niels Erik Ruan Lyngdorf, Jacob Højholt Leegaard

Research Papers

The digitalization of engineering education has made significant progress in recent years not only due to societal circumstances such as COVID-19, but also thanks to technological development and progress and digital transformation of engineering education seems more imminent than ever. This paper presents the development of a framework and process for an ongoing scoping review regarding frameworks for digital transformation of engineering education. Empirical studies on digital innovations in specific small-scale contexts are numerous and the literature is rich. This study, however, aims to identify more systematic and holistic approaches to digital transformation. At this stage the review work has …

Feature Model Construction Of Learning Factories Based On Authentic Learning Theory: A Case Study Of The School Of Micro-Nano Electronics At Zhejiang University, Peiyun Xu, Wei Zhang, Shuai Wang

Research Papers

The learning factory is an educational environment that simulates real-worldproduction systems to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge gainedfrom academic settings and practical skills required by businesses. To improve the construction of learning factories at the early stage, a case study of theSchool of Micro-Nano Electronics at Zhejiang University has been conducted. First, an analysis framework based on authentic learning theory was developed to determine the critical elements of a learning factory basedonfour dimensions, including context authenticity, task authenticity, individual authenticity, and impact authenticity. Second, taking the School of Micro-NanoElectronics at Zhejiang University as the research object, qualitative analysisisutilized to …

Equal Partnership Between Engineering Education And Industry – A Needs Analysis, Sóphie Verdegaal, Janina Den Hertog, Irene Visscher-Voerman

Research Papers

One of the aims of the TALENTS-project is to create (interdisciplinary) learning communities in which engineering professionals, students, teachers, and researchers can learn together and collaborate as equal partners, within the context of authentic challenges, starting from their individual learning goals. To what extent are partners willing to participate in this partnership and under which conditions do they consider it to have added value? We conducted individual interviews with engineering students (N=11), teachers (N=12) and professionals (N=10) about what they require to participate in the learning community, employing epistemic, spatial, instrumental, temporal, and social elements of learning environments. We also …

The Challenge Of Postdoc’Ing In The Us: Perspectives From International Engineering Postdoctoral Scholars, Sylvia Mendez, Kathryn Watson, Jennifer Tygret

Research Papers

An intrinsic case study explores the challenges shared by international engineering postdoctoral scholars about working in the United States (US). Little research has been devoted to their experiences despite their stark increase in the postdoctoral labor force over the last decade. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight engineering postdoctoral scholars hailing from Canada, China, Colombia, Iran, Italy, and Thailand. Participant interviews were analyzed inductively and resulted in four themes: (1) Immigration concerns; (2) Strains to find a community; (3) Pressure to publish and secure funding; and (4) Inadequate career counseling. The identified themes could be particularly instructive to Ph.D. advisors …

Embedding Competencies In Sustainability And Authentic Learning Experiences In Food Science Education Through A Study Program-Driven Approach, Anita Nordeng Jakobsen, Sunniva Hoel, Ida-Johanne Jensen

Research Papers

The food sector is experiencing a substantial shift towards Industry 4.0 regarding technological solutions to ensure efficient and sustainable food production. To face the required changes and be able to influence and change existing systems, future candidates must have solid capabilities in their respective subject areas as well as generic skills such as critical thinking, reflection, communication, and teamwork skills. At NTNU, a program-driven approach for embedding sustainability and authentic learning experiences in the bachelor program of Food Science, technology and sustainability was conducted. Thematic groups of staff members developed learning outcomes and learning- and assessment methods to ensure coherence …

Is “Improving The Quality Of Life” The Only Sustainability Issue That Is Related To Engineering? - Exploring Engineering Students’ Conceptions Of Sustainability, Lillian Yun Yung Luk, Inês Direito, John Mitchell, Kate Roach

Research Papers

UNESCO’s (2021) report on engineering for sustainable development has emphasized the critical role of engineers in achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Yet, there is a lack of clarity about the conceptualization or definition of sustainability (Moore et al., 2017), which makes it difficult to integrate sustainability into the curriculum. While Walshe (2008) conducted a study on high school students’ conceptions of sustainability in the UK, there appears to be a lack of research conducted in the context of higher education. The study presented in this paper explores engineering students’ understanding of sustainability in engineering and how it is …

Using Machine Learning Methods To Develop Person-Centered Models Predicting Stem Major Choice, Marcell Nagy, Joyce Main, Roland Molontay, Amanda Griffith

Research Papers

Understanding the factors that influence the choice of a STEM major is important for developing effective strategies to increase participation in STEM fields and meet the growing demand for skilled workers. This research is based on the nationally representative data of 25,206 students surveyed in the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09). The HSLS:09 includes longitudinal data from 9th-grade students through their postsecondary study. First, we use machine learning to predict who is going to opt for a STEM major. Then we use interpretable ML tools, such as SHAP values, to investigate the key factors that influence students' decisions …

Exploring Engineering Students’ Perception Of Their Career Preparedness In A Systemic Pbl Context In Denmark, Anna Overgaard Markman, Svend Hauekrog Christiansen, Xiangyun Du

Research Papers

The demand for graduates who are well-prepared for employment remains a persistent concern. This study aims to examine the perceptions of career preparedness among engineering students in a systemic problem-based learning environment, employing a gender perspective. The data for this study was collected through two focus group interviews conducted with engineering students in their eighth semester. The collected data was then coded, resulting in the identification of three main categories: (1) professional competence development, (2) career anticipation, and (3) gender role. The findings of the study reveal that collaboration with external companies and the provision of practical support play a …

