Kofoed, Lise Busk

English

	POPBL Workshop 2005	 A BEGINNING OF CHANGING CURRICULUM IN FIRST YEAR ENGINEERING EDUCATIONLise B. KofoedArchitecture & Design, Aalborg University. Denmark 1.	IntroductionFor many years there has been an ongoing discussion about the lack of students’ interests in engineering educations. Several employers’ organizations in Denmark are very concerned about students’ choice of university education. (ATV 1996) During the last years the interests for humanities and social science have increased, and at the same time the interests for studying engineering have decreased. Many attempts have been made to strengthen the interests for technology, mathematics and science among young people starting in primary school and followed subsequently in grammar school or the like. A special attention has been focused on the gender aspects in engineering educations. This is not a new thought. (Belenky et al 1986). Since the eighties a special concern has been directed towards the problem of getting more women interested in engineering, which is not only a problem in Denmark (Kolmos 1989). Engineering in general is still dominated by male students, and some specializations have less than 5% women students e.g. electronics at Aalborg University. Different political initiatives directed towards more women into engineering had been made (CuWaT 1998),(HMSO 1995) as well as more general initiatives to get more engineering students at all. Reports had been made about new pedagogical approaches, the content of the different educations, the social aspects etc.(CuWAT 1998). But only few concrete attempts had been made to change curriculum or the content and organization of the education.Some teachers have worked extensively with development and implementation of a new engineering education, Architecture&Design at Aalborg University, and are extremely interested in developing and improving the pedagogical approach and the content of the new education as well as the learning processes of their students, it seemed quite natural at the same time to try to develop a change of curriculum in one engineering education in their own university. One of the problems was the integration of the technical subjects with architecture and design subjects. The objective of this paper therefore is to describe a pilot study on development and implementation of a new technical course, involving one small segment of a university educational program; the first year program called the Basis Year. The organizational background is presented in some detail, in order for the reader to be able to follow the development and implementation process. Thereafter, the project is analyzed in terms of the conditions that might have affected the implementation and how these relate to the overall goal for the Basis Year program. Finally, some future plans for extending the pilot are described, and insights are provided into this implementation, as well as ones in other contexts.2.	Organizational Background and SettingThe pilot project described in this paper takes place in what is referred to as the Basis Year program (i.e. freshman year) of the Architecture & Design (A&D) program, which is one of the 16 main educational programs offered within the Faculty of Engineering and Science at Aalborg University. In total about 700 students are enrolled in the Basis Year program.  First, the structure of the program is described to provide a background for the pilot project.  Aalborg University follows a problem-based project-oriented model of structuring its curricula. All education programs within Faculty of Engineering and Science at the university begin with the Basis Year program, which includes courses applicable to all students as well as courses specific to the particular education (e.g. A&D). The Architecture & Design (A&D) program was launched in 1997 within the Faculty of Engineering and Science at Aalborg University for students wanting a five-year master’s degree. Currently, there are 400 students enrolled in the master program (from 3. to 10. semester), and every year 90 - 140 new students begin in the first year program. Institute of Architecture & Design is responsible for the general administration and development of A&D master program as well as a majority of the teaching and advising of the students in the first year. Teachers from the institute of Architecture & Design is continuously discussing the content of the first year, how it fits to the overall idea of the profile of the A&D education. Several changes have been suggested for the first year e.g. more integration of the technical subjects into the architecture and design subjects. But changing a big bureaucratic institution is not an easy task. A tendency is that technical courses have to be like they always have been. But because of the increasing amount of A&D students in the first year (it is the biggest first year theme group; see fig. 1) it was possible to put a certain pressure on the head of the study board for making some changes bit by bit.The Basis Year program has its own organization, which is separate from the organization that has responsibility for the second through fifth years of each educational program, and the head of the study board for the Basis Year has the overall responsibility of the study plans, the courses, the physical environments, the administrative support, the teachers’ competencies and the outcome of the students’ learning. The overall aim of the Basis Year is to introduce students to work in a scientific way with emphasis on methods, theories and models (AAU study guide, 2005). Another aim is to qualify students for continued studies within the Faculty of Engineering and Science and to train the students in claiming responsibility for their own learning. Each of these aims is addressed through a combination of problem-based project oriented group work and the coursework.Every semester each group of students chose a project within the semester theme which has to be evaluated at a final exam. The time spent on the project work is about 50%. The other half of the time is spent on three types of courses: The first type is study unit courses (SE courses) which content general technical content for the specific semester e.g. mathematics and 3 D computer modeling. SE courses have their own exam. The second type is project unit courses (PE) courses which are mend directly to support the project work and they are normally reflected in the project. The third type of courses is free study activities (FS courses). These courses might have an exam, but some have an informal evaluation.The students work in project groups with 5 – 7 members. Each group chooses a project that conforms to the theme of their specific educational program, but the projects are under the formal authority of the Basis Year study board.  