构建应用型国际化通信工程本科专业课程体系的探讨

制定科学的教学体系是落实人才培养方案的关键,基于对我国现行工科专业教育模式的反思,对比国际先进的高等工程教育模式,提出了应用型国际化通信工程本科专业的培养目标,探讨了构建应用型国际化通信工程本科专业课程体系的思路．     

基于工业工程特点的人才培养模式探讨

在分析国内外工业工程专业人才培养现状、工业工程专业特点、领域范围的基础上,针对工业工程专业硕士学位研究生的特点,笔者结合几年来人才培养的经验,探索适合工业工程专业硕士研究生特点的人才养模式.     

建筑材料开放性实验课程体系的构建——以集美大学建筑材料实验课程为例

传统建筑材料实验教学面临着向创新型、开放型模式的转变。建立开放性实验教学体系是建筑材料课程改革的重要举措。建筑工程专业实验课程整合、建筑材料实验内容的优化与实验室资源的开放等是构建建筑材料开放性实验课程体系的有效途径。     

A model for the development of university curricula in nanoelectronics

Nanotechnology is having an increasing impact on university curricula in electrical engineering and in physics. Major influencers affecting developments in university programmes related to nanoelectronics are discussed and a model for university programme development is described. The model takes into account that nanotechnology affects not only physics but also electrical engineering and computer engineering because of the advent of new nanoelectronics devices. The model suggests that curriculum development tends to follow one of three major tracks: physics; electrical engineering; computer engineering. Examples of European curricula following this framework are identified and described. These examples may serve as sources of inspiration for future developments and the model presented may provide guidelines for a systematic selection of topics in the university programmes.     

Epistemology,ontology and ethics: ‘galaxies away from the engineering world’?

Philosophy of technology/philosophy of science has recently become part of the curriculum of engineering degree programmes in Denmark. However, to what extent do teachers of engineering see it as meaningful for students to work with relatively abstract philosophical concepts such as epistemology, ontology and ethics as part of engineering degree programmes? And what, if any, are the complexities and difficulties in implementing philosophical questioning into engineering curricula? Do teachers tend to see philosophy of science as a kind of ‘Trojan horse’ – an unwelcome idea that will defocus engineering degree courses and steal time from more important subjects? Or do they see it as a necessary and welcome addition to engineering curricula that will result in more qualified and free-thinking engineering graduates? Subsequently these issues are discussed in the light of findings in an empirical case study carried out by the authors at their Institute.     

University student perceptions of the relationship between university education and the labour market in Egypt and Oman

How do university students perceive the key relationship between their university education and the labour market? This article describes the perceptions that 827 Egyptian and Omani seniors—both males and females, studying commerce, education, and engineering—hold about that relationship. For these students, a major motivation for attending university is their perception that it will help them get better and more secure employment. They are also confident it will help them enter appropriate careers. However, they are less satisfied with the way in which university curricula prepare them effectively for appropriate careers. In addition, an analysis by nationality, gender, and field of study revealed statistically significant differences among the participants. The Omani students are more confident about their education than the Egyptians—who call for more reform of their curricula to fit labour market requirements. Women are more motivated than men to enter a career after university. The field of study had only a small impact on students’ perceptions of this key relationship.     

Improving the comprehension of disabled readers

Students with learning disabilities (LD) often have difficulty comprehending what they read. Although reading comprehension problems frequently are associated with inadequate word recognition, students also have difficulties related to comprehension itself—a passive approach to the reading task, insensitivity to text structure, and poor metacognitive skills. The reading and language arts curricula that have emerged from today’s constructivist paradigm can pose problems for these students. Whereas the new curricula emphasize personal interpretations of text and relatively unstructured teaching strategies, students with LD do well with explicit, highly structured instruction. This paper introduces an instructional program designed to teach students with serious learning disabilities how to identify a story theme, and how to relate it to their own real-life experiences. The program focused on understanding a text as a whole, and integrating text meaning with concepts and experiences that are personally meaningful, goals shared by a constructivist approach. At the same time, the program incorporates the explicit, structured instruction that these students also need. A study to evaluate the program’s effectiveness is described, as are current efforts to refine the program to promote transfer of comprehension strategies.     

Curriculum planning for the development of graphicacy capability: three case studies from Europe and the USA

Curriculum planning for the development of graphicacy capability has not been systematically included in general education to coincide with the graphicacy needs of human society. In higher education, graphicacy curricula have been developed to meet the needs of certain disciplines, for example medical and teacher training and engineering, among others. A framework for graphicacy curricula, anticipating the graphicacy needs in higher education, has yet to be strategically planned for general education. This is partly a result of lack of research effort in this area, but also a result of lack of systematic curriculum planning in general. This paper discusses these issues in the context of graphicacy curricula for engineering. The paper presents three broad individual case studies spanning Europe and the USA, brought together by the common denominator, graphicacy. The case studies are based on: an analysis of graphicacy within general education curricula, an analysis of graphicacy for engineering education in Europe and an analysis of graphicacy for engineering education in the USA. These three papers were originally presented in a plenary session at the American Society for Engineering Education, Engineering Design Graphics Division at the University of Limerick in November 2012. The case studies demonstrate the potential for strategic curriculum planning in regard to the development of graphicacy in general education and an overview of a methodology to achieve that. It also offers further evidence towards the importance of the systematic classification of graphics capabilities in Engineering and how the lack of a developed theoretical framework in this area undermines the case for the importance of graphics within engineering education.     

