Engineering Education Commons^™

Engineering Curriculum Redesign: Is My School Ready For This?, Aikaterini Bagiati, Julia Reynolds-Cuéllar

Practice Papers

As humanity keeps facing grand challenges engineers are expected to be at the forefront and keep providing sustainable solutions to extremely complex problems. In the meantime, we have reached an era where technological advancement moves at a very rapid speed. That poses a big question to academia. “How should we educate engineers to ensure that they are best prepared for a complex world?” For an engineering curriculum to remain effective and relevant frequent redesign is critical. Despite this generally agreed upon understanding, universities sometimes operate under great pressure and move into initiating curricular change without having considered how multifactorial this …

Flash Observations For Improved Teaching Quality Among Graduate Teaching Assistants In Engineering Education, Sarah Plumb, Joanna Bates, Panos Lazari, Matteo Di Benedetti

Practice Papers

To maintain high quality, when teaching practical activities at scale, sufficient Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) must be employed. However, their pedagogical skills are inconsistent. This research is a pilot study to test the reliability and validity of research methods which will be scaled up in their application to the primary research to identify GTA pedagogical skills requiring further training. In the primary study, staff and GTA perspectives will be collected using surveys, and the emerging deficient skills will be further investigated using novel twenty-minute “flash” skills-based teaching observations of GTAs. Observation time will be split among the GTAs, and the …

Bachelor's Thesis Seminar In Computer Sciences And Information Technology, Matti Haavisto, Hannu-Matti Järvinen, Terhi Kilamo, Saila Ovaska, Timo Poranen

Practice Papers

A Bachelor’s thesis is typically an individually written literature review on a scientifically relevant topic. Additionally, some theses also describe empirical work or report an experiment. Firstly, we introduce how Bachelor’s theses are supervised in a joint thesis seminar for Computer Sciences and Information Technology at our university. The thesis seminar is organized three times a year. It consists of six small group meetings led by a supervisor and contains compulsory pre- and post-assignments and active peer discussions. In 2022, there were in total of 187 students participating in the spring, summer and autumn seminars. Secondly, we give an overview …

Amplifying New Voices And Making Space For Alternative Knowledge Systems In Engineering Curricula – The Example Of Ubuntu, Anita Occhio, Fiona Caroline Saunders, Gladson Chikwa, Dawn Theresa Nicholson

Practice Papers

Engineering projects are ubiquitous; from developing COVID-19 vaccines to building new cities and developing climate change solutions. An inclusive approach to teaching engineers how to master the complexities of engineering project management is vital to the deliverability of sustainability and net zero initiatives (Hockings 2010). Yet, our engineering curricula remain deeply rooted in Western epistemology (Winter et al. 2022, Mbembe 2015). Arguably, this is an opportune time to consider decolonising our curricula. At a fundamental level, ‘decolonising the curriculum’ means introducing previously ignored voices, images, authors, theories and arguments into our teaching (Rogers et al. 2022). This is a challenge …

Management Education In An Engineering Environment. The Case Of Bme, Mária Szalmáné Csete, Emma Lógó, Bence Bodrogi, Tamás Koltai

Practice Papers

Engineering higher education institutes need to integrate new skills and competences into their practice and curricula to accelerate the sustainability transition.

This paper introduces the interdisciplinary upskilling of engineering students enrolled in engineering programs at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) and which has been provided by the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences (GTK) since 1998. The BME GTK delivers an educational experience that fits into the environment defined by the engineering faculties at BME. The BME GTK has experience of more than a quarter of a century in engineering education related to socio-economic and management upskilling. …

Setting Up An Engineering "Pilot Study Program" In E-Mobility" For International Students: Issues And Solutions, Meike Herbert, Alexander Nasarow, Oliver Kreis

Practice Papers

This practice paper presents the issues and solutions in introducing a new international engineering study program at a German university that attracts especially non-European students. The master’s program electromobility with the four majors Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Driving, Connectivity, EPowertrain and Sustainable Mobility & Production Technology was newly introduced in the winter semester 2022/23. It combines the expertise of all engineering departments like mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science and artificial intelligence, materials science and chemical engineering to offer a modern and attractive engineering education for sustainability in an ecologic and economic important field. The high amount of applications with …

