Theme D: interaction between engineering education and industrial development

Within a conference devoted to the interaction between engineering education and society, it was only natural to give a place to the contribution of engineering education to industrial development. This rich and undoubtedly delicate topic has been dealt with from three viewpoints:

— the contribution of educational establishments to the actualization of engineers' technological knowledge.

— the participation of industry in the precise definition of curricula.

— the contribution of engineering education to the industrial growth of developing countries.     

CREATION OF A CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL CO‐OPERATION AND SERVICES AT THE OPEN UNIVERSITY

During the late 1960s the United Kingdom was one of many countries which faced a potential educational crisis arising from a growing demand for post‐secondary education linked with inadequate resources for its conventional provision.

“Distance learning” techniques, providing an alternative form of study based on multi‐media methods outside formal educational systems, have emerged in response to this new demand.

Within the sector of higher education the Open University of the United Kingdom is one of the most comprehensive distance learning systems.

Many requests have been made to the University for information on distance education and for advice and assistance in establishing similar ventures elsewhere. In response to these developments the University Senate has created recently a Centre for International Co‐operation and Services (CICS).

We give below information on the main functions of this Centre within the framework of the Open University activities.     

Information Skills in Education for Manufacturing Technology: the Case for an Integrated Quality Approach

Considerable ‘user education’ work of high quality has been produced from academic librarians to impart information skills to students on degree-level and diploma BTEC engineering courses. However, in the author's opinion, this lacks a focus on some points of importance for the effective teaching of potential engineers and technologists, This requires the following.

(1) More case-studies of engineering problems highlighting information retrieval aspects.

(2) More accurate grounding in the way engineers actually use information.

(3)Better integration between lectures, information guides, exercises and test material.

(4)Greater emphasis on the analysis stage of technical problems, and linkage to types of available information to help generate solutions—information needs analysis.

Scope exists for packaged teaching material incorporating improvements and drawing upon advances in educational technology such as CAL methods. The author attaches a sample scheme based on advanced manufacturing themes, developed for the BTEC Production Engineering course at Coventry Polytechnic in the UK.     

Between Tradition and Progress: Oldenburg University's Model Plan for Comprehensive Teacher Training

Since early 1974, a pilot project for integrated teacher training has been in progress at Oldenburg University. This is currently the only extensive teacher training reform which exist in the German Federal Republic.

All plans for this integrated training program are designed to provide training normally encompassed by the traditional two‐stage programm.

The integrated training program includes:

- studies in the areas of education and social science;

- studies in two major subjects which are later to be taught at school;

- practical studies and activities.

The new model leads to the following degrees:

- nine semesters of study for a Certificate of Qualification for primary and lower‐level secondary school;

- eleven semesters for a Certificate of Qualification for higher‐level secon dary school and the education of exceptional children.

Theoretic training in major subject areas and related didactic training as well as education and social studies take place chiefly in the form of projects. A basic assumption is that interdisciplinary projects which are practice‐ and problemoriented permit a highly desirable integration of theory and practice on the whole.

In the project, contact teachers are an essential link between field practice at school and academic training at the university. Contact teachers are under contact to the university for an extended period of time (generally three years). In place of remunation, their teaching loads are reduced by ten hours per week.

In 1978/79 the project will be put to the test as the first generation of students prepares for State Board Examinations.     

Historical and Sociological Perspectives of the Contemporary Kindergarten in the USA

Kindergarten education in the US has a rich heritage. The roots date back to the influence of Froebel with an emphasis on play and to Susan Blow and her concern for the whole child. Comenius regarded early childhood and kindergarten as an inseparable part of education and society as a whole rather than a separate entity. His belief parallels the contemporary approach to kindergarten, as it is increasingly being viewed on a continuum in the educational process.

Significant societal and educational changes in the US during the last two decades have influenced kindergarten education for five‐year‐olds. The American family structure has been effected by the increased divorce rate, the economy, and the increase in two‐employed parents.

Education changes include a shift to an emphasis on standardised testing at all levels, accountability, and the incorporation of four‐year‐olds in public schools. The result has been a ‘spiraling down’ of academic expectations.

In addition, schools are responding to the needs of demographic shifts in the nature of the population. Increasing numbers of children have multicultural backgrounds and English in their second language.