An empirical study of industrial engineering and management curriculum reform in fostering students’ creativity

The objective of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of a creativity-fostering program in industrial engineering and management (IE&M) curriculum reform. Fostering creativity in students has become a crucial issue in industrial engineering education. In a survey of previous studies, we found few on IE&M curriculum reform. In particular, no study has dealt directly with fostering students’ creativity. In this study, we propose an IE&M curriculum reform program. The core of this program is intended to enhance students’ creative problem solving ability. Based on this concept, three required courses were developed: industrial communication, creative problem solving, and scientific research methodology. To investigate the effectiveness of this curriculum reform program, we conducted a two-year follow-up study. One hundred seventy-seven IE&M undergraduates from Yuan-Ze University participated this study, and Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) were used to measure changes in their creativity. The results showed that the students, after completing this reformed curriculum program, had significantly improved their creativity.     

Design of Engineering Curricula for Developing Countries

This paper suggests chat engineering curricula should be designed on the basis that engineering is a vocation. It outlines how curricula might be developed by identifying engineering jobs and proceeding from job specification through engineering capability profiles to subjects of instruction. The need for manpower planning is stressed. Some problems related to small student numbers are outlined and some options offered for solution of such problems.     

Preparing engineers for social responsibility

In this paper I introduce the contributions to a special section of the journal: one devoted to the question of how engineering curricula can or should contribute to the preparation of graduates for socially responsible decision making and conduct. The special section is motivated by the circumstance that, although there is broad agreement that engineering education has a role in preparing its graduates for social responsibility, there is a considerable lack of clarity as to how graduates should be prepared for social responsibility, and what this entails for the engineering curricula. Bucciarelli and Conlon both provide reasons why, in order to prepare graduates adequately for social responsibility, considerations of the organisational, social, legal and political context in which engineers operate need to be included in the teaching. Conlon, in addition, explores the possible contributions that the field of sociology can make to this teaching. Heikkerö focuses on the attitudes that are required for socially responsible professional practice and that should be taught in engineering education. Didier and Huet present the results of a survey on how the issue of corporate social responsibility is being discussed and taught in engineering education in France. Both Börsen and Zandvoort et al. report on courses that they teach, and which are aimed at preparing students for ethical and social responsibility.     

Major Issues in Developing Modern Curricula in Engineering and Technology Education

Curriculum development in engineering and technology education has become one of the most important issues for academic institutions concerned about the quality and effectiveness of their courses in an era of rapidly changing technology and production processes. The paper addresses some major issues which engineering and technology educators have to take into account when developing their university curricula. It demonstrates the use of the modelling method in the development of new curricula and educational structures. This particular method has been used in science, technology and engineering for many years and has already had a strong impact on this educational endeavour. The method is extremely efficient in planning a modem curriculum. Its chain structure provides an excellent opportunity for further system development Moreover, it allows for the restructuring and modernization of existing study systems without undesirable disturbances and heavy expenditures. The author and his colleagues have gathered enormous experience in designing, developing and implementing modem electrical engineering curricula with the application of the modelling method. This has been achieved by carrying out research and developmental activities under the auspices of the Electrical Engineering Education Research Group. The group was established in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Sydney and is currently an integral part of the UNESCO Supported International Centre for Engineering Education at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. This paper discusses an integrated approach to modelling a didactic process in engineering education and its application to designing a teaching‐learning system. It also discusses the important issues and strategies in the development of educational systems, showing some practical examples.     

Differential costs of curricula in Illinois public junior colleges: Some implications for the future

The purpose of this study was to determine and analyze the annual cost of operation including depreciation of movable capital equipment for educating one student in each curriculum of selected community colleges and to show the relationship of costs of vocational-technical curricula to the cost for common baccalaureate oriented curricula.A stratified sample of eight community colleges was drawn from those that had been in operation for at least five years.These data indicate that a majority of the courses offered in highly specialized curricula in both the occupational and baccalaureate categories were more expansive than those courses that were common to a wide variety of curricula.This study supports differential program funding to assure continued development of high quality vocational-technical programs in community colleges.     

From Integration of Curricula to the Pedagogy of Integrity

The literature on curricular integration in Jewish education has tended to focus on two basic paradigms. In the first paradigm, the integration of Jewish and general studies curricula represents the aspiration that the graduates of the institution will likewise integrate Jewish and general studies (or “Americanism” or “modernity”) in their lives. In the second paradigm, the integration of Jewish and general studies is conceptualized as a specific form of the more general educational desire for connection making. In this article, I critique specific articulations of these paradigms and argue instead for attention to the pedagogy of integrity.     

