Heritage and innovative learning approaches:an alternative approach to engineering education

Over recent years, the role of engineering in promoting a sustainable society has received much public attention [1] with particular emphasis given to the need to promote the future prosperity and security of society through the recruitment and education of more engineers [2,3]. From an employment perspective, the Leitch Review [4] suggested that ‘generic’ transferable employability skills development should constitute a more substantial part of university education. This paper argues that the global drivers impacting engineering education [5] correlate strongly to those underpinning the Leitch review, therefore the question of how to promote transferable employability skills within the wider engineering curriculum is increasingly relevant. By exploring the use of heritage in the engineering curriculum as a way to promote learning and engage students, a less familiar approach to study is discussed. This approach moves away from stereotypical notions of the use of information technology as representing the pinnacle of innovation in education. Taking the student experience as its starting point, the paper draws upon the findings of an exploratory study critically analysing the pedagogical value of using heritage in engineering education. It discusses a teaching approach in which engineering students are taken out of their ‘comfort zone’ - away from the classroom, laboratory and computer, to a heritage site some 100 miles away from the university. The primary learning objective underpinning this approach is to develop students’ transferable skills by encouraging them to consider how to apply theoretical concepts to a previously unexplored situation. By reflecting upon students’ perceptions of the value of this approach, and by identifying how heritage may be utilised as an innovative learning and teaching approach in engineering education, this paper makes a notable contribution to current pedagogical debates in the discipline.

Engineering the future! Inspiring student engagement through innovative course and programme design:an empirical approach

An analysis of a bespoke learning and teaching approach developed for use in engineering education

Innovating engineering education: the RVS approach:an empirically grounded method to improved practice and enhanced student experience

This paper builds on previous work (Clark, 2009; Clark & Andrews 2011, 2014) to continue the debate around a seemingly universal question…“How can educational theory be applied to engineering education in such a way so as to make the subject more accessible and attractive to students? It argues that there are three key elements to student success; Relationships, Variety & Synergy (RVS). By further examining the purposefully developed bespoke learning and teaching approach constructed around these three elements (RVS) the discourse in this paper links educational theory to engineering education and in doing so further develops arguments for the introduction of a purposefully designed pedagogic approach for use in engineering education.

The effects of using an alternative method for teaching badminton to post secondary level students in Taiwan

The effect of teaching method in physical education is an important issue and has been a concern of the expert teacher. Teachers are expected to create a model of teaching in their field; therefore, it is reasonable to question what is the effect of an alternative teaching method on student performance in physical education. This study explores whether teaching methods with advanced planning, behavior and belief in high enthusiasm, use of instructional strategies and evaluation, together termed a systematic teaching approach, used in a physical education activity would provide an effective environment for learning which supports student achievement in the psychomotor, cognitive, and affective domains. This study also investigated whether there was a difference in performance between students who were taught with a systematic teaching approach and students who were taught with the traditional teaching model. Information was collected using two performance skills, a written test, and one questionnaire. The 68 participants were randomly assigned into either an experimental group or a control group. Two teachers were assigned to either the experimental group or the control group. The teaching experiment took place at Tamsui Oxford University College in Taiwan and lasted eight weeks. ^ Research questions were analyzed using the t-test. Results indicated that a significant difference in students' performance was found between the experimental group and the control group on both the skill tests and the paper test. Analysis of student attitude toward their teacher and their course on the questionnaire indicated a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group. ^ The findings of this study imply that students who were taught with a systematic teaching style were significantly superior to students who were taught with the traditional model on these measures. This finding supports the contention that effective teaching in physical education is related to advanced planning, high enthusiasm, instructional strategy and evaluation and that all physical education teachers should implement these planning elements in the development of the teaching strategies. ^

Principal preparation and training : a look at China and its issues

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of principal preparation and training in China by providing a background discussion of principal preparation in a number of countries. As an illustration, it provides an overview of the curriculum used in the initial preparation of school principals at Beijing Normal University.-----Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws mainly on writing and research from China, Australia and the USA to explore principal preparation and training in China.-----Findings: In addition to providing a rich description of principal preparation in China, the paper's main findings comprise seven key challenges that confront China as it endeavours to provide quality principal preparation. These challenges include China's diversity and uneven social, cultural and educational development; limited resources in some regions throughout China; the place and importance of study tours for principal preparation; the teaching approach used to train principals; the process used for assessing principal learning during their training programs; the limited transfer of learning from the classroom to the school environment; and the timing of training for principals.-----Practical implications: Each of the challenges arising here raises important practical implications for developers of principal training programs.-----Originality/value: The paper paints a picture of principal preparation in China and raises a number of issues and challenges with which it continues to grapple. Of note is that China is not alone in facing some of these ongoing concerns.

