Engineering Education Commons^™

Development And Evaluation Of A Teaching Concept That Focuses On Increasing Modeling Competence In Technical Mechanics (Tm), Kristina Lampe, Martin Lang, Alexandra Dorschu

Research Papers

Engineering students often learn by retracing pre-calculated given solutions of tasks and try to understand this problem-solving way. This reconstruction is not always successful in solving new types of problem via modified tasks (Rossow 2008). Every mechanical exercise follows the same solution methodology (Müller-Slany 2018). Applying this basic problem-solving structure correctly is a Pre-condition for solution’s reflection and is therefore essential for teaching. To improve these competencies a strategy training is implemented in exercise-settings in Technical Mechanics (TM).

Teaching Excellence Programs – Lessons Learned At Two Universities, Kristina Edström, Cindy Poortmann, Marie Magnell, Priyanka Pereira

Research Papers

Universities are seeking novel ways to strengthen the collective educational competence of their faculty and promote educational merits. In this paper we describe and compare the experiences of two recently started initiatives for teaching excellence, the Program for Future Leaders for Strategic Educational Development at KTH Royal Institute of Technology (henceforth KTH) and the Teaching Fellowship Programme at the University of Twente. Both programs have recently completed one complete round of implementation. The programmes are similar in that the participants work on a project of their own for an extended time, while also being part of a community with regular …

Professionalising Science And Engineering Teachers In Guiding And Assessing Reflection, Elise Eshuis, Kariene Mittendorff, Heleen Daggenvoorde-Baarslag

Research Papers

The current knowledge society of the 21st century requires students, among other things, to have the ability to think reflectively. Various studies show however that educational programs and teachers, from engineering programs in particular, experience difficulties in integrating the development of students’ reflection skills in their curricula. This gave rise to a multi-year project on improving reflection in engineering educational programs. We worked with teacher teams of 6 programs to improve their curricula and teacher practices regarding reflection. Part of the project were training sessions for teachers focused on guiding and assessing reflection activities of their students.

This paper presents …

Impact Of Teacher Training On Enhancing Sustainability Integration Into Engineering Education, Paula Schönach, Noora Jaakkola, Meeri Karvinen

Research Papers

Engineering education institutions face a growing demand to provide graduates with adequate skills to respond to the sustainability crisis at hand. One approach to address this is to integrate sustainability as a cross-cutting theme into programmes and courses. At the same time competence development of academic staff is seen as an essential, yet underdeveloped prerequisite for a sustainability paradigm shift.

Aiming at enhancing sustainability integration into engineering education, this study investigates the impact of pedagogical training on the skills and motivations of teachers to embed sustainability into their teaching. A new pedagogical course (3 ECTS) on sustainability in teaching was …

Revolutionising Engineering Education: Creating Photorealistic Virtual Human Lecturers Using Artificial Intelligence And Computer Generated Images, Johannes H Moolman, Fiona Boyle, Joseph Walsh

Research Papers

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted traditional classroom learning, making virtual and remote education increasingly important. In this context, the use of photorealistic virtual humans, or avatars, powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) can offer an immersive and engaging environment for delivering traditional classroom-based lectures. This paper proposes a process that combines AI and Computer-Generated Images (CGI) to create photorealistic virtual human lecturers for educational purposes.

The proposed process flow involves generating audio from text inputs, which is passed to a 3-Dimensional (3D) facial animation rig that matches lip, tongue, eye and facial movements to the audio using AI. This generates a …

A Multimodal Measurement Of The Impact Of Deepfakes On The Ethical Reasoning And Affective Reactions Of Students, Vivek Ramachandran, Cécile Hardebolle, Nihat Kotluk, Touradj Ebrahimi, Reinhard Riedl, Patrick Jermann, Roland Tormey

Research Papers

Deepfakes - synthetic videos generated by machine learning models - are becoming increasingly sophisticated. While they have several positive use cases, their potential for harm is also high. Deepfake production involves input from multiple engineers, making it challenging to assign individual responsibility for their creation. The separation between engineers and consumers may also contribute to a lack of empathy on the part of the former towards the latter. At present, engineering ethics education appears inadequate to address these issues. Indeed, the ethics of artificial intelligence is often taught as a stand-alone course or a separate module at the end of …

