European engineering educators

Welcome back to the podcast!

Engineering education is home to many different learning approaches including problem, project, and challenge-based learning, as well as studio learning. At the same time, technological advances mean that there is an increasing focus on virtual learning, and collaboration across geographical contexts. The wide variety of approaches at our disposable necessitates choices to be made regarding what, and how, ideas will be incorporated, and indeed at what scale.

In this episode we speak to Jorge Membrillo-Hernández from the Technological University of Monterrey. Jorge has a wealth of experience in using a variety of teaching and assessment methods in many different contexts. Jorge incorporates challenge-based learning (CBL) at a programme level, with challenges drawn from both local and global partners. He is particularly interested in socially oriented interdisciplinary STEM education, and COIL (collaborative on-line learning classroom). He has over 100 publications with over 2000 citations and an h-index of 26) and is probably the most published author focusing on CBL within engineering!

Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about an institution wide approach to CBL in a Mexican context.

Timestamps

0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode

0.21 Podcast Intro

0.47 Experiences with CBL from Natalie and Neil

2.46 Introduction to Jorge

5.51 Introduction to Technological University of Monterrey

6.52 Tech21 Educational model

8.41 CBL within Tech21

12.00 The role of the educator within CBL

15.15 An example of a challenge and the interdiscplinary education team

22.56 The involvement of partner organisations

26.55 Fostering industrial relationship

28.31 Planning a challenge that supports student development

32.35 COIL - Collaborative online international learning

35.14 Student resistance to CBL

41.44 Challenges associated with implementing CBL

47.00 The future of CBL and research into CBL

51.20 Final advice from Jorge

55.27 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil

Further Reading

You can find out more about Jorge and via his institutional home page

https://research.tec.mx/vivo-tec/display/PID_289299

His publications can also be found through ResearchGate

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jorge-Membrillo-Hernandez

and Google Scholar

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=BpZtoj8AAAAJ&hl=es

Join us! Become a member of the European Society for Engineering

Education, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineering

educators: www.sefi.be

music (c) Lizzie Cooke all rights reserved.

Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to the podcast!

The isolation felt by engineering educators who are passionate about teaching and learning, but who reside in technically focused engineering departments, is widely reported. The case is no different in Africa, where few institutions recognise educational research as a valid research focus in engineering, this resulting in lack of capacity for engineering education research (EER) and meaning that African educational innovations are not well represented in the literature. Although educators within Africa may make use of research findings from elsewhere, or receive support from those in different geographical locations, the contextual nature of education research means there is a need for supportive national and regional communities.

In this episode we speak to Lelanie Smith, a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and IT at the University of Pretoria and Dr. Esther Matemba, an independent Engineering education researcher, consultant, and a sessional academic at Curtin University, Australia. Together, the two co-lead the Engineering Education Research Network for Africa (EERN-Africa).

Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about the rewards and challenges involved in setting up an Engineering Education network.

Timestamps

0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode

0.40 Podcast Intro

1.02 Experiences with networks and communities from Natalie and Neil

2.23 Introduction to Lelanie

6.37 Introduction to Esther

9.50 Introduction to engineering education in the African context and contextual characteristics

17.36 Objectives and operation of the network

27.58 The network as a community of practice (CoP)

36.27 PhD and Masters programme

41.41 The role of funding in development of the network

48.08 Future opportunties for engineering education in Afria

50.55 Becoming involved in the network

51.55 Final advice

59.37 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil

Further Reading

A paper about EERN-Africa as a Community of Practice

DOI: 10.1080/22054952.2023.2233340

An introduction to EERN-Africa posted on the REEN website

https://reen.co/introducing-the-engineering-education-research-network-africa-eern-africa/

A podcast episode on which Esther features

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/context-coalitions-and-collaborations-oh-my-dr-esther/id1334320403?i=1000646656515

A link to the network LinkedIn page

https://www.linkedin.com/company/engineering-education-research-network-africa?trk=public_post_feed-actor-name

To find out more about the Master’s and PhD programme visit

https://intra-africa-cb4ee.co.za/index

Join us! Become a member of the European Society for Engineering

Education, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineering

educators: www.sefi.be

music (c) Lizzie Cooke all rights reserved.

Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to the podcast!

As the problems that society faces become more complex there is increasing emphasis on the need for engineers to work across disciplines, with a focus on taking interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to engineering education. However, there can be a lack of clarity about how such terms are conceptualised within the engineering classroom, this resulting in a lack of concrete teaching interventions. In this episode we speak to Thies Johannsen, a research assistant from TU Berlin who works at the intersection between Social Sciences, Humanities, and STEM disciplines. Thies draws upon his education in Law, Social Sciences, and Politics, and Philosophy, as well as experience in policy making, advising political bodies and consulting for corporate associations and businesses.

shownotes:

Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about transdisciplinary engineering education.