Skills for creative industries graduate success

Purpose: Although there is increasing evidence that the creative industries are essential to national economic growth as well as social and cultural well-being, creative graduates often find it difficult to become established professionally. This study investigates the value of career management competence and intrinsic career motivations (as elements of ‘protean career orientation’) in predicting positive graduate outcomes. ----- ----- Design/methodology: Self-report surveys were administered to 208 creative industries graduates from two Australian universities at two points in time: at course completion, and one year later. ----- ----- Findings: Individual career management competence and intrinsic work motivations, measured at course completion, were significant predictors of early career success, using both subjective and objective measures, measured one year later. ----- ----- Practical implications: This study suggests that an emphasis on student development beyond the traditional ‘key’ employability skills may well be worthwhile. The article also suggests a broad learning and teaching approach by which universities can encourage the development of student career identity, and thus engender student intrinsic career motivations and career self management skills and behaviours. ----- ----- Originality/value: This is one of the first studies to demonstrate empirically a link between a particular set of skills and graduate outcomes. In addition, it provides insights into the role of student career motivations in positive transitions to the world of work in the creative industries.

Media skills for daily life : designing a journalism programme for graduates of all disciplines

This article in the journalism education field reports on the construction of a new subject as part of a postgraduate coursework degree. The subject, or unit1 will offer both Journalism students and other students an intro¬ductory experience of creating media, using common ‘new media’ tools, with exercises that will model the learning of communication principles through practice. It has been named ‘Fundamental Media Skills for the Workplace’. The conceptualisation and teaching of it will be characteristic of the Journalism academic discipline that uses the ‘inside perspective’—understanding mass media by observing from within. Proposers for the unit within the Journalism discipline have sought to extend the common teaching approach, based on training to produce start-ready recruits for media jobs, backed by a study of contexts, e.g. journalistic ethics, or media audiences. In this proposal, students would then examine the process to elicit additional knowledge about their learning. The article draws on literature of journalism and its pedagogy, and on communication generally. It also documents a ‘community of practice’ exercise conducted among practitioners as teachers for the subject, developing exercises and models of media work. A preliminary conclusion from that exercise is that it has taken a step towards enhancing skills-based learning for media work.

Confucius as transformational leader : lessons for ESL Leadership

Purpose - This paper explores the leadership values and practices of Confucius in the light of transformational leadership theory. Design/methodology/approach - This paper is literature based. Findings - The paper discusses four key dimensions of transformational leadership theory: idealised influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration and uses these as a framework for exploring the values of and teaching approach used by Confucius. The key message of the paper is that educational leaders have much to learn from a Confucian leadership style that is fundamentally transformational in nature and encompasses moral / ethical, socially critical, and democratic dimensions. Practical implications - The paper presents a case study of an English as a Second Language (ESL) School and identifies several practical suggestions for ESL leaders to consider if they are to follow the tenets of Confucius’ teachings. Originality/value - The paper is original as it links the values and practices of Confucius to transformational leadership theory and considers how this theory might look in practice for leaders within a contemporary ESL school context.

Metacognitive strategy instruction in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) listening skill

