应用型卓越工程师的基本能力及素质培养

应用型卓越工程师的基本能力包括学习能力、分析解决问题能力、开发设计能力、管理与沟通合作能力、危机处理能力和国际交流合作能力。基本素质包括良好的工程职业道德、较强的社会责任感和较好的人文科学素养。针对普通工科院校应用型卓越工程师在学校阶段的培养途径,提出通过改革课堂教学,强化实践教学和拓宽实践渠道,将素质教育贯穿教学全过程,培养学生的工程实践能力、创新能力和良好的现代工程意识。     

Investigating invisible writing practices in the engineering curriculum using practice architectures

ABSTRACT

Writing practices are seen to be essential for professional engineers, yet many engineering students and academics struggle with written communication, despite years of interventions to improve student writing. Much has been written about the importance of getting engineering students to write, but there has been a little investigation of engineering academics’ perceptions of writing practices in the curriculum, and the extent to which these practices are visible to their students and to the academics. This paper draws on research from an ongoing study into the invisibility of writing practices in the engineering curriculum using a practice architectures lens. The paper uses examples from the sites of practice of two participants in the study to argue that prevailing practices in engineering education constrain more than enable the development and practice of writing in the engineering curriculum.     

Which Techno-mathematical Literacies Are Essential for Future Engineers?

Due to increased use of technology, the workplace practices of engineers have changed. So-called techno-mathematical literacies (TmL) are necessary for engineers of the 21st century. Because it is still unknown which TmL engineers actually use in their professional practices, the purpose of this study was to identify these TmL. Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with engineers with a background in different educational tracks in higher professional education (e.g. civil, chemical, biotechnical and mechanical engineering). As a result of the data analysis, 7 commonly used TmL are identified: data literacy, technical software skills, technical communication skills, sense of error, sense of number, technical creativity and technical drawing skills. Engineers also noted a discrepancy between their education and workplace needs; they characterized mathematics in their education as an island with limited relevance. These findings lead to recommendations for the future of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in higher technical professional education that can help students learn STEM for the future.     

工作过程导向下高职教师职业能力之构建——以闽西职业技术学院为例

在工作过程导向课程的开发与建设中,高职教师在课程开发理念、开发与设计能力、项目系统选择与课程实施、专业实践技能、教师队伍机制建设与创新等方面存在突出问题.加强培训与项目驱动,提高课程开发设计能力;强化专家指导与说课实践,培养课程教学实施能力;推进企业挂职与工程实践,增强教师岗位实践能力;深化校企合作,提升技术应用与研发能力;创新教师管理机制等是提升高职教师职业能力的有效途径.     

An approach to developing independent learning and non-technical skills amongst final year mining engineering students

There is mounting evidence to show that engineers need more than technical skills to succeed in industry. This paper describes a curriculum innovation in which so-called ‘soft’ skills, specifically inter-personal and intra-personal skills, were integrated into a final year mining engineering course. The instructional approach was designed to promote independent learning and to develop non-technical skills, essential for students on the threshold of becoming practising engineers. Three psychometric tests were administered at the beginning of the course to make students aware of their own and their classmates’ characteristics. Substantial prescribed reading assignments preceded weekly group discussions. Several projects during the course required team work skills and application of content knowledge to real-world contexts. Results obtained from students’ reflection papers, assignments related to ‘soft’ skills and end of course evaluations suggest that students’ appreciation of the need for these skills, as well as their own perceived competence, increased during the course. Their ability to function as independent learners also increased.     

Project-based learning as a contributing factor to graduates’ work readiness

This paper explores what work readiness means for two cohorts of graduate engineers, one from a traditional curriculum, the second from a largely project-based curriculum. Professional bodies and employers have defined a set of attributes for engineering graduates so that graduates will be ‘work ready’. Problem-based learning (PBL) is claimed to be a suitable approach to develop such skills. The graduates were interviewed some months after starting work, along with their managers. All the graduates recognised the benefits of taking PBL subjects as well as vacation work, with success in communication attributed more to PBL. Both cohorts had similar learning outcomes, high skill levels in project management, problem solving, communication skills, research and sustainability. A skills gap in ethics was identified for both cohorts of graduates and their managers. Further work is planned to link skill development with undergraduate learning experience.     

