Applying Recommendations to Align Competences, Methodology, and Assessment in Telematics, Computing, and Electronic Engineering Courses

The alignment between competences, teachinglearning methodologies, and assessment is a key element of European higher education. This paper presents the efforts carried out by six telematics, computer science and electronic engineering education teachers toward achieving this alignment in their subjects. In a joint work with pedagogues, a set of recommended actions are identified. A selection of these actions are applied and evaluated in the six subjects. The cross analysis of the results indicates that the actions allow students to better understand the methodologies and assessments planned for the subjects, facilitate (self-) regulation, and increase students’ involvement in the subjects

La utilización de la herramienta evalcomix en la evaluación de competencias de los trabajos fin de grado y de master

A multi-disciplinary group from several Spanish universities is carrying out a Teaching Innovation Project with the aim of using tools that allow university teachers to assess the development of competences among the students of Master and Degree Dissertation. Taking into account the current educational context, characterized by the use of new technologies and the lack of attendance to the classroom, we consider the use of the tools facilitated by the virtual campus such as EVALCOMIX that allows managing control lists, assessment scales and rubrics, among others.Un grupo multidisciplinar de varias universidades españolas, estamos llevando a cabo un Proyecto de Innovación Docente que tiene como objetivo la utilización de herramientas que permitan al profesorado disponer de las bases para poder evaluar el grado de desarrollo competencial de sus alumnos en las asignaturas de Fin de Grado y de Master. Dado el contexto educativo actual, caracterizado por la semipresencialidad y la utilización de las TICs, recurriremos a los medios que nos ofrece nuestro campus virtual, en el que están presentes instrumentos de evaluación (como EVALCOMIX) que nos permiten gestionar listas de control, escalas de valoración y rúbricas, entre otras

Transverzalne kompetencije studenata strojarstva

One of the key changes of the European Higher Education Area is the implementation of a competence-based educational system. Students are now more than ever the axis around which the university system orbits. The competences that students should acquire during their studies include transversal competences, which are those competences related to leadership skills, problem solving, and teamwork, highly valued by labor market. This is particularly important in engineering, as these skills can influence the selection of one candidate over another. So, the evaluation and teaching of these kinds of competences are now some of the main challenges facing university professors as the corresponding learning objectives need to be set and assessed, both for study programs as well as for each individual subject, and this process is new for teachers. Focusing precisely on this aspect, our work, based on an empirical study conducted with a sample of 102 engineering students from the University Center of Merida, uses a tool to measure the progress of such students in different transversal competences. This tool not only allows us to evaluate the level of competence development, but also allows us to detect students’ areas of weakness in cross-curricular training that can then be addressed.Jedna od glavnih promjena europskog prostora visokog obrazovanja jest uspostava obrazovnog sustava uutemeljenog na kompetencijama. Studenti su u današnje vrijeme više nego ikada u središtu oko kojega se vrti sveučilišni obrazovni sustav. Kompetencije koje bi studenti trebali steći tijekom svojeg studiranja uključuju transverzalne kompetencije, tj. one koje su povezane s vještinama rukovođenja, rješavanja problema i sa sposobnošću rada u timu, a koje su visoko cijenjene na tržištu rada. Te su osobine iznimno važne u strojarstvu, jer one mogu dati prednost kandidatu koji ih posjeduje. Dakle, evaluacija i poučavanje tim vrstama vještina sada predstavljaju glavne izazove s kojima se sveučilišni profesori suočavaju, jer se odgovarajući obrazovni ishodi moraju postaviti i ocijeniti, i za sveučilišne studijske programe i za svaki pojedinačni kolegij, a taj je proces nastavnicima potpuno nov. Usredotočujući se upravo na taj aspekt, naš rad, koji se temelji na empirijskom istraživanju provedenom na uzorku od 102 studenta strojarstva sa Sveučilišnog centra u Meridi, koristi se alatom kojim možemo utvrditi napredak tih studenata u području različitih transverzalnih kompetencija. Taj alat ne samo da nam omogućava procjenu stupnja razvoja kompetencija nego nam također omogućava prepoznavanje slabih područja studenata u međukurikularnom obrazovanju, na kojima se kasnije može dodatno raditi

DIT Teaching Fellowships Reports 2010-2011

https://arrow.tudublin.ie/tfreports/1004/thumbnail.jp

Challenges for engineering students working with authentic complex problems

Engineers are important participants in solving societal, environmental and technical problems. However, due to an increasing complexity in relation to these problems new interdisciplinary competences are needed in engineering. Instead of students working with monodisciplinary problems, a situation where students work with authentic complex problems in interdisciplinary teams together with a company may scaffold development of new competences. The question is: What are the challenges for students structuring the work on authentic interdisciplinary problems? This study explores a three-day event where 7 students from Aalborg University (AAU) from four different faculties and one student from University College North Denmark (UCN), (6th-10th semester), worked in two groups at a large Danish company, solving authentic complex problems. The event was structured as a Hackathon where the students for three days worked with problem identification, problem analysis and finalizing with a pitch competition presenting their findings. During the event the students had workshops to support the work and they had the opportunity to use employees from the company as facilitators. It was an extracurricular activity during the summer holiday season. The methodology used for data collection was qualitative both in terms of observations and participants’ reflection reports. The students were observed during the whole event. Findings from this part of a larger study indicated, that students experience inability to transfer and transform project competences from their previous disciplinary experiences to an interdisciplinary setting

Exploring the practical use of a collaborative robot for academic purposes

This article presents a set of experiences related to the setup and exploration of potential educational uses of a collaborative robot (cobot). The basic principles that have guided the work carried out have been three. First and foremost, study of all the functionalities offered by the robot and exploration of its potential academic uses both in subjects focused on industrial robotics and in subjects of related disciplines (automation, communications, computer vision). Second, achieve the total integration of the cobot at the laboratory, seeking not only independent uses of it but also seeking for applications (laboratory practices) in which the cobot interacts with some of the other devices already existing at the laboratory (other industrial robots and a flexible manufacturing system). Third, reuse of some available components and minimization of the number and associated cost of required new components. The experiences, carried out following a project-based learning methodology under the framework of bachelor and master subjects and thesis, have focused on the integration of mechanical, electronic and programming aspects in new design solutions (end effector, cooperative workspace, artificial vision system integration) and case studies (advanced task programming, cybersecure communication, remote access). These experiences have consolidated the students' acquisition of skills in the transition to professional life by having the close collaboration of the university faculty with the experts of the robotics company.Postprint (published version