An Embodied Cognition Approach To Collaborative Engineering Design Activities, Gitte Van Helden, Barry Zandbergen, Anna Shvarts, Marcus Specht, Eberhard Gill

Practice Papers

Higher educational institutions have broadly adopted Collaborative Engineering Design (CED) activities to prepare students for complex problem-solving in multidisciplinary settings. These activities are non-linear and mediated by various social practices and tools. Therefore educators might struggle in facilitating the achievement of specific learning goals. Embodied cognition is an approach that explains non-linear behaviour through orgamism-environment interactions and might therefore provide educators with insights on how to prompt students towards desired actions in CED activities. According to embodied cognition, we learn through actions that emerge as a response to a problem (task) and environmental constraints. Educators can guide students’ behaviour by …

(Re)Defining Engineers’ Resilience: Part Ii Reflexive Accounts Of Doing Reflexive Thematic Analysis, Natalie Wint

Practice Papers

This work accompanies another paper which describes interpretivist qualitative research that made use of data from semi-structured interviews pertaining to how engineering educators conceptualize resilience and support students in its development. In that work, we utilized reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) for several reasons. Firstly, it is considered a useful method for under-researched areas. Secondly, its flexibility allows for inductive and deductive theme generation. Finally, it is considered a reasonably accessible method which we believe is important when considering 1.) the varied audience of engineering education research (EER) and 2.) the relative lack of consensus as to acceptable theoretical frameworks or …

Educating Future Robotics Engineers In Multidisciplinary Approaches In Robot Software Design, Astrid Van Der Niet, Cilia Claij, Gillian Saunders-Smits

Practice Papers

In 2020, a new two-year MSc programme in robotics was launched. Unlike most existing robotics programmes, which approach robotics from a specific discipline, this programme aims to train multi-deployable robot generalists using a cognitive approach (no hardware creation). The field of robotics is multidisciplinary by nature and educating students on how to approach projects with a multidisciplinary mindset is at the forefront of the programme. Hence, at the end of the first year, students are thrust into experiencing the true multi-disciplinarity of the robotics field in a synthesizing, multidisciplinary project-based course. In this 5 EC course, students work together in …

The Power Of Perspective Dialogue: Unlocking Transformative Reflection In Engineering Education (Practice), Pleun Hermsen, Sjoerd Van Dommelen, Paula Hueso Espinosa, Maartje Van Den Bogaard

Practice Papers

Engineers need to be socially responsible, ethically aware and deliver positive contributions to the wicked problems2 of today's global challenges. In navigating these challenges, being able to reflect is a necessary prerequisite. But if we simply ask students reflective questions, they tend to give us mostly socially desirable answers. Our university initiated an institute-wide program focused on creating learning experiences and environments for transformative reflection instead of superficial reflection. In this paper we present design principles for transformative reflection based on a literature overview and the program's accumulated experience. The principles are I) Six domains for reflection on engineering issues, …

Challenge-Based Learning In Courses: The Implementation Continuum, Adina Imanbayeva, Robin De Graaf, Cindy Poortman

Practice Papers

Given the increasing criticality and complexity of societal challenges, higher education institutions are urged to equip students with the ability to develop sustainable solutions for 'wicked' problems. Consequently, the Challenge-based Learning (CBL) framework has attracted considerable interest in higher engineering education. However, transforming existing course curricula to CBL is a challenging endeavour since it requires careful and paced execution for maintaining the quality, synergy, and flow of existing education. Therefore, this paper proposes a perspective on CBL implementation that exemplifies a gradual transition towards educational CBL innovation while reflecting on the alignment, consistency, and coherence educators aspire to when designing …

Measuring Effects Of Mini-Lectures On Improving Student Engagement And Outcomes, Vincent Engbers, Rowel Gündlach, Marta Regis, Maria Vlasiou

Practice Papers

In the current age, digital advancements have shaped the educational landscape by providing numerous possibilities for a fast and on-demand influx of information for students. This brings an additional difficulty for course designers in how to incorporate such technologies in teaching in an optimal way. Key examples are educational videos, which are especially relevant now due to the increase in accessibility of pre-made videos and recording technology since the pandemic. This puts post-pandemic teaching in the new but revolutionary position to complement in-person teaching with videos.

