Gavin Duffy

How authors did it – a methodological analysis of recent engineering education research papers in the European Journal of Engineering Education

ABSTRACT We investigated research processes applied in recent publications in the European Journal of Engineering Education (EJEE), exploring how papers link to theoretical work and how research processes have been designed and reported. We analysed all 155 papers published in EJEE in 2009, 2010 and 2013, classifying the papers using a taxonomy of research processes in engineering education research (EER) (Malmi et al. 2012). The majority of the papers presented either empirical work (59%) or were case reports (27%). Our main findings are as follows: (1) EJEE papers build moderately on a wide selection of theoretical work; (2) a great majority of papers have a clear research strategy, but data analysis methods are mostly simple descriptive statistics or simple/undocumented qualitative research methods; and (3) there are significant shortcomings in reporting research questions, methodology and limitations of studies. Our findings are consistent with and extend analyses of EER papers in other publishing venues; they help to build a clearer picture of the research currently published in EJEE and allow us to make recommendations for consideration by the editorial team of the journal. Our employed procedure also provides a framework that can be applied to monitor future global evolution of this and other EER journals.

A Strategy for the Development of Lifelong Learning and Personal Skills throughout an Undergraduate Engineering Programme

For many years engineering programmes have placed a stronger emphasis on the development of technical knowledge, understanding and skills at the expense of personal skills such as initiative, creativity, communication, teamwork and lifelong self-directed learning. Recent changes in accreditation criteria call for greater competences in these skills to be achieved in the undergraduate programme. An argument is presented that this requires a change from the traditional approach to engineering education to a group-based project driven one as this is compatible with concurrent development of both technical and non-technical learning outcomes. Just as a clear path of progression exists from the fundamentals of science in stage one to the advanced engineering content in the final year so too should personal skills be developed in a progressive structured way. This paper presents a strategy that is currently being developed and implemented in the School of Electrical Engineering Systems in the Dublin Institute of Technology in a four year Bachelor of Engineering programme. In the group-based project-driven approach students practice communication and team work skills not in isolation to but integrated with the programmes technical content. The early stages of the programme focus on strongly developing the group learning process and introducing students to a reflective practice so they can observe and improve performance. Tutor observation fades in later years as students become more adept at managing group work and self-directed learning. This strategy is designed to progressively change a dependent freshman student into an independent graduate who is prepared for the challenges ahead.

Using architecture design studio pedagogies to enhance engineering education

Problem-Based Learning pedagogies that require high levels of inquiry and hands-on engagement can enhance studentlearning in engineering. Such pedagogies lie at the core of studio-based design education, having been used to teacharchitects since the Renaissance. Today, design assignments and studio-based learning formats are finding their way intoengineering programs, often as part of larger movements to implement Student-Centered, Problem-Based Learning (PBL)pedagogies. This spectrum of pedagogies is mutually supportive, as illustrated in the University of Michigan’sSmartSurfaces course where students majoring in engineering, art and design, and architecture collaborate on wickedlycomplex and ill-defined design problems. In SmartSurfaces and other similar PBL environments, students encountercomplex, trans-disciplinary, open-ended design prompts that have timely social relevance.Analyzing data generated in studio-based PBL courses like SmartSurfaces can help educators evaluate and trackstudents’ intellectual growth. This paper presents a rubric for measuring students’ development of increasingly refinedepistemological understanding (regarding knowledge and how it is created, accessed, and used). The paper illustratesuse ofthe tool in evaluating blogs created by students in SmartSurfaces, which in turn provides evidence to help validate therubric and suggest avenues for future refinement. The overall result of the exploratory study reported here is to provideevidence of positive change among students who learn in PBL environments and to provide educators with a preliminarytool for assessing design-related epistemological development. Findings of this study indicate design-based education canhave powerful effects and collaborating across disciplines can help engineering students advance in valuable ways.

A cross-cultural exploration of spatial visualisation abilities of first year STEM students: Students from Gulf States and Ireland

A strong link exists between spatial abilities and academic and professional success in STEM. The development of spatial skills is influenced directly or indirectly by a vast array of factors including academic experiences as well as gender, race, ethnicity, culture, primary language, and socioeconomic status. Numerous previous studies of spatial ability in STEM students have focused on improving spatial skills through interventions to reduce the gender gap and to increase academic success and retention of women in STEM. Cross-cultural variations in spatial ability among the general population are robust, but research is needed to understand whether cross-cultural differences are manifest among the global STEM student population. This paper contributes to that understanding by presenting analysis of the spatial ability of Irish and Gulf States students entering STEM at an institution of higher education in Ireland. The spatial ability of Gulf States students was significantly lower than the spatial ability of Irish students; the spatial ability of both groups was found to be markedly lower than STEM students from the United States, Germany and Poland. The identification and removal of barriers to academic success is of particular interest in the context of current efforts to increase the number of engineering graduates entering the global workforce. This work-in-progress paper also describes the implementation of a targeted intervention to improve the spatial skills of students with weak ability.