Identity and agency of engineering educators in Zimbabwe

Educational transformations require educators with competences to deliver quality education. This raises the issue about capacity building in staff and in particular in the engineering disciplines where pedagogical practices are heavily reliant on didactic approaches such as traditional lectures and tutorials. The global Covid19 pandemic has forced educators to move away from traditional approaches and although the response was quick it is unclear if many of these changes will remain in future, given that they were not done by design but as a reaction to the unexpected situation. This study considers the training of engineering educators in different engineering disciplines and in a number of higher education institutions in Zimbabwe who were part of a HEPSSA-Royal Academy of Engineering UK project. At this conceptual stage the study explores how effective capacity building activities are in enabling educators to transform their practice to an active student-centred approach both in face-to-face and online modes. It further explores how the training experience might empower educator’s sense of agency and change their identity within the boundaries of their institutions and country. The research design is grounded on the theories of agency and, self-efficacy and motivation. It uses an interpretative approach, Qualitative Content Analysis, for the analysis of data collected via interviews with the engineering educators participating in the project. This research design aims to find how engineering educators can be supported through their educational transformation journey and also to inform policy makers at institution and national level in order to enhance sustain development

Enhancing Quality Teaching Through Informal Community Learning In Knowledge Centres

Teaching and learning have always been at the heart of the missions of universities. The growing interest nowadays to pay attention to the quality of higher education teaching results in initiatives such as the establishment of Teaching and Learning Centres (TLCs). The Academy for Learning and Teaching (ALT) at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) has recently been created, and it is still under construction, with the purpose of promoting quality of teaching through engaging staff in interaction and in learning lessons from evidence-based educational practices and innovation in engineering education. Furthermore, ALT supports the professional development of faculty teaching staff through Learning Communities (LCs) as informal learning mechanisms that stimulate knowledge sharing about engineering education experiences across departments (and universities). LCs facilitate interaction with peers, discussions on educational practices, working in teams, and exposing academic and education support staff to have access to stateof-the-art research and information on educational issues. LCs are organized by themes, such as Digitalization, that cover topics relevant to innovative practices, e.g., Learning Analytics, Artificial Intelligence in education or Digital Assessment. The purpose of this study is to present the ALT model as a knowledge centre in engineering education that stimulates the advancement of quality teaching. Specifically, we analyze successful factors to constitute Learning Communities, as well as, the motivation of the teaching staff to participate in the LC associated to the TU/e ALT. ALT may serve as an inspiring model for other engineering and technical higher education institutions and universities wishing to promote professional development of teachers

Knowledge disagreement formulations in problem-based learning tutorials: balancing pedagogical demands with ‘saving face’

As a pedagogical approach that aims to develop students' group-working skills and to challenge their current knowledge, problem-based learning (PBL) provides a unique setting in which to examine disagreements in interaction. Previous research on disagreements in classrooms have typically examined tutor-student interaction or student-student interaction in which a tutor is present. The current paper, however, examines tutorless PBL tutorials and focuses specifically on those moments in which knowledge claims are challenged by other students. The data comprise of 30 hours of video recordings from 24 chemical engineering PBL tutorials in a Scottish university. Conversation analysis was used to identify 101 disagreement formulations, many of which follow the format seen in other classroom settings (e.g. agreement-prefaced disagreements). A subset of disagreement formulations manage epistemic responsibility through invoking expert sources (e.g. tutor-provided worksheets and academically superior out-group members). Through invoking an expert source in this way, students attend to the pedagogical activities - without tutor assistance - while minimising the conversational trouble associated with the act of 'doing' disagreement (i.e. indirectly enacting disagreements whilst maintaining a neutral stance). This paper thus contributes to CA literature on disagreements, while providing a unique insight into PBL tutorial interaction. Directions for future research are suggested

Examining self-managed problem-based learning interactions in engineering education

With the increasing complexity of the engineering role, today’s graduates must be capable of confronting both technical and societal problems; underpinned by effective teamwork at their core. Problem-based learning has been implemented in engineering to better prepare students for modern industry. However, limited research has examined the complex social processes involved in PBL. The present study, therefore, reports on how students working in tutorless PBL groups – owing to teaching limitations – must effectively self-manage their team efforts if they are to succeed. This PBL arrangement involved a ‘floating facilitator’ but the analysis focuses exclusively on the students’ tutorless interactions. The data collected is from 22 chemical engineering undergraduates in four groups, and consists of naturalistic video-recordings of 32 PBL meetings (35 h). This corpus was examined empirically using conversation analysis to elucidate students’ recurrent communicational practices. The microanalyses showed how students continuously established PBL as the collective responsibility of the group. Furthermore, students maintained ‘average’, equal social identities, and used humour/self-deprecation in constructing an informal learning environment. In the absence of the tutor who would normally maintain cohesion, these strategies offer a means through which students adapt to the unfamiliarity of the tutorless setting, where no member is positioned as the substitute tutor

