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There is a risk of student dropout in the field of engineering, particularly in the domain of information technology. To find novel pedagogical and technological solutions to prevent student attrition, we must better understand student experiences regarding their learning and studying processes. This study was conducted within the introduction of a new engineering degree program at the University of Jyväskylä and focused on first-year students. The research questions are: How do IT students experience study burnout at the beginning of their studies? What kind of self-efficacy beliefs do IT students have at the beginning of their studies? How are the self-efficacy beliefs of IT students associated with their levels of study burnout at the beginning of their studies? Student experiences were gathered through a validated survey that measured student self-efficacy beliefs and their experiences regarding study burnout. The results indicate that most students have high self-efficacy beliefs but, at the same time, a few of them experience quite a high study workload stress at the beginning of their studies. Studying the development of the student experiences over time provides an understanding of the relations between the experiences of study burnout and self-efficacy. This knowledge may support the development of novel pedagogical and technological solutions so that students may be provided timely guidance, leading to improved student well-being and ultimately to decreased dropouts in the field of engineering. peerReviewed

Defining the intended learning outcomes is a significant part of curriculum design. Especially,the program-level competence requirements outline the objectives of the education, align the more detailed program structures and content of the curriculum, and create the basis for constructive alignment. Several different bodies aim at defining the goals of engineering programs on different levelsof abstraction.Some of these documents can be considered as statements of the 'minimum threshold'.Respectively, others provide detailed guidelines to support the design of post-secondary programsin specific engineering fields. For example, the CDIO Initiative has defined a general reference syllabus aiming at creating a taxonomy of engineering learning rationalized against the norms of contemporary engineering practice.While designing new engineering programs, it is interesting to study how different universities have documented the intended learning outcomes of their programs in related domains. In this paper, the program-level learning objectives of seven FinnishB.Sc. in Information Technology programs are discussed and reflected withthe CDIO Syllabus based on the information available on the public curriculumdescriptions. peerReviewed

This paper presents the development of an educational immersive virtual reality (IVR) program considering both technological and pedagogical affordances of such learning environments. The CDIO Stan ...

Increasing class sizes forces universities to change their education in ways that allow for independent learning for students. This study looks at a case where blended learning was introduced to alleviate some of the educationally negative consequences of large class sizes. Independent learning requires from the students to become more self-regulated while at the same time they need efficient feedback from lecturers to enact these self-regulated learning activities. In this paper we investigate whether at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) student perceptions of lecturing behaviour is such as to stimulate student’s independent learning and whether self-regulated learning behaviour results in more active engagement with the learning materials.

International audience; This article discusses the tension between quality assurance and quality enhancement in engineering education at a programme level. It acknowledges that accreditation has evolved for many years, but does not agilely support innovation or implement changes in educational programmes. Existing quality assurance systems, institutional collaboration networks, as well as new innovative quality enhancement models and processes are described, contrasted and synthesised. Quality enhancement is analysed based on its function as a source of inspiration and dissemination of good practice. The article reflects on a novel and more collaborative approach to quality enhancement, built on the foundations of specific pedagogical standards and rubrics (e.g. CDIO). One solution leading to real continuous quality enhancement could be flexible and agile evaluation processes. These are founded on measurement and rating frameworks and complemented with quality assurance for engineering education. Incremental enhancement is based on relevant needs identified collaboratively between programmes.