Management Education for Engineers: the case of Saudi Arabia [1]

This paper investigates the continuing education needs and career path development of engineers in Saudi Arabia. A survey of practising engineers in the Kingdom teas conducted. This was supplemented by in-depth interviews with experts in industry. The paper focuses on three issues: (i) the changing job responsibilities as engineers move into management; (ii) the actual, recommended and required undergraduate preparation for engineers in management topics; and (iii) the specific topics in management of merest to engineers. It is recommended that universities and private/public organisations should join together in providing continuing education to the professional engineer. This is necessary for the engineer to fulfil both his technical and managerial responsibilities.     

The Educational Needs of Graduate Mechanical Engineers in New Zealand

During the restructuring of the Mechanical Engineering degree course at the University of Auckland it became evident that there was a requirement for more information concerning “what mechanical engineers do!” and “what knowledge or skills are required by them to perform this function”. In order to resolve these questions two surveys, one involving graduates and the other undergraduates, were undertaken.

The graduate survey demonstrated that the dominant work activities of New Zealand mechanical engineers were design and consultancy. In addition, the results showed that graduate engineers rapidly migrate into management, with 80% of them being responsible for staff within 15 years of leaving university.

Both surveys show that the acquisition of skills is more highly valued than the acquisition of engineering knowledge and that management and interpersonal skills are more highly prized than those skills which could be considered to be manual. The knowledge-based topics which were found to be important were those that related to the professional and managerial aspects of engineering. The most valued scientific topics were those which could be considered as being the most general, such as strength of materials and thermodynamics.

An examination of the effectiveness of the various types of training available at university showed that the most valued training methods were those with high levels of personal supervision. The normal teaching methods used in universities—lectures and tutorials—were considered to be relatively ineffective.     

Teaching design in the first years of a traditional mechanical engineering degree: methods,issues and future perspectives

Engineering design is known as an answer to an ill-defined problem. As any answer to an ill-defined problem, it can never be completely right or absolutely wrong. The methods that universities use to teach engineering design, as a consequence of this, suffer from the same fate. However, the accumulated experience with the ‘chalk and talk’ teaching tradition has led to a reality in which the employers of fresh graduates are not happy with the engineers they are getting. Part of their complaints are related with the inability of recently graduate engineers to work in problems where the boundaries are not well defined, are interdisciplinary, require the use of effective communication and integrate non-technical issues. These skills are mostly absent from traditional engineering curricula. This paper demonstrates the implementation of engineering design perspectives enhancing some of the aforementioned skills in a traditional mechanical engineering curriculum. It emphasises in particular a design project that is tackled in a sequence of conventional courses with a focus that depends on the course objectives and disciplinary domain. This transdisciplinary design project conveys the idea (and effectively implements it concurrently) that design is multidisciplinary.     

Paired peer learning through engineering education outreach

ABSTRACT

Undergraduate education incorporating active learning and vicarious experience through education outreach presents a critical opportunity to influence future engineering teaching and practice capabilities. Engineering education outreach activities have been shown to have multiple benefits; increasing interest and engagement with science and engineering for school children, providing teachers with expert contributions to engineering subject knowledge, and developing professional generic skills for engineers such as communication and teamwork. This pilot intervention paired 10 pre-service teachers and 11 student engineers to enact engineering outreach in primary schools, reaching 269 children. A longitudinal mixed methods design was employed to measure change in attitudes and Education Outreach Self-Efficacy in student engineers; alongside attitudes, Teaching Engineering Self-Efficacy and Engineering Subject Knowledge Confidence in pre-service teachers. Highly significant improvements were noted in the pre-service teachers’ confidence and self-efficacy, while both the teachers and engineers qualitatively described benefits arising from the paired peer mentor model.     

项目单位土建工程师在项目实施中的作用

马钢内部项目单位在工程项目监控和管理中,土建工程师起到连接各专业的纽带作用,结合实际工程项目探讨土建工程师在工程项目全过程控制中的管理模式.     

Electrical engineers’ perceptions on education – electromagnetic field theory and its connection to working life

This paper investigates electrical engineers’ perceptions on their education in Finland, with particular emphasis on the basic electromagnetic field theory courses and their applicability in working life, using two online surveys (n=99 and n=120). The answers show a reasonably good satisfaction with the electrical engineering studies in general, but limited practical usefulness of the field theory courses in working life. However, both respondent groups mentioned that electromagnetic field theory should belong to the basic electrical engineering curriculum, which suggests a need to strengthen the connections between the different topics in the curriculum to enable a better holistic understanding of electrical engineering.     