Investigating the relationship between human and organisational factors, maintenance, and accidents. : The case of chemical process industry in South Africa

Accidents continue to be a major concern in the production, storage, and use of hazardous substances, and accidents have occurred either during maintenance or lack thereof. However, there is limited academic coverage of the initiatives implemented to prevent such accidents in South Africa. In recognition of this gap, the study explored participants' perceptions on the relationship between human and organisational factors, maintenance, and accidents using a quantitative approach on data analysis. A questionnaire was distributed online and used to collect data from employees of a chemical and process industry company in South Africa, with 247 valid responses out of 316 obtained from 450 participants invited to voluntarily participate in the study. The findings of the study revealed several noteworthy correlations. Firstly, there were positive and significant relationships between various factors such as procedure implementation, communication accuracy, communication satisfaction, permit to work system, competency level, and risk management. These factors were found to have an impact on the occurrence and frequency of maintenance-related accidents. Specifically, maintenance activities were shown to reduce the likelihood of accidents, while effective risk management practices resulted in a similar outcome. Additionally, communication satisfaction was found to be associated with improved risk management during maintenance operations. The implementation of a permit to work system was also found to reduce the risk during maintenance and contribute to accident reduction. Furthermore, a higher competency level was found to be associated with effective risk management during maintenance and a decrease in accidents. Lastly, communication accuracy was found to be linked to more effective risk management during maintenance, leading to a decrease in accidents. Based on these findings, it is recommended that companies in the chemical and process industry continue to prioritize human and organization factors as well as maintenance practices to ensure safe and reliable operational performance. By focusing on these aspects, companies can minimize the occurrence of accidents and promote a safe working environment

Students’ strategies for managing social loafers in PBL: interactional means of dealing with unequal participation in group work

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Competencias necesarias en graduados de ingeniería según representantes de la industria regional Chilena

En el marco de una media jornada de trabajo con representantes de la industria regional de la región de la Araucanía, en su mayoría de formación de Ingeniero Civil Industrial o áreas afines, aplicamos una serie de instrumentos cualitativos para identificar las competencias necesarias en graduados de ingeniería. Primero se aplicó un cuestionario con ocho preguntas, luego se realizó un análisis FODA donde cada participante formuló una nota para cada ítem (fortaleza, oportunidades, amenaza y debilidades). Finalmente se incentivó una discusión grupal sobre cada uno de estos ítems. Como conclusión, las características más relevantes de egresados para las empresas se pueden distinguir en tres dimensiones: el rol del conocimiento (conocimiento teórico versus conocimiento específico), la visión global del negocio, y la actitud en la vinculación con la empresa

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Innovate or standardize? The challenges of creating educational diversity in a system of homogeneous practice

Standards play an important role in professional, educational and institutional practices. Professional accreditation bodies establish standards to provide a benchmark for the profession across institutions. Currently, Universities prescribe programme structures, management of delivery and assessment of the individual modules; from how to formulate intended learning outcomes to how to assess their attainment. Although a holistic approach as to how to attain these standards is desirable, the reality is that in many cases the quality of education is based on few metrics that in some instances are biased. On the basis of these metrics decisions about the management of the educational business are made whereby uniformity, in teaching and assessment practices, is valued above innovation. The rigidity and uniformity of some practices affect the autonomy of educators as professionals with the potential to hinder their relationships with others in the institutional ecology and in turn the development of creative ideas. Many current educational practices are simply imposing standardization of learning that go against the grain of delivering on the development of graduates that are adaptable and resilient. How is it possible to train graduates to face uncertainty when all modules are delivered in the same manner? How can students learn to face new situations when they are faced with ‘uniform’ educational practices? Within rapid changing professions, how can institutions provide sufficient autonomy to educators while ensuring standards are met? In this work we explore trends for standardizing education and the impact these have on the professional agency of educators

Teaching: Educating Chemical Engineers on Digitalisation

INDUSTRY 4.0 has brought changes in hardware and software in the workplace, all aiming to increase productivity and operational efficiencies1. We need to raise awareness amongst the chemical engineering community of the importance of digital literacy for chemical engineers. We’ll look here at the range of digitalisation skills and technologies relevant to chemical engineering, and give an overview of some of the education options and the work that is already under way