A Framework For A Scoping Review Of Digital Transformation Of Engineering Education

The digitalization of engineering education has made significant progress in recent years not only due to societal circumstances such as COVID-19, but also thanks to technological development and progress and digital transformation of engineering education seems more imminent than ever. This paper presents the development of a framework and process for an ongoing scoping review regarding frameworks for digital transformation of engineering education. Empirical studies on digital innovations in specific small-scale contexts are numerous and the literature is rich. This study, however, aims to identify more systematic and holistic approaches to digital transformation. At this stage the review work has resulted in 21 research papers for full-text screening from 4 databases, SCOPUS, ProQuest, Web of Science, and Engineering Village. The proposed framework facilitates analysis of how frameworks for digital transformation of engineering education are informed and conceptualized ideologically in the sense of what digitalization should do for engineering education and how they guide and facilitate digital transformation. The framework builds on and combines theory from educational and digital transformation research and enables elicitation of essential elements of digital transformation in an educational context, including ideologies, models, dimensions, actors, elements, and levels of digitalization

The Hacking Innovative Pedagogies (HIP) framework::- Rewilding the digital learning ecology

The HIP framework aims to guide higher education (HE) teachers and researchers to reconsider and reflect on how to rethink HE pedagogy in new and different ways. It builds on insights from the report Hacking Innovative Pedagogy: Innovation and Digitisation to Rewild Higher Education. A Commented Atlas (Beskorsa, et al., 2023) and incorporates the spirit of rewilding and hacking pedagogies to inspire new professional communities focused on innovating digital education. The framework considers and guides the development of teachers’ digital pedagogy competences through an inclusive bottom-up approach that gives space for individual teacher’s agency while also ensuring a collective teaching culture. The framework emphasizes how pedagogical approaches can address the different needs that HE teachers and student communities have that reflect disciplines cultures and/or the diversity of learners. Only a framework mindful of heterogeneity will be able to address questions of justice and fair access to education. Likewise, in the spirit of rewilding, the framework should not be considered a static “one size fits all” solution. We aim for an organic and dynamic framework that may be used to pause and reflect to then turn back to one’s own teaching community to consider (learn from, listen to and respond to the teaching and learning of different communities). Therefore we plan that this framework will be a living document throughout the HIP-project’s lifetime

University Teachers’ Change Readiness to Implement Education for Sustainable Development through Participation in a PBL-Based PD Program

This study investigated university teachers' perspectives on their change readiness to implement education for sustainable development (ESD) through their participation in a problem-based learning (PBL) pedagogical development (PD) program. Theoretically, the study connected a systems-thinking approach to change readiness literature and proposed a four-dimensional conceptual framework, including intrapersonal, relational, and environmental dimensions. Q methodology was adopted to collect and analyze data both qualitatively and quantitatively. Four significantly different viewpoints emerged among the 25 participants regarding what they considered most important for their change readiness towards ESD, namely (1) improvement of teaching and learning performance, (2) personal learning and conviction, (3) applying PD learning to practice, and (4) student learning engagement and professional practice. Revealing a complex and interrelated connection between the four dimensions of change readiness, these results also observed university teachers' expression of learning gains and engagement in prospective change. Nevertheless, such change readiness was mainly within their micro teaching practice environment, with little anticipation of commitment to a wider institutional scale of change. Such restrictions on their change readiness were attributed to constrained institutional conditions and supports for long-term improvement. Results of the study suggested that it is essential to facilitate both individual awareness and efforts, as well as institutional readiness for the goal of implementing ESD in higher education (HE). In this regard, both systemic and systematic professional learning activities are recommended

Methods for dreaming about and reimagining digital education

Utilising emancipatory approaches to educational technology in higher education allows welcoming creative and artistic modes of inquiry. This article presents two methods, a virtual makerspace and a guided fantasy story that were applied in a project concerned with rewilding higher education pedagogy. It is argued that the methods encouraged curiosity and care to address diversity and inclusion. They afforded mindfulness of individual needs and welcomed explorations of new directions that challenged potential biases (gender, race, disability or professionality). The article illustrates how these two methods may offer a safe space to dream and imagine educational space

Problem-baseret læring under en pandemi:: Erfaringer med digitalt understøttede læringsaktiviteter i en nedlukningstid

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the everyday life of educational institutions worldwide. The situation has demanded answers, on the part of both students and the educational institutions, on how teaching could continue despite restrictions that made face-to-face teaching impossible. This article analyses how strategies for digitally supported learning was experienced and developed from "emergency teaching" in the spring to autumn's parallel and hybrid approaches at a PBL university in Denmark. The study is based on a large set of qualitative data that gathers experiences of digital teaching across all faculties and departments at Aalborg University and consists of 22 focus group interviews with teachers and students conducted from September to November in the autumn of 2020. Subsequently, the data was transcribed and coded in NVivo and analysed using thematic analysis, drawing a holistic view of ongoing digital learning activities, including approaches to and the importance of the physical space and social relations in hybrid problem and project-based learning. The article thus contributes with knowledge about and perspectives on how digital transformation can support active and collaborative learning in participant-led learning environments, such as PBL.COVID-19 pandemien ændrede i 2020 hverdagen for uddannelsesinstitutioner verden over. Situationen har afkrævet svar, fra både de studerende og uddannelsernes side, på hvordan undervisningen kunne fortsætte på trods af restriktioner, der umuliggjorde ansigt-til-ansigt undervisning. Denne artikel analyserer, hvorledes strategier for digitalt understøttet læring er blevet oplevet og har udviklet sig fra forårets ”nødundervisning” til efterårets parallelle og hybride tilgange på et PBL-universitet i Danmark. Undersøgelsen bygger på et stort sæt kvalitative data, der indkapsler oplevelser af den digitale undervisning på tværs af samtlige fakulteter og institutter på Aalborg Universitet, i form af 22 fokusgruppeinterviews med undervisere og studerende foretaget fra september til november i efteråret 2020. Dataene er efterfølgende blevet transskriberet og kodet i NVivo og analyseret ved brug af tematisk analyse og tegner et holistisk billede af de stadigt igangværende digitale læringsaktiviteter, herunder tilgange til og betydningen af det fysiske rum og sociale relationer i hybrid problem- og projektbaseret læring. Artiklen bidrager således med viden om og perspektiver på, hvordan digital transformation kan understøtte aktiv og kollaborativ læring i deltagerstyrede læringsmiljøer, som eksempelvis PBL

Apolipoprotein E and Coronary Disease: A Puzzling Paradox

Reilly and Rader discuss a new study in PLoS Medicine that shows an association between apoE levels and cardiovascular disease mortality