The Impact of a Professional Development MOOC on the Teaching Beliefs of University Science Laboratory Teachers

This study contributes to the understanding of online professional development of university STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) lecturers. An active learning massive open online course (MOOC) to develop best practice in teaching in university science laboratories was developed using the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) model in three cycles. The teaching beliefs and intentions of the participants were determined before and after they completed the MOOC and their level of satisfaction with this professional development opportunity was examined using a survey. The results showed high completion rates and an appreciation of the online course design. Participants who completed the course evaluation were satisfied and they identified the usefulness of the active learning components that required them to discuss and reflect, develop plans and peer-assess. A large majority developed new ideas to help them to improve their teaching. The participation in the course increased participants’ understanding of the multidimensional aspects of laboratory teaching and the challenges related to it. The majority of participants changed their teaching beliefs to become more student-centred

The impact of a professional development MOOC on the teaching beliefs of University science laboratory teachers

This study contributes to the understanding of online professional development of university STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) lecturers. An active learning massive open online course (MOOC) to develop best practice in teaching in university science laboratories was developed using the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) model in three cycles. The teaching beliefs and intentions of the participants were determined before and after they completed the MOOC and their level of satisfaction with this professional development opportunity was examined using a survey. The results showed high completion rates and an appreciation of the online course design. Participants who completed the course evaluation were satisfied and they identified the usefulness of the active learning components that required them to discuss and reflect, develop plans and peer-assess. A large majority developed new ideas to help them to improve their teaching. The participation in the course increased participants’ understanding of the multidimensional aspects of laboratory teaching and the challenges related to it. The majority of participants changed their teaching beliefs to become more student-centred

Innovation within Education: Teaching and Scaling Engineering Design

This proposal is for the course: Innovation within Education: Teaching and Scaling Engineering Design, which is the tentative name. It is for student Nicholas Okafor, with approval to work under Dr. Lynnea Brumbaugh, professor of technical writing within the McKelvey School of Engineering. This course is being proposed out of the desire to extend the learning objectives gained during Okafor’s period in Technical Writing, and to fill a void in the offerings within the Department of Mechanical Engineering. This course will give an analytical critique to the role engineering design plays in our current education system, while creating strategies and programs to effectively scale initiatives that each this subject for underserved populations. This course will use the organization Studio: TESLA as a model for the successful implementation of engineering design instruction at the middle school level, while providing an avenue to envision wide-scale distribution of this material. Studio: TESLA is an organization that mobilizes college students to facilitate after-school clubs that build STEAM literacies (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) and critical thinking capacity through hands-on challenges that guide youth through the engineering design process to spark innovative thinking. Rooted in core concepts like design thinking, Studio: TESLA is able to empower those scholars to boost their problem solving skills by continually creating solutions for problems presented during the studio. Similar to the course The Hatchery: Business Planning for New Ventures (based in the Olin Business School and the Brown School), this course also aims to connect the workings of the School of Engineering with that of innovation and entrepreneurship, so this course will be directly tied to the Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and will include successful completion of their Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition. As The Hatchery has been a course lauded by business students, I am hoping to gain similar experiences by going through the SEIC competition, while still remaining rooted researching the engineering design process as the focal point for my independent study. By using these two resources, I will be able to engage directly into understanding the role entrepreneurship plays in our society, while effectively creating my own business in the process. A portion of this course will be devoted to attending the lectures of the WashU Start-Up Training Lab, while also utilizing the consultation of the Law School’s services to create and sustain nonprofits. Through this independent study, I would have the opportunity to theorize about the role of STEAM and design thinking, build entrepreneurial skills, and set up and sustain my own social venture

