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In most Western countries, female students are only 20% of the total population in computer science studies. The exhibition and symposium ‘Alice & Eve: a celebration of women in computing’ was held on the 24th of January at the University of Twente, to counter this imbalance. Its main purpose is to highlight the achievements of women in computer science, and as such provide role models to female students. The planned tour across the Netherlands has been postponed to next year, due to Corona. You don’t need to wait till next year to learn more about the event. For more information we refer to the website and to the SEFI conference on 21-24th of September 2020 where the organisers, professors Marieke Huisman, Mariëlle Stoelinga, programme director Alma Schaafstal and PhD candidate Sophie Lathouwers, all computer scientists at the UT, and Niels van Huizen, master student PSTS, will present a paper on the exhibition and symposium and how well these were received.

The past few weeks have not been easy, transitioning to online education, finding solutions for online examinations and having an intense workload. We have made a selection of tips and tools from our Innovation Map that might be useful to you.

Globally, design-based learning (DBL) is seen as a powerful method to support students in becoming creative and innovative thinkers and to develop associated and relevant skills. The role of the coach is very important in DBL. The coach strongly affects what students learn from DBL and how they perceive it. Coaching, though, is for many scientists a complex skill. They are oftentimes not educated to coach. Consequently, many academic teachers shape their coaching based on experience, intuition, and common sense. As a result, there is an urgent need to inform academic teachers about evidence-based principles of good coaching.

In their strategic plans all 4 TUs emphasise the need for change in the engineering programmes to prepare the students for the challenges of tomorrow, in a context that is only partly known yet. New skills are needed. New teaching methods have been developed, mostly based on group learning, with Challenge Based Learning as the new kid on the block. These developments have led to renewed interest in the role of learning spaces and how these spaces can contribute to and influence group learning and the development of new skills. Against this background the 4TU have organised an innovative learning spaces tour: visits to AMS and the four TU’s to see examples of innovative learning spaces and get inspired by what is done by colleagues and at other universities. On 4 February 35 lecturers, education scientists, education managers and support staff from the 4TU visited the University of Twente.

Boundary Crossing (BC) competence is regarded as one of the major competencies needed by future Wageningen University & Research (WUR) graduates to respond to emerging global challenges. It is therefore at the forefront of the educational vison of WUR. BC competence is the competence to work together with others outside one’s own scientific domain, institute, culture or context. To contribute to students’ BC competence development and to further improve and implement boundary crossing experiences in Wageningen University, a Comenius Leadership Fellow was granted for the three year project: “Boundary crossing as modus operandi at Wageningen University”. This Comenius project aims to (1) develop a conceptual foundation for the development of BC competence, (2) to design and implement learning pathways, and (3) to compile a BC toolbox for and with lecturers, course coordinators, and management.

The Joint interdisciplinary Project (JiP) has run very successfully for a second time this academic year with 50 students from 8 different faculties. Eleven companies were involved in coaching and evaluating of students on a company brief. The JiP education programme consists of working on a design case provided and coached by a company. The brief with the problem is related to minimally 2 of the sustainable development goals (SDG) and solved in an interdisciplinary team of engineers, designers and scientists during a 10 weeks full-time education quarter. Students are based in the company part of the time and become acquainted with many key persons in the company, such as the CEO/Head R&D. During the process, there is a kick-off, including teambuilding, skills drill and most importantly: technical business courses such as business model canvas, agile working, technical innovation, risk assessment and critical assumption testing. During the 10 weeks, three major reviews with academic staff and company coaches for the assessment of the work are taking place. The course is finalised with a public defense, open to a wide audience. 

On Monday January 27th the 4TU.CEE at TU/e organised a workshop to inspire TU/e teachers to propose new projects on innovation in education. The workshop was organised with reference to the call for proposals 2020. During the workshop four previously funded projects were exhibited. The project owners presented posters on their projects in a market setting and answered questions of participants. The four projects are:

A group of 15 honours programme students from TU Delft visited South Korea in the summer of 2019. The goal of this study trip was threefold: to learn (a) to what extent innovation is integrated into education and how it is used to improve it, (b) what major technological developments are embraced by Korean companies, and (c) how the engineering culture in South Korea differs from the engineering culture in the Netherlands. Over the course of 2 weeks the students visited several institutions that are at the forefront of the developments, including Samsung, Hyundai Heavy Industries, the Dutch embassy and the Korean Institute for Science and Technology.

Gunter Bombaerts and Andreas Spahn of TU/e recently published an article in the European Journal of Engineering Education. The article describes the use of basic needs and motivation with self-determination theory to redesign a course. The research was sponsored by 4TU.CEE.

A toolbox for teachers on the topic of internationalisation is now available online. It has been developed for 4TU.CEE by experts on internationalisation from UT, WUR and TU/e. It brings together their knowledge and experiences. Here you will find good practices and materials, inspiration and ideas when teaching in an international classroom. The toolbox addresses the following topics/main questions:

In recent years, there has been an increasing trend in the number of students entering Dutch Universities. The Dean of Education at WUR requested the local 4TU.CEE staff to look into what is currently known about teaching and assessing large groups of students. The findings are bundled in a publication which provides helpful strategies and resources for lecturers.

4TU.Centre for Engineering Education will host the Engineering Education conference of SEFI2020 in Twente (20-24 September). The theme is Engaging Engineering Education and we expect many 4TU colleagues to showcase and discuss their finest educational work on this platform, also you can get inspired by meeting and discussing with 400 international colleagues. Formats are oral presentations, poster sessions, workshops, seminars and a doctoral symposium. Both full conference and day tickets will be available. Read more about the different themes and ways to present in the call for contributions.

COMET is a two-year research project funded by the 4TU.Centre for Engineering Education. The project focuses on the future of engineering ethics education at TU Delft. It is both retrospective and prospective: looking back at the successes and challenges from the last 20 years of integrating ethics into the curriculum at TU Delft, and identifying and proposing best practices for ethics education going forward. Researchers Janna van Grunsven, Taylor Stone and Lavinia Marin are involved in the project.

CESAER, the European association of leading specialised and comprehensive universities of science and technology has published a discussion paper on ´S&T education for 21st century Europe´. The paper is written by Aldert Kamp, 4TU.CEE leader at TU Delft and director of Education for the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, in collaboration with CESAER’s Task Force S&T Education for the 21st Century. The paper explores the trends in engineering sciences and technology, education and society, and provides orientation how universities of S&T and CESAER can change education in Europe to the better.

An article on the motivational effects of games in engineering education written by Andreas Hartmann and Lisa Gommer of the University of Twente has been published in the European Journal of Engineering Education.