In this study, we examine the effect of videos combined with in-person teaching in …

Enhancing Professional Skills Among Engineering Students By Interdisciplinary International Collaboration, Thomas Mejtoft, Helen Cripps, Melissa Fong-Emmerson, Christoper Blöcker

Practice Papers

Providing necessary knowledge and skills for engineering students to become successful professionals is a tricky task. Besides disciplinary knowledge, e.g., communication skills, ability to work in teams, and international experience are often mentioned as important. Regarding internationalization, most engineering programs in Sweden rely on either student exchange or low-level internationalization-at-home, such as international literature and lecturers. This paper explores sustainable international experiences for students on their home turf provided through an international interdisciplinary collaboration where engineering students in Sweden and marketing students in Australia work together on a project. The setup simulates a consultancy firm with development and marketing offices …

What Do We Know About Our First-Year Engineering Students' Backgrounds And Experiences?, Gavin Buskes, Shannon Rios

Practice Papers

Students entering university come from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences, with differing levels of knowledge and exposure to professional skills. However, university entry criteria typically focus on academic ability in particular subject areas such as maths and physics, but little information is known about students’ attitudes and abilities in a variety of other, important domains such as attitude towards engineering, communication skills and level of interaction with peers. Self-concept, a cognitive evaluation that an individual makes and customarily maintains with respect to themselves concerning their ability in a general or a specific area of knowledge, can be used …

Integration Of Agile Development In Standard Labs, Felix Huening, Cindy Mund

Practice Papers

In addition to the technical content, modern courses at university should also teach professional skills to enhance the competencies of students towards their future work. The competency driven approach including technical as well as professional skills makes it necessary to find a suitable way for the integration into the corresponding module in a scalable and flexible manner. Agile development, for example, is essential for the development of modern systems and applications and makes use of dedicated professional skills of the team members, like structured group dynamics and communication, to enable the fast and reliable development. This paper presents an easy …

Inclusive Design In Action – A Case Study Describing The Design Of Social Area Seating In A University, Mary Nolan, Eva Murphy, Mary Carden

Practice Papers

This practice paper outlines the inclusive design process used in the redesign of communal/social seating in an Engineering faculty in a University in Ireland. The old seating was not being utilised by the students. Engineering courses often present challenging assignments to students; literature shows that access to information, knowledge exchanges and opportunities for learning through social interaction can be crucial to student success.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) has grown as an important agenda item across society. Therefore, the methodology used in this redesign was inclusive design. Inclusive design is a design framework that takes into account the diversity of …

Drawing From Sefi Ethics Knowledge To Support Eco-Ethics Education Within The European University Of Technology, Jye Benjamin O'Sullivan, Shannon Chance

Practice Papers

We are leading a project called Ethico within the European University of Technology (EUt). Ethico aims to design and promote the uptake of innovative, ecological ethics for technological education.

This practice paper briefly summarizes the aims and structure of the Ethico project, and then focuses on the work completed as part of the teacher training module developed in Cluj, 7-9th March, 2023. This workshop drew its conceptual framework from the short abstracts currently available for the Engineering Ethics Education Handbook. The structure developed was then implemented in a student facing workshop in Troyes between the 10-14th July 2023. The handbook …

Digital Learning Resources, Hybrid Teaching And Remote Students - Are Our Students Actively Engaged?, Thea Bjørnland

Practice Papers

At the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, a new cross-campus statistics course for approximately 1000 engineering students was planned for the fall of 2020. Due to the pandemic, digital learning resources were developed to allow students to work from home or campus, individually or collaboratively. These resources include short learning videos, automatically graded exercise sets, and Jupyter Notebooks for Python coding. Since 2020, digital learning resources have been essential for teaching statistics to engineering students across three campuses, and remotely. To help students navigate digital resources, on-campus activities, and assessments, each week of the semester was structured according to …

