Faculty perceptions of faculty development programs in Egyptian universities: An exploratory study

Faculty members teaching in the 21st century face pressing challenges of accelerated advancement in their disciplines, pedagogy, and technology. Furthermore, they face a different student body that is demanding better quality education. With these challenges, come the myriad roles of faculty in teaching, research and community service. To navigate successfully between these three pillars and to face the 21st century challenges, faculty development comprehensive initiatives are needed. In Egypt, faculty development started systematically only at the beginning of the 21st century. Thus, it is important to explore the effectiveness of faculty development initiatives from faculty\u27s perspectives. As such, the purpose of this phenomenological exploratory qualitative study is to explore faculty personnel\u27s perceptions of comprehensive faculty development initiatives offered by Egyptian universities inside their premises for faculty professional development. The sample included faculty members from one public university and one private, in addition to faculty developers and the director of the center of learning and teaching in the private university. The main instrument was semi-structure interviews with all participants, in addition to documents from the public university website. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis with the help of NVIVO@11 software. The main results show that faculty members had different perceptions regarding formal faculty development initiatives in their universities that could be grouped in four themes: benefits, motivations and feelings, challenges, and needs. The first theme included academic benefit, through which faculty changed their teaching methods based on faculty development. The second benefit is social, through which faculty shared experiences with colleagues from other disciplines. Faculty also stated two feelings which are frustration from the current faculty development initiatives and some extrinsic motivations that could help them attend more initiatives. Faculty members also reported some challenges that undermine the effectiveness of formal faculty development initiatives. The first challenge reported by participants in the two universities is the one-size-fits-all system. The second challenge, reported only by the public university was organizational bureaucracy. The third challenge was faulty time. The last challenge was having mandatory workshops. Furthermore, faculty members indicated their needs to have a better faculty development experience: first a need for more variety of topics; second more practical workshops; third a need for a bottom up approach for faculty development; and finally a need for more discipline specific workshops. However, each university had its specific subthemes. In the private university all faculty developers\u27 perceptions generally reflected their role as that of pedagogical guidance and support to faculty. This role is clear from the four themes emerging from the data which are: needs assessment for faculty\u27s needs, motivations for better faculty development experience, enhancing teaching and learning through experiential learning, and extended pedagogical support. Finally, the director of the CLT perceptions were very similar to the faculty developers\u27 perceptions. She perceived the CLT role as that of pedagogical support for faculty. Her perceptions can be grouped into four themes: extended pedagogical support, assessment of success, and motivations needed for better faculty development experience. Implications mentioned can guide future faculty development initiatives to better meet faculty\u27s needs

Supply and demand in the labor market: personnel development, organizational-behavioral aspect, forecasting

The book is prepared by a team of authors within the framework of the international TEMPUS Project «ICo-op». The book is dedicated to the study of the features of tools to focused demand and supply in the labor market. The authors summarized Ukrainian and foreign experience of studying processes related with the peculiarities of research leadership and entrepreneurship in the context of human capital. Particular attention is paid to the development of professional competence of future engineers and productivity already operating engineers and technical staff. The problems of development of methods and models of personal development, forecasting labor market needs based on professional competency profiles are considered. For students, researchers and teachers of universities and for enterprise managers, entrepreneurs-innovators

