European engineering educators

Concerns for student mental health have grown over the last decade, particularly within engineering disciplines, which are often associated with heavy workloads and difficult assessment. There is subsequently an increasing need to understand the stressors that impact engineering students, and the ways in which we can support them to thrive.In this episode we speak to Karin Jensen, an Assistant Professor and Faith Gacheru a first-year graduate student, both from the University of Michigan. Karin was awarded a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation for her research on undergraduate mental health in engineering programs and recognized with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, awarded by US President Biden in January 2025, whilst Faith recently presented a poster entitled A Mixed-Methods Study to Support Undergraduate Engineering Student Well-Being at ASEE 2025.Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Prof. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about stressors within engineering education and ways by which to encourage help-seeking behaviour. Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.23 Podcast Intro0.45 Experiences with student mental health from Natalie and Neil2.32 Introduction to Karin and Faith 7.06 University of Michigan9.38 Key definitions, terminology and use of language15.27 How concerns regarding mental health have changed 20.11 The role of engineering culture24.21 Making changes at different levels of the system26.32 Measuring stress and identifying stressors within engineering education34.53 How do educators perceive mental health concerns36.51 Thriving 38.09 Translating finding into teaching practices 47.21 How is the research being used to support other educators48.29 Staff mental health 51.09 Future work52.33 Takeaways from Karin and Faith55.54 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil ResourcesDetails about Karin’s lab and work can be found here https://kjens.engin.umich.edu/ including The Engineering Stress Culture (ESC) Scale, a 10-item measure of undergraduate student perceptions of engineering stress culture and The Undergraduate Engineering Stressors Questionnaire (U-ESQ) (https://kjens.engin.umich.edu/research-well-being/)Join us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Despite the increasing magnitude and frequency of disasters, it remains unclear whether civil engineers possess the ability to understand disaster risk and design resilient infrastructures.  This episode features Anup Shrestha from Water and Development Research Group, School of Engineering, Aalto University (Finland).  We talk about the winner of the ‘Best Student Paper’ at the SEFI 2025 Conference entitled “Are Disaster-Prone Countries’ Undergraduate Students Prepared? Insights from a Civil Engineering Program in Nepal” which Anup co-authored with Julia Sundman, Josias Láng-Ritter, Maija Taka, Olli Varis (Aalto University) and Sudeep Lamsal (Sagarmatha Engineering College).  The paper considers the degree to which undergraduate civil engineering students in disaster-prone countries are adequately prepared. The research involves the use of a questionnaire to evaluate Nepalese students’ knowledge of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), resilience concepts, and related competencies. Students were found to exhibit DRR knowledge, but had limited opportunities to participate in DRR courses, workshops, or training. Whilst they possessed the basic concepts of resilience, there was a notable gap in their ability to apply these concepts in designing resilient structures. The research team thus suggest that additional efforts focus on integrating these competencies into engineering curricula.  For the full paper, follow this link:https://acris.aalto.fi/ws/portalfiles/portal/202473945/SEFI2025_040.pdf This is the third episode from the new SEFI Podcast: Publication Spotlight series which aims to complement our normal, longer length shows. In these episodes, we speak with authors of recent publications to bring you up to date with some of the latest work within engineering education.Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction0.27 Introduction to the episode an publication1.08 How the work came about and the research team4.25 Summary of the work5.18 The research gap7.36 Disaster risk reduction (DRR)10.58 The research questions12.10 Methodology 13.38 The findings16.58 Implications for engineering education research and practice20.24 Contextual differences 22.48 Staff and student perceptions to integrating DRR and resilience26.27 What's next?Join us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The rising complexity of modern societal challenges has intensified interest in interdisciplinary engineering education.In this episode we speak to Professor Anette Kolmos (Professor in Engineering Education and PBL) and Dr Henrik Worm Routhe (Postdoctoral Researcher) from Aalborg University (AAU) in Denmark, about InterPBL and the different approaches that can be taken to interdisciplinary learning and teaching.Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Prof. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about the many different ways in which we can integrate interdisciplinary projects into our engineering courses. Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.25 Podcast Intro0.52 Experiences with interdisciplinary from Natalie and Neil2.30 Introduction to Anette and Henrik7.20 Aalborg University (AAU)9.18 Introduction to InterPBL13.00 Examples of the challenges associated with interdisciplinary project work14.34 Aims of the InterPBL project17.04 Interdisciplinary in engineering practice21.00 Definitions 24.25 Cognitive trust and boundary objects31.00 How does interdisciplinary work impact identity?35.28 A typology of interdisciplinary projects48.32 Students' motivation50.57 Leadership 55.21 Assessment of interdisciplinary 58.41 Implications for staff and capacity building1:00:50 Measuring the effectiveness of interdisciplinary learning and teaching1:05:40 Introducting interdisciplinary in your own context1:09:56 Mega-projects (M-Project) and broad interdisciplinary1:15:25 Key Takeaways and implications from Anette and Henrik1:25:38 What is next for research in this area?1:28:48 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil ResourcesA small sample of papers which focus on the InterPBL project are linked belowThis paper focuses on student learning outcomes of interdisciplinary workhttps://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10171180This provides insights from a narrow interdisciplinary curriculum project named “leadENGhttps://vbn.aau.dk/en/publications/interdisciplinary-problem-based-projects-for-first-year-engineeri/This paper focuses on development of leadership competencieshttps://vbn.aau.dk/ws/portalfiles/portal/752930995/17_ijee4479.pdfThese papers focus on the different project typeshttps://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/15/2/138https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03043797.2023.2267476Join us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Although recognised as a priority for engineering education, implementation of Sustainable Development (SD) in curricula has been mixed and limited.  This episode features Marie Paretti from Virginia Tech and Maya Menon from the EdTech startup NextWork. We talk about a paper published in the European Journal of Engineering Education entitled “Understanding instructor decision-making in engineering education for sustainable development: a comparison of institutions in Denmark and the United States” which Maya and Marie co-authored with Jennifer Case and Andrew Katz. The study compared the external, internal (institutional) and individual influences on instructors’ decision-making, in relation to the incorporation of SD into the courses they teach within institutions in two different national contexts. This episode is the second in our series of episodes that take on a new format and are released at intervals along with our normal longer length shows.For the full paper, follow this link: https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2025.2486189Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction0.29 Introduction to the episode an publication1.25 How the work came about and the research team3.12 Summary of the work4.02 The research gap5.16 The research questions7.27 Terminology; Sustainability, Sustainable Development and the UN SDGs10.50 Theoretical underpinnings13.58 Comparative Case Study Methodology18.04 Data sources and analysis21.12 The findings29:49 Implications for engineering education practice32.31 Implications for engineering education research35.23 GoodbyesJoin us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Engineering is a global profession, with various efforts focusing on the globalisation of engineering practice. However, there are many differences between engineering education systems in different contexts.In this episode we discuss what we can learn by comparing engineering education across contexts with Professor Roger Gonzalez from The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), author of the monograph “Adapting Engineering Education to a Rapidly Changing World” which focuses on the differences between engineering education systems, particularly those associated with the UK and the USA.Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Prof. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about the ways in which students are contributing their their own engineering education, and what we can learn from them.Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.25 Podcast Intro0.50 Experiences with students collaboration from Natalie and Neil2.13 Introduction to Roger and his work5.04 Introduction to UTEP6.44 Why is this work needed and why now?10.15 How was the work conducted?12.44 Differences in terms of student admissions into engineering 15.58 Implications for widening access and participation 19.10 Why are there differences between contexts? 22.42 Differences in length and structure of programmes, teaching, learning and assessment and the role of student unions29.42 Differences in content of the degree33.01 Degree variants and the role of industry36.12 The role of Quality Assurance (QA) and student feedback and the role of funding45.24 Accreditation48.35 What can we learn from the differences?53.42 How do these learnings apply to other contexts and countries?54.47 How will engineering education change in the future; AI.1:02:35 Key Takeaways from Roger1:05:02 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil Key ResourcesYou can access Roger’s monograph by following the link belowhttps://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-78908-3Join us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is our first episode which takes the new format which we will be released at intervals along with our normal longer length shows. In these episodes we will be bringing you up to date with some of the latest work within engineering education by speaking with authors of recent publications.For our first episode of this I am speaking with Madeline Polmear from Kings College London, who featured in our very first season of the podcast. And we are going to talk about a paper published in the Journal of Engineering Education entitled Exploring engagement narratives among