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Within the Master's course "Civil Engineering" at TU Darmstadt, a project has to be carried out. In the winter term 2018/2019 this was the design and fabrication of a bridge spanning 6 m and made entirely from paper. Students had to find bridge types suitable for the use of paper, develop and optimise cross sections and bracing systems and furthermore prove the load bearing capacity. This included the use of experimental methods explicitly. Finally, the bridge had to be erected crossing a small creek. No materials other than paper, cardboard and glue were allowed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creativity is an important skill for engineers but many students face a lack of experience in idea generation, often compounded by low-self efficacy towards creativity. Providing students with online training modules has been suggested as one solution. However, the literature demonstrates using a computer can influence performance and self-efficacy in a different manner to using pen-and-paper. There is a current lack of research on whether computers may influence self-efficacy during idea generation tasks. Two experiments involving computer-based and pen-and-paper groups were designed. Groups were provided with templates that guided them through the process of applying an idea generation technique and were given sixteen minutes to generate ideas to solve a presented problem. Results revealed that students' performance was similar and using a computer does not negatively influence self-efficacy. This shows that students can engage in idea generation learning tasks using computer-based modes without negatively influencing performance or self-efficacy, suggesting an avenue for educators to engage students with building creativity skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A concern that has been raised with the transition from pen and paper examinations to electronic examinations is whether this will make cheating easier. This article investigates how teachers and students perceive the differences in ease of cheating during three types of written examination: paper exams, bring your own device e-exams and e-exams using university-owned devices. It also investigates perceptions about the effectiveness of some typical countermeasures towards cheating across these examination types. A mixed-method approach was used, combining questionnaires and interviews with students and teachers in the authors' own university. A total of 212 students and 162 teachers participated in the questionnaire survey, and then, a more limited number were interviewed to get a deeper understanding of the results. Six-different cheating practices were considered – impersonation, forbidden aids, peeking, peer collaboration, outside assistance and student–staff collusion and seven different countermeasures were considered – proctors, biometry, mingling, shuffling, random drawing, sequencing and broadcasting. Both students and teachers perceived cheating as easier with e-exams, and especially with bring your own device. They also thought some countermeasures would be easier to implement with e-exams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem-solving is a key engineering skill, yet is an area in which engineering graduates underperform. This paper investigates the potential of using web-based tools to teach students problem-solving techniques without the need to make use of class time. An idea generation experiment involving 90 students was designed. Students were surveyed about their study habits and reported they use electronic-based materials more than paper-based materials while studying, suggesting students may engage with web-based tools. Students then generated solutions to a problem task using either a paper-based template or an equivalent web interface. Students who used the web-based approach performed as well as students who used the paper-based approach, suggesting the technique can be successfully adopted and taught online. Web-based tools may therefore be adopted as supplementary material in a range of engineering courses as a way to increase students’ options for enhancing problem-solving skills. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The present research refers to the assigning of a hands-on group project to freshman engineering students, evaluating their performance, and deriving conclusions on student benefits and educational advances. The research procedure included action plans for the instructor and the students, instructions to the students on performing the work, organizational instructions to the teams and reporting guidelines, and evaluation of the success of the project. The main outcomes refer to the team co-operation, the performance of tasks, the quality of results and the reporting effectiveness. The ‘paper beam’ project benefited the student’s learning and proved the need of complementary learning styles in teams, of the appreciation of quality performance and results, as well as of the accuracy in project details. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the role of grit – defined as both perseverance and passion for long-term goals – on human performance has been conducted for the past decade. It has been suggested that this non-cognitive factor is a better predictor of students' retention than traditional academic measures. These findings hold relevance for engineering education research but studies on this area are still scarce. This paper provides a systematic review of the current state of research on grit and its correlates in engineering higher education research. Publications were identified using three types of databases specific to engineering education; a final set of 31 relevant records was analysed by type of population, methods, research topics and main results. Most of the reviewed studies implemented quantitative methodologies to assess grit and also used one of the two versions of Duckworth's Grit scale. Key findings are that in engineering education research, both the conceptualisation of grit and research reporting procedures have been inconsistent. Such inconsistency hinders interpretation of the impact of grit in engineering education. In response, new research avenues and best practices for reporting are proffered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of narrative is common in many liberal art, medicine, law and education courses but not, a literature review suggests, in engineering. This paper outlines the benefits that narrative was found to bring to the delivery of engineering undergraduate courses in ill-defined domains. The narrative rich learning intervention described in this paper was designed to increase levels of student engagement, motivation, and ability to accept the validity of non-optimal solutions to indeterminate engineering problems. The outcomes were qualitatively evaluated using student feedback from questionnaires and personal interview supplemented with researcher observations. The results indicated that the intervention was successful in raising levels of student engagement with the course material (Manufacturing Systems) and students' motivation to complete assignments, with an