Phillip Albert Sanger

Bridging the communication gap of a foreign speaking instructor in Hands On Pedagogy

The globalization of education and particularly engineering education often results in pedagogical instruction being given by instructors not speaking the native language of the audience. Today English is the language frequently selected to bridge this communication gap through traditional oral translation either simultaneous or interactive. This single avenue of communication is simply not adequate to support teaching using project based learning (PBL) pedagogy. Multiple portals of communication drawing on more senses than just auditory is essential to successfully instruct students using the PBL approach. This paper describes the team teaching experience of an English speaking instructor and an English/Russian interpreter teaching a hands-on activity to a predominantly Russian speaking audience. Communications using auditory, visual, physical and other avenues were used to implement a design, build and test project. Their experience and the lessons learned are the subject of this paper.

Project based learning: Real world experiential projects creating the 21st century engineer

Industry throughout the world are demanding engineering graduates that are better prepared to support their organizations. Project based learning (PBL) is being recognized as a pedagogical approach that gives engineering students an opportunity to learning by doing and applying their training to real world problems. PBL is implemented in many different styles. This paper describes one of the themes of PBL - the gradual transition from solving closed ended problems to addressing real world open ended problems. The ultimate project experience is described in a global international project which explores not only the technical challenges of an open project but also the challenges of working collaboratively with engineering students from different cultures.

Collaborative Project-Based Learning in Training of Engineering Students

This paper describes an implementation of project based learning to a class of Russian students studying psychodiagnostics. A survey of the students after the experience was compared to a separate class of BS students in professional education. Based on these surveys and interviews with students, the results suggest that explicit training in project management tools and exercises in skills for team dynamics might enhance the positive experience.

Inbound International Faculty Mobility Programs in Russia: Best Practices

The paper aims at analyzing the best practices of government funded inbound international faculty mobility programs in Russia through the experience of a leading national research engineering university. The paper gives an overview of the global inbound international faculty mobility programs, and then narrows down to the programs funded by the Russian government institutions. Analyzing a specific case of a visiting foreign professor, the study reveals several short-term and long-term outcomes of the inbound mobility practices: from enhancing motivation of students to be internationalized and further developing other academic mobility initiatives such as student mobility, joint research activities, and dual degree programs to a positive impact on a regional economy.

Introducing Project Based Learning into Traditional Russian Engineering Education

An extended Algarysh grant from the Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation was awarded to KNRTU. The goal of the project was to introduce PBL to the faculty, to develop a PBL training manual for interested faculty and to apply the PBL approach to several classes of students at the university as a demonstration of its effectiveness. This paper gives the structure of the classes, describes the project management lecture content and the related practicum, describes the projects that were undertaken during this program and finally evaluates the impact of the program using student survey and open-ended comments. For the undergraduate and master students, the experience was unique in their education, as many had never worked in teams on a project. Their feedback was highly positive. In general, faculty acceptance was limited to the younger faculty with senior faculty being resistant to the new techniques of PBL.