Engineering education for a sustainable future

En el context social global actual, en el què un nombre considerable de senyals inequívocs indiquen que la nostra societat està contribuint al col·lapse del planeta, "és necessari un nou tipus d'enginyer, un enginyer que sigui plenament conscient del que està succeint a la societat i que tingui les habilitats necessàries per fer front als aspectes socials de les tecnologies" (De Graaff et al., 2001). L'educació superior és un instrument essencial per superar els reptes del món actual amb èxit i per formar ciutadans capaços de construir una societat més justa i oberta (Álvarez, 2000). Per tant, les institucions d'educació superior tenen la responsabilitat d'educar els futurs titulats amb la finalitat que adquireixin una visió moral i ètica i assoleixin els coneixements tècnics necessaris per assegurar la qualitat de vida per a les generacions futures (Corcoran et al, 2002). Amb l'objectiu d'assegurar que els futurs titulats siguin enginyers sostenibles, tres qüestions fonamentals han guiat aquesta investigació: Quines competències en sostenibilitat ha d'adquirir un enginyer a la universitat? Com poden aquestes competències ser adquirides d'una manera eficient? Quina estructura educacional és més eficaç per facilitar els processos d'aprenentatge requerits? La primera pregunta es refereix a "Què?", és a dir, a quines competències relacionades amb la sostenibilitat (coneixements, habilitats i actituds) ha de tenir un enginyer que es gradua en el segle 21. La segona qüestió es refereix a "Com?" i es centra en com els processos educatius poden fer possible l'aprenentatge de les competències en sostenibilitat a través de les estratègies pedagògiques adequades. L'última pregunta es refereix a "On?" des de la perspectiva de quin pla d'estudis i quina estructura organitzativa són necessaris per poder aplicar la didàctica més òptima per graduar enginyers amb competències en sostenibilitat. Aquesta recerca s'ha enfocat des d'una vessant teòrico-pràctica en què tant les estratègies pedagògiques com les competències en sostenibilitat s'han estudiat en paral·lel. Amb aquesta orientació, s'ha dissenyat una eina d'avaluació que mesura aquests dos aspectes i la seva relació, i que s'ha aplicat a 10 casos d'estudi formats per cursos de sostenibilitat de 5 universitats tecnològiques europees, en els quals hi han participat, en total, més de 500 estudiants. Per completar l'estudi, s'ha analitzat la introducció de la sostenibilitat en els plans d'estudi de 17 universitats tecnològiques, i s'han entrevistat 45 experts en educació de sostenibilitat en l'enginyeria. En relació a les preguntes clau, els resultats de la investigació han estat els següents: En el moment de titular-se, l'estudiantat d'enginyeria hauria d'haver adquirit les competències següents: pensament crític, pensament sistèmic, ser capaços de treballar en un entorn transdisciplinari, i tenir valors en consonància amb el paradigma de la sostenibilitat. D'altra banda, d'acord amb els requisits de l'EEES, també cal establir un marc comú per definir, descriure i avaluar les competències en sostenibilitat a nivell europeu. Després d'haver realitzat un curs en sostenibilitat, la majoria de l'estudiantat segueix prioritzant el rol tecnològic de la sostenibilitat, pel que fa a la tecnologia com la solució als problemes ambientals, sense gairebé considerar els aspectes socials. Per tant, els cursos sobre sostenibilitat han d'emfatitzar més la part social i institucional de la sostenibilitat. Existeix una relació directa entre l'aprenentatge de la transdisciplinarietat i el pensament sistèmic. L'aprenentatge cognitiu de l'estudiantat augmenta, a mida que s'aplica una pedagogia més orientada a la comunitat i més constructiva. Així, l'aprenentatge cognitiu de la sostenibilitat també millora a través d'una l'educació activa, experiencial i multimetodològica. A més a més, en l'aprenentatge de la sostenibilitat, el paper del professorat és molt important pel que fa a l'aprenentatge implícit de valors, principis i pensament crític associats a la sostenibilitat. Les universitats tecnològiques actualment implementen l'educació en sostenibilitat a través de quatre estratègies principals: un curs específic, una especialització en sostenibilitat, un màster en sostenibilitat o en tecnologies sostenibles, i la integració del desenvolupament sostenible en tots els cursos. No obstant això, la principal barrera per a la integració de la sostenibilitat en tots els cursos és la manca de comprensió del terme per part del professorat. L’enfocament individual" (Peet et al., 2004) ha demostrat ser un bon sistema per superar aquesta barrera. Hi ha una necessitat clara de lideratge per part de l'equip de govern de les universitats en el procés de canvi cap a una educació en sostenibilitat. Aquest lideratge ha de promoure l'enfocament de baix a dalt. Els processos d'educació en sostenibilitat es reforcen quan aquests no només integren l'educació, sinó també totes les altres àrees clau d'activitat de la universitat: recerca, gestió i relació amb la societat. En breu, l'estructura d'aquesta tesi és la següent. El capítol 1 introdueix el plantejament de la recerca. El capítol 2 revisa l'estat de l'art i la literatura en relació a les competències que els enginyers han de tenir quan es graduen. A continuació, el capítol 3 descriu les estratègies pedagògiques per al desenvolupament sostenible i les analitza des d'un punt de vista teòric i metodològic presentant els avantatges i desavantatges de les més utilitzades en l'ensenyament d'enginyeria El capítol 4 presenta les estructures curriculars que han de catalitzar el procés d'aprenentatge en sostenibilitat. El capítol 5 desenvolupa el marc conceptual de la recerca, les propostes metodològiques de la investigació i els casos d'estudi analitzats. El capítol 6 avalua comparativament les competències en sostenibilitat definides en tres universitats tecnològiques que són líders europeus en sostenibilitat. El Capítol 7 introdueix el marc metodològic per a l'avaluació de l'aprenentatge cognitiu en sostenibilitat del estudiantat. Aquesta metodologia s'aplica en el capítol 8 als 10 cursos de sostenibilitat impartits en 5 universitats tecnològiques europees, que conformen els casos d'estudi d'aquesta recerca. A partir de les 45 entrevistes realitzades a experts en sostenibilitat provinents de 17 universitats tecnològiques europees, el capítol 9 estudia les millors pràctiques en pedagogia per a l'aprenentatge de la sostenibilitat i el capítol 10 examina l'estructura curricular que més facilita l'aprenentatge en sostenibilitat a les universitats tecnològiques. En el Capítol 11 es comparen els resultats obtinguts en els diferents casos d'estudi i s'avaluen les propostes plantejades en el capítol 1. Finalment, el capítol 12 planteja les conclusions de la recerca i algunes recomanacions per a les institucions d'educació superior tecnològiques.In