Listening skill is allocated inadequate consideration in English language instruction and learning in Iran. At the school level, listening skill is not taught but reading and writing skills are taught traditionally. At the college level, reading skill is emphasised. For students seeking IELTS certification, institutes teach listening skill within the framework of a Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach. Nonetheless, despite the official syllabus, many teachers tend to test rather than teach listening skill. Currently, listening skill in the curriculum is embedded in an oral comprehension teaching approach through multiple choice written responses in the institutes. Therefore, the process of explicitly teaching listening is overlooked with a strong emphasis on the post hoc assessment of the products of listening. This study used a mixed methods approach to investigate the relationship between metacognitive strategy instruction and listening performance, metacognitive awareness and use of metacognitive strategies in listening. Three research questions were addressed in this study: - Is there a relationship between metacognitive strategy instruction (planning, monitoring and evaluation) and Iranian High Intermediate students¡¦ listening? „ - Is there a relationship between metacognitive strategy instruction and Iranian High Intermediate students¡¦ metacognitive awareness of listening? - Does metacognitive strategy instruction help Iranian High Intermediate students¡¦ use of metacognitive strategies during listening? A single group (N = 30) of High Intermediate level tertiary students in Iran were guided through a metacognitive strategy instruction over one semester (10 weeks). The first research question was measured through IELTS listening tests, which tracked any change of students’ listening performance. The second research question was analysed through results of a Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) to survey students’ awareness of metacognitive strategies in listening. Finally, the third research question was analysed through interviews, which explored students’ use of metacognitive strategies in listening. Results indicate that High Intermediate students developed listening performance, but there were no significant changes in metacognitive awareness in listening. Students reported in the interviews that they used multiple strategies (cognitive and metacognitive) to approach listening. Implications for English teaching in Iran and other contexts are discussed.

‘Wanna do more math’: engaging underachieving Indigenous learners the YuMi Deadly way.

The Accelerating Indigenous Mathematics (AIM) Program offered by the YuMi Deadly Centre from QUT accelerates the mathematics learning of underperforming students in Years 8 - 10 by a) apportioning Years 2-10 Australian Curriculum: Mathematics content into three years, and b) provides a teaching approach that accelerates the mathematical learning. The philosophy of the YuMi Deadly teaching approach for mathematics is one that requires a ‘body’, ‘hand’, ‘mind’ pedagogy. This presentation will provide examples of the “‘body’, ‘hand’, ‘mind’” mathematics pedagogy. In AIM classrooms, mathematics is presented this approach is having a positive impact. Students are willing ‘to have a go’ without shame; and they develop the desire to learn and improve their numeracy.

Self-directed student work groups using blended learning

This paper provides a description of an innovative teaching approach designed to facilitate student work groups using a blended learning approach that incorporates both traditional face-to-face teaching methods and an online student work group facility. The teaching approach is designed to accommodate a large introductory human resource management subject positioned within an undergraduate business degree.

Enhancing learning in large undergraduate classes using custom made audio-visual cases

This is an exploratory study into the effective use of embedding custom made audiovisual case studies (AVCS) in enhancing the student’s learning experience. This paper describes a project that used AVCS for a large divergent cohort of undergraduate students, enrolled in an International Business course. The study makes a number of key contributions to advancing learning and teaching within the discipline. AVCS provide first hand reporting of the case material, where the students have the ability to improve their understanding from both verbal and nonverbal cues. The paper demonstrates how AVCS can be embedded in a student-centred teaching approach to capture the students’ interest and to enhance a deep approach to learning by providing real-world authentic experience.

The impact of nonlinear pedagogy on physical education teacher education students’ intrinsic motivation