additional benefit of increasing students' appreciation of the interconnections between the various topics covered in the course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using findings from a 2-year study, this paper explores undergraduate engineering student perspectives on good university teachers. Findings from open survey questions and semi-structured interviews were analysed using principles of grounded theory, resulting in four themes identified by students as key to good university teaching: communication, clarity, commitment, and care. These findings are discussed in relation to recent international debates on teaching excellence. The basic argument of the paper is that the discourse of teaching excellence needs to be critically reconsidered and would benefit from inclusion of the actual perspectives of students rather than student voice discourses framed by others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamics of a simple pendulum are often presented to undergraduate engineering students in introductory courses in dynamics. It is usually the first dynamic system considered by students that is modelled by a differential equation. This paper presents the standard material given to students. It is fair to say that students are accepting this material, but many do not fully appreciate its importance as a basis for the analysis of other dynamic models. Students also believe that the behaviour of a forced simple pendulum is obvious and is not worthy of a deep analysis. This paper presents many interesting results that are available in the open literature, but is not usually presented to undergraduate students. Some of these are counter-intuitive results such as unstable points becoming stable when forced and deterministic models giving chaotic pendulum trajectories. Many results demonstrate that simple pendulums are very interesting and worthy of analysis. The extension of a forced simple pendulum to an application that all students have experience of a child playing on a swing is presented. Only a limited analysis of the swing models is presented. This leaves some open questions for students and lecturers alike to explore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To uncover and analyze conceptualizations of cross-institutional collaboration in engineering education, a systematic review study was conducted, identifying commonalities in frameworks, assessments and evaluations, and challenges across prior studies. 74 papers were reviewed, revealing study descriptors, theoretically applied frameworks, outcomes of assessments and evaluations, and common challenges. The findings indicate that the concept of cross-institutional collaboration in engineering education is region-specific, with papers most frequently originating from the US. The outcomes identified also highlight the difficulty in establishing clarity among outcomes based on assessments and evaluations, since the majority of the reviewed papers do not include empirical data gathered outside the collaborative activities. The structural and personal challenges and barriers found underline the need for more efforts to ensure successful collaboration with and across engineering education. Finally, designing, delivering, and sustaining collaboration require further attention from decision-makers in engineering education to address and facilitate collaboration between academic staff and students across institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates what instructional factors influence conceptual understanding (CU) of signals and systems for senior undergraduate engineering students. Previous results show students in signals and systems courses typically gain little CU, though evidence-based instructional practices, such as active learning, can increase gains in CU. However, few studies consider CU of senior students or other instructional practices that increase CU. To explore possible factors, we interviewed two faculty members, eight undergraduate seniors, five graduate students, and four practicing engineers then analyzed the transcribed interviews using a constant comparative method. Participants identified lectures presenting CU along-side mathematical expressions; lectures emphasising purpose and connections; hands-on activities where students have control, receive immediate feedback, or where they have to apply and synthesise concepts; and repetition of concepts across multiple courses as factors that helped build CU. Grades that emphasise procedural knowledge over CU and heavy workloads were noted as hindrances to CU. This paper relates these findings to theories on conceptual understanding and previous results on factors that influence student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of a departmental reform project, a large University converted a "Precalculus College Mathematics" lecture-based course for 97 students into an active learning flipped classroom for first-year engineering students. The curriculum was designed specifically to provide applications of pre-calculus in various engineering subjects. This paper outlines the course evolution, design features, ongoing adjustments made to the course, and quantitative data from the common examination and course evaluations to support the instructional design. The paper concludes with a reflection on which aspects of the learning environment helped facilitate successful learning and guidance for future implementations of a large-scale flipped undergraduate mathematics classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explicates the codes that prescribe and shape the marine engineer student in times of massification and high attrition rates in Danish non-university higher education. In a case study of a Danish school of marine engineering, the Bernsteinian concept of knowledge structures and Legitimation Code Theory support analysing the official curriculum along with teacher and student interviews to determine what is considered knowledge and whose knowledge is deemed important. We find that teachers' pedagogical decisions are embedded in the epistemological and social conventions of their individual educational backgrounds. Their struggles on content and pedagogic approach make it difficult for students to understand what is legitimate knowledge and who can claim to be a legitimate knower. To offer more students epistemic access to non-university academic study and increase student success, the epistemic and evaluative logics of the pedagogic discourses to which students are exposed must be clarified and made explicit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering professors are well positioned to support their undergraduate students, who often experience diminished mental health. This paper examines engineering professors’ perceptions of their undergraduate engineering students’ experiences of stress. The described perceptions include when they notice student stress, which stressors they perceive, and supports that these students use. In this qualitative study, we interviewed 24 engineering professors and four career advisors at 18 institutions in the United States about these topics. Results show that these professors often had consistent access to notice