Timestamps

0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode

0.25 Podcast Intro

0.50 Experiences in resilience from Natalie and Neil

2.52 Introduction to Thies

7.22 TU Berlin

9.46 Why is transdisciplinary becoming more important in engineering education? Understanding disciplinary routes

11.03 Specialisation, research output and impact, and innovation

14.14 Defining transdisciplinary

17.05 Modes of knowledge

25.34 An example of transdisciplinary work within engineering

29.43 Skills and competencies involved

33.02 Transdisciplinary in the engineering classroom

36.11 Classroom exercises

42.32 Assessment

44.58 Challenges associated with transdisciplinary education

48.03 Final advice

50.27 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil

Further Reading

Handbook of Transdisciplinary Learning which features Thies’ chapter entitled Cooperative Education

https://www.tu.berlin/en/vp-sl/transdisciplinary-learning/handbook-transdisciplinary-learning

Join us! Become a member of the European Society for Engineering

Education, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineering

educators: www.sefi.be

music (c) Lizzie Cooke all rights reserved.

Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to the podcast!

Discussion around the need for engineers to navigate increasingly complex and uncertain challenges (e.g., climate change, digitalisation) features heavily within engineering education research and leads to questions pertaining to the abilities of engineering graduates. Despite this, little is known about the way in which engineering programmes support students in coping with such uncertainty and complexity (also referred to as resilience).

In this episode we spoke to Dr. Ann-Kristin Winkens, a postdoctoral researcher in the Gender and Diversity in Engineering Research Group (GDI) at RWTH Aachen in Germany. Ann-Kristin draws upon her prior education in environmental engineering when researching areas of systems resilience and competencies needed when designing resilient systems.

shownotes: https://www.sefi.be/2024/11/18/podcast-season-5-episode-3-european-engineering-educators-is-online/

Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about resilient systems.

Timestamps

0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode

0.32 Podcast Intro

0.53 Experiences in resilience from Natalie and Neil

2.03 Introduction to Ann-Kristin

4.28 Defining resilience

6.36 The systematic literature review into how engineering education research addresses resilience

9.56 The importance of systems resilience

12.46 The competencies involved

15.41 Are the competenices involved addressed in engineering programmes?

19.45 Commonly addressed competencies

21.36 Key recommendations for addressing competencies in engineering programmes

22.46 How is systems resilience addressed in accreditation criteria?

27.51 Embedding systems resilience in engineering programmes

33.19 Course level learning outcomes and assessment of learning outcomes

36.47 The future of engineering education research into resilient systems

39.18 Final advice

40.32 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil

Further Reading

https://www.sefi.be/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/SEFI-Annual-Conference-2021-Blended-Learning-in-Engineering-Education.pdf.

http://ww.cdio.org/knowledge-library/documents/vuca-and-resilience-engineering-education-%E2%80%93-lessons-learned.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03043797.2023.2179913.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03043797.2023.2171852.

https://arrow.tudublin.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=sefi2023_respap.

Join us! Become a member of the European Society for Engineering

Education, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineering

educators: www.sefi.be

music (c) Lizzie Cooke all rights reserved.

Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to the podcast!

Since the start of 2023, Chat GPT, and the use of generative AI (Gen-AI) more generally, has been the topic of much discussion, advice and debate within engineering education worldwide. Despite a proliferation of guidance, awareness raising and information, there has been little empirical evidence pertaining to the impact of Gen-AI on integrity of assessment and risk of plagiarism, something which has led to confusion and duplication of work.

In this episode we speak to Sasha Nikolic (University of Wollongong), Scott Daniel (University of Technology, Sydney), and Rezwanul Haque (University of the Sunshine Coast) from the Australasian Artificial Intelligence in Engineering Education Centre (AAIEEC) Special Interest Group of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education (AAEE), who, along with other Australian engineering educators, came together to answer questions about how ChatGPT and other Gen-AI tools may affect engineering education assessment methods, and how it might be used to facilitate learning.

Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn AI in the context of assessment in engineering education.

Timestamps

0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode

0.33 Podcast Intro

0.54 Experiences in AI from Natalie and Neil

3.02 Introduction to Scott, Sacha and Rez

4.34 Australasian Association for Engineering Education (AAEE)

6.54 The work and priorities of the Australasian Artificial Intelligence in Engineering Education Centre (AAIEEC) SIG

10.50 Key terms in AI

14.08 Introduction to the study into use of AI in engineering assessment

16.58 The research methodology and process involved

20.44 The main implications of the research studies

29.19 Developments in AI and the second study

40.39 Limitations of LLMs

49.16 Developing AI literacy

58.11 The role of evaluative judgement and changing assessment methods

1:01:32 Reactions to the work from academics

1:05:55 Final advice

1:08: 22 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil

1:14:49 Bonus Easter Egg!

