How Can Career Switchers and Teachers Without Formal Training Be Quickly Prepared to Teach Engineering and Technology Education?

Old Dominion University (ODU) provides a six-hour, hands on workshop to train technology education teachers in design-based learning, production laboratory safety, and laboratory management. The teachers are provided with information about technology education content and pedagogy as well as safety contracts, legal liability, and machine use and maintenance. Teachers in this workshop learn (or update) important laboratory safety procedures and tool skills through instruction, demonstrations, and an active learning project. The workshop is co-hosted by the ODU Technology Education Program and the Virginia Technology and Engineering Education Association (VTEEA). Three workshops have been held and program interest is increasing. The first workshop had 10 attendees while the second had 20 with a waiting list of 15 teachers. The third workshop was hosted by Arlington public schools and had nine teachers. A new program comprising of six, two-hour sessions is being conducted with Virginia Beach City Public Schools. Professional Development points are provided through the Virginia Department of Education. The teachers are provided materials and instruction on professionalism, ethics, and professional organization involvement

Reflections on Professional Engineering Ethics - a Personalistic Perspective

Tryb dostępu: http://mbace.eu/1. Purpose The article attempts to synthesize professional engineering ethics to find key characteristic features of a professional expert engineer and of a managing engineer, who do their duties on job contracts or as contracted professionals within a partnership. 2 .Methodology A descriptive analysis has been applied to the content of engineering codes of ethics to obtain core engineering ethical competencies. 3. Findings A review of the content of professional engineering ethics indicates a deontological base of an educated engineer on earlier acquired values and formed attitudes from general and personal ethics. These are beyond the scope of professional higher education, but are an indispensable precondition for an engineer to have been taught effectively about his or her engineering rights and duties, and to have acquired correct attitudes toward professional ethical issues. The analysis of the learning process within technical curricula supports the proposition, generally accepted in engineering ethics textbooks, to apply a case study method during instruction and to adequately define prerequisite knowledge and skills of the students, to have them prepared for studies of the professional ethics subject. 4. Originality The author proposes that such prerequisites be formulated in engineering curricula and justifies this need by professional code norms that state the superiority of personal integrity of an engineer over all other professional qualities. Such integrity, the author foresees, can be attained on personalistic ethics grounds that foster learning through application and formation of an internally consistent system of values by a future professional who wishes to achieve such personal integrity

A Review of Work Based Learning in Higher Education

The idea of work based learning in higher education might sound like a contradiction in terms. Work based learning is surely in the the workplace. The senses in which it might also, under certain conditions, be in higher education are explored in this review. There are increasing arrangements whereby people can obtain academic recognition for learning which has taken place outside of educational institutions. In addition to traditional forms of professional education and sandwich courses, one can add a host of relationships between employers and higher education institutions which involve quite fundamental questioning of the roles and responsibilities of each in the continuing education and training of adults. Such developments can be related to broader themes concerning the organisation of knowledge in society, the changing nature of work and career, the learning society and the implications they hold for individual workers, their employers and educational providers. The Department for Education and Employment sponsored the study to produce a substantial literature review of progress and issues raised in the field of work based learning in higher education. The first part of the book provides a contextual and conceptual backdrop against which more practical aspects of work based learning are then considered in part two. The final part considers strategic issues of implementation for higher education institutions, employers and individuals, before turning to more wide ranging issues of policy

Innovations in Vocational Education and Training – a Successful Paradigm Shift within the Dual System in Germany

In the 1990s, the system of dual vocational education and training (VET) witnessed the beginning of a restructuring, leading to a paradigm change away from emphasizing the holistic nature of the concept. Instead the work-process orientation was now considered the core asset of the concept. This step came as a surprise because the dual approach with the companies as the contractors for apprentices had implied that training had always been carried through in a practice oriented way on the basis of work-processes. Both educational planners and social partners were apparently convinced that this was no longer the case. It was generally agreed: Vocational training could no longer cater to the requirements of the industry. This article attempts to shed more light on the reasons for the necessity of a reform of the vocational education and training system. In this context central reform steps necessary to secure the future of the VET system (with the “dual” system as pivotal point) will be presented and discussed by focusing on the work-process orientation. Finally, some critical reflection will be added regarding the “transition system” which has more and more emerged as a parallel system of the “dual” system. (Orig.)In den 1990er-Jahren wurde damit begonnen, das System der dualen Berufsausbildung zu restrukturieren. Dies führte zu einem Paradigmenwechsel, der die Arbeitsprozessorientierung in das Zentrum der Neugestaltung stellte. Es überrascht, dass dieser Schritt getan wurde, weil der duale Ansatz mit den Betrieben als Vertragsgeber für Auszubildende ja erwarten lässt, dass immer sehr praxisnah und damit entlang von Arbeitsprozessen ausgebildet wurde. Das schien jedoch nach Auffassung von Bildungsplanern und Sozialpartnern nicht mehr der Fall zu sein. Zumindest – so der Tenor – wurde die Ausbildung den betrieblichen Anforderungen nicht mehr gerecht. Im Artikel werden die Gründe für die Notwendigkeit der Reformierung des beruflichen Ausbildungssystems beleuchtet. Darüber hinaus werden zentrale Reformschritte zur Zukunftssicherung des Ausbildungssystems (mit dem „dualen“ System als Dreh- und Angelpunkt) vorgestellt und diskutiert, wobei die Arbeitsprozessorientierung im Mittelpunkt steht. Eine knappe kritische Betrachtung erfolgt zudem aus der Perspektive des Übergangssystems, welches als Parallelsystem neben dem „dualen“ System entstanden ist. (Orig.

New Pedagogical Models Facilitated by Technology

This paper discusses the outcome of research conducted to assess the effectiveness of Work-Based Learning (WBL) from the perspective of stakeholders. WBL has increasingly become an area of interest for the higher education (HE) sector. It can support the personal and professional development of students who are already in work. The focus of the learning and development tends to be on the student’s workplace activities. Previous research has mainly considered only two stakeholder contexts, namely the learner and the academic institution. The significance of the study stems from extending the stakeholder contexts to include the employer and the professional body. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of delivery of WBL from the perspective of a range of stakeholders including students, programme leaders (PLs), tutors, university support services, employers and representatives of professional bodies. Case study research methodology was adapted with mixed method research techniques for data capture and analysis using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The study examined five (5) WBL programmes at Northumbria University in the UK. The three most influential factors in the effectiveness of WBL were found to be: quality, access and support. The contribution to new knowledge in WBL research is through a “Four-Pillar model” which has been developed to reflect the stakeholder contexts. Consideration of this model helps ensure WBL programmes cater for the current demands from the labour market. The findings of this study include factors which facilitate and/or obstruct the effective implementation of WBL programmes whilst identifying feasible strategies to overcome those challenges and share them with all stakeholders of WBL. Recommendations are made on resolving the identified issues and to extend and improve the effectiveness of WBL. Finally this paper looks at how these results could apply to encourage WBL uptake in a third world developing country like Sri Lanka where you are starting from a zero base. Sri Lanka is yet to embark on WBL formally although online distance learning is more of a reality