Background: Providing motivationally supportive physical education experiences for learners is crucial since empirical evidence in sport and physical education research has associated intrinsic motivation with positive educational outcomes. Self-determination theory (SDT) provides a valuable framework for examining motivationally supportive physical education experiences through satisfaction of three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence and relatedness. However, the capacity of the prescriptive teaching philosophy of the dominant traditional physical education teaching approach to effectively satisfy the psychological needs of students to engage in physical education has been questioned. The constraints-led approach (CLA) has been proposed as a viable alternative teaching approach that can effectively support students’ self-motivated engagement in physical education. Purpose: We sought to investigate whether adopting the learning design and delivery of the CLA, guided by key pedagogical principles of nonlinear pedagogy (NLP), would address basic psychological needs of learners, resulting in higher self-reported levels of intrinsic motivation. The claim was investigated using action research. The teacher/researcher delivered two lessons aimed at developing hurdling skills: one taught using the CLA and the other using the traditional approach. Participants and Setting: The main participant for this study was the primary researcher and lead author who is a PETE educator, with extensive physical education teaching experience. A sample of 54 pre-service PETE students undertaking a compulsory second year practical unit at an Australian university was recruited for the study, consisting of an equal number of volunteers from each of two practical classes. A repeated measures experimental design was adopted, with both practical class groups experiencing both teaching approaches in a counterbalanced order. Data collection and analysis: Immediately after participation in each lesson, participants completed a questionnaire consisting of 22 items chosen from validated motivation measures of basic psychological needs and indices of intrinsic motivation, enjoyment and effort. All questionnaire responses were indicated on a 7-point Likert scale. A two-tailed, paired-samples t-test was used to compare the groups’ motivation subscale mean scores for each teaching approach. The size of the effect for each group was calculated using Cohen’s d. To determine whether any significant differences between the subscale mean scores of the two groups was due to an order effect, a two-tailed, independent samples t test was used. Findings: Participants’ reported substantially higher levels of self-determination and intrinsic motivation during the CLA hurdles lesson compared to during the traditional hurdles lesson. Both groups reported significantly higher motivation subscale mean scores for competence, relatedness, autonomy, enjoyment and effort after experiencing the CLA than mean scores reported after experiencing the traditional approach. This significant difference was evident regardless of the order that each teaching approach was experienced. Conclusion: The theoretically based pedagogical principles of NLP that inform learning design and delivery of the CLA may provide teachers and coaches with tools to develop more functional pedagogical climates, which result in students exhibiting more intrinsically motivated behaviours during learning.

Sequência descritiva: da análise de livros didáticos de língua portuguesa do ensino médio a uma proposta para uma sequência didática produtiva

Este trabalho propõe a revisão crítica da abordagem do ensino da descrição nos livros didáticos de Língua Portuguesa indicados para o Ensino Médio, aprovados pelo Programa Nacional de Livro Didático (PNLD-2012). A fundamentação teórica que respalda este estudo é a teoria das sequências textuais do linguista Jean-Michel Adam. O estudo se justifica, pois, sabe-se que os gêneros textuais são o foco do ensino do texto. Segundo os Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais (PCN), é de fundamental importância estudar as sequências textuais que estruturam esses gêneros e, em especial, a descritiva, pois ela, além de estar presente em vários gêneros, exerce um papel fundamental no texto, sendo uma estratégia de argumentatividade e um elemento essencial na construção do sentido do texto. Sendo assim, este trabalho pretende contribuir para um campo pouco investigado, o ensino da descrição em livros didáticos de Ensino Médio, apresentando propostas de exercícios sobre o ensino da sequência descritiva para alguns livros analisados no corpus e sugerindo atividades para um livro de Ensino Médio, avançando, assim, na reflexão de uma prática pedagógica que propicie uma maior competência de leitura e escrita aos discentes

Mind mapping: A tool to facilitate learning; why not give it a try?

Schools of nursing continuously strive to facilitate learning through student engagement and teaching strategies that encourage active learning. This paper reports on the successful use of mind mapping, an underutilised and underdeveloped strategy, to enhance teaching and learning in undergraduate nurse education (Spencer et al., 2013). Mind mapping or concept mapping has been defined in the literature as a visual representation of one’s thoughts and ideas (Abel and Freeze, 2006). It is characterised by colour, images and text in a graphical, nonlinear style. Mind maps promote the linking of concepts and capitalise on the brain’s natural aptitude for visual recognition to enhance learning and memory recall (Buzan, 2006). Traditional teaching strategies depend on linear processes, which in comparison lack engagement, associations and creativity (Spencer et al., 2013). Mind mapping was introduced to nursing students undertaking modules in ‘Dimensions of Care’ and ‘Care Delivery’ on year two of the nursing degree programme in Queen’s University Belfast. The aim of introducing mind mapping was to help students make the critical link between the pathophysiology of conditions studied and the provision of informed, safe and effective patient care, which had challenged previous student cohorts. Initially maps were instructor-made as described by Boley (2008), as a template for note taking during class and as a study aid. However, students rapidly embraced the strategy and started creating their own mind maps. Meaningful learning occurs when students engage with concepts and organise them independently in a way significant to them (Buzan, 2006). Students reported high levels of satisfaction to this teaching approach. This paper will present examples of the mind maps produced and explore how mind mapping can be further utilised within the undergraduate nursing curriculum.