Christine Winberg

Teaching Engineering/Engineering Teaching: Interdisciplinary Collaboration and the Construction of Academic Identities.

Academics in higher education institutions are members of disciplinary communities by virtue of their qualifications and research activities, and as teachers of particular disciplines (or professions) they are (or need to become) members of a community of educational practitioners. In this paper, I analyse the ways in which a small group of lecturers in a professional engineering discipline negotiated their academic identities in the process of attaining a Masters degree in Engineering Education. A series of narrative interviews was used to track shifts in the lecturers’ identity trajectories during the Masters programme. The findings indicate that academic identities, even within a single engineering discipline, are flexible, multi-layered, and susceptible to different degrees of change. Despite these differences, all participants experienced similar stages in the process of shifting from engineering to engineering educator identities.

Avoiding Plagiarism in Contexts of Development and Change

This paper reports on an investigation into the incidence of plagiarism in the context of a new university of technology in South Africa. The findings indicate that plagiarism can take many forms, some of which are a result of dishonesty and academic misconduct, while others are related to the educational levels and cultural diversity of the faculty and student body. The paper argues that a ldquoone-size-fits-allrdquo approach to plagiarism is not likely to be effective within a context of development and change, different forms of plagiarism should be clearly identified, and different institutional responses are necessary to address these items.

‘I take engineering with me': epistemological transitions across an engineering curriculum

ABSTRACT In this paper we study epistemological transitions across an intended engineering curriculum and recommend strategies to assist students in attaining the increasingly complex concepts and insights that are necessary for transition to advanced levels of study. We draw on Legitimation Code Theory [Maton, Karl. 2014, Knowledge and Knowers: Towards a Realist Sociology of Education. Abingdon: Routledge], in particular the dimensions of sematic gravity and semantic density, to explain these transitions. Data for the study was obtained from a curriculum renewal project that reveals how engineers understand engineering knowledge. We find an interdependent relationship between semantic gravity and semantic density in the intended engineering curriculum. The complexity of the context and the problems that arise from it pose strong cognitive challenges. The semantic gravity wave rises and falls across the engineering curriculum s, enabling both abstraction and a focus on ‘real world’ problems in specialised knowledge fields. Control of the semantic gravity wave is key to the provision of ‘epistemological access’ [Morrow, Wally, ed. (2003) 2009. Bounds of Democracy: Epistemological Access in Higher Education. Reprint, Pretoria: HSRC Press] to engineering knowledge.

Teaching technical writing in multilingual contexts: A meta-analysis

Abstract Teachers of technical and professional writing in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) Programmes need to understand the particular needs and social contexts of students for whom English is not a first language. The focus of this paper is on technical writing, and the paper presents the findings from four broad areas surveyed in a meta-analysis of research articles on curricular, teaching, learning and assessment practices for university-level English technical communication in multilingual contexts. Communication lecturers in the SET professions are faced with decisions regarding the kind of language forms, topics and purposes to address when teaching, developing materials, or designing assessment tasks for a multilingual technical communication class. It is hoped that this meta-analysis will provide communication lecturers, who work within SET fields, with information for effective and inclusive practice.

Learning to teach STEM disciplines in higher education: a critical review of the literature

ABSTRACT Enrolments in STEM disciplines at universities are increasing globally, attributed to the greater life opportunities open to students as a result of a STEM education. But while institutional access to STEM programmes is widening, the retention and success of STEM undergraduate students remains a challenge. Pedagogies that support student success are well known; what we know less about is how university teachers acquire pedagogical competence. This is the focus of this critical review of the literature that offers a theorised critique of educational development in STEM contexts. We studied the research literature with a view to uncovering the principles that inform professional development in STEM disciplines and fields. The key finding of this critical review is how little focus there is on the STEM disciplines. The majority of studies reviewed did not address the key issue of what makes the STEM disciplines difficult to learn and challenging to teach.

Buildig knowledge and knowers in writing retreats: Towards developing the field of higher education teaching and learning

Writing for publication is essential for disseminating research findings, sharing initiatives and innovations with others, and developing the knowledge base of intellectual fields. This study explores the role of writing retreats in building knowledge and knowers in the field of Higher Education Studies, specifically within the area of higher education pedagogy. We conceptually frame our research with Legitimation Code Theory (Maton 2014) in order to analyse the different ways in which participants in writing retreats orientate themselves to the social practice of writing for publication and the knowledge base of higher education pedagogy. The data comprise participants’ feedback on writing retreats, collected from surveys and focus group interviews at two universities (a teaching-intensive university and a research-intensive university), and supplementary institutional data on retreat participants and their writing achievements. By examining the organising principles of the writing retreats in terms of how they build knowledge and knowers, we make explicit the knowledge-building practices that underpin successful writing retreats and the orientations towards these practices that are productive for potential authors.

In search of graduate attributes: A survey of six flagship programmes

The focus of this study is the emergence of distinctive graduate attributes in flagship programmes at Universities of Technology in South Africa. The theoretical framework chosen for this study, Legitimation Code Theory (Maton 2014), offers an explanation of the underlying knowledge principles that make different kinds of thinking, doing and being possible. This paper studies how favourable graduate attributes were achieved, identifies similarities across underpinning structures, and highlights the challenges faced by universities of technology in creating environments in which desired graduate attributes might be developed. The paper offers a means of understanding the potential for the emergence of graduate attributes across undergraduate programmes in vocational and professional higher education contexts.

‘It takes a village’ : attaining teaching excellence in a challenging context

The focus of this article is a teaching and learning activity system which is studied for the purpose of understanding and resolving contradictions in the system. For purposes of this study, the activity system was examined from the perspectives of university teachers and senior university managers. Data was obtained from interviews with university teachers who had expressed an interest in teaching and learning and who had demonstrated considerable ability in university teaching. Interviews were also conducted with senior managers responsible for teaching and learning at the institution. We applied the tools provided by Activity Theory (Engestrom 1987; 2008) to analyse the data and propose recommendations for how university teaching might be better supported by university managers in contexts of considerable change and challenge. This required identifying and addressing areas of difficulty within and across the system for the purpose of enabling improved outcomes. In this article, areas of contradiction are analysed and constructive suggestions are made for using the identified areas of difficulty as sites for growth and development.