today's world social context, in which a considerable number of contrasting signs reveal that our society is currently contributing to the planet's collapse, "a new kind of engineer is needed, an engineer who is fully aware of what is going on in society and who has the skills to deal with societal aspects of technologies" (DeGraaff et al., 2001).Higher education is the essential instrument to overcome the current world challenges and to train citizens able to build a more fair and open society (Alvarez, 2000). Thus higher education institutions have the responsibility to educate graduates who have achieved an ethical moral vision and the necessary technical knowledge to ensure the quality of life for future generations (Corcoran et al, 2002).In relation to graduating sustainable engineers, three main questions have been developed to guide this research:1. Which Sustainability (SD) competences must an engineer obtain at university?2. How can these competences be acquired efficiently?3. Which education structure is more effective for the required learning processes?The first main question is a "What" question, and focuses on which competences (knowledge/understanding, skills/abilities and attitudes) an engineer graduating in the 21st century should have in relation to SD. The second main question is a "How" question and focuses on how can the education processes make this learning achievable through the proper pedagogical strategies. The last main question is a "Where" question and looksat the perspective of the curriculum and the organizational structure needed to apply the optimal didactics to achieve the goal of graduating sustainable engineers.The focus of this research requires a theoretical‐practical approach in which both pedagogical strategies and SD competences are studied in parallel. An assessment tool that measures the two subjects and their relationship is developed and case studies are run in 10 SD courses at 5 European technological universities, where nearly 500 students have participated. Moreover, the different approaches to introduce SD in thecurriculum of 17 technological universities are analysed, and 45 experts on teaching SD to engineering students have been interviewed.In relation to the key questions, the findings of this research are the following.When graduating the engineering students should have acquired the following SD competences: critical thinking, systemic thinking, an ability to work in transdisciplinary frameworks, and to have values consistent with the sustainability paradigm. Moreover, following the requirements of the EHEA, a common framework to define, describe and evaluate SD competences at European level is needed.Most students, after taking a course on SD, highlight the technological role of sustainability in terms of technology as the solution to environmental problems. Therefore SD courses need to place more emphasis on the social/institutional side of sustainability.There is a direct relationship between transdisciplinary and systemic thinking learning.Students achieve better cognitive learning as more community‐oriented and constructive‐learning pedagogies are applied. Multi‐methodological experiential active learning education increases cognitive learning of sustainability. In addition, the role of the teacher is very important for SD learning in terms of implicit learning of sustainability values, principles and critical thinking.There are four main strategies to increase EESD in universities: a specific SD course, a minor/specialization in SD, a Master on SD or Sustainable Technologies and the embedment of SD in all courses. Nevertheless the main barrier to embedding SD in all courses is the lack of comprehension to SD within the faculty. Theindividual approach (Peet et al., 2004) has shown to be successful to overcome this barrier.There is a need of clear top‐down leadership in the ESD process, which must promote the bottom‐upapproach. Additionally, ESD processes are reinforced when they encompass not only education but also all the key areas of the university: research, management, and society outreach.This thesis is organised as follows. The introduction in chapter 1 is followed by the state of the art and literature review in competences that engineers should have when graduating in chapter 2. Chapter 3 introduces the pedagogical strategies for SD and develops a theoretical and methodological exploration ofthese strategies, which presents the pros & cons and learning outcomes of the most common pedagogical strategies in engineering. Chapter 4 describes the curriculum structures that catalyse the process of sustainable education. Chapter 5 presents the development of the conceptual research framework,propositions and case studies research methodologies. A comparative SD competence analysis of three European leading SD technological universities is presented in chapter 6. Chapter 7 introduces the methodology framework to evaluate the knowledge on SD acquired by students; this methodology is laterapplied in chapter 8 to 10 case studies related to SD courses taught in 5 European technological universities.From the results of the interviews with 45 experts from 17 European technological universities, chapter 9 analyses the best pedagogical practices for SD learning and chapter 10 analyses the curriculum structure thatmost facilitates the introduction of SD learning in technological universities. Chapter 11 compares the different cases analyzed and evaluates the propositions developed in chapter 1. Finally, in chapter 12 conclusions are drawn and recommendations for technological higher education institutions are provided.Postprint (published version

Teachers’ Views on the Incorporation of Bioethics Courses in Primary School Syllabus

The current study is a pilot survey of future research that seeks to record the views of Primary Education (PE) teachers with respect to the promotion of bioethics literacy in PE through the incorporation of bioethics in the syllabus of primary schools. In this study, which took place in Athens from March 10, 2020, until May 10, 2020, all the appropriate research tool refinements have been considered before its finalization. The snowball sampling method has been used for primary school teachers of various disciplines. Furthermore, the requirements of the mixed research (qualitative and quantitative – triangulation) are met. Research data have been collected through an open-ended type questionnaire comprising 10 questions pertaining to the incorporation of bioethics in the PE syllabus and the data process has been performed with the use of the Content Analysis Method. The majority of the participants showed a positive attitude towards the introduction of bioethics courses in PE and expressed their thoughts and concerns about the implementation of this endeavor. The most important finding is the perception on the importance of bioethics literacy in PE