Problem-based learning: student perceptions of its value in developing professional skills for engineering practice

ABSTRACT

This study explores students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) design project, taken as part of a first-year engineering module, in developing professional skills needed for engineering practice. Students completed surveys before and after the PBL group project, and produced personal reflections on the process. The closed survey questions were analysed quantitatively and the main themes from the reflections outlined using General Inductive Analysis. Students rated themselves as having improved across a range of professional skills as a result of the project, with particular emphasis on teamwork, communication skills, understanding of the design process and self-directed learning. In addition, they highlighted improved confidence, as well as new friendships they developed, an important element of a module like this as they transition from secondary to higher education. They were particularly positive about the scaffolded approach taken within the PBL project in terms of its contribution to their learning.     

工程伦理教育中案例教学的必要性与改革研究

重视工程伦理教育是当今世界各国工程教育发展的共同趋势。以培养学生工程伦理实践能力为取向的工程伦理案例教学是工程伦理教育的重要方法,工程伦理案例教学适应了工程教育回归实践的需要,也适应了“新工科”人才培养的需要,实现了工程伦理案例的教育学转换。为保证工程伦理案例教学效果,对工程伦理案例的教学设计与学习架构,要体现跨域整合与高阶学习相结合、自我建构与多向互动相结合、循序渐进与典型针对相结合、新型评价与教学分析相结合     

Toward professional practice: student learning opportunities through participation in engineering clubs

ABSTRACT

Clubs constitute a prominant co-curricular activity to prepare students for effective professional careers, yet the role of engineering clubs in students' professional formation is poorly understood. This qualitative, comparative case study investigated three student engineering clubs at a large American public university. The clubs included a domestic chemical reaction car competition; a formula racing club that partners with a German team and competes both domestically and internationally; and a humanitarian engineering club centred on service learning projects in developing countries. Data collection included semi-structured interviews with participants (N?=?19) and observations of club work sessions (N?=?27). Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as the analytical framework, the transcribed interviews were coded to characterise the activity in each club. The findings demonstrate that a confluence of elements, especially decision-making rules and division of labour, leads to a fundamentally distinct activity system in each club. Consequently, each club differs in the ways it influences students’ professional formation. More generally, this study illustrates the potential of CHAT for analysis of co-curricular activity that can lead to alternative approaches to activity design.     

An educational practices framework: the potential for empowerment of the teaching profession

This paper outlines new educational policy initiatives that have been recently introduced to Australian schooling contexts and describes the challenges of providing rich and empowering professional development opportunities for classroom teachers and educational leaders in an era of heightened accountability and change. A framework for large-scale professional learning is proposed; one that adopts a theoretical lens associated with practice architectures, situated within community- and individual-focused professional learning experiences. The theoretical component of the model has been utilised effectively in a number of countries, while the personalised learning component is drawn from an evidence-based project that established a national learning framework.     

课外学分在应用型通信工程专业人才培养模式中的作用

通信工程是一门很前沿的学科,理论与应用结合非常紧密。为尊重学生个性,拓宽专业口径,把理论知识与社会实践能力有机结合起来,我们探索了比较全面、合理的应用型通信工程专业人才培养方案,制定了一套适合九江学院通信专业的课外学分制。     

论我国法学教育理念缺失及其重塑

我国法学本科教育长期以来奉行的是＂宽口径＂培养理念,易造成理论与实践脱节。而且在对学生职业伦理以及法律文化素养的塑造方面还存在着诸多不足,最终反映在法律实践中诱发许多现实问题,影响到社会公众对司法职业的正向评价。对法学教育理念进行深度重塑,应当成为我国法律教育改革的重要方向。     

民族院校师德建设的现状及其对策

民族院校是我国教育特殊而重要的组成部分,师德是提升民族院校办学质量和效益的关键。民族院校师德建设是民族地区政治、社会稳定的内在要求,是传承优秀文化的重要要求,是民族地区经济发展的迫切要求。当前民族院校师德存在的问题主要有政治观念淡漠、教师职业行为失准、对学生缺乏爱心、教学责任心下降、教书育人意识比较淡薄、为人师表的模范表率作用有待强化、治学态度不够严谨等。民族院校加强师德教育是关键,完善师德建设的制度保障是重点,健全师德评价体系是难点。     

How to address the volitional dimension of the engineer's social responsibility

In this paper I argue that volitional aspects, i.e. ethos, attitude, pathos, will, underlying emotion, in engineering action need to be addressed when teaching social responsibility within the engineering curriculum. After presenting reasons for this claim, I look at two different, but not mutually exclusive, approaches to address volitional aspects. First, the recent revival of virtue ethics can be applied in engineering ethics. A moderate version of virtue ethics can explicitly elaborate on the engineering virtues. The second way makes use of various processes, e.g. research, design, learning, negotiation, decision-making, and reconciliation as processes, as a forum for teaching. This approach can be used to indirectly reveal the functionality and dysfunctionality of different attitudes to the students. Practical didactic suggestions are presented.     