indicators of student distress. They described key sources of student stress: balancing responsibilities, significant academic stress, and a culture of competition. They were less likely to notice student stressors associated with interpersonal relationships and identity-related stressors, which are less related to their role as professors. Supports that professors described included interpersonal relationships and health and wellness activities. This lays a foundation for encouraging engineering professors to support their students’ mental health and wellness even more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our infrastructure deteriorates progressively and the knowledge about the current condition is crucial to enable proper maintenance. Nondestructive techniques provide the basis for reliable condition assessment and thus, requires talented engineers with corresponding skills. Fortunately, in the curriculum of civil engineers, nondestructive testing gains more and more importance. The challenge in teaching nondestructive testing is to fulfil the requirement that students achieve the learning objective of "Application." The term "Application" describes the ability that students are able to use nondestructive techniques appropriately. This teaching objective is not achievable in classroom lectures. Thus, the authors developed a mock-up for hands-on learning where students can try several nondestructive techniques such as half-cell potential measurement, Radar, ultrasound, impact-echo etc. Civil engineering students often encounter difficulty with the handling of sometimes very sophisticated devices. The challenge increases even more when the students have to extract the measured data, evaluate them, and relate their results to the condition of the tested object. With the support of the mock-up the authors intended to assist civil engineering students to understand the application of nondestructive techniques. This paper presents the design of the mock-up in combination with the corresponding teaching concept and the first teaching experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition from education to practice can be troublesome for many early-career engineers because expectations, habitual work practices and values tend to conflict with realities of engineering workplaces. Emerging technologies referred to as 'Industry 4.0' or the 'fourth industrial revolution' have prompted many to argue for students to develop improved socio-technical skills. Understandings of practice emerging from contemporary research could help educators shape a new generation of engineers with more appropriate abilities to restore global productivity growth and transform economies to eliminate greenhouse emissions in a short enough time to limit human-induced global warming. However, so far, explicit curriculum reforms addressing graduate attributes and workplace skills have not resulted in significant employability improvements. This paper argues that assessment practices and curriculum gaps may be acting as an implied or hidden curriculum shaping student expectations and values. This paper proposes ways to overcome these curriculum deficits in higher education institutions and also workplace education interventions. These changes could help educate engineers about productivity improvement, commercial and social value generation, business requirements and entrepreneurship. Changes like these will be needed to achieve sustainable development goals, especially in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a follow-up to an earlier paper on the mathematics support learning tutorial programme (SLT), an intervention programme at The University of Queensland that targets students considered to be at risk of failing Calculus and Linear Algebra I, the first tertiary level mathematics subject at The University of Queensland. The first paper (Hillock, P., Jennings, M., Roberts, A., & Scharaschkin, V. (2013). Amathematics support programme for first-year engineering students. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 44(7), 1030–1044) reported on the inaugural programme implemented in 2012. This article provides an update of the progress of the SLT since 2012. We provide statistics for the subsequent 12 semesters to Semester 2, 2018 and describe the evolution of the SLT since its implementation. Statistical analysis of the additional data and student feedback indicate that the SLT continues to have a positive impact on student learning, with weak students making significant gains from attending the programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this work is to contribute to the debate on the best pedagogical approach to developing undergraduate mechanical engineering skills to meet the requirements of contemporary complex working environments. The paper provides an example of using student–entrepreneur collaboration in the teaching of modules to Mechanical Engineering final-year students. Problem-based learning (PBL) is one of the most significant recent innovations in the area of education for the professions. This work proposes to make an original contribution by simulating a real-life entrepreneur interaction for the students. The current literature largely confines simulation-based learning to computer applications such as games. However, this paper argues that role playing by students interfacing with technology start-ups can also be regarded as ‘simulation’ in a wider sense. Consequently, the paper proposes the concept of simulation-action learning as an enhancement of PBL and to distinguish it from computer simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ethical and sustainable thinking is an important competence in the engineering education to support students' abilities to act and perform in a responsible manner in corporate contexts, and consequently contribute to a sustainable future. This paper investigates engineering students' attitudes towards ethical and sustainable thinking focusing on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) principles in the context of entrepreneurship courses as a part of larger research project. Engineering students from a Finnish and an Estonian university (N = 342) responded to a self-assessment survey. The students' attitudes towards CSR principles were assessed both on the enterprise level and the individual level as expectations of potential future employees. The findings indicate that engineering students acknowledge the need to take into account responsible thinking and that it is important for enterprises to be both socially and environmentally responsible in their activities. The self-assessment tool of ethical and sustainable thinking associated with the entrepreneurship competence model and CSR principles can be helpful in practice when university teachers wish to support and assess their students' attitudes towards CSR principles among other entrepreneurship competencies when creating new course content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A bipolar junction transistor (BJT) and its operation are fundamental concepts for the understanding of power electronics (industrial electronics), transistor-transistor logic (TTL), electronic switching, and