Teachers’ views on collaborating in multi-campus course cluster for engineering students

At a European multi-campus university, parallel study programmes offered at every campus (e.g. engineering studies) and appurtenant courses are coordinated, to ensure similar quality and systematic development. In this paper, we present a case from such a multi-campus course, consisting of a cluster of basic courses in physics and chemistry for first-year engineering students. These courses are coordinated through identical syllabus and assessment practice but are taught locally at each campus. The authors had noted some frustration among the teachers involved in these courses, and were interested to investigate the reasons for this frustration, and ultimately to inform the development of these multi-campus courses. This project emerged from a realisation that literature on multi-campus courses is often associated with distance learning, while in this case, the actual teaching is provided locally. Concepts associated with teacher collaboration, such as collaborative culture versus contrived collegiality, collective versus fragmented collaboration, and depth of collaboration seem like a viable way forward in understanding the dynamics between teachers in a context like this. In this paper, we present early results from this ongoing project, which include interviews of teachers involved in these physics/chemistry courses. Preliminary results from these interviews suggest that the expressed frustrations stem from contrived collegiality. Although the teachers experience sufficient freedom in terms of choosing their own teaching methods, several teachers raise concerns about the lack of common aims for this course cluster, which reduces collaboration to coordination of mere practical tasks

Teaching In Student-Centred Active Learning Spaces: How Relational, Pedagogical, Spatial, And Technological Aspects Intertwine And Affect The Learning Environment

Higher educational institutions internationally have shown a growing interest in developing learning spaces that support student-centred learning approaches. For engineering education, this development aligns well with an increased emphasis on cross-disciplinarity and a system-thinking approach. However, research and our own experiences as teachers and evaluators of such learning spaces suggest that teachers who enter these learning spaces need support, as the complexity of the teaching situation becomes more apparent, compared to the traditional lecture hall. In this workshop, we will investigate this complexity together with the participants. Participants can expect to leave the workshop with a better understanding of: a conceptual framework that will assist the participants in navigating through the complexity of teaching in student-centred learning spaces. how to plan, implement and evaluate one’s own teaching in such learning spaces (Do’s and Dont’s). The take-home message from this workshop is an appreciation for how the relational, pedagogical, spatial, and technological aspects intertwine and affect the learning environment in spaces designed for student activity

Kan en bok stoppe et prosjektil?

I dette forsøket ønsker vi å finne ut om en bok vil kunne stoppe et skudd.  Det første vi gjorde var å stille opp forsøksobjektene, derette; avfyrte vi prosjektiler mot dem. Når vi var ferdige med forsøket sammenlignet bevegelsesmengde og kinetisk energi i forhold til kulen sin penetreringsdybde. Ut i fra forsøkene kom vi fram til det er en vesentlig forskjell i penetreringsdybde mellom luftgevær og pistol. Vi kom fram til at det kun var geværet med en spiss kule som klarte å penetrere bøkene. Siden et luftgevær overfører mindre energi til prosjektilet enn et normalt skuddvåpen, kan vi anta at hvis skuddet fra luftvåpenet penetrerer boken, vil også våpen med høyere grad av energioverføring oppnå penetrasjon. På bakgrunn av innsamlet data, ser vi at det er lite sannsynlig at en bok stopper et prosjektil, spesielt med dagens våpen.&nbsp