职业道德教育的中外比较研究及启示

本文从职业道德的含义和职业道德的指导思想、教学形式、课堂内容等方面对中外职业道德教育进行了比较研究,并以案例的形式强调了中外职业道德教育内容的差异。通过比较研究,提出当前我国职业道德教育亟待解决两个问题:选择恰当的方式对学生进行职业道德灌输,培养学生的职业道德价值观和职业道德推理能力。     

电力系统及其自动化专业学位硕士实践课程中教学案例构建研究

本文研究了面向电力系统及其自动化专业学位硕士研究生、构建专业实践课程的教学案例库建立方法。通过分析当前电力系统及其自动化专业学位硕士课程设置存在的问题,结合该专业涵盖的研究方向,重点研究了以电力科技项目为背景的两个教学案例建立方法。通过案例描述、课程作业要求及专业实践能力培养三个方面详细设计,反映了案例对提升学生电力实际生产认知和专业实践能力具有显著意义。     

The role of social capital for teacher professional learning and student achievement: A systematic literature review

This systematic review synthesises research on social capital in relation to teachers and teacher professional learning between the years 2004–2019. The study was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement and the Weight of Evidence framework for quality and relevance appraisal. After applying eligibility criteria, 66 empirical items were included in the final review. The review finds that social capital among teachers has been associated with five categories of outcomes: 1) teacher professional development, 2) the implementation of change, 3) the introduction of new and beginning teachers, 4) teacher retention and job satisfaction, and 5) improved student achievement. These have, in turn, been associated with the implicit outcome of promoting educational equity. A synthesis of enablers and barriers to building social capital among teachers identifies the pervasive role of organisational structures for moderating the relationship between social capital and these outcomes. Findings indicate that different organisational structures may foster different social capital dimensions, such as bonding, bridging, and linking. More research is needed on the relationship between these dimensions and schools' organisational structure to promote the desired outcomes of teacher social capital identified in this review.     

汽车服务工程专业实践环节设置的研究

本文在汽车服务工程专业人才培养目标以及理论课程群教学体系设置的前提下。阐述了应用型汽车服务工程专业人才培养对实践环节要求的重要性,重点探讨了该专业在实践环节的设置。     

On the developing role of physical models in engineering design education

Recent research, undertaken using participative observation methods within the Leonardo Da Vinci project ‘Open-Dynamic-Design’, provides evidence that EU industrial practice continues to value the flexibility of physical models across a range of disciplines. This research is placed within the philosophical educational framework established by Schon and examples of implementation within the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering disciplines at the University of Glasgow are discussed. It is argued that physical models support the concurrent optimisation of design and manufacturing processes and that they represent a continuing generic tool to support engineering design education.     

Relative importance of professional practice and engineering management competencies

Problem: The professional practice of engineering always involves engineering management, but it is difficult to know what specifically to include in the undergraduate curriculum. Approach: The population of New Zealand practising engineers was surveyed to determine the importance they placed on specific professional practice and engineering management competencies. Findings: Results show that communication and project planning were the two most important topics, followed by others as identified. The context in which practitioners use communication skills was found to be primarily with project management, with secondary contexts identified. The necessity for engineers to develop the ability to use multiple soft skills in an integrative manner is strongly supported by the data. Originality: This paper is one of only a few large-scale surveys of practising engineers to have explored the soft skill attributes. It makes a didactic contribution of providing a ranked list of topics which can be used for designing the curriculum and prioritising teaching effort, which has not previously been achieved. It yields the new insight that combinations of topics are sometimes more important than individual topics.     

Value creation in the engineering enterprise: an educational perspective

ABSTRACT

This position paper sets out to examine value creation in the engineering enterprise, a process that has mostly been associated with innovation and entrepreneurs. An analysis of the literature on engineering value creation in business studies, engineering and engineering education publications shows that there has been surprisingly little empirical study and thus the means by which most engineers contribute value is unclear in the literature. Analysis of published data and data from studies by the authors in engineering workplaces in Australia, South East Asia and Portugal suggests that the work performed by most engineers has little to do with innovation. Based on these data the authors identify 14 ways in which engineers create value. An important finding is that routine engineering performances by a majority of engineers, not associated with innovation or entrepreneurial activities, not only can be shown to create value, but also to protect accumulated value from inadvertent destruction. The paper outlines the educational implications of these findings and proposes measures that engineering educators can adopt to improve the understanding of engineering graduates about engineering value creation.     

中职“职业道德与法律”中运用案例教学探微

中职学校作为培养社会专业技术人才的重要基地,在开展技术教学的同时还需要加强法律与道德教育,以促进学生的全面发展。文章主要分析中职"职业道德与法律"运用案例教学的原则与优势,对案例教学的过程及措施进行探讨。     

从逻辑到实践:当代大学生入党信仰教育的维度建构与效度生成

随着党执政能力的不断提高与高校招生规模的不断扩大,大学生党员人数剧增,信仰教育成为高校党建工作的重要议题。基于"七一讲话"精神与科学发展观意蕴对大学生入党信仰教育进行从逻辑到实践的路径探究,在信仰教育的维度建构中帮助大学生树立科学信仰,在实践中探寻有效的现实操作增强信仰教育的实效性。     

会计职业判断下的会计职业道德重塑

以原则导向为主的新准则使得会计处理的弹性空间加大,更加凸显了会计职业判断在准则执行过程中最直接、最主动的核心地位。会计职业判断这个决策过程的执行要求会计人员具备诚实、正直的品德以及高度的责任感,由此引发了会计职业道德的风险和冲突。在目前整个道德环境急需改善的情况下,重塑会计职业道德是很有现实意义的。     

论高师院校图书馆在学生师德养成中的作用

师德养成是高师院校学生的必修课程,但是仅仅依靠课堂教学是远远不够的,还需要第二课堂的学习和渗透。从图书馆文献资源建设、文化氛围、馆员师德修养等几个层面分别论述高师院校图书馆在学生师德养成中独特的作用。     

中小学应加强对青少年社会角色意识的培养

笔者从青少年社会角色意识这一角度对经常见诸于报端的青少年问题进行分析,指出不良行为的发生是角色不清所引起的.针对这一分析提出,中小学校应该加强对青少年社会角色意识的培养,防止角色失败给个人、家庭和社会带来的损失.同时,笔者就中小学对青少年角色意识的培养提出若干值得注意的问题,以期青少年尽早树立正确的社会角色意识.