These societal and educational changes have precipitated the movement to the all day kindergarten. As more and more schools offer an all day experience to kindergarten children, numerous issues surface that challenge the original purpose of kindergarten. Entrance age, screening practices, retention, commercial books and materials are all influencing the nature of the all day kindergarten.

The current focus in the US on developmental appropriate practice places the emphasis on child‐centred programs that utilise hands‐ on learning and attention to the development of the whole child. A strong parent education and involvement component, a rich environment, and a qualified teacher are components of a quality kindergarten program. These issues and trends will be discussed within the context of the historical perspective of kindergarten education. The results of a current and thorough literature review will be shared with participants.     

The language of compromise — interpreting industrial requirements in educational terms

There is no doubt that it is possible to identify some of the key factors which operate in the area of interaction between industry and engineering educators, and the following are typical:

— industry must have a clear idea of its requirement for qualified engineers;

— the role of the engineer in industry — extending from research, development and production into the service area and into society (with the implied social responsibility);

— the time constraints in the educational system in relation to the rate of growth of knowledge and the consequent problems associated with course planning;

— the continuing challenge to the role of university education arising from the demands of industry and from very close links with sectors of industry or particular industrial companies.     

On defining distance education

Four generally accepted definitions of distance education are analysed and from them six components of a comprehensive definition are chosen. The forms of education that are considered to fall within the concept of distance education as outlined are considered from the point of view of choice of medium, institutional type and didactic model. Various forms of education that bear some similarities to distance education but are not to be identified with it are described. The term ‘distance education’ is proposed as the most satisfactory solution to the problem of terminology.

The term ‘distance education’ covers the various forms of study at all levels which are not under the continuous, immediate supervision of tutors present with their students in lecture rooms or on the same premises, but which, nevertheless, benefit from the planning, guidance and tuition of a tutorial organisation.

(Holmberg,1977:9)

Distance education is education which either does not imply the physical presence of the teacher appointed to dispense it in the place where it is received or in which the teacher is present only on occasion or for selected tasks.

(Loi 71.556 du 12 juillet 1971)

Distance teaching/education (Fernunterricht) is a method of imparting knowledge, skills and attitudes which is rationalised by the application of division of labour and organisational principles as well as by the extensive use of technical media, especially for the purpose of reproducing high quality teaching material which makes it possible to instruct great numbers of students at the same time wherever they live. It is an industrialised form of teaching and learning.

(Peters, 1973:206)

Distance teaching may be defined as the family of instructional methods in which the teaching behaviours are executed apart from the learning behaviours, including those that in a contiguous situation would be performed in the learner's presence, so that communication between the teacher and the learner must be facilitated by print, electronic, mechanical or other devices.

(Moore, 1973:664)     

Patterns of Teacher Education in Italy

An outline of the organisation of education in Italy stresses its characteristics as a centralised system supported by consultation with grass‐roots levels. Local coordination should be ensured by the so‐called ‘Organi Collegiali’ (participatory bodies).

The system is aware of the need to promote a real change in the pedagogical‐educational approach to teaching and learning, and recent reforms have implemented structural innovations and have required changes in the teachers’ roles and functions.

The new professional profile of the teacher points out the need for initial and in‐service education and training; given the insufficient provisions available, in 1979 the Ministry of Education, in cooperation with OECD, has initiated a project for introducing PRESET pilot projects in a number of Italian universities.

The MPI/OECD Project has gone through a four‐phase preparation process, including a background report, a national seminar, feasibility studies, planning of pilot projects.

The basic ideas were to improve the scientific/cultural and methodological preparation of teachers: curricula of study must ensure an appropriate balance between scientific knowledge in a subject‐matter or in a discipline area and educational studies. Teaching practice is considered as essential all through the course of study.

Starting November 1983 the University of Bologna will start a PRESET course of study for primary school teachers as a joint activity between the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Sciences.

Other projects are on study at other universities.     

The mentor role in individualized education at Empire State College

This paper discusses the role of mentors in individualized learning at Empire State College, New York State. The discussion implicitly questions roles and procedures in distance education.

This individualized learning programme is defined and illustrated. The components of the role of mentor are likewise defined and illustrated. Then the implications of being a mentor working with individual students are spelt out as they illuminate the relationships of mentors in academia.

The conclusion is offered that the mentor's commitment to his/her students is an exhibition of his/her fundamental commitment to a philosophical stance in education which surmounts primary loyalty to one's academic faculty.