self-identified Hispanic women's experiences in engineering counterspaces which Madeline co-authored with Elizabeth Volpe, Idalis Villanueva Alarcón and Denise Simmons.For the full paper, follow this link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jee.20630Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction0.27 Introduction to the episode an publication1.22 The research team3.08 Summary of the work4.30 The research gap5.58 The research questions6.35 Theoretical underpinnings10.15 Methodology; Data Collection and analysis12.21 The findings15.32 Implications for engineering education practice17.12 Implications for engineering education research19.10 GoodbyesJoin us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We can't really talk about engineering education without talking about engineering students. But in this episode we talk to them! We attempt to bridge the gap between engineering educators and students by directly asking them what they think. In so doing, we welcome Katrijn Vandenborne (current President of BEST) and Nadica Koloska (co-ordinator for the Educational Involvement Department) from the Board of European Students of Technology (BEST).Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Prof. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about the ways in which students are contributing their their own engineering education, and what we can learn from them.Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.29 Podcast Intro0.46 Experiences with students collaboration from Natalie and Neil2.47 Introduction to Katrijn and Nadica6.30 The history of BEST8.04 The relationship with SEFI10.48 Managing student turnover12.11 Professional development courses14.55 Career support16.20 Symposium on Education19.02 The Education Involvement Department20.58 Stakeholders28.35 Topics of interest within BEST: professional skills, the responsible engineer, assessment and AI39.45 What should educators remove from engineering programmes?43.00 Diversifying membership and the student voice47.19 The benefits of being part of BEST53.02 What's next?56.33 How do students get involved in BEST?59.06 Key Takeaways from Katrijn and Nadica1.01.48 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil Key Resourceshttps://www.best.eu.org/index.jspJoin us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the highlights episode for season 6! We have reached the end of season 6 and 3+ years of podcasting.Neil and Natalie would like to thank all listeners and guests for their continued support in making the podcast a valuable source of information regarding contemporary topics in engineering education.Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Professor Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) for this episode in which they summarise the recent interviews.00.00 - Introduction00.38 - Welcome, podcast updates, the future of the podcast03.50 - Robyn Mae Paul and Kari Zacharias on the Iron Ring12.00 - Siara Isaac and Joelyn de Lima on the 3T Play Project for Transversal Skills18.58 - Kurt Coppens on feedback literacy 24.36 - Mariana Velho on public engagement and outreach29.29 - Call for guests, and ideas on topics and guestsJoin us! Become a member of the European Society for Engineering Education, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineering educators: www.sefi.bemusic (c) Lizzie Cooke all rights reserved.Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Attracting students to study engineering, and helping society understand what engineers do, are ongoing challenges within engineering education.In this episode we spoke to Mariana Velho, Communication, Education and Outreach Manager for CERN openlab. Mariana draws upon her background in psychology, education and outreach, to manage various communication projects and campaigns, and manage stakeholder relationships.Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about the use of science communication and outreach in encouraging students to study engineering.Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.23 Podcast Intro0.48 Experiences with science communication and outreach from Natalie and Neil3.20 Introduction to Mariana6.47 The importance of science communication7.28 ATLAS Experiment and CERN8.44 The role of psychology in science communication11.46 CERN14.44 CERN openlab16.47 Mariana's role within CERN19.28 Developing the scientists and engineers of tomorrow21.22 The Summer Placement27.36 Science communication skills31.32 Educational resources37.11 Microsoft Dreamspace and spatial skills43.24 Engineering in the future48.11 What's next?51.54 Key Takeaways from Mariana53.20 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil  Key Resourceshttps://marianadantasvelho.com/https://openlab.cern/about/collaborate-us https://atlas.cern/Resources/Colouring-Books https://dreamspace.microsoft.com/en-us/dreamspace/irelandJoin us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Feedback is a somewhat perennial topic within higher education (HE), with increasing emphasis on students as independent learners who should engage as active participants to fulfil the role of a self-regulated learner.In this episode we speak to Dr. Kurt Coppens who works within the ETHER (Engineering Technology Education Research) research group, at the Faculty of Engineering Technology, KU Leuven, Belgium and whose PhD focused on the feedback literacy of engineering students.Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about the role of feedback literacy in engineering education!Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.16 Podcast Intro0.42 Experiences with feedback literacy from Natalie and Neil4.11 Introduction to Kurt7.05 ETHER at KU Leuven7.58 What do we mean by feedback literacy?9.13 What is involved in feedback literacy?11.41 What does good feedback literacy look like?13.28 Research developments in areas of feedback literacy17.52 The research gap20.07 PhD aims21.40 Study design28.22 Findings of the first study (Feedback Oreintation Scale)30.10 Findings from the reflective logs33.22 Changes in feedback literacy during first year39.28 Changes during a degree41.04 Improving feedback literacy43.10 Capacity building of educators46.15 Generalisability of findings47.27 The future of research in this area49.10 Key Takeaways from Kurt50.29 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil Further Reading Kurt’s workKurt’s Thesis can be found by following the link below: https://kuleuven.limo.libis.be/discovery/search?query=any,contains,LIRIAS4154722&tab=LIRIAS&search_scope=lirias_profile&vid=32KUL_KUL:Lirias&offset=0Coppens, K., Van den Broeck, L., Winstone, N., & Langie, G. (2023). Capturing student feedback literacy using reflective logs. European Journal of Engineering Education, 48(4), 653–666. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2023.2185501Coppens, K., Van den Broeck, L., Winstone, N., & Langie, G. (2024). A mixed method approach to exploring feedback literacy through student self-reflection. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 50(2), 173–186. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2024.2373792Other Key Resourceshttps://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1463354https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2002.30.8.821.https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310373145https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2019.1667955https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-019-09905-5https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2023.2263838Join us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There continues to be a growing focus on the need for engineering students to develop transversal skills. There are a number of barriers which can stifle efforts in teaching such skills and approaches increasingly focus on developing engineering educators’ ability to integrate a diverse set of skills with technical knowledge.In this episode we speak to Siara Isaac and Joelyn de Lima, part of the 3T Play project (funded by the Lego Foundation) team from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), who focused on the use of tangible objects and playfulness to support the learning process and support skills development.Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about the approaches to embedding trasversal skills within engineering education!Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.22 Podcast Intro0.48 Experiences with transversal skills from Natalie and Neil3.18 Introduction to Siara and Joelyn and the wider 3T Play project team5.15 The start of the 3T Play project at EPFL7.22 What are transversal skills?9.31 The significance of transversal skills and why they should be explicitly taught11:18 The views of instructors and barriers to teaching transversal skills16:48 The Trident Model: Knowing, Experiencing and Learning from Experience22:47 The role of tangible objects24:40 Applying the model to a skill29:42 Flexibility to change interventions to suit the audience34:12 Conditions which help students to develop transversal skills through experiential learning39:16 Process level feedback41:56 Developing the handbook as a resource47:35 What types and level of students are these activities approriate for?50:50 The layout of the book and the chapters56:50 The impact of the project 59:34 Key Takeaways from Siara and Joelyn1:02:23 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil Further Reading The link to the open access resource can be found herehttps://www.epflpress.org/produit/1542/9782832322895/teaching-transversal-skills-for-engineering-studentsJoin us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.bemusic (c) Lizzie Cooke all rights reserved. Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the first episode of season 6 of the podcast!The Archimedean Oath, first developed in 1990 and inspired by the Hippocratic Oath, was promoted as a reflection tool during SEFI 2024. Historically, the oath was read and signed at the end of master’s level study and allowed engineers to emphasise their commitment to their institution and global responsibility. Taking an oath was viewed as supporting graduates in making ethical decisions within professional practice. However, societal and environmental needs have since changed, this triggering moves to update both the form and scope of the oath. Similarly, in Canada, the Iron Ring or Ritual of the Calling of an Engineering is a ceremony which engineering graduates traditionally take part in. In this episode we spoke to Robyn Mae Paul from the University of Calgary and Kari Zacharias from the University of Manitoba who are part of the group ‘Retool the Ring’, whose work focuses on advocating for changes to the ceremony.Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about the iron ring!Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.58 Podcast Intro1.20 Experiences with CBL from Natalie and Neil3.17 Introduction to Robyn and Kari9.13 Introduction to the Iron Ring 12.12 What is involved in the ceremony17.45 The obligation19.47 What are the benefits of the ritual?22.53 The start of Retool the Ring32.23 Retool the Ring Activities40.42 The Iron Ring as establishing, challenging and maintaining boundaries49.02 The use of exclusionary values and langaguge 56.47 Proposed changes1:02:26 End of the Iron Ring?1:05:47 Reactions to the work done by Retool the Ring1:09: 50 What is next for Retool the Ring1:13:42 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil Further Reading The following links will take you to publications authored by members of the Retool the Ring group.https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education/articles/10.3389/feduc.2023.1177035/full https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/PCEEA/article/view/17100Join us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.bemusic (c) Lizzie Cooke all rights reserved. Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have reached the end of the fifth season!Neil and Natalie would like to thank all listeners and guests for their continued support in making the podcast a valuable source of information regarding contemporary topics in engineering education.Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) for this episode in which they summarise the recent interviews. 00.00 - Introduction00.34 - Welcome and call for new guests02.07 -Inês Direito and Jan Van Maele on diversity, equity and inclusion (Ep. 1)08.10 Sasha Nikolic, Scott Daniel and Rezwanul Haque from the Australasian Association for Engineering Education (AAEE) on AI (Ep. 2)13.39 Ann-Kristin Winkens on systems resilience in the context of engineering education (Ep. 3)18.04 Thies Johannsen on transdisciplinary education within engineering (Ep. 4)26.05 Esther Matemba & Lelanie Smith on Engineering Education in the Afrrican context (Ep. 5)31.29 Jorge Membrillo-Hernández on Challenge Based Learning (Ep. 6)36.25 Upcoming plansJoin us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.bemusic (c) Lizzie Cooke all rights reserved. Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to the podcast!Engineering education is home to many different learning approaches including problem, project, and challenge-based learning, as well as studio learning. At the same time, technological advances mean that there is an increasing focus on virtual learning, and collaboration across geographical contexts. The wide variety of approaches at our disposable necessitates choices to be made regarding what, and how, ideas will be incorporated, and indeed at what scale.In this episode we speak to Jorge Membrillo-Hernández from the Technological University of Monterrey. Jorge has a wealth of experience in using a variety of teaching and assessment methods in many different contexts. Jorge incorporates challenge-based learning (CBL) at a programme level, with challenges drawn from both local and global partners. He is particularly interested in socially oriented interdisciplinary STEM education, and COIL (collaborative on-line learning classroom). He has over 100 publications with over 2000 citations and an h-index of 26) and is probably the most published author focusing on CBL within engineering!Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about an institution wide approach to CBL in a Mexican context.Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.21 Podcast Intro0.47 Experiences with CBL from Natalie and Neil2.46 Introduction to Jorge5.51 Introduction to Technological University of Monterrey 6.52 Tech21 Educational model8.41 CBL within Tech2112.00 The role of the educator within CBL15.15 An example of a challenge and the interdiscplinary education team22.56 The involvement of partner organisations26.55 Fostering industrial relationship28.31 Planning a challenge that supports student development 32.35 COIL - Collaborative online international learning35.14 Student resistance to CBL41.44 Challenges associated with implementing CBL47.00 The future of CBL and research into CBL51.20 Final advice from Jorge55.27 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil Further Reading  You can find out more about Jorge and via his institutional home pagehttps://research.tec.mx/vivo-tec/display/PID_289299His publications can also be found through ResearchGatehttps://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jorge-Membrillo-Hernandezand Google Scholarhttps://scholar.google.com/citations?user=BpZtoj8AAAAJ&hl=esJoin us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.bemusic (c) Lizzie Cooke all rights reserved. Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to the podcast!The isolation felt by engineering educators who are passionate about teaching and learning, but who reside in technically focused engineering departments, is widely reported. The case is no different in Africa, where few institutions recognise educational research as a valid research focus in engineering, this resulting in lack of capacity for engineering education research (EER) and meaning that African educational innovations are not well represented in the literature. Although educators within Africa may make use of research findings from elsewhere, or receive support from those in different geographical locations, the contextual nature of education research means there is a need for supportive national and regional communities.In this episode we speak to Lelanie Smith, a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and IT at the University of Pretoria and Dr. Esther Matemba, an independent Engineering education researcher, consultant, and a sessional academic at Curtin University, Australia. Together, the two co-lead the Engineering Education Research Network for Africa (EERN-Africa).Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about the rewards and challenges involved in setting up an Engineering Education network.Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.40 Podcast Intro1.02 Experiences with networks and communities from Natalie and Neil2.23 Introduction to Lelanie6.37 Introduction to Esther9.50 Introduction to engineering education in the African context and contextual characteristics17.36 Objectives and operation of the network27.58 The network as a community of practice (CoP)36.27 PhD and Masters programme41.41 The role of funding in development of the network48.08 Future opportunties for engineering education in Afria50.55 Becoming involved in the network51.55 Final advice59.37 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil Further Reading  A paper about EERN-Africa as a Community of PracticeDOI: 10.1080/22054952.2023.2233340An introduction to EERN-Africa posted on the REEN websitehttps://reen.co/introducing-the-engineering-education-research-network-africa-eern-africa/A podcast episode on which Esther featureshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/context-coalitions-and-collaborations-oh-my-dr-esther/id1334320403?i=1000646656515A link to the network LinkedIn pagehttps://www.linkedin.com/company/engineering-education-research-network-africa?trk=public_post_feed-actor-nameTo find out more about the Master’s and PhD programme visithttps://intra-africa-cb4ee.co.za/indexJoin us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.bemusic (c) Lizzie Cooke all rights reserved. Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to the podcast! As the problems that society faces become more complex there is increasing emphasis on the need for engineers to work across disciplines, with a focus on taking interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to engineering education. However, there can be a lack of clarity about how such terms are conceptualised within the engineering classroom, this resulting in a lack of concrete teaching interventions. In this episode we speak to Thies Johannsen, a research assistant from TU Berlin who works at the intersection between Social Sciences, Humanities, and STEM disciplines. Thies draws upon his education in Law, Social Sciences, and Politics, and Philosophy, as well as experience in policy making, advising political bodies and consulting for corporate associations and businesses.shownotes: Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about transdisciplinary engineering education.Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.25 Podcast Intro0.50 Experiences in resilience from Natalie and Neil2.52 Introduction to Thies7.22 TU Berlin9.46 Why is transdisciplinary becoming more important in engineering education? Understanding disciplinary routes11.03 Specialisation, research output and impact, and innovation14.14 Defining transdisciplinary 17.05 Modes of knowledge 25.34 An example of transdisciplinary work within engineering29.43 Skills and competencies involved33.02 Transdisciplinary in the engineering classroom36.11 Classroom exercises42.32 Assessment 44.58 Challenges associated with transdisciplinary education48.03 Final advice50.27 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil Further Reading Handbook of Transdisciplinary Learning which features Thies’ chapter entitled Cooperative Educationhttps://www.tu.berlin/en/vp-sl/transdisciplinary-learning/handbook-transdisciplinary-learningJoin us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.bemusic (c) Lizzie Cooke all rights reserved. Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to the podcast! Discussion around the need for engineers to navigate increasingly complex and uncertain challenges (e.g., climate change, digitalisation) features heavily within engineering education research and leads to questions pertaining to the abilities of engineering graduates. Despite this, little is known about the way in which engineering programmes support students in coping with such uncertainty and complexity (also referred to as resilience).In this episode we spoke to Dr. Ann-Kristin Winkens, a postdoctoral researcher in the Gender and Diversity in Engineering Research Group (GDI) at RWTH Aachen in Germany. Ann-Kristin draws upon her prior education in environmental engineering when researching areas of systems resilience and competencies needed when designing resilient systems.shownotes: https://www.sefi.be/2024/11/18/podcast-season-5-episode-3-european-engineering-educators-is-online/ Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about resilient systems.Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.32 Podcast Intro0.53 Experiences in resilience from Natalie and Neil2.03 Introduction to Ann-Kristin4.28 Defining resilience6.36 The systematic literature review into how engineering education research addresses resilience9.56 The importance of systems resilience12.46 The competencies involved15.41 Are the competenices involved addressed in engineering programmes?19.45 Commonly addressed competencies21.36 Key recommendations for addressing competencies in engineering programmes22.46 How is systems resilience addressed in accreditation criteria?27.51 Embedding systems resilience in engineering programmes33.19 Course level learning outcomes and assessment of learning outcomes36.47 The future of engineering education research into resilient systems39.18 Final advice40.32 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil Further Reading https://www.sefi.be/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/SEFI-Annual-Conference-2021-Blended-Learning-in-Engineering-Education.pdf.http://ww.cdio.org/knowledge-library/documents/vuca-and-resilience-engineering-education-%E2%80%93-lessons-learned.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03043797.2023.2179913.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03043797.2023.2171852.https://arrow.tudublin.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=sefi2023_respap.Join us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.bemusic (c) Lizzie Cooke all rights reserved. Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.