Opportunities and challenges in designing a blended international student project activity: Experiences from the EPIC project

In this paper we explain our experiences and observations on a blended international teaching/training student project activity designed for students of different academic levels and programs at different universities working together on a project given by an industrial partner. This project activity is designed based on the EPIC project, funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Commission, which aims to provide a framework for carrying out multi-cultural and multidisciplinary student projects for increasing employability in an international job market.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Defining the industrial and engineering management professional profile: a longitudinal study based on job advertisements

The engineering professional profiles have been discussed by several branches of the engineering field. On the one hand, this discussion helps to understand the professional practice and contributes to the specification of the competences that are suitable for each function and company culture. On the other hand, it is an essential starting point for the definition of curricula in engineering schools. Thus, this study aims to characterize, in an innovative way based on job advertisements, the demand for competences and areas of practice for Industrial Engineering and Management contributing for the definition of a professional profile. This characterization is based on the analysis of 1391 job advertisements, collected during seven years from a Portuguese newspaper. The data analysis takes into account the job description in which two categories were considered: areas of professional practice (e.g. project management) and transversal competences (e.g. teamwork). Considering the total number of job advertisements, it was possible to identify 1,962 cumulative references for 11 professional practice areas and 5,261 cumulative references for transversal competences. The contribution of this study lies on the identification of the main areas of practice and the main transversal competences demanded by employers.This work was partially funded by COMPETE-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT-UID-CEC-00319-2013

Training Engineering Students for Modern Technological Advancement

Engineering education leads the preparation of the next generation of engineers. This is a difficult task as engineering practices rapidly evolve, pressured by the technological advancements promoted by these same engineers. Engineering schools are integrated into large and rigid higher education institutions (HEI) that are not known for their agility. Nevertheless, engineering educators must have the agility to go beyond HEI boundaries to close the gap between professional practice needs and engineering education.Training Engineering Students for Modern Technological Advancement examines the role of engineering teachers in preparing the next generation of engineers and presents perspectives on active learning methods for engineering education. As such, it contributes to bypassing the compartmentalized way of course organization typical in many HEIs and prepares for more agile engineering education. Covering topics such as game-based teaching methods, Industry 4.0, and management skills, this book is a dynamИнженерное образование ведет подготовку следующего поколения инженеров. Это трудная задача, поскольку инженерные практики быстро развиваются под давлением технологических достижений, продвигаемых этими же инженерами. Инженерные школы интегрированы в крупные и негибкие высшие учебные заведения (ВУЗ), которые не славятся своей гибкостью. Тем не менее, преподаватели инженерных специальностей должны обладать гибкостью, позволяющей выходить за рамки вузов, чтобы сократить разрыв между потребностями профессиональной практики и инженерным образованием. Подготовка студентов-инженеров к современному технологическому прогрессу рассматривает роль преподавателей-инженеров в подготовке следующего поколения инженеров и представляет перспективы активных методов обучения в инженерном образовании. Таким образом, это позволяет избежать раздробленного способа организации курсов, характерного для многих вузов, и подготавливает к более гибкому инженерному образованию. Охватывающая такие темы, как методы обучения на основе игр, ИнИспользуемые программы Adobe Acroba

Professional identity development and career choices in engineering education: the added value of life history research

In the Netherlands, there has been a shortage of qualified technical workforce for many years. This is not only due to the number of students entering engineering degree programmes, but also due to the number of graduates that leave engineering right after their graduation. Around 42% of the engineering graduates does not start working in an engineering job after graduating. Professional identity is a key concept in understanding the study and career choices that students and alumni make. The project Bridge the Gap is aimed at understanding how professional identity (PI) of engineering students develops over time during and after their studies. Part of this project is a study on PI development from an early age on. In order to understand what experiences in life have shaped their study and career choices, life history interviews were carried out with both alumni that stayed as well as alumni that left engineering after their graduation, 13 in total. Life history research is a form of narrative research that is about comprehending the complexities in decision making in the daily life of an individual in order to get insight in a collective experience of a group. The nature of the collected data enables us to have a critical look at assumptions about study and career choices of engineering student and alumni, rather than allowing for generalizable conclusions. This paper describes the value of LHR for understanding professional identity development and career choices in engineering education

Opportunities and challenges in designing a blended international student project activity: Experiences from the EPIC project

In this paper we explain our experiences and observations on a blended international teaching/training student project activity designed for students of different academic levels and programs at different universities working together on a project given by an industrial partner. This project activity is designed based on the EPIC project, funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Commission, which aims to provide a framework for carrying out multi-cultural and multidisciplinary student projects for increasing employability in an international job market.Peer Reviewe

The different roles of the tutor in design-based learning

Design-based Learning (DBL) is the educational approach within the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) (Wijnen, 2000) in which students work co-operatively and actively on multidisciplinary design projects guided by a tutor. In DBL the role of the tutor is essential as a facilitator of the learning process, as well as a subject matter specialist or as an assessor. However, the involvement of the tutor in supporting students depends not only on the character of the DBL projects but also on the level of competencies to be reached in each specific year of the Bachelor’s program. This paper describes the experiences with the role of the tutor in Design-based Learning within the Mechanical Engineering department at TU/e. Throughout the paper the differences in the tutor’s role are analyzed according to the nature of the students’ group work. Conclusions on the ideal role for the tutor suitable for the Mechanical Engineering education are presented. Keywords: design-based learning; role of the tutor; project work; collaborative learning

Bèta-alumni aan het werk: wie kiest er voor de techniek?: De professionele identiteit van bètaprofessionals en carrièrekeuzes

In dit rapport worden de uitkomsten van het onderzoek gepresenteerd, waarin we met behulp van het Carrière Kompas de professionele identiteit van bèta-alumni in kaart hebben gebracht. Het onderzoek geeft inzicht in de variëteit aan verschillende typen bètaprofessionals die binnen en buiten de technische sector aan het werk zijn gegaan. Met deze inzichten kunnen we belangrijke oorzaken blootleggen die de keuze voor een baan in of uit de techniek bepalen. Op basis van een geavanceerd meetinstrumentarium zijn er zes verschillende profielen geïdentificeerd onder alumni van technische hbo- en wo-opleidingen. De profielen beschrijven verschillen tussen bètaprofessionals in hoe zij zichzelf zien als professional. We laten in deze rapportage zien hoe deze profielen zijn gerelateerd aan studie- en werkkenmerken. Ten slotte hebben we keken naar hoe verschillende typen bètaprofessionals tegen hun werk en toekomstige carrière aankijken. Inzichten uit dit onderzoek zijn vertaald naar aanbevelingen om de instroom van technisch talent voor de technische arbeidsmarkt te borgen en te verbeteren