Planned, Taught, Learnt: Analysis Of Transversal Skills Through Curriculum Using Portfolio, Helena Kovacs, Tamara Milosevic, Alexandra Niculescu

Research Papers

There is an everlasting effort in education to successfully ensure that the intended learning objectives are clearly taught and effectively learnt at the end of the educational cycle. This has been especially difficult in teaching and learning complex sets of competencies, for example, transversal skills in domains such as engineering education. Yet, studies focusing on transversal skills often address student learning outcomes, but rarely how teachers teach them, and even less so how they are represented in the written curriculum. In order to create a more comprehensive understanding of how transversal skills are communicated, taught and learnt in engineering education, …

Developing Teamwork Skills Through Simultaneous Group Project Courses, Tuomo Eloranta

Research Papers

The popularity of project-based learning (PBL) has led to a situation where engineering students take several group project courses at the same time. From a student perspective, this can generate considerable issues. Previous research has indicated that already single PBL courses can be challenging, especially time and task management-wise and intuitively overlapping PBL courses compound this complexity. As existing literature on this topic is relatively sparse, the goal of the present study is to examine what kind of student challenges simultaneous PBL courses generate, how students navigate those and what kind of additional learning can it foster. The results should …

Comicir- Commercialization Of Innovative Challenges From Industry And Research (Practice), Charlotte Norrman, Ali Moshfegh, Jeanette Engzell

Research Papers

At Linköping university, a model to facilitate impact and bridge the gap between research, education, and business creation, has been developed. It is named “ComICIR”, which stands for Commercialization of Innovative Challenges from Industry and Research. The model allows researchers, firms, and students to work in a co-creation process that are built on the following five steps: (1) research validation, (2) idea generation, (3) idea validation, (4) idea evaluation and, (5) innovation strategy. In the paper, we describe the model and analyse how challenges and ideas could be developed and experientially based pedagogical approaches could be adjusted in order to …

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 …

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 …

Results Of Surveys Among Pupils, Students And Employers On Interests In And Contents Of Study Programmes In Civil Engineering, Geodesy, Environmental Sciences And Sustainable Mobility In Germany, Anke Lohbeck, Karsten Strauch, Markus Oeser

Research Papers

The shortage of skilled workers in the engineering sector threatens the development and sustainable transformation of the economy in Germany. In this context, the current de-cline in the number of first-year students in civil engineering, environmental engineering, geodesy and traffic engineering appears all the more alarming. Surveys which can provide basic data for the elimination of the shortage of skilled workers in engineering and the increase in the number of first-year students in the above-mentioned degree programmes were started surveys among pupils, students and representatives of state authorities in 2022. Furthermore, one of the surveys was used to analyse the …

Changes In Higher Education Communication Practices And Tools - Through The Pandemic Towards New Communication Models, Mikko Ilari Nurminen, Hannu-Matti Järvinen, Jarmo Viteli, Petri Rantanen, Mika Saari

Research Papers

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted traditional modes of communication in higher education institutions, leading to a shift towards remote communication and digital tools. This scientific paper examines the changes in higher education communication practices and tools resulting from the pandemic. The paper analyzes the challenges and opportunities presented by this shift and the ways in which teachers have applied communication models familiar from contact teaching to distance education. A previous review of published literature on adaptations in higher education institutions identified key factors for a successful transition to novel distance education communication practices and tools. These factors included effective …

Can Students’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs Explain Academic Motivation And Career Intentions?, Anna-Kathrin Wimmer

Research Papers

In our technologized and increasingly complex world, jobs in STEM make a crucial contribution to innovation and sustainability. However, there are still many vacancies in this field. To tackle the shortage of professionals, it is even more important to successfully prepare qualified young people for engineering careers and foster competences that promote innovative and creative solutions. In addition to cognitive abilities, research has shown how self-efficacy, which describes confidence in one's own abilities to successfully overcome obstacles, can influence students’ motivation, interest and therefore academic and vocational training success. Studies show that people with a strong belief in their own …

The Role Of Earth System Literacy In Sustainability Education For Engineers, Sudeshna Basu

