News

Aldert Kamp, 4TU.CEE leader for TU Delft has been designated as Global Director of the worldwide university network of CDIO at the CDIO Annual Conference 2017 in Calgary. He succeeds Johan Malmqvist of Chalmers University, the founder of the CDIO network. Together with the second Global Director from Canada, he is ultimately responsible for the operationalisation of the network that consists of nearly 150 engineering universities worldwide. Objective of CDIO is to draw up and develop a new vision for engineering education fit for the 21st century. Kamp: ’The CDIO™ INITIATIVE is an innovative educational framework for producing the next generation of engineers’.

The term ‘interdisciplinarity’ has become a buzzword at TU Delft in recent years. But what is it and how to apply it in your own courses? These questions (and more!) were answered in a workshop on strategies for interdisciplinary teaching and learning that was held on 15 June. Some 30 lecturers attended the event. They look back on a stimulating session where they shared tips and tricks with each other and workshop facilitators from the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies of the university of Amsterdam.

The 4TU.Centre for Engineering Education was well represented at the conference in Calgary. Renee van de Watering and Linda Mebus of TU Delft facilitated an interesting workshop about E-moderating in online education in the Blended Learning theme. Renate Klaassen (TU Delft) gave a presentation about research that is now undertaken into the state of the art of virtual reality in engineering education. Aldert Kamp facilitated two workshops on the impact of future developments in engineering education on the CDIO network. Jan van der Veen of Twente University of technology gave a workshop on Teacher Team Designing of Interdisciplinary Courses. A blog that relates of the CDIO event in Calgary has been written by Jan van der Veen and Lisa Gommer of UT.

Education professionals in higher education can now apply for funding to bring their vision on innovations in education in practice. Within the Comenius programme 2018 three types of funding can be allocated: Teaching Fellows, Senior Fellows and Leadership Fellows.

The four Dutch universities of technology have launched a new Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) named ‘Entrepreneurship for Engineers’. It is designed to encourage and help more people put their ideas to innovative use and start their own company.

At TU/e three researchers are involved in setting up an Internet of Things (IoT) innovation space lab, since the start of this year. IoT, the concept of basically connecting any device to the Internet and/or to each other, is quickly gaining an industrial foothold worldwide. The need for IoT experts is growing, but they are hard to find. The IoT lab is TU/e’s answer to this growing demand.

4TU.CEE has been asked by the UvA Institute of Interdisciplinary studies to host the National Interdisciplinary Education Conference in 2018. During the well-received first 'National Interdisciplinary Education Conference' that took place in February 2017, Dutch and Belgian Institutes of higher education shared inspiring examples and experiences with participants on interdisciplinary learning and teaching. A welcome initiative since interdisciplinary education has yet to become part of the mainstream in higher education.

This April an article of 4TU.CEE PhD candidate Inken Gast appeared in the Review of Educational Research. She conducted a research study on Team-Based Professional Development Interventions in Higher Education. The review has shown that these interventions can be successful in fostering teacher learning in higher education.

Coming July a group of 20 honours programme students from Delft University of Technology will visit Tokyo to find out how Japan’s engineering education is keeping up with the rapidly changing engineering world. They will visit and interview technical companies and Tokyo Institute of Technology and will deliver a report to 4TU.CEE with their findings.

Laboratory teaching is costly, because it takes up much time and facilities are expensive. With growing student numbers the pressure on facilities increases even more. This calls for efficiency in the labs. At Wageningen University, an online ‘Lab video’ project was initiated to cope with these challenges.

On 13 and 14 March 4TU.CEE visited EPFL and ETH Zürich to exchange ideas on innovations in engineering education. It was a visit well worthwhile. At EPFL we first got introduced to the Swiss education system. Quality education is key at the universities of technology in Switzerland. This is also reflected in the education system. The system is strict. Students at the universities are allowed to re-sit their exams once. If they fail twice for the same subject, they have to leave. Something that is unheard of in the Dutch system. Besides obvious differences, we discovered that we face similar challenges too.

The 4TU.CEE strategic plan 2017-2019 has been approved by the 4TU Education Board last week. The strategic plan describes the topics and projects that 4TU.CEE will be working on in the period that lies ahead. We are eager to continue our efforts in innovating engineering education at our four universities together with lecturers, researchers and support staff. Jan van der Veen, chairman of 4TU.CEE:”I am pleased to welcome our Wageningen colleagues in the 4TU.CEE network organisation. WUR has an excellent track record when it comes to quality education”.

We are pleased to announce that the 4TU Education board has extended the 4TU.CEE institute till at least the end of 2021. Anka Mulder, Vice-President for Education & Operations at TU Delft on behalf of the board: “During the past two years 4TU.CEE has developed into a respected and visible Centre for Engineering Education while stressing the importance of involving our teaching staff in our endeavours”. 4TU.CEE is valued by many teachers, support staff and educational management. Not only in our own universities, but also by international colleagues and university network organisations such as SEFI and CDIO.

4TU.CEE has started a monthly weblog. The 4TU.CEE leaders of our four universities of technology will alternately post a blog. The weblog informs interested followers of developments in education and society that are of importance to the future of engineering education.

Lecturers and researchers in the field of architecture and the built environment are invited to contribute to two scientific publications on the latest developments in architecture and the built environment (A&BE) design education.