Digital Ethics Canvas: A Guide For Ethical Risk Assessment And Mitigation In The Digital Domain, Cécile Hardebolle, Vladimir Macko, Vivek Ramachandran, Adrian Holzer, Patrick Jermann

Practice Papers

Ethical concerns in the digital domain are growing with the extremely fast evolution of technology and the increasing scale at which software is deployed, potentially affecting our societies globally. It is crucial that engineers evaluate more systematically the impacts their solutions can have on individuals, groups, societies and the environment. Ethical risk analysis is one of the approaches that can help reduce “ethical debt”, the unpaid cost generated by ethically problematic technical solutions. However, previous research has identified that novices struggle with the identification of risks and their mitigation. Our contribution is a visual tool, the Digital Ethics Canvas, specifically …

Embedding Sustainability In The Engineering Curriculum: Meeting The Requirements Of Professional Accreditation, Darren Carthy, Richard Manton, Louise O' Gorman

Practice Papers

Professional accreditation agencies are increasing requirements on sustainability in engineering education as a response to ethical obligations, industry needs and emerging academic best practice. In 2021, Engineers Ireland increased sustainability requirements in new accreditation criteria. This paper reports on a thematic analysis carried out by Engineers Ireland on the self-assessment and achievement of these new accreditation criteria on sustainability. The analysis was conducted on the self-assessment reports from a large Irish University, referred to as University A hereafter. The results indicate that, for the purpose of meeting accreditation requirements, University A has interpreted sustainability in their programmes as either meeting …

Does Interdisciplinary Creative Coding Boost Creativity? A Mixed Methods Approach, Arne Duyver, Wouter Groeneveld, Kris Aerts

Practice Papers

This study explores the influence of an interdisciplinary intervention on creative problem-solving skills. Literature deems such skills as vital for software engineering (SE) students in higher education. 39 SE students and graphic design (GD) students were randomly paired to work on an open-ended creative coding assignment in p5.js, an online JS-based Processing editor that makes it easy for novices to quickly and easily code visual webpages. Three categories were formed: the test group SE+GD (18 students), and control groups SE+SE (10) and GD+GD (11).

A mixed methods approach was taken to gather and interpret results: Amabile's Consensual Assessment Technique provided …

Multicultural Online Collaborative Learning: Students’ Engagement In Design Thinking Framework, Shizuyo Asai, Yuli Rahmawati, Fauzan Khairi Che Harun, Tula Jutarosaga

Practice Papers

This paper presents a collaborative learning course in which students from four universities in different Asian countries work in mixed teams to learn how to develop user-centered products and solve problems in a hands-on way using the Design Thinking framework. For the past three years, the courses were conducted entirely online. Cooperation and collaboration among diverse people from different backgrounds are essential to solving the social problems facing the world today. Like many universities, we have been actively sending our students abroad to provide opportunities to experience diverse cultures and values, but the pandemic has made it very difficult to …

Teaching Ethics As Practical Reflection In A Project-Based Engineering Course, Marcel Krüger, Michael Jäckle, Felix Pfaff

Practice Papers

The implementation of ethics in engineering courses often faces several intertwined problems. For example, there is widespread moral relativism, ethics is often confused with moralism on the one hand and with pro-contra discussions on the other, there are difficulties with the degree of abstraction being too high, or ethics is relativised as one method for decision-making among many others. Furthermore, in many cases, ethics is suspected of being artificially introduced into engineering. In the context of a project-based course at a German university, we took up these challenges and developed an innovative teaching format whose focus is not on theories …

“Keep It Simple: Optimized Student Evaluations With Moodle”, Marius Mailänder, Edward Rullmann, Felix Di Lenarda, Christian Forbrig, Juri Rappsilber

Practice Papers

Acquiring representative feedback from students is a common problem for universities. To address the often low response rates and participation bias, we focussed on a simplified evaluation process and improved user convenience. We developed and implemented a new tool for collecting feedback by sharing an accessible short survey on our Moodle-based e-learning platform. This new Moodle evaluation tool allows surveys to pop up visibly but non-invasively within every Moodle course offered by our university for the duration of the valuation period. After voting, the survey does not show up again. By condensing a questionnaire to three main queries using a …