signal amplification in modern electronics. Previous research showed that non-major engineering, computer, electronic, and electrical engineering students could not understand the basic concepts involved in a BJT. This paper describes the development of a two-tier diagnostic test, the test's administration, limitations, the participants' detailed context, and findings from a study that explores Myanmar and Thai second-year undergraduate students' understanding of BJT working principles and applications. The results revealed that many students in both countries had the same alternative conceptions about collector current in each operation mode of the BJT. Some alternative conceptions differ from the previous research, such as a) the collector current does not depend on the base current in cut-off mode, and b) changing the collector current does not depend on the base current in active mode, but it depends on the collector supply voltage. These research findings provide valuable information and instruments for teachers to insight, prevent, and correct the alternative conceptions proposed by students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The targeted improvement of design methods requires validation studies to record and evaluate difficulties in the application of the investigated methods. Current analysis methods for the validation of design methods are limited to the collection and evaluation of the design outcome and do not consider the applicability of the design method. In this paper, the authors evaluate an analysis method which, in addition to the benefits of a design method, also detects difficulties in its applicability. The Attention-Comprehension-Application-Performance analysis (ACAP analysis) method has been newly developed for this purpose. It investigates the applicability and captures metrics attention, comprehension, and correctness of application as well as the benefit of the design method. To evaluate the ACAP analysis method, a method for sheet metal design was examined in a laboratory study with 25 university students with mechanical engineering as their major subject. The results of the evaluation showed that the ACAP analysis method (1) identifies difficulties in the applicability of the design method; (2) determines the benefit of the design method; and (3) captures the impact of the identified difficulties on the benefit. Thus, the ACAP analysis method can evaluate causes of existing difficulties using objective metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australasian Journal of Engineering Education has published its latest issue, which includes the Best Paper award for Volume 27. The winning paper, titled "Influences on U.S. undergraduate engineering students' perceptions of ethics and social responsibility: findings from a longitudinal study," explores how various experiences shape students' views on ethics and social responsibility. The issue also features papers on common engineering activities and competencies, the Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate (CDIO) framework, empathy in entrepreneurial engineering, assessment methods, and multi-modal approaches to education research. The journal welcomes new members to its editorial team and expresses gratitude to reviewers and authors. The Editor-in-Chief, Sally A. Male, is a highly accomplished professor in engineering and technology education. [Extracted from the article]

A solid conceptual understanding is essential for students to succeed in all academic disciplines. Student misconceptions are correlated with their poor academic performance and high attrition rates. It is especially important to correct student misconceptions in science-based undergraduate engineering mechanics courses that cover numerous fundamental concepts. This paper aims to conduct a research study on the effects of an instructional intervention called enhanced hands-on experimentation on identifying and correcting student misconceptions about work and energy in a second-year undergraduate engineering mechanics course. As a comparison, the effects of traditional textbook instruction were also investigated. The present study is qualitative research involving the transcriptions and coding of qualitative verbal data collected through a think-aloud approach. To offer deep insights into the effects of enhanced hands-on experimentation and traditional textbook instruction on each individual student participant, 12 undergraduate students were recruited to participate in the present study. This sample size is typical in qualitative research. The student participants were assigned into an enhanced hands-on experimentation group and a traditional textbook instruction group. Data was collected using a think-aloud approach while student participants took a pre-test and a post-test before and after the enhanced hands-on experimentation or traditional textbook instruction intervention. Qualitative verbal data collected through think-aloud were quantitatively analyzed to compare the effectiveness of the two types of interventions on correcting student misconceptions about work and energy in engineering mechanics. Compared to traditional textbook instruction, enhanced hands-on experimentation is significantly more effective in correcting student misconceptions about work and energy. As the consequence of enhanced hands-on experimentation, student participants achieved a group-average normalized learning gain of 55.8%, and the overall reduction rate of students' misconception instances was 47.9%. The enhanced hands-on experimentation can be employed as an effective supplemental tool to help correct student misconceptions about work and energy in engineering mechanics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational success is mainly based on the formation of effective learners. Students' learning is affected by several variables, such as intelligence, motivation, teaching and learning approaches. Research showed that approaches to learning are among one of the most important variables that influence students' learning quality. They are related to how students experience and organize the subject matter of a learning task. It is important to understand what and how students learn, rather than how much they remember. This paper aims to test the validity of the Turkish version of the Approaches and Study Skill Inventory for Students (ASSIST), which explores the types of learning approaches (deep surface or strategic), applied to the first-year undergraduate engineering students having mathematics as a compulsory course at Istanbul Technical University. Validation has been done by explanatory factor analysis. Afterwards, the relationship between the learning approaches and extracurricular factors is critiqued. For this purpose, the association between the language of the subject (English or Turkish) and the students' learning approaches are investigated. Similarly, the relationship between learning approaches and parental education level as well as high school type is examined. Correlations between learning approaches conceptions of learning and teaching types are also tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the research and practice on the