130,488 research outputs found

    Rethinking engineering education

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    The Professional of today needs to acquire a dynamic ability to absorb information, adjust to organizational goals, and navigate in a complex work environment. For this reason, a classic approach seems to be more useful for the demands of today's job market. It is at least interesting to notice, that the classic approach is being neglected, at a time when its product might be more interesting than ever. The Engineering Education Team of COPEC – Science and Education Research Council has designed a program that is knowledge centered and specially challenging, which integrates classical engineering approaches and real experience in order to achieve a high level of engineers ready to perform as professionals or researchers. It aims to form the Engineer – a professional that is capable to learn for life and be creative in many ways.This work is financed by FEDER funds through the Competitivity Factors Operational Programme – COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and by national funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007136 and project UID/CEC/00319/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Engineering Thinking | College of Engineering

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    Nov. 2, 2015 - It’s no surprise: engineering courses are tough. Professors assign complex homework problems that can take hours to solve, and for some the experience feels like drinking from a fire hose. Most engineering programs begin with a handful of rigorous courses in statics and dynamics that can be stumbling blocks for some. This has engineering education experts looking for retention solutions and rethinking how these difficult courses are taught.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/engineering_news/1019/thumbnail.jp

    How do mechanical engineering students see their training and learning at university? Findings from a case study

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    This article draws upon research aimed at investigating teaching and learning in higher education within the so-called Bologna Process. The author discusses the ways in which students acquire engineering education and analyses the implications of redesigning initial training and rethinking teachers’ role. Data were gathered through interviews and questionnaires. A questionnaire was designed including both closed and open-ended questions. Four levels of information were included: biographic data (gender, age, initial training, current job position, etc), academic education (reasons for choosing mechanical engineering, reasons for selecting the University of Minho, expectations about the mechanical engineering course, etc), transition from the university to the labour market (difficulties faced, scope and nature of the work, etc) and graduate and post-graduate interests (areas, type and organisation for high level courses, specific courses). Background characteristics, such as years of experience, academic years of experience at the current job were also included. Overall, findings suggest a positive evaluation of initial training, namely, the ways students adapted to the University, relationships between students and the length of their practicum. They also highlighted a number of issues to be improved: a more hands-on approach and a better pedagogical intervention from lecturers.(undefined

    A Multi-Decade Response to the Call for Change

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    Engineering and society have always been intertwined, especially with the accepted realization of technology\u27s significant and rapidly increasing influence on the evolution of society. As a profession, engineering has a vital role in sustainably meeting needs and exploring opportunities that are ever changing and evolving. As societal and industry needs have evolved, engineering education itself has raised the call several times for evolving the way engineers are educated; however, the recent history of engineering education is, overall, one of missed opportunities. This was brought to a headline recently as ASEE leadership authored an article entitled “Stuck in 1955, Engineering Education Needs a Revolution.” Those words say it all. We see a need for a revolution in engineering education that looks at developing a whole new engineer that is equipped to operate in the age of information and Industry 4.0. This is vital to not only the field of engineering but for society. This paper parallels the calls for change in engineering education with the development story of a multi-disciplinary engineering education model that is often referred to as a beacon of light for change in engineering education. As is highlighted in the currently ongoing ASEE workforce summit series, the world of engineering is shifting beneath our feet. The world of engineering education must shift with it or face irrelevancy. The future iterations of this program are focused on developing graduates with digital savvy, new skills in innovating and collaborating, problem framing expertise, and horizontal leadership skills, while putting emphasis on the impacts in the economic development of rural regions. In the initial stages, 1990’s–2000’s, the program’s faculty spent time innovating in courses and curricula trying to shift towards the recently released ABET 2000 student outcome criteria in a rural community college setting. The mid-2000’s brought the development of a multi-disciplinary upper division university satellite program that embraced the Aalborg (DK) model of PBL. The new multi-disciplinary program had ABET outcomes at its core, focusing on the development of a whole new engineer, especially developing innovative strategies to intentionally promote growth of the professional person. By 2020, the program had achieved disruption, earning an ABET innovation award and being named an “emerging world leader in engineering education” in the Reimagining and Rethinking Engineering Education report. The latest evolution of the program combines on-line learning and work-based learning for a sustainable model that serves a culturally diverse nationwide audience of community college completers. This is a story of innovative curricula putting team-based project learning at its core. Promising strategies addressed in the paper include ABET outcomes, reflection, identity building, metacognition, teamwork, industry PBL, recruiting, learning communities, and continuous improvement. The conclusion puts a spotlight on where the program and engineering education in the U.S. needs to journey next

