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Computer-aided technologies are omnipresent in many engineering disciplines. Be it the computer-aided design of a ship hull, the simulation-based analysis of the bending of an airplane wing, or the computer-driven optimization of the shape of a Formula One car, it is the aid of computational tools that helps engineers through their daily professional life. These tools are often available as ready-to-use software packages whose usage is taught to engineering students in the classroom. However, compute technologies change over time and so do the computational tools and the underlying mathematical algorithms. Today’s tools are often based on algorithms that have been initiated decades ago. It often takes years to mature novel algorithms from academic concepts to production-ready tools. It is therefore natural to take a look into the future of computing and start developing novel algorithms for next-generation computer-aided engineering tools today.

The corona situation has forced an abrupt transition to online education in many institutions. Postdoc Tim Stevens is investigating and evaluating the process and outcomes of this abrupt transition at WUR. His research aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the transition to online education and map factors that shape the adoption of online tools and methods at WUR. Preliminary results show that teachers were not happy with ‘being forced’ to fully teach online. However they were able to teach the course to their own satisfaction.

A 4TU.CEE review study on interdisciplinary engineering education was published in the Journal of Engineering Education. 

The 4TU.Centre for Engineering Education (4TU.CEE) will get involved in a large-scale NWO research project. It involves 25 higher education institutes that will investigate what and how teachers learn when they innovate their own courses. The research is funded by the NRO (Nederlands Regieorgaan Onderwijsonderzoek), a sub department from NWO especially focused on research on education. 4TU.CEE is strongly involved in the research project, with professor Jan Vermunt (TU/e) and professor Perry den Brok (WUR) as project leader and assisting project leader, respectively, and with research to be conducted at various of the 4TU institutes.

Aldert Kamp, 4TU.CEE leader at TU Delft has released his new book ‘Navigating the landscape of Higher Engineering Education’ with lots of new insights for future-fit higher engineering education.

Professor Isabelle Reymen, scientific director of TU/e innovation Space, has secured a grant worth half a million euros under the Comenius programme run by NWO. Reymen will develop the conceptual framework for Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) and will research its subsequent rollout and upscaling at TU/e.

This year the CDIO Conference was hosted on-line due to COVID-19. Chalmers University of Technology had done a good job in quickly transferring the conference into an online one. The recordings of the sessions can be found on the website of Chalmers University. The introductory speech of Aldert Kamp, 4TU.CEE leader of TU Delft, ‘Never waste a good crisis’ is online too.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has forced an abrupt transition to online education. Researcher Tim Stevens is studying the transition to online education at Wageningen University. What can we learn from the transition to online education? The first results are available now.

Challenge-based learning is becoming an important learning and teaching strategy at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e, 2018). During challenge-based learning, students work in multi-disciplinary groups on open-ended and real-life challenges that are provided by stakeholders in the field of engineering (Membrillo-Hernández et al., 2019; Rosén et al., 2018). Teachers are expected to work as coaches, who support and guide the learning process of the students. Both ‘traditional’ teacher-based instruction (e.g. in lectures) and challenge-based learning (and coaching) are currently practiced at Eindhoven University of Technology.

A total of 21 international universities have taken part in the Teaching Cultures Survey by Ruth Graham supported by 4TU.CEE and international partners. The Teaching Cultures Survey report shows the overall conclusions based on 15.659 participating academics: (1) university teaching is undervalued, (2) education is not a priority topic in annual appraisals, and (3) support for change as two thirds would like university teaching to be very important, with high scores for the category of university leaders. Apart from the international coalition, all Dutch universities, VSNU, KNAW and NWO agreed to diversify career paths including new ways to give more weight to teaching in academic careers. Future runs of the survey will measure if culture and practise have changed.

In most Western countries, female students are only 20% of the total population in computer science studies. The exhibition and symposium ‘Alice & Eve: a celebration of women in computing’ was held on the 24th of January at the University of Twente, to counter this imbalance. Its main purpose is to highlight the achievements of women in computer science, and as such provide role models to female students. The planned tour across the Netherlands has been postponed to next year, due to Corona. You don’t need to wait till next year to learn more about the event. For more information we refer to the website and to the SEFI conference on 21-24th of September 2020 where the organisers, professors Marieke Huisman, Mariëlle Stoelinga, programme director Alma Schaafstal and PhD candidate Sophie Lathouwers, all computer scientists at the UT, and Niels van Huizen, master student PSTS, will present a paper on the exhibition and symposium and how well these were received.

The past few weeks have not been easy, transitioning to online education, finding solutions for online examinations and having an intense workload. We have made a selection of tips and tools from our Innovation Map that might be useful to you.

Globally, design-based learning (DBL) is seen as a powerful method to support students in becoming creative and innovative thinkers and to develop associated and relevant skills. The role of the coach is very important in DBL. The coach strongly affects what students learn from DBL and how they perceive it. Coaching, though, is for many scientists a complex skill. They are oftentimes not educated to coach. Consequently, many academic teachers shape their coaching based on experience, intuition, and common sense. As a result, there is an urgent need to inform academic teachers about evidence-based principles of good coaching.

In their strategic plans all 4 TUs emphasise the need for change in the engineering programmes to prepare the students for the challenges of tomorrow, in a context that is only partly known yet. New skills are needed. New teaching methods have been developed, mostly based on group learning, with Challenge Based Learning as the new kid on the block. These developments have led to renewed interest in the role of learning spaces and how these spaces can contribute to and influence group learning and the development of new skills. Against this background the 4TU have organised an innovative learning spaces tour: visits to AMS and the four TU’s to see examples of innovative learning spaces and get inspired by what is done by colleagues and at other universities. On 4 February 35 lecturers, education scientists, education managers and support staff from the 4TU visited the University of Twente.

Boundary Crossing (BC) competence is regarded as one of the major competencies needed by future Wageningen University & Research (WUR) graduates to respond to emerging global challenges. It is therefore at the forefront of the educational vison of WUR. BC competence is the competence to work together with others outside one’s own scientific domain, institute, culture or context. To contribute to students’ BC competence development and to further improve and implement boundary crossing experiences in Wageningen University, a Comenius Leadership Fellow was granted for the three year project: “Boundary crossing as modus operandi at Wageningen University”. This Comenius project aims to (1) develop a conceptual foundation for the development of BC competence, (2) to design and implement learning pathways, and (3) to compile a BC toolbox for and with lecturers, course coordinators, and management.