Educating engineering students in Egypt: a stakeholders’ perspective, using narrative qualitative approach

This is part of a series of three papers in a research project examining engineering education in Egypt. After concerns from several stakeholders about the graduates’ knowledge and skills, a fresh look at the phenomenon is attempted. In this manuscript the views of stakeholders, using narrative approach and analysis was carried out. The methodology followed a narrative approach, conducting stakeholder’s analysis with relevant and related people to engineering education (Coulter and Smith 2009; Sfard and Prusak, 2005). The sample included students & fresh graduates, engineers with several years of experience, others with long experiences, academics, parents and administrative staff, were elicited. The responses were collected by asking two questions via social media. The aim was to obtain a quick idea on how stakeholders perceive engineering education in Egypt, and the enhancements they would like to see. Importance of the study comes from both linking with three papers in series exploring engineering education in Egypt, and the in-depth narrative reflections and insights of stakeholders’ point of view. Four clear requests became evident from the stakeholders responses: the application of modern innovative teaching methods; soft skills training; modern software applications training; and practical technical or industrial training

Online Delivery of Intensive Software Engineering Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in widespread changes to how the higher education sector operates. In this paper, the experience of delivering an eight-week undergraduate Software Engineering programme during the pandemic is discussed. The programme in question exhibits a number of unique features, including the intensive nature of the teaching, and the timing of its delivery, which coincided almost exactly with the introduction of lockdown measures. Reflections are offered on the rapid transition to online delivery of three different modules, including consideration of students' wellbeing. The implications for Software Engineering education, and online education more broadly, are considered

Industrial Involvement in Information System Education: Lessons Learned from a Software Quality Course

As Information System (IS) development is closely related to industry and real-world applications, industrial involvement is a critical element in IS education. This paper studies one typical IS course - a Software Quality course, and reflects our experience with involving a mix of industrial experts in building a practical IS course that would increase students’ competences in critical thinking about the consequences of the design and quality engineering decisions that they are making during software development. In the course design, the industrial experts are involved in lecturing, hands-on-exercise seminars and final student evaluation. We find that students are showing active course participation with our designed industrial involvement. Furthermore, we summarize lessons learned from the industry involvement, as well as the reflections on the value perceived by the industrial experts involved in the IS education

The Impact of Feedback on the Motivation of Software Engineers

This research investigates how feedback affects the motivation of software engineers and develops a model of feedback in software engineering. Motivation has been reported as having an impact on software engineers’ productivity, the quality of the software they produce, the overall success of a software development project, and on the retention of software engineers. Findings from the last 30 years of research investigating motivation in software engineering have identified several factors that influence the motivation of software engineers, but the impact of each individual factor remains unclear. Feedback was identified as a factor affecting motivation by several studies investigating motivation in software engineering. Several theories of motivation exist which identify factors affecting motivation and models of how motivation is affected. Feedback is identified as a factor in four theories of motivation. In 2008 a systematic literature review identified that the majority of previous studies investigating motivation in software engineering were not grounded in motivation theory. This suggests that the majority of previous research investigating motivation in software engineering has not adequately considered theories of motivation and their relevance in software engineering. This research explored the importance of feedback and the effect of the characteristics of feedback on the motivation of software engineers, collecting their thoughts, perceptions, reflections and reactions to feedback using a range of different research methods. The research began with a preliminary study investigating how software engineers perceived feedback, and if the characteristics they identified were comparable to those identified in other disciplines, notably clinical education. Further studies followed by investigating feedback in software engineering, the short-term impact of received feedback, and the effect of the ‘source’ and ‘medium’ feedback characteristics. The findings of the preliminary study were that software engineers identified characteristics of feedback comparable to those found in clinical education, which gave a basis for further studies. Software engineers reported that feedback was the most common method of tracking their individual progress in a software project. A diary study collecting instances of feedback reported by software engineers found that positive feedback typically increased the engineers’ job satisfaction, and that negative feedback typically led to a change in their behaviour. Building on the earlier findings of this research, a scenario study and an online survey combining both scenarios and questions investigated the effect of the source and medium feedback characteristics. The findings of the four studies identified that the feedback recipient’s values and perceptions of the feedback source, and any preference they had to the medium used to send the feedback, affected the impact of received feedback. The findings suggested that the feedback software engineers report as the most valuable is not the same as feedback reported as having the most impact. The findings suggest that in software engineering, theories of motivation do not adequately consider the impact of the characteristics of feedback and the effect of different forms of feedback on motivation. A model of feedback in software engineering was identified by combining the findings of the four empirical studies and relevant literature. The model captures how feedback is experienced by software engineers. Software engineers perceive the characteristics of the received feedback, which provides information that is used to make several assessments about the feedback. Each engineer’s individual value set influences their assessments, and their current state of mind / mood / emotions affect the engineer’s perceptions, assessments, and individual value set. The assessments of the feedback then result in the impact of the received feedback, which can have an effect on the engineer’s attitude, behaviour, motivation, performance, job satisfaction, and feelings

Embracing ambiguity: agile insights for sustainability in engineering in traditional higher education and in technical and vocational education and training

Embracing reflective practice and retrospection, with a goal of identifying commonalities, this paper examines delivery of engineering subjects in both traditional higher education (THE) and technical and vocational education and training (TVET). Reflections on actions and autoethnography were employed to examine the teaching and learning experiences of three educators across two higher education (HE) institutions (HEIs), in the greater Chinese context. Literature reviews and historical contexts are outlined to support the approaches and insights identified. The paper presents a number of common characteristics and challenges identified across both THE and TVET. Drawing on the successful embrace of ambiguity and change in recent software engineering (SE) development paradigms, recommendations are then made for how the agile SE themes can be applied in a larger sense to address the wider challenges facing both THE and TVET. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time engineering education has been examined and contrasted in the contexts of THE and TVET. The similarities and common challenges may represent a new focus for related work, and the presented insights, from agile methodologies in software engineering, represent a new perspective for viewing future HE and TVET sustainability

Mobile reflections (MoRe) pilot, developing reflection within initial teacher training for students with dyslexia

The MoRe (Mobile Reflections) pilot was designed to explore whether the use of freely available Web 2.0 technology and mobile phones could assist dyslexic student teachers to develop reflective skills by capturing their reflections using audio within a shared online learning space

About using Mobile Reflections

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