News

‘Imagine the following: I have a microphone on my desk, open the first student report and the standard Windows Sound Recorder to create an audio file. First I quickly go through the report to make some general remarks about the structure. Then I go through the report, page by page, and record immediate verbal feedback on everything I read, stating page numbers.’

At the Innovation Day at TU/e some 100 lecturers and educational staff got acquainted with innovative tools to enhance their teaching practices. In workshops they learned more about implementing Interdisciplinary Education or Gamification in education and about the way students learn.

Is it possible for lecturers to save time and simultaneously increase interaction with students? Yes, it is, according to Kristina Edström and Jakob Kuttenkeuler, lecturers of KTH Stockholm. In the first week of October 4TU.CEE invited them to speak about their approach on effective teaching at TU Delft, TU Eindhoven and University of Twente, during the teaching trick tour. The tricks were received enthusiastically by the audience of lecturers and educational support staff and were tested in a workshop.

We are proud to inform you that as of today the renewed Innovation Map is online.  The new Innovation map makes it easier for lecturers and education support staff to find tools, tips & tricks and background information on innovations in engineering education. 4TU.CEE disclosed examples of successful innovations in the Innovation Map. Topics you will find information on are for example: interdisciplinary engineering education, blended learning and virtual labs, future engineering skills, dealing with the diversity of engineering students and assessment for learning.

Lecturers from the University of Twente will examine their own education during a period of over a year. It concerns a pilot project in which sixteen lecturers will participate. The project is initiated by Centre of Expertise in Learning and Teaching (CELT), HR and 4TU.Centre for Engineering Education (4TU.CEE).

Who would have thought fifty years ago we could order our groceries online, depend on our smartphones whether to take an umbrella or talk to and see our relatives on the other side of the world? Imagine what will be possible fifty years from now! Our world is moving fast and asks for people who are flexible and who are able to develop and learn new things fast. It’s our challenge to educate this future generation. On Thursday 27 October we will focus on this topic during the Education Day that will take place from 12.30-17.00 hours in de Waaier.

Mid September the SEFI 2016 Annual conference brought together more than 300 participants from over 30 countries. 4TU.CEE was well represented at the event, with main theme: “Engineering Education on Top of the World: Industry University Cooperation".

Recently Aldert Kamp, Director of Education at the faculty of Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft, published the second revised edition of his vision on engineering education of the future. With this vision Kamp wants to call higher management to dare look beyond their disciplines, at the ever faster changing outside world. He found that the changes in education curricula do not keep up with the changing needs of the labour market of the 21st century. Kamp: ”Our students are internationally well known for their specialist knowledge, their ability to cooperate and their open mind. Young engineers however often lack skills such as creative thinking, systems thinking, entrepreneurial thinking and algorithmic thinking. In the profession of engineer these skills gain importance quickly. This makes that engineers are not optimally prepared for their future job and might encounter problems adjusting to fast changes by lifelong learning”. In the vision document ‘Engineering Education in a rapidly changing world’ Kamp discusses which changes should take place in preparing the engineer of the future after doing profound research. He states that future-proof academic engineering programmes would have to be built on three cornerstones: Innovation, Employability and Community.

4TU.CEE will be organising several activities at the SEFI conference at Turku in Finland which will take place from 12 till 15 September 2016. Aldert Kamp (TU Delft & 4TU.CEE) will present a Keynote speech on the ‘Future Engineer’. A round table on supporting and rewarding teaching excellence is organised and a workshop on ‘Innovating Engineering Education’.  

In June Donald Carpenter and Andrew Gerhart visited the universities of Delft, Eindhoven and Twente to inspire teaching staff and support staff with workshops on the entrepreneurial thinking mind set and active class room techniques. Carpenter and Gerhart both lecture at Lawrence Technological University (Detroit) where they aim to bring entrepreneurial thinking and creative problem solving into the engineering curriculum.

Electrical Engineering students at the University of Twente performed a "double examination" on 10 June. Their paper based answers will be compared with digital answers. This pilot explores the potential of digital testing, evaluating the scoring quality as well as security issues. Students are involved in the security analysis of  both technical issues and use scenarios. More pilots on the edge of mathematics and engineering will take place as a result of collaboration between 4TU.AMI (mathematics) and the Centre for Engineering Education. 

At TU Delft a ‘ Free Spirits Think Tank’ set up by 4TU.CEE, explored whether current Master programmes are future proof. The Think Tank, comprised of 14 TU Delft staff members with various backgrounds, found that action is needed and came up with concepts that need to be considered when designing future engineering education programmes.

The 20th of April the faculties of EEMCS and Architecture at TU Delft came together to learn from the evaluation of study success in their respective faculties. Electrical Engineering and Architecture have been used as case studies for the 4TU.CEE study on comparison of implementing bachelor curriculum innovation.

Last April a 4TU.CEE report was released on a study regarding bachelor curriculum innovation at the three Universities of Technology. It describes six case studies of programmes that participated in implementing new curricula in order to motivate students to work harder and improve their study success.

In only a short period of time, from September 2014 onwards, CEE’s core team managed to instigate many projects that contribute to the innovation of engineering education. This resulted in various publications, ranging from reports to conference contributions. Besides initiating research, CEE also regularly invites experts to come and give inspiring workshops and meetings on various topics.  This enabled education staff to learn about innovations, exchange ideas and actively participate.