Further Reading

For more information about the Australasian Artificial Intelligence in Engineering Education Centre (AAIEEC) Special Interest Group visit:

https://aaee.net.au/sigs/

Papers

https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2023.2213169

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03043797.2023.2213169

https://doi.org/10.1080/22054952.2024.2372154

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/22054952.2024.2372154

Join us! Become a member of the European Society for Engineering

Education, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineering

educators: www.sefi.be

music (c) Lizzie Cooke all rights reserved.

Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to the podcast!

Terms such as inclusion, diversity, equity, and equality, have long featured in discussions relating to engineering education, and are often used interchangeably. Their meaning both evolve over time and vary significantly across context. Such changes and variation have implications for the areas in which efforts towards DEI, are focused, as well as to learn from good practice and monitor progress.

In this episode we speak to Dr. Inês Direito, an Assistant Researcher at the Centre for Mechanical Technology and Automation, University of Aveiro (Portugal) and Dr Jan Van Maele, Professor in Language and Communication at the Faculty of Engineering Technology at KU Leuven (Flanders, Belgium). Our two guests bring together their complimentary expertise (Inês in Psychology and in researching student experience and mental health, and Jan in teaching languages in a context in which language policies have created obstacles to creating cultural diversity) to discuss their work exploring how the engineering education community believe DEI related terms are understood and implemented in their own institution and in other contexts around the globe.

Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn DEI in the context of Engineering Education worldwide.

shownotes:

Timestamps

0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode

0.35 Podcast Intro

0.54 Experiences in DEI from Natalie and Neil

3.09 Inês' Background

7.35 Jan's Background

13.20 The start of a collaboration

17.02 Changes in the SIG and defining key terms

21.09 The changing nature of DEI work

24.37 The SEFI 2023 DEI SIG workshop

27.00 Homero Murzi (North-American and a Latin-American perspective)

34.14 Karin Wolff, President of SASEE (South African perspective)

44.47 Xinrui XU (Chinese perspective)

49.14 Final advice

51.18 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil

Email Jan ([email protected]) and Inês ([email protected]) to share your perspectives as part of this project.

Further Reading

To watch the video from which these clips were taken, visit:

https://play.chalmers.se/media/DEI_Video_ver_3/0_2p6ns0g5

For the paper about the SEFI 2023 workshop mentioned see:

https://arrow.tudublin.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=sefi2023_wkshp

Join us! Become a member of the European Society for Engineering

Education, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineering

educators: www.sefi.be

music (c) Lizzie Cooke all rights reserved.

Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hope you are having a great Summer ...

We originally conceived the podcast as a project which would run for two years with monthly episodes.

As we approach its second anniversary, Neil and Natalie would like to thank everyone listeners and guests for their support in making it into a valuable source of information about the SEFI community and contemporary topics in engineering education.

In this episode we summarise the recent interviews and our future plans for the show.

00.00 - Introduction

00.45 - Listening insights -popular and least popular

03.35 - Thanks

04.55- Sarah Jayne Hitt on Ethics toolkit (Ep1) - role of liberal arts and the toolkit.

09.15 - Roger Hadgraft on Disruption (Ep2) - Doblins framework and synthesis problems

13.30 - Diana Martin on Intercultural ethics (Ep3) - Values and western dominance

20.30 - Tim Drysdale on Remote laboratories (Ep4) - AI and Digital/Humanism

25.40 - Plans

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Welcome back to the fourth episode of this fourth season of the SEFI podcast!

In this first episode we talk to Professor Tim Drysdale, Chair of Technology Enhanced Science Education in the School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. Tim is responsible for developing an entirely new approach to online laboratories to support non-traditional online practical work activities across multiple campuses.

Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about nontraditional practical work.

shownotes:

Timestamps

0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode

0.27 Podcast Intro

0.47 Experiences in non-traditional practical work from Natalie and Neil

2.17 Tim's Background

4.28 Engineering at Edinburgh

5.43 Technology as not replacing humans: a post critical humanist approaches and less instrumentalist approaches to practical work

10.22 Different types of non-traditional practical work

13.00 The benefits of non-traditional practical work

15.04 How to select the best approach to take based on our aims and learning outcomes

18.23 Student engagement and limitations

22.10 The user experience

26.35 Use of dangerous and specialist equipment

27.39 The user interface

31.07 Challenges to implementation

33.24 Maturity of non-traditional practical work

38.16 The role of AI

40.42 Getting buy-in: evaluation of non-traditional practical work to produce an evidence base

45.13 Final advice from Tim

47.02 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil

Further Reading

The following provides a link to work in which Tim describes different types of NTPL

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23752696.2020.1816845

The following provides a link to work whereby Tim makes use of a post-humanist lens.

https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publications/posthumanistic-practices-of-community-for-non-traditional-laborat

For more information about student (user) experience you can refer to the following pieces of work

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/03064190221081451

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10399863

Join us! Become a member of the European Society for Engineering

Education, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineering

educators: www.sefi.be

Music by ComaStudio: https://pixabay.com/users/comastudio-26079283/

Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to the third episode of this fourth season of the SEFI podcast!

In this first episode we talk to Dr. Diana Martin, a Senior Research Fellow within the Centre for Engineering Education (CEE) at University College London (UCL). Diana applies knowledge obtained during her study of both philosophy and liberal arts in her work into the implementation of ethics, sustainability and societal aspects within engineering education, having completed her PhD project entitled “Towards a Sociotechnical Reconfiguration of Engineering and an Education for Ethics, a Critical Realist Investigation into the Patterns of Education and Accreditation of Ethics in Engineering Programmes” in July 2020.

Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about incorporating a more globalised approach to engineering ethics education.

shownotes: https://www.sefi.be/2024/06/17/podcast-season-4-episode-3-european-engineering-educators-is-online/

Timestamps

0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode

0.38 Podcast Intro

0.59 Experiences in teaching ethics to engineering students from Natalie and Neil

2.31 Diana's Background

10.18 How Diana's experiences in different global contexts inform her approach to engineering ethics education

11.38 How ethics and intercultural ethics are conceptualised

12.37 Individual and collective responsibilities (microethical vs macroethical approaches)

16.44 Relevant values within engineering ethics and value sensitive design

24.00 The power of engineers in creation of technological artefacts: Introducing participatory/community-based approaches

27.15 Variation in meanings and emphasis on values in different contexts and cultures

34.33 WEIRD populations

37.16 How do we do this in the classroom? Use of PBL to support ethics education during design

45.30 Student response to ethics education

48.23 The global state of engineering ethics education: International Handbook of Engineering Education Research Chapter 

53.56 Final advice from Diana

1.01.46 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil

Further Reading

This link is for the chapter in the International Handbook for Engineering Education Research entitled “Developing a Global and Culturally Inclusive Vision of Engineering Ethics Education and Research”

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003287483-6/developing-global-culturally-inclusive-vision-engineering-ethics-education-research-diana-martin-alison-gwynne-evans-aleksandra-kazakova-qin-zhu?context=ubx&refId=302206b2-3b33-41f7-8d16-3f11278b0a09

This paper argues that mainstream value-sensitive approaches to design have been based on narrow understandings of personhood and social dynamics, which are biased toward Western Educated Industrialized Rich and Democratic cultures and contradicted by empirical evidence

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10516-023-09689-9

Join us! Become a member of the European Society for Engineering

Education, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineering

educators: www.sefi.be

Music by ComaStudio: https://pixabay.com/users/comastudio-26079283/

Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to the fourth season of the SEFI podcast!

In the second episode we talk to Professor Roger Hadgraft, Director of Educational Innovation and Research in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). Roger draws upon more than 30 years of experience in improving engineering educating, having been instrumental in introducing a project-based curriculum within civil engineering at Monash University and in several disciplines at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about the different ways in which we can innovate within engineering education.

show-notes: https://www.sefi.be/2024/05/20/podcast-season-4-episode-2-european-engineering-educators-is-online/

Timestamps

0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode

0.39 Podcast Intro

0.58 Experiences with problem, project and challenge used learning from Natalie and Neil

2.37 Rogers's Background

5.21 Engineering education in Australia

8.04 Terminology: Changes to approaches to engineering education

11.50 Drivers for change

15.27 Studio based learning

19.07 Assessment of studio-based learning

22.22 Disrupting engineering education

24.28 Doblin's ten types of innovation and application of the framework in engineering education

36.58 Capacity building and buy-in

43.57 Resistance to change in engineering education

48.16 Looking to the future

56.56 Final advice from Roger

1:00:11 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil

Resources:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03043799308923248

https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/handle/10453/137664

https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/handle/10453/132516

https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/handle/10453/141604

https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/handle/10453/138648

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003287483-7/disrupting-engineering-education-euan-lindsay-roger-hadgraft-fiona-boyle-ron-ulseth

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-99-5873-3_11

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-99-5873-3_10

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-99-5873-3

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