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

The use of ESP, MOOCs and the occupational world in the field of system engineering

The development of English communicative skills has become in one of the most critical requirements in the system engineering learners, for its competitive occupational market.  It has affected countries which their native language is not English. Thus, they have seen the need to provide the learners English for specific purposes to get foreign languages skills in a specific domain.   Engineering education is much more complicated than the other careers because it is technical, that's why students need to enhance their Professional English skills due to the fact their training involves the use of English continuously such as in the building of software, electrical device, online applications and so on.  A new e-learning approach named MOOCs has disseminated the Higher Education context, due to the fact they enable the enrollment of a mass of learners in open online courses. Regarding the findings in this research for learning ESP efficient, the use of MOOCs would empower the development of communicative skills around the world. Also, the critical issue to use a MOOC is that engineering content is part of MOOCs, as well as any other educational tools in the technological worldwide.  In methodological aspects, both ESP and MOOCs focus on Content-based instructions and Communicative Language Teaching with the assistance of task-based activities and network-based through authentic resources. As CBI and CLT base on the acquisition of a foreign language while the students are learning the content and style of a specific subject. However, this massive open online course is a luxurious investment

Digital, memory and mixed-signal test engineering education: five centres of competence in Europe

The launching of the EuNICE-Test project was announced two years ago at the first DELTA Conference. This project is now completed and the present paper describes the project actions and outcomes. The original idea was to build a long-lasting European Network for test engineering education using both test resource mutualisation and remote experiments. This objective is fully fulfilled and we have now, in Europe, five centres of competence able to deliver high-level and high-specialized training courses in the field of test engineering using a high-performing industrial ATE. All the centres propose training courses on digital testing, three of them propose mixed-signal trainings and three of them propose memory trainings. Taking into account the demand in test engineering, the network is planned to continue in a stand alone mode after project end. Nevertheless a new European proposal with several new partners and new test lessons is under construction

Reviews

Brian Clegg, Mining The Internet — Information Gathering and Research on the Net, Kogan Page: London, 1999. ISBN: 0–7494–3025–7. Paperback, 147 pages, £9.99

The future of technology enhanced active learning – a roadmap

The notion of active learning refers to the active involvement of learner in the learning process, capturing ideas of learning-by-doing and the fact that active participation and knowledge construction leads to deeper and more sustained learning. Interactivity, in particular learnercontent interaction, is a central aspect of technology-enhanced active learning. In this roadmap, the pedagogical background is discussed, the essential dimensions of technology-enhanced active learning systems are outlined and the factors that are expected to influence these systems currently and in the future are identified. A central aim is to address this promising field from a best practices perspective, clarifying central issues and formulating an agenda for future developments in the form of a roadmap

Developing an undergraduate software engineering degree

As those who have done it can attest, developing an undergraduate degree in software engineering is a daunting and challenging task, and there have been instances where a department has tried, but failed to get its program approved. A strong desire to develop a program in software engineering together with interested faculty may not be enough to build a credible degree, let alone a curriculum that will be approved by all the administrative and State organizations who may have a say in it .This panel brings together a group whose experience in developing software engineering degrees at their respective institutions may be helpful to those thinking about doing so. Each member of the group will describe his/her experiences in developing an undergraduate program in software engineering and address key issues and problems that should be considered in any such effort. There will also be ample opportunity for interaction among the participants

Research and Education in Computational Science and Engineering

Over the past two decades the field of computational science and engineering (CSE) has penetrated both basic and applied research in academia, industry, and laboratories to advance discovery, optimize systems, support decision-makers, and educate the scientific and engineering workforce. Informed by centuries of theory and experiment, CSE performs computational experiments to answer questions that neither theory nor experiment alone is equipped to answer. CSE provides scientists and engineers of all persuasions with algorithmic inventions and software systems that transcend disciplines and scales. Carried on a wave of digital technology, CSE brings the power of parallelism to bear on troves of data. Mathematics-based advanced computing has become a prevalent means of discovery and innovation in essentially all areas of science, engineering, technology, and society; and the CSE community is at the core of this transformation. However, a combination of disruptive developments---including the architectural complexity of extreme-scale computing, the data revolution that engulfs the planet, and the specialization required to follow the applications to new frontiers---is redefining the scope and reach of the CSE endeavor. This report describes the rapid expansion of CSE and the challenges to sustaining its bold advances. The report also presents strategies and directions for CSE research and education for the next decade.Comment: Major revision, to appear in SIAM Revie

Learning requirements engineering within an engineering ethos

An interest in educating software developers within an engineering ethos may not align well with the characteristics of the discipline, nor address the underlying concerns of software practitioners. Education for software development needs to focus on creativity, adaptability and the ability to transfer knowledge. A change in the way learning is undertaken in a core Software Engineering unit within a university's engineering program demonstrates one attempt to provide students with a solid foundation in subject matter while at the same time exposing them to these real-world characteristics. It provides students with a process to deal with problems within a metacognitive-rich framework that makes complexity apparent and lets students deal with it adaptively. The results indicate that, while the approach is appropriate, student-learning characteristics need to be investigated further, so that the two aspects of learning may be aligned more closely