Cooperative engineering in mathematics in Joint Action Theory in Didactics

International audienceThis proposal aims at documenting the effects of cooperative engineering on the construction of the continuity of teaching experience in mathematics. This research builds on a larger French national research, Arithmetic and Cooperation at Elementary School (ACE). It comes within the scope of a political will to improve teaching practices by providing practical assistance to teachers, offering a complete arithmetic progression to 6-7 year-old-students (First grade). The heart of this research is the conception of a curriculum including activities grounded on the construction of the concept of number. The conception of this curriculum relies on available scientific knowledge in different areas (Cognitive Neuroscience, Science of Education, Developmental Psychology and Didactic of Mathematics). In this proposition, we focus on a specific part of the conception of the curriculum within a cooperative engineering. This engineering consists of two spheres (Sensevy, Forest, Quilio, Morales, 2011), the sphere 1 gathering a multi categorical team (PhD, teachers of the study classes, researchers, teachers trainers, pedagogical advisors) and the sphere 2 being constituted by the 120 experimental classes. The sphere 1 in the first year of the experiment (2011-2012) designed mathematics' situations focusing on the construction of the number through the seminal conceptual techniques of decomposition/composition, decimal notation, topological approach and approximation. The sphere 1 has designed the first year eleven modules corresponding to forty-five sessions. These situations are implemented in the four teachers 'classrooms, which are named « study classes », and redesigned on line in the course of the implementation process. The second year of this experiment, this curriculum has been implemented in 60 experimental classes and in 120 experimental classes the third year (2013-2014). The involvement of the experiment classes in this curriculum and their feedbacks allowed improvements of the initial design proposed by the research team situations. In this communication, we will try to show how collaboration between the two spheres has led to educational decisions for a better continuity of the educational experience of the students. For this, we will present the type/kind of monitoring carried out in cooperation between the two spheres. Indeed, the second year of experimentation, members of the sphere 2 exposed via the website the difficulties encountered by students during the introduction of a system of representation of the number (the number line). To overcome this difficulty, the sphere 1 proposed a monitoring "on line" by developing a new version of a unit. After a week of training at the end of the year with the experimental classes, the research team has redesigned all of the first three units of the progression to the third year of implementation. The question is whether this example of cooperation between the two spheres on a particular mathematical object has improved the continuity of the student experience

Digital signal processing: the impact of convergence on education, society and design flow

Design and development of real-time, memory and processor hungry digital signal processing systems has for decades been accomplished on general-purpose microprocessors. Increasing needs for high-performance DSP systems made these microprocessors unattractive for such implementations. Various attempts to improve the performance of these systems resulted in the use of dedicated digital signal processing devices like DSP processors and the former heavyweight champion of electronics design – Application Specific Integrated Circuits. The advent of RAM-based Field Programmable Gate Arrays has changed the DSP design flow. Software algorithmic designers can now take their DSP algorithms right from inception to hardware implementation, thanks to the increasing availability of software/hardware design flow or hardware/software co-design. This has led to a demand in the industry for graduates with good skills in both Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. This paper evaluates the impact of technology on DSP-based designs, hardware design languages, and how graduate/undergraduate courses have changed to suit this transition

Solar energy systems course for Energy Engineering students in the context of the European higher education area

The Bologna Process is a voluntary intergovernmental European cooperation initiative that led to the creation of the named European Higher Education Area (EHEA). EHEA was formed to promote mobility, increase academic recognition and attract students and staff from around the world to Europe. In this framework, since 2009, the Barcelona College of Industrial Engineering (Escuela Universitaria de Ingeniería Técnica Industrial de Barcelona – EUETIB) of the Technical University of Catalonia – BarcelonaTech (UPC) is offering the 4-year Bachelor Degree in Energy Engineering since 2009 with a total number of ECTS credits of 240. Current article deals with the inclusion of the sizing and design of solar energy systems in the context of this degree. In particular, and although this topic was eventually abandoned in the initial degree curriculum, the paper deals with the development of a 3rd-year course, Energy Integration, that focuses on this topic.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Engineering: good for technology education?

Recent curriculum changes in the educational system of Australia have resulted in study options being available in Engineering for senior secondary students to use for university entrance. In other educational systems, Engineering is playing an increasingly important role, either as a stand-alone subject or as part of an integrated approach to Science, Mathematics and Technology. These developments raise questions about the relationship between Engineering and Technology education, some of which are explored in this paper