reforming of the examination method of engineering graphics at Zhejiang University. Based on the theory of standardizing general examinations and emphasizing key examinations, a new combined examination method of multiple modes has been explored and practised. The examination modes include unified large-scale examination mode, interviewing mode, additional score mode by designing an object or writing a paper, and do-it-yourself mode, i.e. self-questioning, self-answering and self-evaluating. The method forms a good synergy between unified large-scale examination and free exertion. The final percentage score is given on the basis of the assessment mode reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With sustainable design as a vital strategical component for companies competing on the market today, many companies will need to transition to a use of sustainable and/or renewable materials in the near future. But how can this be done, and what can be done to bridge the gap from current affairs to a new, more sustainable state? Looking towards industries with experience might help making the first step just a little bit easier. This study aims to find challenges and bottlenecks when working with sustainable materials, in order to help companies interested in transitioning towards using sustainable or renewable materials in their products. The paper describes an interview study with five Swedish wood industry companies, differentiated in size and products, where the authors identify several key findings for both industry (already working with wood or aiming at transitioning towards renewable materials) and academia (on using renewable materials, need for further research, and pointers for teaching design and engineering students). Findings range from how organisational culture affects material selection, to how flexibility and efficiency effects automation solutions via how these companies have approached outsourcing of parts of their production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we tell a story of iterative design and continual improvement of an asynchronous technological resource, pencasts, to support development of students' modeling skills while studying at home. Our students were typically engineering majors, enrolled in differential equations as a prerequisite for their subsequent engineering courses. The course used a modeling-first approach to teaching the differential equations content. In this paper, we share four aspects of the students' reactions to the pencasts: the students' self-assessments of the helpfulness of the pencasts, how they used pencasts, why the students chose (not) to use them, and the relationship between pencast usage and achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a design-based research project undertaken to test and implement an interest-based engineering challenges framework for pre-college students. This work is motivated by the need for innovative engineering education practices in pre-college settings, and making engineering more inclusive for people from diverse backgrounds. The design-based research methodology can be challenging to implement as it comprises of multiple, cyclical research activities that provide challenges in documenting and communicating the larger study's progress. This paper presents findings from this continuously evolving study, and also the design and implementation of this design-based research at roughly the halfway point for a four-year study. Each of the consequent versions scaffold to answer the broader research questions of the study pertaining to: engineering appealing to students' personal interests, empowering underrepresented groups to find meaningful connections to engineering, leading more authentic engagement in engineering and design practices, and improving students' attitudes and perception of engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results from a small-scale study of third-year Instrumentation and Control Engineering (n = 37) at the University of Plymouth. The aim of the study was to enhance student learning and increase participation via the use of clickers. Clickers allow for student participation anonymously. The lecture content was modified to embed clicker questions at regular intervals to test knowledge, understanding and cognitive skills. Largely, the students preferred interactive lectures to traditional didactic lectures and using clickers increased student engagement and participation. Interestingly, compared to assessment results from the previous year, the increased level of engagement did seem to lead to an overall improvement in grades of approximately 10% in the subject of Control Engineering. However, in Instrumentation, the average fell by approximately 20%. One possible contributory factor of this drop could be the changed exam format for Instrumentation only. This year, the multiple choice section was removed from the Instrumentation examination paper. Furthermore, an analysis of variance showed that in addition to using clickers in the lectures, attendance plays a key role. Results of this small-scale study show that for a more complex subject like Control, student learning, engagement and attainment can increase by the use of clickers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although engineering educational endeavours are often described with regard to how well they prepare students to meet national or global engineering concerns, the purpose of this paper is to show how those efforts can also serve the larger educational goals of the educators themselves as they develop learning experiences for their students. This paper describes the reflections of four engineering educators who used a research-based 'Pedagogy of Larger Concerns' (PLC) as a conceptual lens for examining important aspects of their courses. A PLC is a set of teaching conceptions that was identified in a study exploring the thinking of outstanding professors in order to improve our understanding of the basis of their effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanical engineering students often find the formulation and analysis of dynamical systems difficult. The response of some mechanical engineering undergraduates is that as much as possible courses on mechanics are best avoided. The aim of this paper is to produce some interesting dynamical systems that may help to change the opinions of the students. A dynamic model for the washing in a washing machine and the washing machine are presented. At mid-range, spin speeds the washing machine slides across the ground and at higher spin speeds; the washing machine both slides and rocks from side to side. The models are formulated using concepts taught in the early years of an undergraduate course in mechanics and where appropriate simplifying assumptions are made to ensure it is a realistic goal for undergraduate students to understand the model basis. This allows a student's focus to be on the influence of different parameters on the system dynamics. The simulation tool could be used as a dynamics demonstrator in a lecture or as an educational tool driven by the imagination of the student. In this paper, several simulations are presented and analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyse to what extent the engineering curricula contribute to the development of visual literacy among engineering students. Communicating and thinking visually is a basic skill for all engineers, being a fundamental part of their educational stage. For this purpose, Engineering Graphics subjects from 30 engineering schools from Spain have been selected to review their content. The sample consists of 80 subjects of Engineering Graphics, mechanical design and computer-aided design. The curricula were analyzed using a quantitative and qualitative method. A database has been developed where keywords that identify the objectives of the analysis have been tabulated. Learning technical visual language and visualization skills as a means of developing visual literacy in engineering has been taken as the basis of the analysis. The results show that the curricula of the subjects contemplate the development of graphic skills around communication and technical representation and, to a lesser extent, visualization. On the other hand, the teaching activities contemplated do not dive into the cognitive aspects of graphics. We can also observe the pre-eminence of computer graphics as the main basis for teaching activities and marginal use of freehand drawing, which is basic for the development of Visual Literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we discuss the ethical responsibilities of being a role model as an engineering teacher in higher education. We draw on virtue ethics, care ethics, ethics of freedom and role modeling theory, using Grande's framework for engineering education. We argue that the three ethical theories give different views on the ethics of role modeling as a teacher. Virtue ethics implies that the teacher should behave as virtuously as possible to encourage students to emulate character traits. Care ethics implies that the ethics of role modeling is fundamentally about care practices, emphazising relationships and values such as attentiveness and responsibility. Ethics of freedom urges the teacher to grant individuals opportunities to develop and be free from the control of others. By using role modeling and ethical theory, we aim to show how theory has an impact on both teaching practices and could underpin empirical research in engineering education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feedback can improve or impair students' learning performance, depending on its timing and constructiveness. Given the diversity of students' study goals and overall performance in the assessment tasks within most classes, a group of students can experience a deteriorated performance from delayed corrective feedback, and another group can suffer immediate deterioration in their learning performance following negative feedback. The implementation of the Phased Assessments and Looped Feedback (PALF) model has made a demonstrable contribution to improving students' learning outcomes when used to teach about 120 students undertaking the first-year cornerstone engineering subjects. This paper demonstrates how the PALF model has improved students' grades between two consecutively phased tasks. Furthermore, university administered student feedback on subjects' (SFS) surveys and specific questionnaire methods were conducted and critically reviewed to evaluate students' reflection on the PALF model, which demonstrates its immediate positive impact on students' experience with the quality of feedback received. The SFS scoring trends are seen elevating following the application of the new model and sustained its level over several years of implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the associations between math-gender stereotypes and two dimensions of student engagement – class engagement and disengagement – among Russian engineering students. The data collected in three Russian universities (n = 2,074) were utilised. Structural equation modelling was employed to test hypotheses about relationships between key variables and their variations for male and female subsamples. We revealed that the students' attribution of math-gender stereotypes to faculty slightly decreased class engagement and increased disengagement for both male and female students. Therefore, we hypothesise that male students can be more overconfident about their future performance in exams on math-related subjects because of a better reputation in the eyes of instructors, which can result in less engagement and, as a consequence, lower academic outcomes. These findings demonstrate the high importance of faculty in encouraging engineering student engagement and providing a bias-free learning environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering education for sustainable design often focuses on technical solutions with little consideration of social impact. This paper presents a case study of a project-based learning (PBL) studio course engaging engineering students in social and sustainable design practices with external clients in developing economies. The case is a review of how concepts from Socially Responsible Design (SRD), Appropriate Technology (AT) and Human-Centred Design (HCD) integrated into a pedagogical model (Locale) focusing student effort on the socio-cultural, technical, economic and environmental aspects. Drawing on data from ten years of course operation the analysis identifies three distinct variants. Re-examining all 186 design projects using a new metric based on the pedagogical model (Locale) revealed an upward trend in the socio-cultural and economic appropriateness of the solutions without any diminution of technical suitability. Thus, the paper provides a new approach for designing and evaluating PBL courses specifically focused on social and sustainable design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore the evolving norms and dispositions of creativity and enterprise of engineering students using data gathered from a newly established technology and engineering-focused university called ‘UniTech’ located in Singapore. Based on interviews with students, we seek to explain (1) what they learn, reject, adopt and appropriate; (2) the kinds of challenges they face and (3) the unexpected and serendipitous outcomes of their learning. Through an integrated engineering curriculum focusing on design, students learn to be technically competent, creative and entrepreneurial persons. This paper considers how the curriculum works as a set of formal procedures preparing students for a future ‘knowledge-based economy’ imagined to be technology-intensive, dynamic and filled with opportunities but also increasingly uncertain. We analyse how students at UniTech negotiate this design-focused curriculum where experiences of creativity, open-ended possibilities and holistic perspectives intersect with the national economic agenda of a knowledge-based economy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The field of research (FoR) that an academic participates in is both a manifestation of, and a contributor to the development of their identity. When an academic changes that FoR the question then arises as to how they reconcile this change with their identity. This paper uses the identity-trajectory