Engineering enterprise through intellectual property education - pedagogic approaches

Engineering faculties, despite shrinking resources, are delivering to new enterprise agendas that must take account of the fuzzying of disciplinary boundaries. Learning and teaching, curriculum design and research strategies reflect these changes. Driven by changing expectations of how future graduates will contribute to the economy, academics in engineering and other innovative disciplines are finding it necessary to re-think undergraduate curricula to enhance students’ entrepreneurial skills, which includes their awareness and competence in respect of intellectual property rights [IPRs]. There is no well established pedagogy for educating engineers, scientists and innovators about intellectual property. This paper reviews some different approaches to facilitating non-law students’ learning about IP. Motivated by well designed ‘intended learning outcomes’ and assessment tasks, students can be encouraged to manage their learning... The skills involved in learning about intellectual property rights in this way can be applied to learning other key, but not core, subjects. At the same time, students develop the ability to acquire knowledge, rather than rely on receiving it, which is an essential competence for a ‘knowledge’ based worker

Intellectual Property Topics in Open University Distance-Taught Courses

Patents lie at the heart of engineering as a permanent and ongoing record of invention. We have taught the subject for about 5 years in both UG and PG courses, written from scratch owing to the absence of textbooks aimed specifically at engineers. Most practising engineers develop patent skills on the job rather than through conventional courses. But there is a need to present such courses as early as possible in the engineering curriculum, so that graduates have a flying start in their first employment

STEM@1000mph: developing open educational resources in a live engineering project

Higher education institutions are recognising the clear benefits of open educational resources, and academics are engaging with the development of these resources. This paper presents a case study of OERs being developed using the live, current BloodhoundSSC world land speed record project as a basis. The paper outlines the rationale for the BloodhoundSSC project and its focus on educational engagement across the age spectrum. The work undertaken to develop a web-based repository along with activities to stimulate academic and student engagement are described. The paper explores how academics have engaged with developing OERs based on this openly available content, the issues encountered and ways in which these issues can be mitigated

Parabolic flight microgravity educational activities in Barcelona: The ”Barcelona Zero-G Challenge"

This paper reports on different innovative research and educational activities related to parabolic flights conducted in Barcelona, based at Sabadell Airport and operated by Aeroclub Barcelona-Sabadell, since 2006. A CAP10B single-engine aerobatic aircraft is used, operating in Visual Flight conditions (VFR). Results from test flights have shown that these aircraft provide an environment of hypogravity for small experiments with a gravity quality of at least 0.01 g0 for as long as 8.5 seconds. An experimenter may operate her or his own experiment in parabolic flight from within the aircraft cockpit. A specific flight simulator based on SolidWorks was developed to optimize the maneuvres. This software was used to later train the pilots and get less residual accelerations during the hypogravity period. Results from recent test flights show that these advancements have significally improved the gravity quality of the platform. Sensitivity to wind gusts have been analyzed. According to our analysis, acceptable wind conditions are a maximum of 15 knots of horizontal gusts, whereas thermal and vertical gusts should be avoided. Research campaigns and student campaigns have since 2008 been conducted. A student campaign consists of between 2 and 6 local flights, where the student conducts her or his experiment on board during every flight. A local flight provides up to 12 parabolas for each subject. These educational campaigns are known as the ”Barcelona Zero-G Challenge”, an international contest aimed at motivating students to conduct research in this field. A total of 12 students have flown their experiments on board the aircraft in 3 different educational campaigns (2010, 2011 and 2014), having published their results in relevant symposiums and scientific journals. These campaigns have attracted media attention and have promoted public awareness on aeronautical and space studies. The projects have been carefully peer- reviewed and selected by members of ELGRA (European Low Gravity Research Association) and ESA Education. A new edition of this contest is underway, with the winners expected to fly their experiment in 2017. Furthermore, students from our own University, UPC, have the opportunity of designing and testing their experiments within the framework of this parabolic flights platform. Further information on the contest ”Barcelona Zero-G Challenge” can be found at: window2theuniverse.org. In conclusion, this platform has shown to be excellent for educational and outreach campaigns, and also as a testbed for a proof-of-concept, before accessing other microgravity platforms.Postprint (published version

Business Process Management Education in Academia: Status, challenges, and Recommendations

In response to the growing proliferation of Business Process Management (BPM) in industry and the demand this creates for BPM expertise, universities across the globe are at various stages of incorporating knowledge and skills in their teaching offerings. However, there are still only a handful of institutions that offer specialized education in BPM in a systematic and in-depth manner. This article is based on a global educators’ panel discussion held at the 2009 European Conference on Information Systems in Verona, Italy. The article presents the BPM programs of five universities from Australia, Europe, Africa, and North America, describing the BPM content covered, program and course structures, and challenges and lessons learned. The article also provides a comparative content analysis of BPM education programs illustrating a heterogeneous view of BPM. The examples presented demonstrate how different courses and programs can be developed to meet the educational goals of a university department, program, or school. This article contributes insights on how best to continuously sustain and reshape BPM education to ensure it remains dynamic, responsive, and sustainable in light of the evolving and ever-changing marketplace demands for BPM expertise

Building a new future in Lanarkshire

New hi-tech, innovative businesses are springing up where Scotland's heavy industries once reigned supreme. Redevelopment of the former Ravenscraig steel works in Lanarkshire is continuing apace with a new town centre, complete with commercial facilities, soon to be constructed. The site of the former Gartcosh Steel Mill, also in Lanarkshire, is also being transformed, and architects and engineers from the University of Strathclyde are driving forward the plans. Gartcosh Business Interchange is set to become a new 50-hectare business location which has already been selected as the location for the major new office campus for Scotland's new FBI-style crime unit.It is anticipated that Gartcosh will create up to 170,000 sq ft of business space which could support up to 4000 jobs

A sweetspot for innovation:developing games with purpose through student-staff collaboration

Within industry as well as academia, developing games that have wider impact on society has been of particular interest in the last decade. The increasing use of terms such as ‘games with purpose’, ‘serious games’ and gamification’ has been mirrored in a flurry of activity in games research. Broader applications of games beyond entertainment are now well-understood and accepted, with universities and companies excelling in creating games to serve particular needs. However, it is not explicitly clear how undergraduates of game design and development courses can be directly involved in serious game creation. With most undergraduates inspired by commercial games development, and the games industry requiring that universities teach specific technical skills in their courses, balancing the research aspirations of academics with the educational requirements of an appropriate undergraduate course can be a difficult balancing act. In this paper, the authors present three case studies of games with purpose developed through collaboration between undergraduate students and academic staff. In all cases, the educational value of the projects for the students is considered in relation to the research value for the academics, who face increasing demands to develop research outcomes despite a necessity to provide a first-rate learning experience and nurture future game developers