    Rethinking Engineering Education Through a Leadership Perspective

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    Abstract Many traditional engineering education environments operate according to an authority model where teachers (the authority) seek to educate students (the subordinates). Although the presence of an authority does not necessarily imply that an education system is authoritarian, teachers operating under an authority model often apply fear-and incentive-based control mechanisms to achieve desired educational goals and outcomes. These control mechanisms can achieve results but may also undermine classroom cohesion, encourage an adversarial atmosphere, and be less effective than alternate approaches such as those based on leadership training and research. This paper reconsiders engineering education through a leadership perspective where teachers voluntarily relinquish control, seek influence over authority, nurture cooperation over compliance, pursue projects and activities in partnership rather than in isolation, and work to establish an environment of mutual trust. These characteristics of leadership-based education are highly compatible with many current trends in university engineering programs, including the flipped classroom, problem-based learning, and on-line education, including massively open online courses (MOOCs). I. Background From kindergarten to graduate school, the vast majority of classroom experiences follow a traditional lecture format where a teacher delivers a mostly one-way communication of course content with minimal audience participation. Participation, when it does occur, often follows an initiation-response-follow-up (IRF) or similar model of questioning (see Most university professors, following decades of schooling, excel under a traditional lecture environment, which might partly explain why so many continue to follow the same format when teaching their own classes. While most conscientious instructors do, in fact, adopt new pedagogical techniques in an effort to improve student learning, one only needs to walk down the halls of most any university to observe that the traditional lecture format still reigns supreme. The lecture itself is an eight-hundred-year-old university tradition that, despite frequent criticism in recent years, is highly adaptable and likely to endure for years to come, albeit in continually modified or augmented forms The modification or augmentation of classroom and lecture structure deserves special consideration, particularly when contemporary changes diminish the effectiveness of traditiona

    Teaching vs. Learning: Changing Perspectives on Problem Solving in Physics Instruction

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    Problem solving is central to physics instruction. Results from Physics Education Research (PER), however, demonstrate that traditional ways of teaching with problem solving are inefficient and ineffective for promoting true physics expertise. PER findings give rise to a perspective on physics expertise, learning, and problem solving that can illuminate the reasons why problem solving in traditional instruction fares poorly and suggest remedies. At the heart of the remedies lies a rethinking of the instructional model in which teachers focus less on presenting subject material and more on engineering learning experiences and guiding students’ learning efforts, while students strive to become active, selfmonitoring constructors of knowledge

    Industrial Engineering Higher Education in the European Area (EHEA)

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    [EN] Purpose: We present the state of the art of industrial engineering higher education in the European area and we describe the submitted works to the special issue ÂżRethinking Industrial Engineering Higher Education in the European Area (EHEA)Âż. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper we collect the information published on industrial engineering higher education and the information provided by papers presented in the special issue. Findings: The methodologies and approaches performed by the people teaching. Research limitations/implications: Professors of the European area could take profit of the information provided in this paper. Practical implications: Other lecturers could use the information provided in this paper to know more teaching methodologies or to enhance their educational methods.Marin-Garcia, JA.; Lloret, J. (2011). Industrial Engineering Higher Education in the European Area (EHEA). Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management. 4(1):1-12. doi:10.3926/jiem.2011.v4n1.p1-12S1124

    Rethinking the education of chemists - the odyssey is over, time for action!

