The societal role of universities and their alliances: the case of the EuroTeQ Engineering University

We analyse the creation of European university alliances as an effort to build learning networks between universities in light of newly perceived needs in Europe. The rationales for such alliance formation include cultural integration, grand societal challenges and reforms in the European innovation ecosystem. We consider how alliance formation may be instrumental in achieving closer cooperation and understand alliances as learning networks where universities can share know-how, define strategies and pursue moral reflection. How such learning may take place is illustrated with a case study of the “EuroTeQ Collider”, a joint educational programme by one of the European university alliances. The case illustrates how uneven experience with novel educational formats and stakeholder engagement creates opportunities for exchange and how formulating a common language for joint activities can make universities align their strategies and deliberation

Everything you Want to Know and Never Dared to ask:A Practical Approach to Employing Challenge-Based Learning in Engineering Ethics

Challenge-based learning (CBL) for engineering ethics tasks students with identifying ethical challenges in cooperation with an external partner, e.g., a technology company. As many best-practice parameters of such courses remain unclear, this contribution focuses on a teacher-centric introduction into deploying CBL for engineering ethics. Taking Goodlad's curriculum typology as a point of departure, we discuss practical issues in devising, maintaining and evaluating CBL courses for engineering ethics both in terms of the temporal dimension (before, during and after the course) as well as in terms of the people involved. We will discuss selecting learning objectives, forms of knowledge acquisition, supporting self-organization, and fostering discursive etiquette, as well as cooperative, yet critical attitudes. Additionally, we will delve into strategic matters, e.g., ways to approach potential external partners and maintain fruitful cooperations.</p

Feedback for relatedness and competence: Can feedback in blended learning contribute to optimal rigor, basic needs, and motivation?

We inquire how peer and tutor feedback influences students' optimal rigor, basic needs and motivation. We analyze questionnaires from two courses in two subsequent years. We conclude that feedback in blended learning can contribute to rigor and basic needs, but it is not clear from our data what triggers this relation. The data show that feedback does not influence motivation

Food safety and acceptance of management options after radiological contaminations of the food chain

After an accidental radioactive release leading to contamination of the food chain, countermeasures may be used to reduce the radiological health risk to the population and to bring social reassurance. This paper analyses public acceptance and consumer's behaviour for various countermeasures for contaminated milk as revealed by a recent public survey in Belgium. The survey instrument used was Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing. A simulated news bulletin was included for a fast and realistic briefing on the situation investigated. The results show that clean feeding of dairy cattle and disposal of contaminated milk are the preferred options in case of contaminations above legal norms. For contaminations below legal norms, normal consumption of milk seems better accepted than disposal. Nonetheless, the expressed consumer's behaviour reveals a precautionary tendency: the presence of radioactivity at some step in the food chain could lead to avoiding purchasing products from affected areas. Finally, public trust building is revealed as a key element of a successful countermeasure strategy. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Exploring marginalization and exclusion in renewable energy development in Africa: a perspective from western individualism and African ubuntu philosophy

The objectives of this chapter are to understand the ethical principles that are relevant to the achievement of energy justice; to explore energy marginalization in Africa and to analyse this marginalization from the perspectives of Western and Ubuntu ethics; to underscore the violation of ethics in renewable energy deployment; and to find means of addressing energy injustice through proper application of the respective ethical principles. Part of the data for the study were sourced from the reports of the Renewable Energy for Twenty-First Century (REN21)

Analyzing student-teacher interactions in Challenge-based Learning

Challenge-based learning (CBL) exposes students to the complexities of open-ended and real-life challenges and encourages them to be in the lead of their learning. The role of teachers remains important but shifts from being the expert to the role of a coach who gradually scaffolds students into becoming independent learners. Accordingly, the interplay between teachers' and students' regulation of teaching and learning can result in friction and influence students' learning experience. This study explores incidents of constructive or destructive friction between student and teacher regulation during a 9-week CBL course for first-year engineering students. Thematic analysis is employed to identify critical incidents of friction during students' learning via analyzing students' weekly learning portfolios. Results suggest that students' experience in CBL is not linear, and there is a constant interplay between students' ability to regulate their learning and teachers' scaffolding. Initial exposure to CBL was characterized by friction in student and teacher interactions. Several students increased their self-regulated learning skills by resolving the initial friction by adopting a more proactive approach to their learning by actively asking questions and feedback from their teachers. The findings of this study are particularly relevant for CBL, where much attention is paid to students' autonomy, self-directedness, and collaboration. Building on the insights of this research, we make recommendations for further research and educational practice