5th Annual Symposium of the United Kingdom & Ireland Engineering Education Research Network: Time for change

The proceedings of the 5th symposium of the UK & IE Engineering Education Network set about challenging the status quo in all areas of engineering education. Over two days colleagues discussed and debated a number of issues ranging from engineering in schools and attracting young people into engineering, to innovative engineering pedagogies. The highly contentious question of whether ‘maths’ is, or is not, a vital prerequisite to studying engineering at university was debated whilst an expert panel asked the question “Are engineering educators fit for purpose?”.Needless to say the Symposium proved to be a lively event. In an attempt to provide the engineering education community with a taste of the debates the short Symposium Papers presented here represent ‘the tip of the iceberg’ with regards to the wide range of problems and solutions discussed and proposed. Divided into three main sections this publication shows that the Symposium did indeed achieve its objective of ‘challenging the status quo’. The papers presented in the first section argue the case for change in engineering education. Whilst the second section turns to look at engineering education practice and pedagogy, with an additional section included to assure non-expert researchers are given a voice. The final section brings the document to a close with a number of papers that look at how colleagues across the UK are beginning to innovate change in the engineering classroom and beyond

Health Sciences Instructor Self-efficacy and Professional Development Experiences: A Phenomenological Study

The purpose of this phenomenological study aimed to understand the lowered self-efficacy of higher education health sciences faculty at the community college two-year degree level due to deficient professional development in a Mid-Atlantic state. The central research question guiding this study was: What are the professional development experiences of higher education health sciences faculty that affect self-efficacy? The theory guiding this study was Bandura’s social cognitive theory, as it focuses on the behavior determinant of self-efficacy of the participants. A hermeneutic phenomenological methodology was used for this qualitative research design. Criterion sampling was used to interview fourteen faculty individually, followed by two focus groups to gather a deep, thick, and rich understanding of their shared experience. Direct non-participant observations of four simulated labs facilitated by the faculty and classroom instruction were also conducted to collect data for the study. I analyzed the data for a thematic analysis to distinguish principal themes of personal context, behavior modifications, and environmental influences among the participants. The results of this study concluded that health science faculty and college administration have the same goals of student success but different paths regarding the professional development needed, and a balance of the constructs of self-efficacy (triadic reciprocality), is necessary to increase self-efficacy and work collaboratively. These findings will provide context to the specific field of health sciences regarding their unique relationship with professional development and fill a gap in the literature regarding the self-efficacy of health science faculty amidst deficient professional development

Deliberate Practice Makes Perfect! Developing Logbook Keeping as a Professional Skill through CDIO

Deliberate practice, including focused practice time by students, feedback from experts, mentors, educators or peers, and student reflection[1] is needed in order to develop and excel in any skill. This study looks at whether deliberate and directed practice can be used to develop professional engineering skills in a CDIO teaching setting, using logbook keeping as a key example

Transforming teaching & learning in higher education: Stories of impact from the Aga Khan University

https://ecommons.aku.edu/books/1130/thumbnail.jp

Pedagogical approaches to surface phenomena in liquids: Investigation-based laboratory and modelling activities to improve students’ learning

Paperclips can float on water, mercury drops do not spread on solid surfaces, and fluids can flow against gravity in capillary tubes. Surface tension can be used to explain these phenomena that are macroscopic manifestations of microscopic molecular interactions. At both school and university levels, surface phenomena are introduced through traditional macroscopic or microscopic approaches. However, since explanations based on microscopic models are often in conflict with common macroscopic interpretations, the traditional teaching of the basic concepts related to surface phenomena can be unclear and can prevent students from an effective understanding of the topic. However, since surface phenomena applications are important in physics and other applied disciplines, it may be worth to reconstruct this content based on research results in Physics Education. Research demonstrates that models constructed at an intermediate scale (i.e., mesoscopic scale) can be used effectively in science education. Particularly, the literature recognizes mesoscopic models as valuable for efficiently introducing topics such as solid friction and fluid statics. These models have the benefits of the microscopic model. Particularly, they foster understanding based on the recognition of a “mechanism of functioning”, that is at the basis of the development of explicative lines or reasoning. Furthermore, these models do not require a significant amount of computer resources to execute simulations implementing the models. On the basis of these observations, we asked ourselves how we could contribute to improve the teaching and learning of this topic. We hypothesised that choosing an appropriate modelling scale to introduce a given topic would appreciably enhance the teaching/learning processes at both school and university levels. On the basis of our research hypothesis, we decided to study how and to what extent different didactical approaches based on macroscopic and mesoscopic description, respectively, can foster the teaching and learning of surface phenomena at secondary school level. We designed two teaching-learning sequences (TLSs), one based on macroscopic modelling, and the other on mesoscopic modelling, which were trialled each with a group of upper secondary school students. Each TLS was based on an inquiry-based approach and was planned to involve students in active learning practices. The main goal of the trialling was not to identify which group highlights the best learning depending on the different modelling approach, but to verify the aspects of each approach that can be considered truly relevant in promoting learning. The planning and implementation of the two TLSs were guided by the general research question “which aspects of each approach can be considered relevant in promoting students’ scientific learning?”. The data collected during the trialling of the TLSs (student worksheets, interviews, students’ answers to questionnaires etc.) were studied by means of qualitative and/or quantitative analysis methodologies. Resuming some results, after the instruction students who followed the macroscopic approach, appear more capable than students who followed the mesoscopic approach, in describing complex phenomena involving liquid-solid interaction, as capillarity. However, a close analysis of their answers to questionnaires, shows that they acquired a quite superficial knowledge, as they simply memorized notions and information on the topic, but did not reach a proper awareness of it. On the other hand, after the instruction students who followed the mesoscopic approach seem more capable of building explanation than students who followed the macroscopic approach. We can infer that mesoscopic modelling activities can support the development of explanation-oriented reasoning lines more than macroscopic traditional ones. We found that students who followed the mesoscopic approach understood more deeply than students who followed the macroscopic approach the analysed topics. This, however, often happens with respect to simple physical situations like the ones involving liquid-liquid interactions. These students found it difficult to understand more complex physical situations as those involved in liquid-solid interactions. In general, both groups show comparable levels of well-being in learning. This indicates that the inquiry-type approach proposed through the two TLSs has been welcomed by most of students. The mesoscopic approach promoted the development of the willingness to extend studies and research more than the macroscopic approach and this led students to reinforce beliefs and acquire behaviours characteristic of a growth mindset. On the other hand, students who followed the macroscopic approach developed the ability of generalization of what has been learned more than students who followed the mesoscopic approach

