Topic
Engineering education
About: Engineering education is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 24293 publications have been published within this topic receiving 234621 citations.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyse the process of changing engineering universities towards sustainable development (SD) and highlight the types of changes needed, both in respect of approaches, visions, philosophies and cultural change, which are crucial for engineering universities which want to implement sustainable development as part of their progammes.
Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the process of changing engineering universities towards sustainable development (SD) It outlines the types of changes needed, both in respect of approaches, visions, philosophies and cultural change, which are crucial for engineering universities which want to implement sustainable development as part of their progammesDesign/methodology/approach – The paper describes various experiences which show how SD education programmes can be implemented at universities, and some of the challenges faced in efforts towards achieving such a goal It considers the various processes involved and raises some questions which can help to understand how universities, as learning organisations, can engage in the implementation of SD programmesFindings – The paper has established that engineers have to learn to think long term and position their activities in a pathway towards long‐term sustainable solutions This requires insight into the social environment of engineerin
138 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, an ethnographic study of the discourse used by professors and students during a sophomore design class demonstrates that some women's difficulties are the result of cultural features of engineering that are only rarely open to redefinition by women.
Abstract: Women student engineers' and professors' classroom experiences, especially their everyday interactions with men student engineers and professors, can be negative. This ethnographic study of the discourse used by professors and students during a sophomore design class demonstrates that some women's difficulties are the result of cultural features of engineering that are only rarely open to redefinition by women. In spite of many engineering educators' sincere commitments to improving women's experiences in engineering education, these cultural features diminish the successes of reform-minded engineering education. I detail how discourse in whole-class and teamwork settings indicated the cultural norms of engineering talk and how this discourse reinforced traditional practices that were only rarely open to revision. Also, I comment on the use of ordeals in this classroom. My findings suggest that engineering education must change before inclusion of women is realized. In particular, I suggest the changes needed are complex and include 1) more communication about the ways that cultural norms impact women and other marginalized groups, 2) forums where participants can speak openly without fear of retaliation, and 3) attention to changing those policies and practices that send narrow messages about who engineers are and what engineering might be.
138 citations
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TL;DR: By slightly improving the course curriculum through real-life game development projects in the Scratch environment, students’ performance on the graduation projects improved significantly, showing technologies that can potentially help learners to perform better in the introduction to programming course, in turn affecting their performances in projects.
Abstract: Nowadays, programming skills are receiving widespread attention for different age groups alongside occupational education programs to better prepare individuals for their future careers. However, introducing programming concepts in an appropriate manner is a challenge in higher education. The main assumption of this study is that enhancing the classical introduction to programming courses through real-life problem-based game development with Scratch programming environment potentially improves the learners' programming skills and motivation. Accordingly, in this study, during one academic semester period, the Introduction to Programming course for engineering students is enriched up to a certain level through real-life game development projects with Scratch. The students are followed within a four-year period starting from freshman until their graduation. The progress of the students who have taken the Introduction to Programming course in enriched or classical form in the fourth year Senior-project course are evaluated. The results show that by slightly improving the course curriculum through real-life game development projects in the Scratch environment, students’ performance on the graduation projects improved significantly. As a conclusion, game-based learning, problem-based learning, visual programming and projects are technologies that can potentially help learners to perform better in the introduction to programming course, in turn affecting their performances in projects.
138 citations
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TL;DR: There are academies of science and of engineering all around the world as mentioned in this paper except for in the former Soviet Union, they share two properties: they are not part of their government, but are private corporations.
Abstract: There are academies of science and academies of engineering all around the world. Except for in the former Soviet Union, they share two properties. First: they are not part of their government, but are private corporations. Second: they are honorific entities, that is, it is considered a great honor to be elected to one of these academies. You cannot join the Royal Society in London; you have to be elected by the existing membership. It is considered a very high honor, and recognition of a lifetime of contributions to science or engineering.
138 citations
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TL;DR: How the laboratory course is organized and how it induces students to think as actual engineers would in solving real-world tasks with limited resources are described are described.
Abstract: In today's teaching and learning approaches for first-semester students, practical courses more and more often complement traditional theoretical lectures. This practical element allows an early insight into the real world of engineering, augments student motivation, and enables students to acquire soft skills early. This paper describes a new freshman introduction course into practical engineering, which has been established within the Bachelor of Science curriculum of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology of RWTH Aachen University, Germany. The course is organized as an eight-day, full-time block laboratory for over 300 freshman students, who were supervised by more than 60 tutors from 23 institutes of the Electrical Engineering Department. Based on a threefold learning concept comprising mathematical methods, MATLAB programming, and practical engineering, the students were required to transfer mathematical basics to algorithms in MATLAB in order to control LEGO Mindstorms robots. Toward this end, a new toolbox, called the ?RWTH-Mindstorms NXT Toolbox,? was developed, which enables the robots to be controlled remotely via MATLAB from a host computer. This paper describes how the laboratory course is organized and how it induces students to think as actual engineers would in solving real-world tasks with limited resources. Evaluation results show that the project improves the students' MATLAB programming skills, enhances motivation, and enables a peer learning process.
137 citations