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The engineering education at Aarhus University, Denmark, includes the course Statistics and Design of Experiments (DoE) that encompasses both collaborative and individual learning activities. The choice of examination method is important, as students adapt their learning behavior accordingly. Group examinations align well with collaborative learning and individual examinations are successful in assessing individual learning and detecting free riders. To avoid organizing and exposing the students to two examinations and thus imposing additional undesirable costs, we aimed to develop a single highly structured oral group examination method that addresses both collaborative and individual learning in an organized fashion without increasing demands on academic staff. The oral group examination method described in this study is a three-in-one exam where all group members in a project group are present at all times. First, the students’ collaborative skills were addressed with focus on knowledge application and analysis. Then their individual skills were addressed with focus on basic knowledge understanding. Finally, students were given the opportunity to evaluate their own knowledge and create new knowledge, which includes the pinnacle of Bloom’s taxonomy pyramid. The examination method was tried out with four classes of engineering students (142 in total): two Chemical engineering and two Biotechnological engineering classes in their second and third year. Afterwards, students reflected on their perception of the exam in a survey. In summary, the examination method embraced assessment of both collaborative and individual learning and provided time for in-depth discussions with all group members, in the project group, on a high taxonomic level. We encourage other educators to explore this examination method. The present study includes a “ready-to-implement” protocol and a “ready-to-use" Student Scoring Sheet to keep track of the contribution of each student. The engineering education at Aarhus University, Denmark, includes the course Statistics and Design of Experiments (DoE) that encompasses both collaborative and individual learning activities. The choice of examination method is important, as students adapt their learning behavior accordingly. Group examinations align well with collaborative learning and individual examinations are successful in assessing individual learning and detecting free riders. To avoid organizing and exposing the students to two examinations and thus imposing additional undesirable costs, we aimed to develop a single highly structured oral group examination method that addresses both collaborative and individual learning in an organized fashion without increasing demands on academic staff. The oral group examination method described in this study is a three-in-one exam where all group members in a project group are present at all times. First, the students’ collaborative skills were addressed with focus on knowledge application and analysis. Then their individual skills were addressed with focus on basic knowledge understanding. Finally, students were given the opportunity to evaluate their own knowledge and create new knowledge, which includes the pinnacle of Bloom’s taxonomy pyramid. The examination method was tried out with four classes of engineering students (142 in total): two Chemical engineering and two Biotechnological engineering classes in their second and third year. Afterwards, students reflected on their perception of the exam in a survey. In summary, the examination method embraced assessment of both collaborative and individual learning and provided time for in-depth discussions with all group members, in the project group, on a high taxonomic level. We encourage other educators to explore this examination method. The present study includes a “ready-to-implement” protocol and a “ready-to-use" Student Scoring Sheet to keep track of the contribution of each student.

Enhancing courses with technology in a manner that supports students’ learning, has clear underlying pedagogical values and is aligned with a university strategy for course development is far from trivial. This paper describes and evaluates a Learning Design approach to such a process — a process that was initiated by a university strategic goal of providing more and better use of technology for education. At the heart of the process is the Learning Design educational development methodology. The paper discusses the tensions between the goals of the process: learning activities supporting students’ learning and the university’s overall strategic goal regarding technology. We find that although tensions exist, they do not hinder the design of better teaching using technology, and we conclude that Learning Design is a useful methodology to address these tensions.

This paper will evaluate the effects of new learning spaces for mixed on-campus and online students. In 2015, the Electronics Engineering study programme at Aarhus University School of Engineering (ASE) in Herning decided to provide an online learning option in addition to the traditional classroom instruction. Consequently, the flipped learning approach was introduced in both the online and on-campus teaching, allowing online students to join the classroom teaching synchronously and asynchronously. However, due to a high dropout rate, various initiatives for improving online student retention have been implemented since 2016, and despite heavy legislation affecting the university, which makes it almost impossible to work full-time while also studying full-time, the majority of the 2016 online student intake is still actively engaged. A number that continues to increase with the 2017 and 2018 intakes. From 2016-2017, data was collected and evaluated to gain further insight into what it is like to be an online student. The findings have led to new strategies for collaboration, student-centred learning and optimised learning spaces for how we conduct flipped learning at ASE in Herning. Some of the new strategies have been introduced to the 2018 student intake; among these are Slack and RealTimeBoard. Likewise, new ways of team collaboration, where the students sit in their teams at round tables, have been implemented. Each team consists of a mix of on-campus and online students, and the lecturers connect to the students’ (virtual) workspaces via an iPad, thus combining a physical and virtual experience in the learning space. Conclusion is that organising the classroom with round tables together with RealTimeBoard supports the strategy of creating a more modern classroom with a student-centred approach to learning and a better integration of on-campus and online students, while Slack was not considered an appropriate ‘candidate’ for a modern communication platform.

In this paper a framework of key competencies for sustainability defined by UNESCO is used to evaluate the relevance of the CDIO Syllabus for promoting engineering education for sustainable development. The evaluation is performed in two steps. First, topics, terms and concepts in the CDIO Syllabus that corresponds to the different UNESCO key competencies are identified. The second step is a qualitative discussion where areas of strong mapping are highlighted and aspects that could be better visualized or strengthened in, or added to, the Syllabus are identified. Differences in definitions of various concepts between the CDIO Syllabus and the UNESCO key competencies and the overall relation between the two frameworks are discussed. It is concluded that the CDIO Syllabus is rather well aligned with the UNESCO framework, however several opportunities (not to say needs) for strengthening the Syllabus in relation to the key competencies are identified. The UNESCO key competencies are found to be useful instruments for scrutinizing and updating the CDIO Syllabus. Other opportunities for knowledge and methods transfer between the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) domain and the Engineering Education domain are identified. The paper is proposed to be used as basis for updating the CDIO Syllabus into a version 3.0 for maintaining its relevance in a changing world. Part of proceedings ISBN 978-877507459-4QC 20190909