Outcomes for engineering students delivering a STEM education and outreach programme

University science outreach programmes are used to encourage more school students to select science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects in further education and pursue science-related careers. The benefits of science outreach programmes are often espoused from the perspective of programme participants. Little attention, however, is given to what university students delivering the programmes gain from the experience. This paper seeks to illustrate the benefits of engineering students delivering STEM outreach programmes in schools. It reports on a qualitative case study of the experiences of two STEM Education and Outreach team members from a regional university in Australia. Content analysis of interview data highlighted not only the participants’ motivations and perceived benefits of being involved in the STEM programme but also revealed the skills and attributes honed throughout the experience. Involvement in the STEM outreach programme resulted in the development of social and personal responsibility generic graduate attribute skills, evidenced through their motivations to be involved, the demonstration of understanding of teaching and learning, and application of science communication skills. This study demonstrates that designing and delivering STEM outreach programmes assists in the development of skills that will be beneficial when pursuing careers in engineering in the future.     

Examining the impact of four teaching development programmes for engineering teaching assistants*

As current graduate instructors of labs and class discussions, teaching assistants (TAs) play a critical role in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) undergraduate education, especially as some graduate students may choose a faculty career in the future. Because of the importance of TAs and their development as scholars and instructors, we sought to determine the most effective methods of preparing engineering TAs at two research universities. We compare the impact of a teaching orientation with one of four teaching development programmes (Pedagogy Course, Advanced Practice Teaching, Workshop Attendance with Written Reflection, or Mid-Semester Student Feedback with Written Reflection) on engineering TAs’ teaching efficacy and definitions of active learning. Results indicated that the Pedagogy Course consistently increased TAs’ teaching efficacy and attitudes toward teaching compared with the other programmes. We also found that stand-alone Mid-Semester Student Feedback with Written Reflection enhanced TAs’ efficacy for reflection and beliefs about teaching. We discuss implications for providing teaching development for graduate students and directions for future research.     

The role of mathematics learning centres in engineering education

Mathematics departments in many universities, in many countries, are under pressure. The demand for mathematics undergraduate programmes is diminish- ing and service mathematics is under threat. In particular, engineering schools are either reducing the number of mathematics courses in degree programmes or engineering staff are teaching mathematics as part of engineering analysis courses. There is also a strong trend in engineering education to make greater use of computer courseware like Mathcad, Matlab and other software systems for the mathematical and statistical components of engineering programmes. Engineer- ing education is undergoing substantial change. The mathematics of engineering programmes will need to change accordingly. Mathematics learning centres have been established in many universities world-wide. Initially their main role was to provide assistance for those who had insufficient levels of competency in pre- requisite mathematics. However, these centres can also make a very useful contribution to the latest trends in the mathematics education of engineering undergraduates. This paper will describe that contribution.     

工程地质在土木工程建设中处于基础性地位——兼地质工程类毕业设计的作用

在分析工程地质在土木工程专业中的地位和作用、进行地质工程类毕业设计意义的基础上,结合近几年的毕业设计情况,指出土木工程专业进行地质工程类毕业设计对学生将来工作的意义。     

Are current engineering graduates being treated as commodities by employers?

The employment scene for professionals of all sorts becomes more volatile with each decade. In engineering, graduates of past generations could reasonably look forward to a linear career trajectory characterized by upward mobility and advancement. A typical career back then might allow the graduate to move from strict technical work to creative design work, then on to technical management, and perhaps to general management—often within one firm. In contrast, today's engineering graduate is being told that a typical work pattern will probably involve six or eight or more major job changes during the working lifetime. What is not being said is that such job changes will often be lateral moves, not career progressions. The hiring of engineering graduates by non-traditional employers, seeking their problem-solving and analytical skills for resale to consulting clients, exacerbates the problem. This paper examines the causes of such changes in the engineering employment pattern, and offers suggestions for dealing with the troubling aspects of the current employment market-place.     

Developing a new industrial engineering curriculum using a systems engineering approach

This paper reports on the development of an engineering curriculum for a new industrial engineering programme at a medium-sized private university in the northeast United States. A systems engineering process has been followed to design and develop the new curriculum. Considering the programme curriculum as a system, first the stakeholders have been identified, and some preliminary analysis on their needs and requirements has been conducted. Following that, the phases of conceptual design, preliminary design, and detailed design have been pursued during which different levels of validation, assessment, and evaluation processes have been utilised. In addition, a curriculum assessment and continuous improvement process have been developed to assess the curriculum and the courses frequently. The resulting curriculum is flexible, allowing the pursuit of accelerated graduate programmes, a second major, various minor options, and study-abroad; relevant, tailored to the needs of industry partners in the vicinity; and practical, providing hands-on education, resulting in employment-ready graduates.     