Comparative analysis of student self-reflections on course projects

This study presents the skills, experiences, and values identified in project self-reflections of 161 undergraduate engineering students. Self-reflections from two different engineering design courses, which provide experiences in project-based learning (PBL), are analysed through the content analysis methodology. Results show that ‘application’, ‘true life’, ‘satisfaction’, and ‘communication’ are the common keywords shared in the reflections. Multiple hypothesis tests to identify differences between courses, project types, years, and gender suggest that there are no significant differences between experiences, skills, and values self-reported by students who completed either a case study or an industry project. Based on research findings, recommendations will be provided to enhance the engineering curriculum based on PBL experiences to support the development of relevant professional skills and experiences.     

美国社区大学课程开发与管理的特点及借鉴——以美国西雅图城市大学为例

美国社区大学的课程开发与管理特色体现在三个方面,即学校、专业和课程三个层面的学习目标保持一致;行业、企业和学校共同开发技能标准和课程;有严谨的课程开发程序和发展更新系统工程。我国高职院校应将职业技能标准开发与课程开发相结合,应产业需要及时调整专业和课程,加强职业课程和学术课程的整合,培养学生的职业核心能力和职业迁移能力。     

Case study of a problem-based learning course of project management for senior engineering students

The analysis of the current state of the Ukrainian system of engineering education indicates the prevalence of traditional teaching–learning approaches in contrast to the modern needs of the labour market. Many universities across the world use the problem/project-based learning (PBL) which is an effective approach for the development of design and management skills of engineering students. The paper describes a detailed structure of a PBL course in project management and practical experience related to its implementation in an engineering degree programme at Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University of Cherkasy. Also, the results of surveys carried out in order to study the students’ generic competences’ development and perception of the PBL process are presented. The results show that students understand the diversity of PBL aspects and the influence of the PBL approach on their professional characteristics such as teamwork, ability of self-directed learning, communication and problem-solving skills.     

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.     

How to Design and Implement Information Management Courses in Engineering Education

Nowadays information is acknowledged as a key factor for success. For engineers, especially, it is a tool for keeping their knowledge up to date and improving their professional skills in a wide variety of areas. In order to adapt their curriculum, engineering educational institutions have to set up and implement teaching in the use and management of information. The experiments which have been conducted in this field, show the advantages of such training and also the difficulties encountered. Their results allow us to formulate some proposals to set up efficient teaching including both training in use, production and communication of information. The ideal would be to integrate the different parts of the information training programme into scientific and technical specialities curricula. However, that supposes innovative pedagogical methods. Teaching staff have to take into account these circumstances to meet the information challenge of the 1990s.     

Computer science and engineering: utilizing action research and lesson study

ABSTRACT

This article explores one group’s use of action research (AR) and lesson study in three US university-level computer science courses affecting 85 undergraduate computer science and engineering students. It offers an overview of three areas including AR, lesson study, and engineering soft skills. The research group identified a problem: undergraduate engineering student soft skill understanding. The group collaborated to enhance participant engagement with this problem by utilizing one lesson focused on soft skills over three research lesson iterations in three distinct university semesters (2017-2018). Field notes were the main data collection method. Observational field notes were recorded in the three research lesson iterations, and themes from the notes were identified. The group valued peer interactions, and the research lesson adaptations as well as pedagogical changes were based on evidence. Four themes were identified, and participant comments were considered as the lessons became more focused . The research group argues that AR and lesson study are separate and distinct ventures based on this yearlong experience, which is counter to some other literature presented. Implications are large for all stakeholders interested in AR, lesson study, soft skill utilization, conflict management, and participant learning impact. Possibilities for enhanced participant engagement exists with honed lesson pedagogy.     

高职院校学生“产、学、创”与教师“产、教、研”对接研究——以软件技术专业为例

在产教融合背景下,分析我国高职院校学生"产、学、创"与教师"产、教、研"的现状与原因,也对软件技术专业的教师与学生专业技能进行了分析,发现专业工程实践能力是教师与学生的共同专业职业技能点,并通过多年来的"产教融合、校企合作"实践证明,以专业工程实践技能为对接点,以产业驱动为对接模式,通过专业课程体系企业化、课程标准化、学习内容项目化、企业实习常态化以及职业技能竞赛项目过程化等途径,可有效地满足软件工程产业对技能人才的需求,实现软件技术专业学生"产、学、创"与教师"产、教、研"能力对接。     

工作过程导向的办公室管理课程设计

办公室管理是文秘专业一门重要的专业技能课程。要把这门课程教好,首先必须对课程进行设计,结合高职高专文秘专业特点,联系教学实际,从办公室管理课程设计的理念与思路、课程目标、课程内容与组织安排、课程教学方法、课程考核等方面进行探讨。