Instructional Considerations For Virtual Reality In Engineering Training And Education: Preliminary Research Results, Haider Al-Juboori, Gina Noonan, Vincent O Brien, Dorel Picovici

Practice Papers

Digital reality has been gradually introduced into all parts of human society, and the field of education is no exception due to the potential of technology and related tools to enhance the teaching and learning process. However, there is still a paucity of research in this area within an Irish higher education context. The research explores how to best employ virtual reality (VR), using the Oculus Quest 2 system, to improve and develop the level of contemporary training, as well as to enhance the educational experience. Both the technical and educational perspectives will be considered. The researched sample consists of …

Exercising Unesco Competencies In Students Through Research-Based Education For Sustainable Development, Scott Strachan, Claire Crichton-Allen, Louise Logan, Stephen Marshall

Practice Papers

Today’s complex global challenges call upon a different pedagogical approach to Higher Education (HE) that is fit for the purpose of preparing our students – to paraphrase the words of Sir Jonathan Porritt - not only for the world of work, but the work of the world. Indeed, we can and should be preparing students for both, as it is through their professional lives and activities that they will arguably be able to have the most positive impact on these global challenges. Consequently, re-focusing teaching on ways of thinking, being and practicing, the so-called ‘head, heart and hands’ framework, should …

Engaging Students Through Innovation In Computer Science Education, Kamilla Klonowska, Marijana Teljega, Fredrik Frisk

Practice Papers

This contribution addresses how the innovation activities have been implemented in two bachelor programmes in computer science at Kristianstad University in Sweden. The goal of the innovation activities is to equip students with essential skills and abilities like developing technical and analytical skills, communication, collaboration, problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity to prepare them in their professional role, to actively contribute to their workplace and work to identify and find innovative solutions to societal challenges. To achieve this goal, the programmes provide project-based learning to enhance the learning experience for students and, additionally, include the events like Imagine or Hackathon, where …

Fostering Individual Learning Types On Online Learning Platforms To Strengthen Students' Competencies, Anja Marckwardt, Stefan Kühne, Julian Kober, Daniel Rolon, Samuel Erdt, Dirk Oberschmidt

Practice Papers

The availability of video lectures and hybrid formats in higher education has increased significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Predominantly, however, instructional content has simply been translated 1-to-1 into video formats regardless of effectiveness and students' needs. Interaction and diversity in content delivery were often missing. This practice paper presents an ongoing investigation on how lecture content can be presented within an online learning platform in order to meet the individual learning types of students and to address actual usage behaviour, potentially enabling a positive effect on learning outcomes. By creating learning paths, students can choose from different content modes, …

International Cooperation Framework For Next Generation Engineering Students, Anneli Kakko

Practice Papers

International Cooperation Framework for Next Generation Engineering Students (NextGEng) is an Erasmus+ Cooperation partnership in higher education project which started at the beginning of October 2022 and will end at the end of September 2025. In this project, there are six full partners who are participating in all project’s activities: Technical University of Cluj Napoca (main partner) and Robert Bosch SRL from Romania; Jamk University of Applied Sciences and Valmet Technologies Oyj from Finland; University of Jaen and Sensory Integration and Robotics from Spain. This project aims to develop an international cooperation framework that promotes international team-teaching aligned with the …

First Steps Towards Gamification Of Online Physics And Mathematics Assignments, Paula Immonen, Juho Ratava, Johanna K Naukkarinen, Ayesha Sadiqa, Jukka V Paatero, Markku Kuosa, Aleksi Mankonen, Barkat Bhayo, Mikko Äijälä

Practice Papers

The objective of this practice paper is to describe and analyse the use of online learning tasks on engineering mathematics and physics courses. The development of learning tasks was inspired by the promising effects of gamification techniques in higher education. Hence, some gamification elements, such as bonus points and immediate feedback were integrated into the learning tasks. Course results and student feedback demonstrate the positive impact of gamification of online learning tasks on students’ motivation and learning. In the end, further possibilities of increasing the number and repertoire of gamification techniques in engineering mathematics and physics courses are discussed.