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Structural mechanics is a core subject in almost all engineering bachelor curricula. To be able to analyse structures, students are required to learn how to apply analytical models that highly rely on a mathematical background. However, structural mechanics is fundamentally an empirical subject. Experimental activities can help students not only to better understand the theoretical content, but also to acquire experimental skills. Nevertheless, due to the ever-growing student population, over-packed curricula and the lack of resources and time, it is often challenging to provide students with enough (and meaningful) experimental practice.

The call for proposals of the IJRUME special on Mathematics in/for Engineering Education is open till 31 August 2019. The aim of this special issue is to bring together the best research on innovative teaching and learning practices in mathematics in engineering education and to develop deeper understandings of the characteristics of current teaching and learning practices that can inform the design and implementation of future innovative practices. As a whole, the special issue will provide a state-of-the-art overview of this emerging field at the cross-roads between mathematics and engineering education. “For engineering” refers to mathematics as a service subject for engineering programs. “In engineering” refers to mathematics as an integrated part of engineering sciences.

Yesterday the university of Twente has been granted an NRO Comenius Leadership Fellow of €250,000 euro. It will be used to enhance interdisciplinary modules of four different UT education programmes in the ‘STRIPES2021’ project. Interdisciplinary education is a topic 4TU.CEE is intensely working on. Only last year WUR also received a Comenius Leadership grant for a project on interdisciplinarity.   

4TU.CEE believes in jointly inspiring, stimulating, supporting and disseminating effective and high quality engineering education through research and application of evidence-based innovations. We have recently started two LinkedIn groups in which we would like to exchange knowledge and events on innovative engineering education. One group ‘4TU.CEE’ is more general in nature. The other group focuses on Learning Spaces and is called ‘4TU.CEE Learning Spaces’. You are most welcome to join these groups on LinkedIn. A third group ‘4TU.CEE Olin College’ is in the making.

As every year, new projects started beginning 2019 with support of the TU/e innovation fund. This year’s themes were ‘Hands on and digital education’, and projects that gear towards the ‘TU/e education vision 2030’. The projects this year are very ambitious!

You are invited for the SUTQ/SKE ceremony on 18 April, from 15.00-17.00 in Atrium Ravelijn at the University of Twente. During this ceremony the SUTQ (Senior University Teaching Qualification) and SKE (Senior Examination Qualification) participants will receive their certificate from the vice president of the executive board, Mirjam Bult.

All four TU’s have decided on further recognition of teaching excellence. 4TU.CEE therefore engaged in two international studies by Ruth Graham. Besides the Teaching Cultures Survey, a ‘Roadmap for Change’study identified the next steps that should be made after decision making. Both best practises and failures from an international group of universities were analysed with those involved. Outcomes show that senior management support, consultation, a HR framework and building of engagement are important. Also the flexibility to adjust the original plans for optimal fit in the own university setting is of importance. Lack of momentum can be a serious failing factor. In the next newsletter we will report on the Teaching Culture Survey which will give us a baseline of where we stand now while enabling a progress check in the future.

In the summer of 2018 a group of 15 honours programme students from TU Delft, together with  Prof. Peter Wieringa (HPD Dean & Vice-Rector at TU Delft) spent eleven days in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, to learn about the local engineering culture.

Feedback is questionable in the intercultural context

In 2012, Eindhoven University of Technology launched the Bachelor College reform. As part of this reform, interim testing was introduced for (almost) all bachelor courses. Courses were obligated to provide interim assessments during the course, such as exams or assignments that counted for at least 30% of the final grade. These interim tests would provide early feedback to students about their academic progress and encourage them to engage with their learning at an early stage in each course, and were expected to provide immediate benefits to students’ learning achievements in courses, as well as teach them ‘healthy’ study habits in the long run (i.e. not always cramming at the last possible moment).

Thomas Reeves (University of Georgia Athens) and Susan McKenney (UT) delivered a workshop on 12 December. A group of twenty-four teachers, academic staff and doctoral students was introduced in how to perform educational design research. This approach is strong when pursuing empirical inquiry in real learning settings. It offers strong feedback for educational developers who can then readjust their designs in an evidence informed way. At the same time it strives towards lessons learned beyond the individual case studies.

Teachers often arrange yearly field trips for students to a company or factory to get practical insights on a specific topic. However this can be a hassle due to organisational reasons and often only a couple of students are allowed to join due to, for instance, safety reasons. A field trip is however an engaging activity and can make deeper connections with the subject than book alone. A virtual tour could be an alternative for students who cannot join in the field trip. Furthermore it allows students to go on a field trip at any time, place and pace. Last year TU Delft developed a virtual tour in a wastewater treatment plant for bachelor students in Civil Engineering to explore its usability. ‘Last year a lot has been learned about challenges in the design and execution of the virtual tour’ says Danielle Ceulemans, educational researcher/designer at 4TU.CEE and involved in this project. Design guidelines for developing a virtual tour are now available.

Ruth Graham visited the University of Twente on 28 November for a workshop on rewarding teaching excellence and a keynote lecture on the future of engineering education. The presentations are included in this article.

At the start of this academic year a first pilot of the Joint Interdisciplinary Master Project (JIP) ran at TU Delft under the auspices of 4TU.CEE. A group of 13 students coming from different faculties and countries worked on real-life interdisciplinary projects brought in and supervised by Royal Haskoning DHV, Huisman Equipment and Feadship Royal Dutch Shipyards. ‘It was an interesting and challenging roller coaster ride getting it all up and running in which all participants learned along the way,’ says Birgit de Bruin, JIP project coordinator.

Universities play an important role, preparing students for a labour market that is undeniably moving towards the use of new emerging technologies. These technologies though are recognized only to a very limited extend in tertiary education as essential and helpful to improve the connection with the demands on the labour market. Therefore 4TU.CEE initiated an explorative research into emerging technologies in 2015-2017: ‘Emerging technologies; do we need them and can we make them work’. The report is now available online.