An overview of the development of biochemical engineering education

Biochemical engineering has now been a serious discipline for over half a century. With the advent of the new millennium and the developments in biotechnology, information technology, nanotechnology and sustainability, it should play an ever increasing role in the understanding of biological processes for the benefit of all the stakeholders on planet Earth. Its evolution can be traced through major industrial, commercial, health and environmental products and events. This overview describes the parallel development of courses, curricula, conferences, texts and software by academia in conjunction with industry. Traditional modes of delivery are now being replaced by internet-based programmes enabling wider access and the creation of open and distance learning packages to satisfy the lifelong learning agenda. A series of five papers will appear in this and the next edition of the journal highlighting the significant new approaches to teaching biochemical engineering.     

Enhancing creativity and innovation in engineering education

With the rapid progress of modern civilization, creativity and innovation within a techno-economic perspective are becoming the major driving forces behind the sustainability of economic growth and competitive achievements. The current paper will focus on developing a clear concept of the terms creativity and innovation, and investigate their possible relation with engineering education. The parameters that could be essential for the enhancement of creativity or innovation are discussed from the perspective of the individual and the community. An engineering creativity enterprise diagram (ECED) is introduced to be reflective of the industrialization and technological level of any community as correlated to creativity and innovation. A systematic approach is designed to help developing the possible courses and activities that would enhance creativity and innovative skills and capabilities of a graduate engineer.     

Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering Education in Hungary

Engineering education has more than 200 years of tradition in Hungary. Chemical engineers are trained at the Technical University of Budapest (TUB) and at the University of Veszprém. The curriculum of the TUB chemical engineering education is given. Undergraduate environmental engineering education is offered at the University of Miskolc, at the Janus Pannonius University in Pécs and at the University of Veszprém. Curricula of the latter two are given. The TUB has several environmental specialization opportunities for engineering students, but at present no separate undergraduate environmental engineering education is offered. Such a curriculum is now under preparation and will be introduced in 1998. Several technical colleges also offer environmental engineering education, where the duration of the training is 3 years. Postgraduate education is a very suitable form to add environmental knowledge to the existing engineering knowledge of graduate engineers. The TUB and the universities in Miskolc and Veszprém are all very active in this field.     

Empathy among students in engineering programmes

Engineers face challenges when they are to manage project groups and be leaders for organisations because such positions demand skills in social competence and empathy. Previous studies have shown that engineers have low degrees of social competence skills. In this study, the level of empathy as measured by the four subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, perspective taking, fantasy, empathic distress and empathic concern, among engineering students was compared to students in health care profession programmes. Participants were undergraduate students at Linköping University, 365 students from four different health care profession programmes and 115 students from two different engineering programmes. When the empathy measures were corrected for effects of sex, engineering students from one of the programmes had lower empathy than psychology and social worker students on the fantasy and perspective-taking subscales. These results raise questions regarding opportunities for engineering students to develop their empathic abilities. It is important that engineering students acquire both theoretical and practical knowledge and skills regarding empathy.     

Graduate transition into work: the bridging role of graduate placement programmes in the small- and medium-sized enterprise workplace

This research looks at the role of graduate placement programmes in bridging the gap between higher education and the small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector. The research design and methodology used in this study was exploratory, in-depth and qualitative in nature. The research took the form of a multiple case study and focused on seven graduates with an engineering, science or technology background who have worked with SMEs. The graduates were employed by companies participating in the Fusion programme, a graduate placement and knowledge transfer programme currently running in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (the UK). The study shows that graduate placement programmes such as Fusion can help graduates in their transition to the SME workplace, but the impact can vary according to the individual placement context. Implications for policy and future research are considered.     

Developing and designing online engineering ethics instruction for international graduate students

The present project embarked on an educational intervention, consisting of a series of online ethics learning modules, to aid international graduate students in overcoming the acculturation barriers to understanding and inculcating normative ethical obligations associated with engineering practice and research in the United States. A fundamental initial step in the process of helping international, as well as domestic, engineering graduate students embrace ethical obligations is to provide clear instruction on fundamental engineering ethical principles and values relevant in the United States. Most institutes of higher education do not have a cohesive approach to basic graduate engineering ethics instruction, much less materials that have been calibrated for international students (National Science Foundation, , 2009). Herein the authors describe our instructional intervention, as well as to document the development, design, and assessment of the learning modules intended to provide students with a framework for learning ethical precepts and applying them in the engineering field. Think-Aloud Protocol and Cognitive Task Analysis results were used to improve the content modules and learning experience. Initial pilot findings indicate that the content modules increased student knowledge acquisition compared to pre-test performance, indicating a step-forward in the formulation of a useful learning tool for graduate engineering ethics instruction.     