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    Chemistry is a mature discipline with a distinguished pedigree and a long tradition, but times are changing and student numbers in chemistry are declining. The need for a reappraisal of what constitutes chemistry and a chemistry education at the beginning of the new millennium, is apparent. The paper examines some of the current issues surrounding chemistry and chemistry teaching and suggests ways in which we might go forward. A message of vision and imagination, applying a little of the ideals of Zarathustra in the setting of, '2001, A Chemistry Odyssey', is promulgated. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract.: 2003, 4, 83-96]

    Rethinking teaching work around writing in engineering education

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    El presente artículo examina el lugar de la escritura académica en el trabajo docente en carreras de ingeniería. El abordaje se justifica por la relevancia del uso adecuado de la escritura por parte del estudiante para lograr un óptimo desempeño en la práctica. Si el profesor desea contribuir a un efectivo aprendizaje disciplinar debe incorporar la lengua escrita en su enseñanza, tarea que no siempre sucede, y menos aún en áreas técnicas. Asumir que se trata de una habilidad ya aprendida en los niveles educativos previos es desconocer las desigualdades existentes en el estudiantado universitario, y desatenderla, contribuye a perpetuarlas, lo que puede obstaculizar el cursado de la carrera o restringir el desempeño profesional, si logra completarla. De esta manera, el objetivo de este estudio consiste en identificar prácticas de enseñanza que involucren a la escritura en el ámbito universitario, en el campo de las ingenierías. Específicamente, se relevan consignas, estrategias y recursos que garanticen su abordaje en carreras de ingeniería mecánica y electrónica de una universidad pública argentina. A tal efecto, se realizaron cuestionarios semiestructurados a estudiantes y docentes, entrevistas y observación no participante. Los resultados revelan la existencia de prácticas de enseñanza en las que el lenguaje simbólico ocupa un lugar primordial, relegando a la alfabetización académica a un mero plano instrumental. Sin embargo, adquiere relevancia en la evaluación sumativa.This article examines the place of academic writing in teaching work in engineering careers. The approach is justified by the relevance of the proper use of writing by the student to achieve optimal performance in practice. If teachers want to contribute to effective disciplinary learning, they must incorporate the written language in their teaching, a task that does not always happen, and even less in technical areas. To assume that it is a skill already learned at previous educational levels is to ignore the existing inequalities in university students, and to neglect it contributes to perpetuating them, which may hinder the completion of the degree or restrict professional performance, if it is successfully completed. Thus, the objective of this study is to identify teaching practices that involve writing in the university environment, in the field of engineering. Specifically, rubrics, strategies and resources that guarantee their approach in mechanical and electronic engineering careers of an Argentine public university are surveyed. To achieve this goal, semi-structured questionnaires were conducted for students and teachers, interviews and non-participant observation. The results reveal the existence of teaching practices in which symbolic language occupies a primary place, relegating academic literacy to a mere instrumental level. However, it becomes relevant in the summative evaluation.Fil: Nadal, Macarena. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Humanidades y Artes. Rosario; Argentin

    Steering Change In Liaisonship: A Reverse Engineering Approach

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    The following recounts the process of redefining and rethinking a liaison librarian program at Miami University’s main campus in Oxford, OH by utilizing a reverse engineering approach. This undertaking was precipitated in large part by our strategic planning process that highlighted the need for additional assessment practices in order to provide evidence of impact. Miami is an R2 research university with a focus on undergraduate education. Approximately 17,000 undergraduate and 2,400 graduate students are enrolled at the Oxford campus. The system has 36 librarians with a little more than half serving in liaison roles. Our process is described as a means for most other institutions to reverse engineer their liaison models but our framing of liaison work may not work for institutions with dissimilar characteristics
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