The teachers connected to the Basis year develop and describe examples of student projects and some of the courses within the frames of the study regulation. Everything has to be approved by the study board.2.1.	The need of changing content at the A&D Basis Year programFour years ago the amount of A&D students starting on the Basis Year program had increased considerably in number which made it possible for the A&D teachers to negotiate with the Basis Year study board. The first important action was to make it possible for the A&D basis year coordinator, who was appointed among A&D teachers, could choose not only the main advisor, but also the secondary advisor. Those secondary advisors were appointed by a third institute, and their background did not match what the A&D program found necessary for their education. What was needed was a suitable combination of technical and design (architectural, industrial design, urban design, and digital design) backgrounds among the main - and secondary advisors. A second need was to change the technical courses so they were not stand alone courses. They should be designed so the students could see why and how they could use the courses in their project work. Normally students recognized those courses as a boring activity which they have to attend because they are finished with an exam. The motivation was lacking and the learning outcome could be questioned. For a start A&D was allowed to appoint their secondary advisors. This was not an easy task because teachers from A&D and from more technical areas such as civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electronics etc. should learn to work together in an interdisciplinary setting with a common goal. This was a learning process for all advisors, but after 4 years we can say that it has become a success. Teachers from different areas have started to inspire each other. They have learned to use each others expertise towards a common understanding.Three years ago A&D was allowed to change the three courses in mechanics of materials, static and indoor climate/ventilation. Those courses did not have the students’ interests, because they could not use them, and they could not see that it might be beneficial for their work two or three years later. They passed their exams, but later in their study when they were going to use specific knowledge from the courses most of the students had to start from scratch. It took them long time to get the necessary understanding which they have to use in their project.This was the background to design a course which had elements from the above mentioned subjects. The course should take the starting point in architectural cases and via those cases explain the technical aspects. The course tectonic was to be developed.  The following shows the courses for the A&D basis year in the second semester. The study unit courses have their own exams, and the project unit courses have to support used the students’ projects. The free study activities can have an exam.3. The new course TectonicsAfter having discussed how to integrate several technical aspects within design/architectural areas, the teachers ended up with ideas based on tectonic (Frampton 1995). Originally the word tectonic derives from the word tekton, which in Greek means carpenter or builder. In general the term refers to an artisan working in all hard materials except metal. In the fifth century B.C. this meaning undergoes further evolution, from something specific and physical to a more generic notion of making, involving the idea of poesis. Later the role of tekton had lead to the emergence of the master builder or architekton (Borbein 1982.: “Tectonic becomes the art of joinings. “Art” here is to be understood as encompassing tekne, and therefore indicates tectonic as assemblage not only of building parts but also of objects, indeed of artworks in a narrow sense”. (Borbein 1982 p 9.) So the concept of tectonic was what could be the answer for integrating technical aspects with design and architectural aspects. First the challenge was to find teachers within the technical areas who would be open for this idea. Teachers who would like to work in an interdisciplinary way. One teacher from civil engineering was very interested and developed the course together with A&D teachers. It was very important that all technical subjects are connected to a design artifact or an architectural composition. So each lecture had a lot of architectural and design examples as a starting point for the technical part of the lecture. The objective and the content are shown beneath.Tectonics (SE Course)Weight:2.0	ECTSObjective:To provide the student with theoretical and practical applicable knowledge regarding the interaction between design, construction and use of materials in the fields of architecture and design.Content:This course is a basic theoretical and practical applicable introduction to constructive principles of the design field and the applicability of different materials in design. Through practical exercises, the students train their abilities for transforming knowledge about the interplay between form, construction and material qualities into a physical model (architectonic concepts/’architectonics’). On the basis of exemplifying cases, the static conditions are analysed and simple calculations are carried out.  