Today's Dilemma in Engineering Education

The present wide-scale activity to increase the science content of engineering curricula can, if not skillfully accomplished, result in the teaching of science, and not the engineering of science, to engineers. The changes experienced in the substance of the curricula are sometimes so great that faculties encounter great difficulty in providing worthwhile engineering examples to support their presentations of engineering science.     

Beyond the Rhetoric: A framework for evaluating improvements to the student experience

A framework is described to assist institutions in evaluating the extent to which activities described as “quality improvements” or “quality enhancements” are likely to directly improve the student experience. The framework classifies ways of improving the student experience into “coaching improvements”, “umpiring improvements”, and “facilities improvements”, while also considering the location of improvements along a “risk avoidance—quality assurance—quality enhancement” continuum. The utility of this framework is explored through case studies of sector‐wide initiatives in Scotland and Australia. If used to stimulate internal discussion, the framework can help institutions to better balance their efforts to improve the student experience.     

Transforming academic practice through scholarship

In the context of the fast changing university, how are academics to grow the capacity to cope with continual change and what can academic/faculty developers do to assist them? The paper first establishes the context of higher education as a challenging environment. It then reviews ideas about scholarship and explores the application of these ideas to university study of students and academics. It examines the role of the scholarship of teaching and learning in developing the capacity for critical reflection and then applies these ideas to academic practice more generally. Finally, the implications for academic development are addressed.

Dans un contexte de mutation rapide de l’université, comment les universitaires parviennent‐ils à développer la capacité à faire face au changement continuel et que peuvent faire les conseillers pédagogiques pour les aider? Cet article décrit d’abord le contexte de l’enseignement supérieur comme un environnement rempli de défis. Il examine ensuite des idées liées à l’érudition (scholarship) et explore l’application de ces idées à l’étude universitaire des étudiants et des universitaires. L’article examine le rôle joué par le scholarship of teaching and learning dans le développement de la capacité de réflexion critique et applique ensuite ces idées à la pratique académique de façon plus générale. Finalement, les implications pour le développement pédagogique sont présentées.     

Non-traditional students in tertiary education: inter-disciplinary collaboration in curriculum and pedagogy in community services education in Australia

Education policy in Australia has accelerated its aim to increase participation of under-represented groups in tertiary education including students who are culturally and linguistically diverse and have low socio-economic status. These students generally have not had prior access to privileged academic discourse, which can further disadvantage them in their participation and progress in tertiary education. In this article, we outline a cross-discipline curriculum initiative and pedagogy that draws on critical literacy and the metaphor of discourse community to integrate language and academic skills into community services qualifications. We argue that this – supports the genuine participation of under-represented (non-traditional) students. It aspires to not only support students’ entry into the new academic terrain, but to enable students to adopt a critical stance to the discourses in which they are learning to participate. This we argue is crucial, when expertise is not just a way of meeting its ostensible purposes, but is also a way of exercising power. Although we report on the application of this initiative to entry level curricula (Diploma), we suggest that it has relevance and application to Bachelor levels in a range of disciplines, both in supporting pedagogy and for transition to Bachelor level study.