The Power Of Perspective Dialogue: Unlocking Transformative Reflection In Engineering Education (Practice)

Engineers need to be socially responsible, ethically aware and deliver positive contributions to the wicked problems2 of today\u27s global challenges. In navigating these challenges, being able to reflect is a necessary prerequisite. But if we simply ask students reflective questions, they tend to give us mostly socially desirable answers. Our university initiated an institute-wide program focused on creating learning experiences and environments for transformative reflection instead of superficial reflection. In this paper we present design principles for transformative reflection based on a literature overview and the program\u27s accumulated experience. The principles are I) Six domains for reflection on engineering issues, II) The differentiation between the internal and external perspectives, III) Our approach to design for context-specificity of transformative reflective experiences, and IV) Four mechanisms that foster transformative reflection

Sandbox university: Estimating influence of institutional action

The approach presented in this article represents a generalizable and adaptable methodology for identifying complex interactions in educational systems and for investigating how manipulation of these systems may affect educational outcomes of interest. Multilayer Minimum Spanning Tree and Monte-Carlo methods are used. A virtual Sandbox University is created in order to facilitate effective identification of successful and stable initiatives within higher education, which can affect students' credits and student retention - something that has been lacking up until now. The results highlight the importance of teacher feedback and teacher-student rapport, which is congruent with current educational findings, illustrating the methodology's potential to provide a new basis for further empirical studies of issues in higher education from a complex systems perspective

Engineering Education Research: Reviewing Journal Manuscripts Fairly, Constructively, Effectively

Peer review is the mechanism for quality control in academic journals. When a manuscript is submitted to a journal, the editors invite other researchers – peers – to review it anonymously. The reviews should serve to support the journal editors in making decisions, and to support the authors in improving the manuscripts before publication. Therefore, reviews need to be fair and constructive. As reviewing can also take considerable effort, it is useful for the reviewer to consider how to do it effectively. Given the important role of peer review in a field, and the considerable effort it takes, it is valuable to jointly consider all these aspects of reviewing in a dialogue with reviewers, authors and editors. This paper presents the outcomes of such a dialogue with 49 participants in the field of engineering education research

Engineering Education Research: Writing For Publication (Workshop)

In this interactive workshop, facilitated by a team of editors from the European Journal of Engineering Education (EJEE), the Journal of Engineering Education (JEE), and IEEE Transactions on Education, participants had the opportunity to network with other scholars in the field, and learn about the journal publication process and how best to navigate it. It served as an informal opportunity for scholars at all stages of their publication journey to share their experiences, both positive and negative, directly with each other and journal editors. Participants co-created a document of shared insights about writing for publication, the key outcomes of which are presented in this paper

Considering student retention as a complex system : a possible way forward for enhancing student retention

This study uses multilayer minimum spanning tree analysis to develop a model for student retention from a complex system perspective, using data obtained from first-year engineering students at a large well-regarded institution in the European Union. The results show that the elements of the system of student retention are related to one another through a network of links and that some of these links were found to be strongly persistent across different scales (group sizes). The links were also seen to group together in different clusters of strongly related elements. Links between elements across a wide range of these clusters would have system-wide influence. It was found that there were no elements that are both persistent and have system-wide effects. This complex system view of student retention explains why actions to enhance student retention aimed at single elements in the system have had such limited impact.This study therefore points to the need for a more system-wide approach to enhancing student retention

“To the Bat Car Robin!” The role of learning analytics in supporting, not just identifying students at risk

This session explores the challenge of how we can use learning analytics to better manage services to support student transition into the first year of University. During the related session “Learning analytics to support students in the transition from secondary to higher education: which data to use and which feedback to give?” we will explore how institutions can use data to identify those students most at risk of early withdrawal or underperforming. This challenge workshop looks at the related topic: what happens once students at risk have been identified? For even if we can identify those students most at risk of failing months before they do so, if we are unable to improve our systems to support them, this new knowledge is of only limited use. There is some evidence that if students can be made aware that they are at risk of early withdrawal through learning analytics, they can change their behaviour to adopt more academically productive strategies. Both Arnold (2010) and Jayaprakash et al (2014) demonstrated that when students saw their engagement compared to their peers, they tended to raise their game. Arnold found that students in pilot studies using learning analytics tended to perform better in assessments than peers in control groups. However, the same knowledge also led other students choosing to withdraw early rather than risk failing an assessment. Studies into strategies for changing student behaviour have found that students can be highly resistant to encouragement and pressures upon them to change. Handley & Williams (2011) found the use of exemplars had little impact on student academic performance, as did Foster, McNeil & Lawther (2012) using early diagnostic testing and a variety of academic interventions and Hockings (2010) found resistance to change from a range of pedagogically sound interventions. However, we know from the experience of practitioners that we can have an impact on individuals and groups of students. We want to explore whether or not learning analytics can play a positive role in this process.status: publishe