framework to analyse the discourse of 19 engineering academics in relation to their educational research. The findings reveal insights into the identity changes experienced in the transition from typical engineering academic to engineering education researcher. Participants' responses illustrate how various aspects of their research activities contribute to the development of the networking and intellectual strands of their academic identity as engineering education researchers, and the effect of their university environment on this development. Conference participation was found to be an important contributor to progression of the intellectual and networking strands of identity-trajectory for researchers at all stages of development, although for different reasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies exploring what it means to be an engineer professionally have been conducted for decades, but have boomed in recent years. This systematic literature review aims to organise extant studies on engineering identity by coding around four key variables: (a) definitions of engineering identity, (b) factors affecting engineering identity development, (c) interventions affecting engineering identity development, and (d) means of measuring identity. In doing so, this review provides strategies for future research and educational interventions to advance work related to engineering identity. Publications were selected for inclusion by screening and appraising results obtained from databases and keywords refined through a scoping study. Derived from key findings, suggestions for future research include bridging disparate strands of engineering identity literature and incorporating more varied methodological approaches. Also from key findings, suggestions for future practice involve better connecting existing definitions of engineering identity and factors known to affect identity development with identity-related interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional bodies expect engineers to show competence in both mathematics and engineering topics such as mechanics, using their abilities in both of these to solve problems. Yet within engineering programmes there is a phenomenon known as ‘The Mathematics Problem’, with students not demonstrating understanding of the subject. This paper will suggest that students are constructing different concept images in engineering and mathematics, based on their perception of either the use or exchange-value for the topics. Using a mixed methods approach, the paper compares 10 different types of concept image constructed by students, which suggests that familiar procedural images are preferred in mathematics. In contrast strategic and conceptual images develop for mechanics throughout the years of the programme, implying that different forms of competence are being constructed by students between the two subjects. The paper argues that this difference is attributed to the perceived use-value of mechanics in the career of the engineer, compared to the exchange-value associated with mathematics. Questions are raised about the relevance of current definitions of competence given that some routine mathematical operations previously performed by engineers are now being replaced by technology, in the new world of work. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

University of Canterbury, as an institution, had developed strong educational resilience during and after the 2010–11 earthquakes. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, New Zealand shut down all university educational facilities in March 2020, with education migrated online. Within this unique context, this research aims to (1) investigate civil engineering students' perceptions about the benefits and challenges of online learning during the lockdown period, (2) identify significant factors that contribute to effective online teaching and learning, and (3) provide the implications of this research for future emergency remote teaching (ERT). A survey was designed and administered to measure students' perceptions of online learning during the lockdown. A total of 192 completed responses were collected from both undergraduate and Master civil engineering students. In addition to typical online learning challenges, students also experienced unique challenges, such as social and emotional isolation, anxiety, depression, and uncertainty. This paper suggests that teaching presence be brought to the forefront of ERT. Future research directions were recommended to better understand ERT by linking it to the Community of Inquiry framework and enhance tertiary education institutions' resilience to handle a future crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are increasingly used in manufacturing, transportation, health, and other industries. To develop these complex interdisciplinary systems, highly qualified CPS engineers are required who possess sound engineering knowledge and excellent transferable skills. Academic institutions offer a range of modules and curricula to teach CPS engineering. However, the literature reports a gap between expectations of industry and competencies of CPS graduates. To close this gap, this paper introduces and describes a holistic educational framework (T-CHAT) for teaching CPS engineering at the module level. To evaluate this framework, two use cases were analysed by conducting self-perception surveys and semi-structured interviews with students. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were calculated for the survey data. Interviews were coded and analysed using a General Inductive Approach. The analysis results were discussed by the comparison of the T-CHAT implementations in these two use cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue in topics including engineering educators, engineering students performance and university entrance examinations.

Gender disparity is an enduring problem in engineering and construction (EC) areas. The main purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of female students in EC programs in the US toward factors impacting their situations and investigate barriers to their academic and professional paths. A quantitative research method was used to measure the perception of participants. In the first phase of this project 369 students participated in a paper-based survey. The results emphasized the effect of role models, by engineering students. The results also highlighted several similarities and differences between male and female students in regard to factors impacting the selection of major and career, such as career characteristics, familiarity with the industry, expected growth, and discrimination that facilitate or impede women's presence in educational and professional positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Society is in strong need to change the way in which energy is produced and consumed. To cope with this complex challenge, integration of knowledge from different disciplines is needed. This paper shows how an interdisciplinary educational approach called networked learning combined with sustainability transition theories can help groups of engineering students to address pressing