Research Papers

Engineers should be able to demonstrate sustainability competencies transcending their specialised discipline. But all cross-disciplinary sustainability competencies are not targeted adequately in engineering education and are often mismatched with competencies required by engineers in their professional roles. Future engineers should have an understanding of the environment alongside technical knowledge, with all engineering design and product showing consideration to sustainability. The study of the Earth system is relevant to the understanding of environmental issues and the interplay between the sub-systems of the Earth (atmosphere, geosphere, biosphere and hydrosphere) . Yet, integration of Earth system literacy in the engineering curriculum has received …

Should Teaching Guides Be Used As Indicators Of Gender Dimension In A University Degree?, Elisabet Mas De Les Valls, Marta Peña, Noelia Olmedo-Torre, Amaia Lusa

Research Papers

In order to achieve a truly equality society, universities are making significant efforts towards gender mainstreaming. One of the main pillars of this approach is the implementation of a gender dimension in teaching. To assess the degree of progress towards this goal, suitable indicators, both qualitative and quantitative, are desirable. Surveys could be used to gather students’ perceptions or educators’ efforts as indicators, but an underutilised source of information is available in the teaching guides. Teaching guides are understood as those open-access documents where the public can find a subject’s description, goals, and contents, among other universityspecific features.The aim of …

Are Engineering Teachers Ready To Leverage The Power Of Play To Teach Transversal Skills?, Siara Isaac, Yousef Jalali, Natascia Petringa, Roland Tormey, Jessica Dehler Zufferey

Research Papers

What conceptions do teachers hold about learning activities to develop students’ transversal skills? This qualitative exploration at a research-intensive engineering school draws on interviews and focus groups to explore teachers’ ideas about developing individual transversal skills. We frame our analysis with a model that distinguishes three phases for skill development: conceptual knowledge (knowing), procedural skills (doing) and meta-cognitive/emotional reflection (learning from doing). We are particularly interested in the potential for play to create favorable conditions for developing transversal skills by enabling (i) focused experiential learning, (ii) low-stakes experimentation, (iii) rapid feedback, (iv) opportunity for reflection.

Study Success And Failure Of Stem Students And The Connection To Their Learning Habits, Fabian Mumenthaler, Patrick Jermann, Cécile Hardebolle, Roland Tormey

Research Papers

With the educational expansion, ever more students start a tertiary degree. At the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, an engineering school, the number of bachelor students increased from 3’713 in 2010 to 6’330 in 2022. However, in Switzerland, a considerable number of students fail to achieve their first university degree – and failure rates are even higher at engineering schools. A weak mathematics background is often identified as the main reason for dropout. In this paper, we are interested to test whether inadequate learning habits are also responsible to some extent for first-year dropouts. To this end, we matched admission …

Sustainable Engineering Education Embedded Curricula Research Project, Anthony Edward Smith, Alfredo Soeiro, Ragna Ann Berge, Tamer Atabarut, John Atkinson, Patricia Caratozzolo

Research Papers

A previous conference paper with case study report findings began this research so as to inform and be of use to the International Association for Continuing Engineering Education (IACEE) institutions and its membership on the importance of embedding sustainability in all engineering education courses from the beginning to the end of the Degree and beyond into Continuing Engineering Education (CEE) . This present project continues to qualitatively research and investigate the extent to which and how Engineering Learning Curricula (ELC) incorporate and embed sustainability as central to the future work practice of all engineers. Specifically, as the project takes a …

Exploring The Reliability, Time Efficiency, And Fairness Of Comparative Judgement In The Admission Of Architecture Students, Lotte Van Den Heuvel, Nina Lotte Bohm

Research Papers

It is common in architecture education to quantify the quality of assignments into grades, often done by one or two teachers using rubrics. However, this can have several downsides. It suggests an objective preciseness that is debatable for the creative assignments in the field of architecture, and the assessment is dependent on the judgement of only one or two people. Comparative judgement (CJ) offers an alternative to rubric-based assessment by applying pairwise comparison to student assignments, resulting in a ranking instead of a grade.