Fostering entrepreneurship education in engineering curricula in Greece. Experience and challenges for a Technical University

While entrepreneurship has emerged as an important mechanism for the generation of social returns in terms of economic growth and job creation, entrepreneurship education is still something new in Europe and the debate about the need and the way of introduction of specific entrepreneurship courses in higher education is on going. This paper deals with the introduction of entrepreneurship education in engineering curricula. More specific it presents the experience of the National Technical University in Greece, as a case in point for discussing the need of an interdisciplinary approach in designing engineering curricula. The main argument is that the introduction of entrepreneurship education in University curricula should not result as an application of policy initiatives only related to economic imperatives. It should be part of a more general discussion related to educational priorities and of a strategic design of University curricula in order to provide engineers with entrepreneurial and management skills that will enhance their profile in accordance with the new requirements of the knowledge-based economy.     

Teaching customer-centric operations management – evidence from an experiential learning-oriented mass customisation class

The increase of individualised customer demands and tough competition in the manufacturing sector gave rise to more customer-centric operations management such as products and services (mass) customisation. Mass customisation (MC), which inherits the ‘economy of scale’ from mass production (MP), aims to meet specific customer demands with near MP efficiency. Such an overarching concept has multiple impacts on operations management. This requires highly qualified and multi-skilled engineers who are well prepared for managing MC. Therefore, this concept should be properly addressed by engineering education curricula which needs to keep up with the emerging business trends. This paper introduces a novel course about MC and variety in operations management which recalls several Experiential Learning (EL) practices consistently with the principle of an active learning. The paper aims to analyse to which extent EL can improve the efficiency of the teaching methods and the retention rate in the context of operations management. The proposed course is given to engineering students whose’ perceptions are collected using semi-structured questionnaires and analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The paper highlights the relevance (i) of teaching MC, and (ii) of active learning in engineering education, through the specific application in the domain of MC.     

Needs Assessments: An Integrated Assignment in Civic Service

An undergraduate social work program developed a service‐learning experience in partnership with a local United Way organization to complete a community needs assessment project. The experience integrated the curricula of a social work research methods course and a generalist‐macro practice course with the principles and actions of experiential and service‐ learning, evidence based practice, and civic responsibility. This integrated curricula project yielded practical, “real world” outcomes for the local community and learning outcomes for the students. Needs assessments conducted by social students resulted in particular groups of community citizens receiving targeted services from agencies receiving funding from United Way. Evidence obtained from the students who participated in this experience indicates that two important learning outcomes were achieved; a heightened awareness of the local community's resource system and a sense of connection to the local community, along with the enhancement of students ‘self‐esteem and increased self‐confidence in their abilities.     

水污染控制工程课程体系改革探讨

针对现有“水污染控制工程”课程体系存在的主要问题,按照21世纪环境工程本科专业人才培养目标和模式,对与水污染控制工程有关的系列课程的教学内容及层次结构、教学安排进行了分析探讨,提出了新的“水污染控制工程”课程体系构建方案。     

The Software Factory: An Undergraduate Computer Science Curriculum

Industry often complains that current academic curricula fail to address the practical issues of real software development. This paper outlines a proposal for an innovative core curriculum for a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. The proposed core curriculum contains elements of traditional computer science programs combined with software engineering via a team-oriented, hands-on approach to large-scale software development. In addition to traditional lecture/ project/exam courses, students are required to take an eight-semester sequence of ‘Software Factory’ courses. Software Factory courses put the students' newly acquired skills to work in a real software organization staffed and managed by all students in the program. Students from all courses in the Software Factory sequence meet simultaneously to fulfill their roles in the software organization. We expect that the students will be better prepared software engineering practitioners after completing a curriculum that combines traditional courses with practical Software Factory experience.     

Textbook Questions in Context-Based and Traditional Chemistry Curricula Analysed from a Content Perspective and a Learning Activities Perspective

In this study, questions in context-based and traditional chemistry textbooks were analysed from two perspectives that are at the heart of chemistry curricula reforms: a content perspective and a learning activities perspective. To analyse these textbook questions, we developed an instrument for each perspective. In total, 971 textbook questions were analysed. Textbook questions in context-based and traditional curricula appeared to differ significantly in their orientation on content and in the activation to engage students in certain learning activities. Although traditional curricula included more questions that stress traditional chemistry content and included more reproductive chemistry questions than context-based curricula, they were not always as traditional as we had expected. Context-based chemistry curricula focused more on chemistry content relating to societal/technological issues and chemistry theory development and also more questions were included that activate students to regulate their own learning. However, context-based chemistry curricula still included a considerable amount of traditional chemistry content and did not focus as much on higher order learning as we had expected. The developed instruments might be helpful in chemistry curricula design to gain insights into the content which is stressed and how students are activated by textbook questions to engage in learning.