societal challenges such as the energy transition. A series of 8 workshops was held with an interdisciplinary engineering student team of a University of Technology. Networked learning within the student team showed an ad-hoc character, mainly caused by shifting student constellations during workshops. Workshops focusing on short-term goals resulted in more concrete output. The team showed a high level of equality amongst members and actively reflected on organisational aspects of their learning process. Sustainability transitions concepts and theories that integrate multiple disciplinary perspectives further supported the learning process and helped to guide strategic decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore the difficulties engineering undergraduates encounter with tertiary mathematics. Results from our survey (N = 71) show that students in our sample face issues mostly related to the challenging nature of university mathematics, the absence of worked examples during lectures and the discontinuity of school and university mathematics curricula. By using third generation Activity Theory, we were able to interpret the identified difficulties as contradictions emerging between the school and university activity systems as well as within the university activity system, and we argue that these difficulties can be treated as stemming from the structural characteristics the two activity systems have. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a short tutorial introduction to disturbance observer-based control approaches for the quadrotors. With this tutorial, researchers, engineers and students would be able to implement disturbance observer-based model-in-loop simulations and experiments more easily to design robust autopilot system for the quadrotors. To achieve this, first of all, the modeling and controlling of a quadrotor are explained and all linear disturbance observer-based control approaches in the literature are adapted in its overall nonlinear architecture. Disturbance observer-based control design steps are given in detail by design challenges. To show their disturbance rejection capabilities and practical applicability, two flight simulation scenarios are carried out. For all simulation cases, we only take into account the external disturbances in rotational motions. While we give the attitude trajectory commands to quadrotor attitude control architecture in the first scenario, we issue both way-point and trajectory commands to an outer loop controlling the translational motions in the second one. Presented disturbance observer-based control approaches have successfully completed the given reference commands in the presence of the external disturbances even under the measurement noise. Moreover, simulation experiments have shown that UDEBC approach transmits the external disturbance and measurement noise effects to the actuators directly. As a result, for UDEBC approach, it should be kept in mind that flight accidents may occur due to excessive ESC heating. Baseline attitude controller without disturbance observer-based control approach have failed to follow the given reference commands. The simulation studies have also proved the practical applicability of these methods, which are successful even under measurement noise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering accreditation bodies express a strong consensus that in addition to technical and scientific skills, engineering education also needs to promote the development of professional skills. In general, team-based projects are considered to be valuable approaches to develop such skills and have been extensively added to engineering curricula. Yet, it remains unclear which skills and to what extent students learn from these interventions. The challenge of assessing the development of those skills is an important factor in this gap. In this paper, we used a standardised self-reporting questionnaire to evaluate the development of students' self-efficacy beliefs through in-course and capstone projects. Results suggest that students only marginally develop these skills when they are not explicitly addressed as part of the project, showing ways to more effectively support student learning of professional skills. The questionnaire also proved to be an effective and scalable way to assess large classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student recruitment is an increasingly important topic and a major challenge for engineering schools all over Europe, which have difficulties in attracting and enrolling gifted students. On the contrary, French graduate engineering schools attract the most talented students of the nation. What are the forces at play? The aim of this paper is to investigate the decision-making processes behind the students' choice of engineering school. We carried out 18 semi-directive interviews with engineering students of three French graduate engineering schools and completed content analysis of our data. Based on the findings, we identified various individual, social, economic and institutional factors influencing the students' choice of engineering school. The findings indicate that the pre-university model (preparatory classes) has a key influence on engineering schools' recruitment process for attracting talented students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the variation in career plans among U.S. senior year mechanical engineering undergraduates. The extent to which candidates persist from engineering school into engineering careers attracts attention from hiring managers, educators, and policymakers concerned with the future of the engineering workforce. Prior research has identified patterns of systemic variation in engineering students' persistence, finding that particular student subsets exhibit lower likelihoods of pursuing conventionally categorized engineering jobs after graduation compared to others. These groups have included students from underrepresented demographics and those with particular key skills profiles. Based on survey data from a sample of 1,061 mechanical engineering seniors across nine universities, we first constructed an occupational sorting model that replicates previously reported relationships between student-specific factors and students' intentions to work in engineering. We then expanded this model into a new multinomial outcomes model that examines the unique sets of factors associated with specific categories of occupational intentions from an array of engineering and non-engineering options. We find factors such as internship experiences, risk aversion, mathematics enjoyment, strength of professional identity, leadership aspirations, perceptions of creative opportunities, and salary expectations to be significantly associated, in unique combinations, with various types of occupational intentions. We conclude by discussing how knowledge of factors salient to students' occupational sorting tendencies can help engineering managers refine approaches for recruitment and job formulation, so as to potentially broaden the attractiveness of engineering jobs across the candidate pool and to improve candidate-job matching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]