Penelope Engel-Hills

‘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.

The Nature of Professional Expertise

The rapid technological advancements in the imaging sciences create a challenging environment of continuous change. The foundation for the development of adaptive expertise is a well-designed curriculum that ensures graduate practitioners have relevant, deep knowledge and entry-level competence. Through experience and engagement in a multi-disciplinary team or community of practice, medical imaging professionals transfer their knowledge to new and progressively more complex environments as they develop expertise. The notion of expertise can be described and understood from different perspectives, and some of these are presented in order to enhance the understanding of this complex construct. One such view explains that sustained and deliberate practice facilitates the development of expertise within a specific domain until conscious cognitive processing is replaced with rapid problem-solving with the aid of quickly accessible complex cognitive schemata that are created through experience and stored in the long-term memory. If expertise is a continuum of development in the profession and can be seen as belonging to all professionals, the label of expert is generally not bestowed on every professional but only on the few recognized as exceptional by those in the discipline.

Professional expertise for radiation therapists in Africa

Abstract The radiation therapist (RTT) is a practitioner who must learn to take responsibility as an autonomousprofessional within a collaborative multi-professional team. A case study of international students onfellowship studies to a South African Higher Education Institution was used as the lens to explore thedevelopment of professional expertise in RTTs. Documents and semi-structured interviews generatedtextual data that was semantically analysed. The findings are presented as a discussion of the themesthat emerged from the text data; (1) autonomy in a team, (2) collaboration facilitates learning, (3) theneed for professional competence, (4) reflective practice and (5) participatory learning. The paper offersthe interpretation of professional competence as a practitioner who has applicable knowledge, clinicaland generic competence as well as appropriate behaviour and attitudes. It is proposed that a collab-orative, integrated curriculum meets the need for the education of RTTs on the African continent. In suchan environment optimised learning is facilitated by access to good clinical role models, the developmentof skills toward reflective practice and student participation in the learning environment.

Fractional anisotropy of white matter, disability and blood iron parameters in multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disorder related to myelin damage, which can be investigated by neuroimaging techniques such as fractional anisotropy (FA), a measure of microstructural white matter properties. The objectives of this study were to investigate (1) the relationship between FA and disability using an extremes of outcome approach, and (2) whether blood iron parameters were associated with FA and/or disability. Patients diagnosed with MS (n = 107; 14 males and 93 females) had iron parameter tests and disability determinations using the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). FA was recorded in 48 white matter tracts in 11 of the female patients with MS and 12 female controls. Results: In patients with high disability scores the mean FA was significantly lower (0.34 ± 0.067) than in the control group (0.45 ± 0.036; p = 0.04), while patients with low disability had mean FA values (0.44 ± 0.014) similar to controls (p = 0.5). Positive associations were found between FA and the iron parameters serum iron, ferritin and percentage transferrin saturation (%Tfsat) in all the white matter tracts. For % Tfsat, the associations were highly significant in 14 tracts (p < 0.01; r-values 0.74–0.84) and p < 0.001 (r = 0.83) in the superior fronto occipital fasciculus (LH). In the whole patient group a trend was found towards an inverse association between the EDSS and the %Tfsat (r = −0.26, p = 0.05) after excluding male gender and smoking as confounders, suggesting reduced disability in the presence of higher blood iron parameters. Additionally, significant inverse associations between disease duration and haemoglobin (p = 0.04) as well as %Tfsat (p = 0.02) suggested that patients with MS may experience a decrease in blood iron concentrations over time.

Panel - Ethics in modern universities of technology: Challenges of the 21 st century

The challenges of the 21st century will fully reflect on universities of technology. The world population is growing while we pursue higher levels of global well-being. The increasing energy demands and the resulting problems of climate change will be only two of the many major challenges humanity is facing in this century. Indeed, universities of technologies have an essential role to play in meeting these challenges by generating scientific knowledge, achieving technological breakthroughs and educating scientists and engineers to think and work for the public good. A forthcoming Special Issue of Science and Engineering Ethics will address some of the ethical issues that arise for institutions of higher education in the field of engineering and applied science. Several contributors to this Special Issue are invited to discuss two main issues namely: academic industry collaborations; and teaching engineering ethics.

Medical Competency in Postgraduate Medical Training Programs

This chapter familiarizes readers with the concept of an outcome or competency-based curriculum by presenting multidimensional tools available for measuring competence through the lens of postgraduate medical education competencies as proposed by two major medical professional organizations: the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. This chapter presents an existing collaboration between the ACGME and the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) as to measuring medical competency; moreover, the chapter presents the CanMEDS 2005 Project by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. This chapter emphasizes a role adult education in medical education by drawing a specific attention to principles of andragogy, as aiming to suggest an andragogy-oriented direction toward planning medical curriculum, making policy, and assessing and evaluating postgraduate medical training programs.