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Background: In research on design-based learning (DBL), inadequate attention is paid to the role the teacher plays in supervising students in gathering and applying knowledge to design artifacts, systems, and innovative solutions in higher education. Purpose: In this study, we examine whether teacher actions we previously identified in the DBL literature as important in facilitating learning processes and student supervision are present in current DBL engineering practices. Sample: The sample (N=16) consisted of teachers and supervisors in two engineering study programs at a university of technology: mechanical and electrical engineering. We selected randomly teachers from freshman and second-year bachelor DBL projects responsible for student supervision and assessment. Design and method: Interviews with teachers, and interviews and observations of supervisors were used to examine how supervision and facilitation actions are applied according to the DBL framework. Results: Major findings indicate that formulating questions is the most common practice seen in facilitating learning in open-ended engineering design environments. Furthermore, other DBL actions we expected to see based upon the literature were seldom observed in the coaching practices within these two programs. Conclusions: Professionalization of teachers in supervising students need to include methods to scaffold learning by supporting students in reflecting and in providing formative feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current trend in science curricula is to adopt a context-based pedagogical approach to teaching. New study materials for this innovation are often designed by teachers working with university experts. In this article, it is proposed that teachers need to acquire corresponding teaching competences to create a context-based learning environment. These competences comprise an adequate emphasis, context establishment, concept transfer, support of student active learning, (re-)design of context-based materials, and assistance in implementation of the innovation. The implementation of context-based education would benefit from an instrument that maps these competences. The construction and validation of such an instrument (mixed-methods approach) to measure the context-based learning environment is described in this paper. The composite instrument was tested in a pilot study among 8 teachers and 162 students who use context-based materials in their classrooms. The instrument's reliability was established and correlating data sources in the composite instrument were identified. Various aspects of validity were addressed and found to be supported by the data obtained. As expected, the instrument revealed that context-based teaching competence is more prominently visible in teachers with experience in designing context-based materials, confirming the instrument's validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workplace learning in industry is perceived to have a powerful influence on the development of students engineering identity. But, teachers also observed vast developmental differences between students during workplace learning. To find explanations for these differences, we studied students identity development during workplace learning using a self-guiding and mentoring model. Research questions are: (1) To what extent do bachelor engineering students develop their engineering identity during workplace learning? (2) What are students developmental models? (3) Can different effects of these models on student identity development be found? Participants were 256 third-year bachelor student engineers. The data were collected with two written questionnaires, one before and one after workplace learning. Results showed, first, a significant incline and decline on the two aspects of identity development, clarity and identification. Second, combined achievement on the two aspects showed a sort out into four different development groups. Students entering workplace learning with a low identity score proved to catch up, while those entering with a high score slowed down and developed less, indicating a non-successful preparation for workplace learning. We recommend that students professional identity development should be acknowledged and explicated in the course design so it gets greater and explicate attention during the preparation, during workplace learning, and in the final year. For this purpose a system of career conversations could be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design-based learning is a teaching approach akin to problem-based learning but one to which the design of artefacts, systems and solutions in project-based settings is central. Although design-based learning has been employed in the practice of higher engineering education, it has hardly been theorised at this educational level. The aim of this study is to characterise design-based learning from existing empirical research literature on engineering education. Drawing on a perspective that accounts for domain-specific, idiosyncratic and learner-centred aspects of design problems in the context of engineering education, 50 empirical studies on project-based and problem-based engineering education, to which the design of artefacts is central, were reviewed. Based on the findings, design-based learning is characterised with regard to domain-specificity, learner expertise and task authenticity. The implications of this study for the practice of engineering education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competency-based university education, in which lifelong learning and flexible learning are key elements, demands a renewed vision on assessment. Within this vision, Assessment of Prior Learning (APL), in which learners have to show their prior learning in order for their goals to be recognised, becomes an important element. This article focuses on a first step in APL, namely students' self-assessment of their prior learning before entering university education. The main aim of the presented study is to examine the suitability of the use of self-assessment in APL. First, in an explorative study, the main sources for self-assessment are derived and the relation between sources and domain of study is investigated. Second, in a pre-test post-test research design, the hypothesis that students' self-assessment of prior learning related to a course changes after studying a domain-specific course is tested. Pre-test results reveal that students indicate that they have prior knowledge related to the chosen university programme. In general, this prior learning is obtained from study experience, work experience, books, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, TV, radio, film or video. A relation is found between the type of source and the university programme. The hypothesis that students change their self-assessment after a study period could not be confirmed. Based on these results, it is concluded that self-assessment in APL might be a suitable tool. Implications for further research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Makes observations on the experiences of non-English-language teachers in the educational institutions in the Netherlands. Pressure of the use of foreign language on teacher abilities; Preparation time in conducting English-medium courses; Characteristics of teachers who can efficiently teach in English and in mother tongue.

Studies the effects of the presence of foreign students on the quality of engineering education using the situation at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Number of enrollment in the university; Individual and personal motives of students for studying abroad; Host countries' motives for stimulating internalization by admitting foreign students.