The final whimsical question is whether or not individualized learning and distance education are compatible or conflicting.     

The Official Institutions for the Promotion of Educational Change in Italy

The author describes the formal structures which have been established to support the process of educational change in Italy.

There is a sound legislative base: a series of laws passed since 1973 create both a new model of school and the procedures and organisations designed to facilitate its emergence, including councils at the class and school level. The right and duty of teachers to engage on in‐service education is firmly recognised as an essential component in school development.

The European Centre for Education and the Pedagogical Documentation Library are mentioned, but the author dwells at greater length on the Regional Institutes for Educational Research, Experimentation and In‐Service Training (IRRSAE). He provides a detailed explanation of the duties of the IRRSAE and of their organisation and functioning.

The IRRSAE are widely regarded as key institutions in educational development in Italy.     

Goal Aspects of Teacher Education

Despite the central role of teachers in any education system, teacher education is frequently the weakest of the links in the process of educational reform.

In examining this problem, the author focuses on the question of the goal aspects of teacher education. Examples from the Federal Republic identify some of the constraints affecting goal achievement; these include legalistic, traditionalist and socio‐economic constraints. The more open the society, the more visible are these difficulties.

The article then examines in depth five separate goal aspects of teacher training: the economic (income), social (status), formal‐legal (position), professional (everyday activity) and socio‐educational (system); these factors interrelate one to the other.

Some desiderata for the development of teacher education are identified. These include a view of the teacher as reformer, recognition of the realities of teacher employment, and also a realisation that the ‘school of tomorrow’ poses a challenge to ‘the school of today’.     

Teacher Education in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

Teacher education in Czechoslovakia is part of a unified national provision of education; this covers in‐service as well as pre‐service training. The basis is that of training at Higher education level followed by life‐long upgrading.

The Marxist‐Leninist view is that the quality of the teacher is central to the educational process. Consequently, the initial and in‐service training of the teacher are of paramount importance, and the Czechoslovak system aims at an integrated approach to the entire process. In this process, acquisition of ideological, as well as professional, maturity, is seen as essential. Equally, the teacher must master his chosen discipline (s) in the scientific sense.

Additionally, it is important that the teacher be able to participate actively in the community—in, for example, family education, health care and concern for the environment.

Against this background of goals, the author outlines the Czechoslovak institutional provision for initial training, conditions for enrolment and the process of obtaining a post, before providing an in‐depth examination of the country's provision of in‐service education. A final section emphasises the position of the teacher in society, and specifically in socialist society. The teacher is, quite simply, a key figure and teacher education has to be built around this fact.

Svatopluk S. Petrá?ek is Professor of Education and Director of the European Centre of the Charles University for Further Education of Teachers.     

The Gap between Theory and Practice

This contribution outlines the state of the art of the recent developments in teacher education for Secondary education in the Netherlands.

In the first section an overall picture is given from the different types of teacher training, their certification and their developments.

In the second section two key‐issues in teacher training are discussed, particularly the different training concepts and the developments in teaching practice in schools. Specific attention is given to the training of the co‐operating teachers.

In the third section two of the author's research projects are reviewed: the first is a project on problems of beginning teachers, and the second a project on teaching practice in schools.     

Education for the Teaching Profession: Upstart or Start‐up?

Robert Howsam prefaced his paper with the story of The Velveteen Rabbit, a very ordinary, cheap rabbit who was loved by his owner for only an hour on Christmas morning, and spurned by the other toys‐‐those which were expensive, mechanical, very modern, or exquisitely detailed‐‐until he felt very insignificant and commonplace. His only friend was the Skin Horse. The oldest inhabitant of the nursery, he was battered, bald and showed his seams, but he was also wise and experienced.

"What is REAL?”, asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the Nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having that buzz inside you and a stick‐out handle?"

“Real isn't how you are made”, said the Skin Horse. “It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

Rabbit also learned that becoming Real sometimes hurt, and that it takes a long time. “That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.”

Eventually the Boy and the Rabbit became inseparable. One night, when Rabbit was left in the garden, an annoyed Nanny, having had to collect him, chided the Boy for making such a fuss over an old toy.

“You musn't say that’, said the Boy. “He isn't a toy. He's Real.”

And Rabbit was happy.

