Engineers who can engineer...

Transkript

1 Engineers who can engineer... Kristina Edström, KTH Umeå 6 October 2010 CDIO IS NOT A COOKIE CUTTER APPROACH CDIO is a reference model Everything has to be translatedtransformed to fit the context and conditions of each university / program CDIO provides a toolbox for working through the process Take what you want to use, transform it as you wish, give it a new name 1

2 CDIO: engineering education reform Present focus Context: Engineering science Pure problems (with right and wrong answers) Design phase Individual effort Desired focus Context: Engineering (Development of products, systems and processes) Systems view, problems go across disciplines, are complex and ill-defined, and contain societal and business aspects Understand the whole cycle: Conceive, design, implement, operate Teamwork, communication Engineers who can engineer... The CDIO vision is to educate students who understand how to conceive-design-implement-operate complex engineering systems in a modern team-based engineering environment. 2

3 How can we ensure that the students reach these learning outcomes in the programme The CDIO Syllabus - a long list of desired competences 1. Technical 2. Personal 3. Interpersonal 4. Conceive - Design - Implement - Operate in the societal and business context The CDIO Syllabus is available at (we don t use it much at KTH any more) 3

4 Civilingenjörsexamen Kunskap och förståelse För civilingenjörsexamen skall studenten visa kunskap om det valda teknikområdets vetenskapliga grund och beprövade erfarenhet samt insikt i aktuellt forsknings- och utvecklingsarbete, och visa såväl brett kunnande inom det valda teknikområdet, inbegripet kunskaper i matematik och naturvetenskap, som väsentligt fördjupade kunskaper inom vissa delar av området. CDIO is about ensuring that the students fulfill the intended learning Färdighet och förmåga För civilingenjörsexamen skall studenten visa förmåga att med outcomes helhetssyn kritiskt, for självständigt the degree, och kreativt identifiera, including formulera och hantera komplexa frågeställningar samt att delta i forsknings- och utvecklingsarbete och därigenom bidra till kunskapsutvecklingen, engineering skills. visa förmåga att skapa, analysera och kritiskt utvärdera olika tekniska lösningar, visa förmåga att planera och med adekvata metoder genomföra kvalificerade uppgifter inom givna ramar, visa förmåga att kritiskt The och principle systematiskt integrera is to kunskap explicitly samt visa förmåga agree att modellera, simulera, förutsäga och utvärdera skeenden även med begränsad information, visa förmåga att utveckla the och contribution utforma produkter, processer of each och system course med hänsyn till människors förutsättningar och behov och samhällets mål för ekonomiskt, socialt och ekologiskt hållbar utveckling, towards the program goals - and visa förmåga till lagarbete och samverkan i grupper med olika sammansättning, och visa förmåga att i såväl thereby nationella som enable internationella systematic sammanhang muntligt och skriftligt i dialog med olika grupper klart redogöra för och diskutera sina slutsatser och den kunskap och de argument som ligger till grund för dessa. progression. Värderingsförmåga och förhållningssätt För civilingenjörsexamen skall studenten visa förmåga att göra bedömningar med hänsyn till relevanta vetenskapliga, samhälleliga och etiska aspekter samt visa medvetenhet om etiska aspekter på forsknings- och utvecklingsarbete, visa insikt i teknikens möjligheter och begränsningar, dess roll i samhället och människors ansvar för hur den används, inbegripet sociala och ekonomiska aspekter samt miljö- och arbetsmiljöaspekter, och visa förmåga att identifiera sitt behov av ytterligare kunskap och att fortlöpande utveckla sin kompetens. Systematic integration of engineering competences in the programme Development routes (schematic) Year 1 Introductory course Physics Mathematics I Mechanics I Mathematics II Numerical Methods Year 2 Mechanics II Solid Mechanics Product development Thermodynamics Mathematics ti III Fluid mechanics Sound and Vibrations Year 3 Control Theory Electrical Eng. Statistics Signal analysis Oral presentation Report writing Project management Teamwork 4

5 Key question Why the integrated approach Why integrate competences? Competences are context-dependent and should be learned and assessed in the technical context....communication as a generic skill... communication as contextualized... communication as contextualized competences 5

6 They are engineering competences Communication in engineering means being able to use the technical concepts comfortably, discuss a problem at different levels, determine what is relevant to the situation, argue for or against conceptual ideas and solutions, develop ideas through discussion and collaborative sketching, explain the technical matters for different audiences, show confidence in expressing yourself within the field... Communication skills as contextualized competences are embedded d in, and inseparable from, students t application of technical knowledge. The same kind of reasoning can be made for teamwork, ethics (etc...) as well. This is about students becoming engineers! Engineering Soft/generic skills 6