Courses for teaching leadership capacity in professional engineering degrees in Australia and Europe

Recently, many educational institutions across the globe have implemented engineering leadership programmes either as a part of a formal engineering curriculum or where leadership development is embedded into separate in-house programmes. This shows the clear intent of these educational institutions to prepare their engineering students for solving real-world problems, recognising that both technical and leadership skills are valuable for tomorrow's engineers. Leadership programmes in engineering education have been implemented in various formats with varying degrees of success. It has already been identified in research studies that 80–90% of engineering leadership programmes offered explicitly across the globe were based in the United States of America. However, in Europe and Australia, there is a noticeable lack of engineering leadership programmes, particularly in undergraduate curricula. The programmes that are offered across Australia and Europe have distinct design and delivery styles but there are certain key features that are common to most of the programmes, including professional partnerships, mentoring, engineering design and project-based approaches.     

International dimension in engineering education

Engineers of the 21st century will spend appreciable portions of their careers in environments rich with global connections. Therefore, engineering colleges and universities must develop strategies that provide the global perspectives and international experiences that will help their graduates excel in this new world order. The current paper presents some European and American approaches to creating multi-organizational, international partnerships of academic and industrial organizations that emphasize collaborative educational programmes and research efforts that meet the globalization needs of faculty members, students, and industry.     

电子线路CAD技术在高职电子信息工程专业毕业设计中的应用

结合高职院校电子信息工程专业学生的毕业设计,探讨了电子线路CAD技术在毕业设计中的应用。通过分析高职院校毕业设计的要求以及电子线路CAD技术与电子信息工程专业的关系,指出了在毕业设计中应合理应用电子线路CAD技术从而提高学生运用专业知识及工程实践的能力。     

提高电气工程及其自动化专业毕业设计质量的研究与实践

本文结合电气工程及其自动化专业的实际情况,分析和总结了毕业设计的现状及存在的问题。从学生、指导教师、学校等多方面对影响毕业设计质量的问题进行了较全面地分析,并提出了相应的建议。     

Common elements of capstone projects in the world's top-ranked engineering universities

‘Capstone’ is a metaphor used to describe a final achievement that builds upon previous works and encapsulates them. Capstone projects are included in engineering curricula to integrate multi-disciplinary subjects and teach professional skills that are difficult to impart in a traditional lectured course. Since these projects serve to transition students into professional engineers, they have a direct impact on a university's industry reputation and ranking. Therefore, it is worthwhile to study the capstone programmes implemented at the world's top-ranked engineering universities to discover common elements which characterise them. In this paper, common elements of the capstone programmes implemented in mechanical and aerospace engineering undergraduate programmes in the world's top-ranked engineering universities are identified and analysed to determine established best practices. These practices can be modelled and applied to the pedagogy of engineering programmes at universities around the world to improve the development of professional skills of future graduates.     

Evaluation of Project-organized Engineering Education

The education of engineering graduates at Aalborg University is an exceptional experiment in an international context. The curriculum is project-organized from the day the new students arrive until their graduation. The work is project-organized and carried out in small project groups. An assessment of the results of our study programmes in engineering was carried out after almost 20 years of experience. This discovered that the graduates and their employers considered the programmes to be very suitable in preparing graduate engineers for the engineering professions. The assessment also revealed that the knowledge and experience which the graduates had gained in project work were considered to be of greater value for their professional activity than were the knowledge and experience gained from lectures etc. This paper presents a brief introduction to the educational concept and to the main results of the assessment.     

A case study of a college-wide first-year undergraduate engineering course

Introductory engineering courses are either programme specific or expose students to engineering as a broad discipline by including materials from various engineering programmes. A common introductory engineering course that spans different engineering programmes raises challenges, including the high cost of resources as well as the lack of background courses of first-year students. This paper presents the design, implementation and evaluation of a first-year common engineering course that uses low-cost materials to expose students to a structured engineering design process. The course is explicitly designed to satisfy the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology criteria for engineering programmes. Our experience with the course shows that not only students are able to follow a structured design process successfully but we also believe that most of the ABET criteria are being delivered through the course.