Real rabbits, who found him one day in the garden, laughed at hint when he said he was Real, but, in time, when he was old and shabby and about to be burned with all the other toys after a scarlet fever infection, the nursery Magic Fairy appeared. She was going to turn him into a Real rabbit.

“Wasn't I Real before?”, asked the little Rabbit.

“You were real to the Boy”, the Fairy said, “because he loved you. Now you shall be Real to everyone.”.     

Assessing pre-service science teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) through observations and lesson plans

Background: Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) is critical for effective teaching with technology. However, generally science teacher education programs do not help pre-service teachers develop TPACK.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess pre-service science teachers' TPACK over a semester-long Science Methods.

Sample: Twenty-seven pre-service science teachers took the course toward the end of their four-year teacher education program.

Design and method: The study employed the case study methodology. Lesson plans and microteaching observations were used as data collection tools. Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge-based lesson plan assessment instrument (TPACK-LpAI) and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Observation Protocol (TPACK-OP) were used to analyze data obtained from observations and lesson plans.

Results: The results showed that the TPACK-focused Science Methods course had an impact on pre-service teachers’ TPACK to varying degrees. Most importantly, the course helped teachers gain knowledge of effective usage of educational technology tools.

Conclusion: Teacher education programs should provide opportunities to pre-service teachers to develop their TPACK so that they can effectively integrate technology into their teaching.     

Cognitive Style and Problem Behaviour in Boys Referred to Residential Special Schools

The paper considers aberrant behaviour in the context of cognitive style with reference to both diagnosis and treatment.

Aims.

The aims of the study were to investigate whether the style of pupils with behaviour problems was different from that of children with no reported problems, and also to consider how pupils of different style manifested their problem behaviours.

Sample.

The sample comprised 83 male pupils aged 10‐18 years from two residential special schools.

Method.

The sample were given the Cognitive Styles Analysis to assess their positions on the Wholist‐Analytic and Verbal‐Imagery style dimensions. The pupil records of the special school pupils who were at the extreme of the style dimensions were also examined.

Results.

When their style characteristics were contrasted with a Comparison Sample of 413 12‐16‐year‐old males attending 10 secondary schools, the special school pupils had a significantly higher proportion of both Wholists and Verbalisers, than the Comparison Group. Further, the inspection of the records indicated that the types of social behaviour and behaviour problems exhibited varied with style, and particularly on the Wholist‐Analytic dimension.

Conclusion.

The results were considered to have implications for the origins and treatment of problem behaviour.     

The Professional Development of Adult Educators: Some Structural and Methodological Considerations

The case is stated for a scheme of professional training for adult educators, which should at once be

_____ comprehensive and unified;

_____ able to take into account the particular possibilities of individual adult educators; and

_____ easily adjustable to the particular needs within the community.

Such a scheme can only be realized through the application of a modular structure. A scheme like this is being developed at Gwent College of Higher Education for a professional training programme which will give a Certificate in Continuing Education, conferring full teacher status in adult and further education. This development is used to illustrate the points the author wants to make. The development of a programme on such a scheme raises considerable structural and methodological problems, which are discussed and compared with what is done elsewhere.     

The Ideology of Health Education in Schools

This paper examines the dominant themes which underlie many of the health education materials used in schools, and explores whether these are the most appropriate if health education is to make a significant contribution to either children's health or their education.

The overall approach to health education is identified as highly individualistic in its emphasis on individual responsibilities, attributes and skills necessary for achieving health. Contradictions, distortions and gaps inherent in this model are revealed. These contribute to identifying this kind of health education as an ideology, which serves least the needs and interests of those children who are likely to experience the greatest ill‐health.

The ways in which this approach is inappropriate for schoolchildren are illustrated by a case study, which compares the drinking experiences of a group of children with the alcohol education materials designed for them.

To conclude, improvements to both health education for slow learners and more generally to health education in schools are discussed. These include the development of an approach which is both child‐centred, and critical in locating individual choices about health within the social, economic and political contexts of local communities and wider society.

     

SICA: a CAD Tool for System Analysis

In this paper, the main features of SICA are discussed: These include

˙ implementing a bloc diagram of a system using a flexible data structure and a high level language, and

˙ time domain and frequency domain analysis of an implemented system.

The system could be linear, non-linear, continuous or discrete. Also outlined are the main extensions and applications of SICA.