Management and Services

Management in all business areas and organisational activities are the acts of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives. Service is intangible, therefore, it is not too easy to define the theory application in varieties of service industries. Service Management usually incorporates automated systems along with skilled labour; it also provides service development. Due to enormous demand of service industries and management development, the book under the title "Management and Services" would create a milestone in management arena for all categories of readers including Business Administration, Engineering and Architecture. This book covers educational service development, service-oriented-architecture and case research analysis, including theory application in network security, GRID technology, integrated circuit application. The book is comprised of five chapters and has been divided into two parts. Part A contains chapters on service development in educational institutions and it depicts the application of supply chain management concept in service industries like tertiary educational institutions and multiple ways of web 2.0 applications transforming learning patterns and pathways. To understand the subject in a practical manner, Part B of this book consists of noteworthy case studies and research papers on management and services and represents theory application of Data mining, Fuzzy Cluster, Game theory, GRID Technology, simulation of Operational Amplifier and Current Controlled Conveyor II in network security, architecture, and integrated circuit application

Supporting Trailing and Failing Students: Timing and Awareness

A continuation of the ‘Changing Futures Project’ this work aims to directly tackle student failure in engineering education at Higher Education. This stage of the project focuses on the experiences of 88 Engineering and Applied Science students who were classified as ‘failing’ in one or more modules during the Summer Term. A comparison of findings is made between the first stage (conducted during the Autumn Term) and the current findings of this research. Whilst the mental health findings of the initial stage of the project were present in the second stage, they were not as pronounced and the emphasis for the students appeared to have shifted to practical concerns and a need for information about the ‘next steps’. All students were offered individual support, including signposting to the support facilities available to them. The initial findings surrounding the students’ experiences indicate that many students do not initiate contact with the university and lack awareness of the channels of support and communication available to them. To counter this finding, a series of informative workshops are being devised for students to take place during the 2017-18 academic year

A New Curriculum to Train Chemical Engineers to Solve 21st Century Grand Challenges

The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield is embarked on a curriculum change project with roll out starting with level 1 in September 2017. The drivers behind the change included the need to modernise the curriculum both in terms of content, structure and delivery. The main objective was to develop a modern Sheffield Chemical Engineer. The study is primarily about investigating the efficacy of the change efforts that have been introduced, to track progress and to determine whether we are meeting our stated objectives. The objectives are in relation to student success, student experience, curriculum coherence and student and staff well-being. Specifically, the new curriculum will be coherent, embedded in design and practice with an emphasis on critical thinking, problem solving, professionalism, ethics and sustainability. It will offer flexible learning environments and pathways to facilitate deep engagement. It will promote and facilitate industry involvement by focusing on both process and product engineering to develop industry ready practical graduates with hands on experience. It will produce graduates who are integrators, change agents and self-directed learners to lead multidisciplinary teams, and be at the forefront of innovation. It will provide exposure to niche research areas built on a strong core in engineering fundamentals. Lastly, it will produce graduates capable of Engineering from molecules by applying systems level thinking at many length scales. We have identified a third year module process design as a significant check point to determine whether some of our curriculum objectives are being met (Patwardhan et al, 2017)

Professional competency of modern specialist: means of formation, development and improvement

The modern scientific and methodical approaches to the study and analysis of professional competence that are in line with the state requirements for reforming education and the tendencies of introducing a competent approach as one of the key factors of today's vocational education are analyzed. The emphasis is placed on the fact that implementation of the competence approach should include the use of professional training of real professional tasks with the orientation of future professionals to analyze the results of their own professional activities and decisions. The basic principles of professional training of future managers of economic security are determined. It has been established that the professional training of future managers of economic security should be carried out on a modular basis

A Teaching Sandwich Approach to Integrating Classroom and Practical Teaching

A novel and innovative approach to delivering practical teaching has been adopted by the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sheffield (UoS) to accommodate rapidly increasing student numbers. The new approach provides pedagogical advantages for the students and efficiency advantages for the faculty but exacerbates the potential for the practical teaching to be isolated from the theoretical classroom teaching. Proposed here is the use of a “teaching sandwich”, created by scheduling the practical activity between the theoretical lecture and an applied tutorial class. In addition the students were asked to perform two online exercises during their self-directed study time, either side of the practical session. The objective of these exercises was to bridge the gap between the theoretical and laboratory based learning activities. The teaching sandwich approach has been tested on the delivery of a particular topic in a 1st year undergraduate engineering programme and the practicalities of deployment are discussed. Emergent findings show that students value the connections between lab and classroom teaching being made explicit and that the method can be used to make efficient teaching more effective