7 Not a zero-sum game Practicing CDIO competences in the disciplinary context means that students will have opportunities to express and apply technical knowledge. Training for the competences will therefore at the same time reinforce students understanding of disciplinary content they will acquire a deeper working knowledge of engineering fundamentals. I can t see that a credit of writing reports in my course is a wasted credit. Writing reports is an appropriate learning activity in my subject. (Claes Tisell, KTH Machine design) Engineering faculty are engineering role models and we must show commitment by integrating engineering skills in our courses and involving ourselves. Place in curriculum Integral Application Associated Not part of curriculum Perception of generic graduate skills and attributes They are integral to disciplinary knowledge, infusing and ENABLING scholarly learning and knowledge. They let students make use of or apply disciplinary knowledge, thus potentially changing and TRANSFORMING disciplinary knowledge through its application. Skills are closely related to, and parallel, discipline learning outcomes. They are useful additional skills that COMPLEMENT or round out discipline knowledge.they are part of the university syllabus but separate and secondary to discipline knowledge. They are necessary basic PRECURSOR skills and abilities. We may need remedial teaching of such skills at university. [Simon Barrie 2002, 2004] 7

8 Different levels of commitment Introduce (I): the topic is treated in some way in the course, but it is not assessed, and probably not mentioned in the course objectives. Taking responsibility means this! Teach (T): it is part of a compulsory activity, and there is an explicit course objective, students get to apply ppy the skill and get feedback on their performance (usually in assessment). Use (U): it is applied in a compulsory activity, but mainly to achieve or assess other objectives in the course. Objectives are the basis for course design Objectives What should the students be able to do as a result of the course? - and as a result of the programme? Activities Assessment Constructive alignment [Biggs] What work is appropriate for the students to reach the objectives? What should the students perform to show that they fulfil the objectives? 8

9 Integration of competences in objectives, activities and assessment Objectives What should the student be able to do as a result of the course? Activities Assessment What work is appropriate for the students do to reach the objectives? What should the students do to demonstrate that they reached the objectives? BARRIERS: WHY and HOW Integrating competencies doesn t make sense unless we see them as engineering competencies Integrating competencies still doesn t work unless we know how it can be done 9

10 Deep learning is associated with doing. Doing is not sufficient for learning, however. Learning activity must be planned, reflected upon and processed, and related to abstract conceptions. [Biggs, cited in Gibbs (1992)] Integrating several engineering competencies in a project course... 10

11 Integrated learning in a project course Task 2002: Design, build and fly a solar-powered aircraft that can carry 2 kilos of payload... Hallström Kuttenkeuler Aha! The course where you teach students to build cool vehicles!? Every year new technical challenges 11

12 ...but always the same learning objectives After the course the participant is expected to be able to: analyse technical problems in a systems view handle technical problems which are incompletely stated and subject to multiple constraints develop strategies for systematic choice and use of available engineering methods and tools make estimations and appreciate their value and limitations make decisions based on acquired knowledge pursue own ideas and realise them practically assess quality of own work and work by others work in a true project setting that effectively utilises available resources explain mechanisms behind progress and difficulties in such a setting communicate engineering orally, in writing and graphically Black box coordination exercise INPUT: OUTPUT: Previous knowledge and skills Course (black box) Input to later course Input to later course Input to later course Input to final degree All courses in the program are presented through input-output only: INPUT - When the students come to my course I want them to already be able to... OUTPUT - Students who passed my course are able to [learning outcomes] and that is input to [course A, course B...]. The black box approach enables efficient discussions Makes connections visible (and lack thereof!) 12

13 Sustainability of educational change Today we must constantly apply force in the system (leadership, resources) to keep it from reverting to its natural state. Thus we are operating under the principle: With enough thrust, anything can fly. We must change the system itself so it is aligned, not only with research, but also with the educational experience we want to create. 13

14 Where the rubber meets the road The way the system works how the university is organized, how recruitment & promotion processes are designed, how power is assigned, how resources are allocated, and how status is earned, (what matters to people, the real, hard, end-of-the-day, bottom-line stuff) has more to do with disciplinary and research considerations, than with education or student need. 1. Outcomes of engineering education Ultimate purpose Sustainable society (social, economical and ecological) Integrationand and application Working knowledge, in context Enabling attributes Creativity, innovation, critical thinking, ethics Enabling skills Teamwork, communication Knowledge base Conceptual understanding, relevant content 14

15 Our vision has changed 1. Society and work life (student and employers) needs 2. Student motivation and performance 3. Student identity formation The context and content of the education The teaching and learning format The cultural and social environment of the education The identity mismatch has symptoms on the inside and outside Retention Recruitment Identity mismatch 15

16 Stunning lack of self critique in recruitment efforts The purpose is to communicate the correct image of engineers and engineering so that young people are given the correct prerequisites for a conscious choice of education. Recruitment can then increase. Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (2003) whether we see young people s perceptions of engineering education as true or not, they are there and the consequences are real we need to adopt an open, sensitive and listening approach to young people in our recruitment work. Andreas Ottemo (2008) The conclusion is that engineering to a large extent matches the expectations of those who do not choose engineering. (Holmegaard et al 2010) longitudinal interviews with 134 students who chose or did not choose engineering. students who choose engineering do so because they are interested in doing engineering themselves: solving real problems in an innovative and creative atmosphere. what they encounter when starting engineering education is not what they sought, but instead mostly traditional lecture based courses focused on text book examples in disciplinary silos, with very little project based, cross disciplinary, innovative work with real world relevance 16

17 That s why we need to keep on keeping on... 17