We used a mixed methods approach to compare the reliability, time efficiency, and fairness of CJ …

How Do Teachers Respond To Sustained Change?, Roger Hadgraft, Franziska Trede, Monika Rummler

Research Papers

Higher Education is facing profound shifts. Employers seek graduates who can work effectively with others in rapidly changing contexts, defined by globalisation, diversity, digitalisation, climate change, complexity, a European war, and a recent global pandemic. The latter caused an instantaneous switch to online learning, where academics were forced to conduct their normally face to face classes through video conferencing tools. The calls for sustained change are challenging academics to rethink their traditional teaching roles and to develop new understandings of future-oriented learning methods and goals for their students. This paper describes the research we have conducted into how academics have …

An Embedded Intervention To Support The Development Of Student Feedback Literacy, Kurt Coppens, Lynn Van Den Broeck, Naomi Winstone, Greet Langie

Research Papers

Feedback literacy is an emerging concept. It is seen as an individual competency that facilitates taking an active role in contemporary feedback processes. As such, it is a valuable skill not only in the classroom, but also in students' future professional lives. This paper reports on a qualitative study of a learning intervention embedded in a lab series, aimed at developing first-year engineering students’ feedback literacy. The intervention consists of a short e-learning module, a one-hour workshop, and two peer feedback assignments. The design of this interventional study is based on the comparison of an experimental group with a control …

Engineering Science Students’ Self-Regulation: A Baseline, Shan Tuyaerts, Tinne De Laet, Lynn Van Den Broeck, Greet Langie

Research Papers

Today’s society is characterized by swift technological advancements. Engineers cannot solely rely on what they learned at university, as new technologies pop up quickly. They need to participate in lifelong learning (LLL) in order to keep up with the state-of-the-art. Self-regulation is a core competency for lifelong learning that can be used as a proxy for it in an educational context. This study aims to establish a baseline for engineering students’ self-regulation. Their levels are measured by the Self-Reflection and Insight Scale (SRIS), consisting of three subscales: need for self-reflection, engagement in self-reflection, and insight. 1128 students enrolled at KU …

Disruptions To The “Modeled Minority” In Engineering: Why Do Some Asian American Students Leave Engineering?, Michelle Choi Ausman, Qin Zhu

Research Papers

Asian American students are the largest non-White racial group in US undergraduate engineering, but they are often labeled as the "model minority." This stereotype confines them to STEM majors, limiting their access to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. Little attention has been given to why some Asian American students leave engineering. To address this gap, a pilot study using semi-structured interviews aims to explore the reasons behind their decision to leave the field or change their major. The study seeks to contribute to engineering education scholarship by promoting more inclusive learning environments for Asian American students and providing recommendations …

Sustainability Engineering Education – An Outlook On Uk Higher Education Providers, Maria Livada, Nikos Chrysanthopoulos, Nicolau Iralal Morar

Research Papers

The aim of this paper is to assess the extent to which United Kingdom (UK) universities are incorporating sustainability into their engineering curricula. To achieve this, data from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) and university websites were analysed using a text mining approach. The findings reveal that UK higher education providers are gradually increasing their offerings of Sustainable Engineering (SE) courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The most prominent sustainability themes integrated into engineering curricula are energy, design, and construction. Furthermore, the analysis of courses and their modules shows that 50% of UK postgraduate sustainable engineering courses …

Experiences And Learning Outcomes Of Using Virtual Reality In Building Services Engineering Education, Juho Posio, Petteri Maljamäki, Marko Haavikko, Tauno Tepsa, Heli Väätäjä

Research Papers

Virtual Reality (VR) is a promising learning environment in vocational and higher education as it enables learning by doing. We developed a digital twin (DT) for learning the most common maintenance procedures of an air-to-water heat pump using game engine technology, targeted for students and professionals in the building services engineering industry. 22 HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) students participated in a user study to evaluate their experience with the DT, their usage preferences, and learning outcomes. Results of an online posttest questionnaire show that participants found the use of the DT easy and useful for learning maintenance procedures, …

Teamwork Skills Development In Engineering Education: A Holistic Approach, Callum Kimpton, Nicoleta Maynard

Research Papers

Engineering is a profession grounded in teamwork with the need for engineering students and professionals to possess the ability to integrate their work efforts seamlessly and effectively towards a common goal. This in turn necessitates the need for a comprehensive, tailored, and relevant overarching conceptual framework to be constructed to ensure that our subsequent generations of engineers are equipped to efficiently tackle existential societal problems including anthropogenic climate change and the multi-faceted nature of sustainable development. This paper motivates, details, and presents a conceptual framework for implementing successful engineering teams in tertiary engineering projects. The emergent conceptual framework presented is …

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 …

‘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 …

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 …