Outline of the different lectures:Lecture1: Introduction to the course. The structure of load-bearing constructions. The concept of force, equilibrium in tension and compression. Model laws.Lecture2: The parallelogram of forces. The concept of moment. Equilibrium of in plane forces.  Static determinate versus static indeterminate structures.Lecture 3: Support and reactions. Plane truss system. Determination of  truss member forces. Equilibrium of truss sections.Lecture 4: Plane beam systems. Continuous beams and cantilever beams. Determination of stresses in beams. Design based on moment curves. Lecture 5: Stability by using shear walls. Arrangement of stable constructions. Lecture 6: Details in connection with choice of Form, Construction and Material qualities in a physical model. Introduction to overall assignment/exam project. Lecture7: Columns and Frames. Euler’s equation for columns. Designing columns and frames.Lecture 8: Guest lecture in Tectonics and Architecture by Anne Beim (AB), The Royal Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture, CopenhagenLecture 9: The arch. Designing arch constructions. Lecture 10: Cable and membrane systems. Determination of forces in cables.Evaluation: There are two assignments connected to the course. One assignment just after the course: Structure of a spatial disc construction. The other assignment is an overall assignment that gathers up the learned subject matters. The assignment is evaluated in the project groups together with evaluation of the semester project. The focus of the evaluation will be divided equally between understanding of the technical and the aesthetical aspects.  4.	Conclusion and PerspectivesThe conclusion is that the new tectonic course is a success. But to establish the development and implementation three conditions have to be fulfilled:The head of the study board has to be supportive.The teachers involved have to be open-minded and they must have an interdisciplinary understandingThe theme group/the amount of students have to be of a certain size so the initiative can be visible, and be an effort you have to take seriously The perspectives are a better understanding of the connection of the course and the field of architecture and design. Furthermore the project exam has change character so it actually reflects the interaction of architecture and design and different technical aspects.  Former the technical study unit courses with their connected exams became implicit the centre of the identity of the first year because students could not immediately use the knowledge and relate to architecture and design. Tectonics takes departure in architectural cases in order to explain the technical subjects and by this approach establish equality among architecture- and design- knowledge and technical knowledge. So now this study unit course provides students with an extended reference connected to architectural design and the related tectonic elements. Students experience this relation and are much more conscious according form, static, construction and tactility.Students are evaluated as groups in their main project, but they are assessed individually. The overall tectonic assignment is part of the examination. A new element is that the 3D study unit course is evaluated as part of the exam. The tectonic assignment is to make a real model. The 3 D assignment is to make the same model in 3 D. This illustrates that the same assignment contains many disciplines which is another way to be aware of the many aspects of studying engineering with specialization within architecture and design.All teachers connected to the courses and the advisors connected to the project group take part in the examination. The teachers agree that this new approach has given the projects a much higher quality. Before projects were either too technical or too architectural and very seldom projects reflected any interaction between the different knowledge areas. This new approach has had a great impact of almost all students’ apprehension of their future study, but also the teachers see new possibilities. The next step change will be to work with the course in mathematics in the same way as tectonic.ReferencesATV (The Danish Academy of Technical Sciences) (1996) Ingeniørmangel – en tikkende bombe under velfærdssamfundet.Belenky, Mary Fiels, Blythe McVicker Clinchy, Nancy Rule Goldberger & Jill Mattuck Tarule (1986) Women in science. Comparisons across cultures. Special issue of Science, vol 263, pages 1345 – 1532, 11 March. Frampton, Kenneth (1995) Studies in Tectonic Culture. The MIT Press, Cambridge.Borbein; A.H. (1982) Tektonik, zur Geschichte eines begriffs der Archäologie“, Archiv für Begriffsgeschichte 26, no.1.HMSO & Opportunity 2000 (1995) Making the most. Women in Science, Engineering and Technology. Building a Workforce for Sustained Competitiveness.Raat, Jan H. and Marc de Vries (1986) The Physics and Technology project. Phys. Educ. 21. Great BritainKierkegaard, P.H.2004. The Study regulation, The Technical Science Basic Year, Aalborg University.Kolmos, A. Fink, F. and Krogh, K. (Eds.) (2004), The Aalborg Model-Progress, Diversity and Challenges: Aalborg University Press: Aalborg, Denmark,Schein, E. (1992), Organizational Culture and Leadership, New York: John Wiley & Sons.Aalborg Universitets Studieordning (AAU Study Guide), (2005) Basisuddannelsen. Det teknisk-naturvidenskabelige fakultet. Aalborg Universitet. http://tnb.aau.dk/ (​http:​/​​/​tnb.aau.dk​/​​)Hawley, W. and Rollie, D. (2002), The Keys to effective Schools; Educational Reform as Continuous Improvement, Corwin Press: Boston. 

A beginning of changing curriculum in first year engineering education

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A beginning of changing curriculum in first year engineering education

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