A Look At Vocational And Academic Student Backgrounds In Ability To Solve Practical Problems, Gareth Thomson, Mark Prince

Research Papers

While most students in the UK will enter engineering degrees with traditional academic qualifications, a significant proportion will come from backgrounds which use vocational based qualifications to gain entry to degree level study. Indicators show that students from lower socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to be among those using vocational qualifications to gain entry to University and may not progress as well. This is often linked to difficulties in traditional academic elements of the degree such as mathematics where both the content and learning approaches are much less familiar to students with a vocational background. These academic skills are not …

Exploring Women’S Teamwork Experiences In Engineering Education: A Phenomenological Analysis, Sandra Ireri Cruz Moreno, Shannon Chance, Brian Bowe

Research Papers

Teamwork, project or problem based learning, and other collaborative learning strategies are often presented as approaches that benefit women and other minorities during their studies in Science and Engineering fields of education. This is based on the assumption that underrepresented groups will respond positively to the social integration and cooperation encouraged by these learning methods. However, research also shows that gendered stereotypical presuppositions about attributes and interests can influence the performance of team members and the tasks developed, potentially providing opportunities to sexism, racism, and other exclusionary social behaviours.

The Stability Of Pre-Enrolment Prediction Of Academic Achievement: Criterion-Referencing Versus Norm-Referencing, Jolan Hanssens, Carolien Van Soom, Greet Langie

Research Papers

Positioning tests are organized in Flanders for prospective STEM students. They provide a low-stakes opportunity to assess their level of starting competences before enrolment. Predictive validity for subsequent academic achievement is an important quality measure of these positioning tests. However, the content of the tests varies over the years. This could be problematic for making accurate predictions based on data from previous years. Therefore, the objective of this study is to compare the stability over time of the predictions of academic achievement using either criterionreferenced (absolute grading) or norm-referenced (relative grading) positioning test grades of engineering and science students. Comparisons …

Tell It With Commits To Git, Pia Niemelä, Jenni Hukkanen, Mikko Nurminen, Antti Sand, Hannu-Matti Järvinen

Research Papers

In the realm of higher education, team work is considered a crucial factor in facilitating the development of collaborative and work-life skills among students. Studies have shown that collaborative tasks promote a sense of community, belonging, and wellbeing among students. However, uneven work distribution and vague team roles can lead to dissatisfaction and reduced commitment, ultimately resulting in assignment failure and impeding progress towards graduation. This paper examines students’ feedback on Britton et al.’s (2017) team quality questionnaire, along with their contributions to team performance. Additional questions were added to gauge how students communicate and organize their work within their …

Interconnectedness Of Geometric, Linguistic, And Algebraic Thinking In Student Performance Measures: An Association Rules Approach, Bence Sipos, Brigitta Szilágyi

Research Papers

Assessing student performance is crucial in education for evaluating knowledge acquisition and competency development. Traditional grading systems often overlook the interconnectedness of learning domains, which can provide valuable insights into student understanding. This study investigates the associations between geometric, linguistic, and algebraic thinking and their impact on student performance measures and grading using association rules. We analyzed a dataset comprising student responses to geometric, linguistic, and algebraic questions by applying association rule mining techniques. The extracted rules were used to evaluate question similarity, revealing deeper insights into student performance and problem-solving strategies. Our findings demonstrate significant interconnectedness between geometric, linguistic, …

Conceptualizing Socially Shared Regulation In Challenge-Based Learning, Karolina Doulougeri, Gunter Bombaerts, Michael Bots, Jan D. Vermunt

Research Papers

Students in Challenge-based learning (CBL) courses work in multidisciplinary groups to develop a solution to an open-ended and ill-defined challenge.Thus, in CBL, students need to regulate their learning individually and collectively to learn. Socially shared regulation of learning (SSRL) refers to the development of collective and coconstructed task perceptions or shared goals by multiple students working as a group. Existing knowledge about conceptualizing and researching SSRL in CBL is currently lacking. In this paper, we provide evidence from a qualitative study we conducted in a CBL course, using analysis of individual learning portfolios and in-depth interviews about students’ perceptions of …

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 …

Campfire Talk Game, An Unsupervised Intervision Game For Students And Staff, Pleun Hermsen, Sjoerd Van Dommelen, Paula Hueso Espinosa

Workshops

Are you witnessing students facing concerns, difficulties, and problems throughout their educational journey? Perhaps you know PhDs, lecturers, or support staff who encounter challenges in their educational, research, or teaching paths. Openly addressing these issues can prove beneficial in all of these scenarios! While coaching is a potential solution, it can be time-consuming and demanding, right? Instead, let them have a Campfire Talk: a non-intrusive and socially safe serious game that requires no supervision. It provides a platform for discussing struggles that in practice are often difficult to address or overlooked but can deeply affect individual or group behavior. During …

Democratic Education Within The Standard Curriculum At Tu Berlin - A Quantitative And Qualitative Analysis, André Baier, Noemi Tenhagen

Research Papers

Introduction - Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin) was founded after the Second World War on the ruins of its predecessor. At its inauguration it was bound to promote democracy through its education. This view is further held up through the university law of the federal state of Berlin which states that the disciplinary competences are to be acquired in such a way so that students are able to act democratically. This spirit is still alive at TU Berlin and over the past decades it led to several educational concepts which reach beyond traditional methods of teaching/learning and which expand the …

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 …