Bringing engineering education to life – an empirical approach to learning and teaching

Learning and teaching approaches to engineering are generally perceived to be difficult and academically challenging. Such challenges are reflected in high levels of student attrition and failure. In addressing this issue, a unique approach to engineering education has been developed by the paper authors. This approach, which is suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate levels, brings together pedagogic and engineering epistemologies in an empirically grounded framework. It is underpinned by three distinctive concepts: Relationships, Variety & Synergy. Based upon research, the R + V + S approach to Engineering Education provides a learning and teaching strategy, which in enhancing the student experience, increases retention and positively impacts student success [S2]. Based on the study findings, this paper shows how, by designing engineering education around the concepts of Relationships, Variety and Synergy, the student learning experience becomes one that is academically challenging yet beneficial to both students and engineering educators. The challenge is to widen and test the approach in other areas of engineering education, before going on to investigate the value of the approach in other disciplines.

The long term preservation of an 18th century gene bank heritage

The allée is one of the oldest instruments and forms of landscape architecture, which has often been used from the Antiquity for the expression of visual and functional relationships, for the delimitation of space, or for the pictorial creation of movement. The several hundred years old allées of the late baroque age, which still live among us as the witnesses of bygone times, represent a special value throughout Europe. The longevity and the respectable size as such bestow a certain value upon the trees. However, the allées also stand for a garden art, landscape, culture historical and natural value, which in a summarized way are called cultural heritage. Furthermore, the gene pool of the proven longevous, high tolerance tree specimens is a natural and genetic heritage of scientific signification. The age of the trees and allées is finite. Even with a careful and professional care, the renewal is inevitable, which, beyond technical problems of landscape architecture might raise many scientific, nature conservation, yes, esthetical and ethical questions. This is why there is no universal methodology, but there are aspects and examination procedures of general validity with the help of which a renewal can be prepared. The renewal concept of the lime tree allée in Nagycenk aims at the protection and the transmission of the value-ensemble embodied in the allée. One part of the value-ensemble is the spiritual, cultural heritage, the extraordinary value of the landscape-scaled, landscape architectural creation planted and taken care of by the Széchenyis. On the other hand the two and a half centuries old trees represent an inestimable botanical and genetic wealth. Its transmission and preservation is a scientifically important program coming up to the Széchenyi heritage. After the registration of the originally planted old trees, the complete nursery material of the “Széchenyi limes” necessary for the replanting can be produced by vegetative propagation. The gradual replacement of the stand with its own propagation material, by the carefully raised nursery trees of the same age can be a model for the gene-authentic renewal method – a novelty even at an international level.

Patronage and bribery in sixteenth-century Peru: The government of Viceroy Conde del Villar and the visita of Licentiate Alonso Fernandez de Bonilla

This dissertation deals with the nature of the political system in sixteenth-century colonial Spanish America through an analysis of the administration of Viceroy Fernando de Torres y Portugal, Conde del Villar, in Peru (1585–1590). The political conflicts surrounding his government and the accusations of bribery leveled against him and members of his household provide the documentation for a case study in a system in which prestige and authority were defined through a complex network of patronage and personal relationships with the Spanish monarch, the ultimate source of legitimate power. ^ This dissertation is conceptualized using categories presented in Max Weber's theory on the nature of political order and authority in the history of human societies and the definition of the patrimonial system as one in which the power of he king confers legitimacy and authority on the whole political structure. ^ The documentary base for this dissertation is an exceptionally detailed and complete record related to the official administrative review ( visita) ordered by Philip II in 1588 to assess the government of Viceroy Torres y Portugal. Additionally, letters as well as other primary and secondary sources are scattered in repositories on both sides of the Atlantic. ^ The study of this particular case offers an excellent opportunity to gain an understanding of a political order in which jurisdictional boundaries between institutions and authorities were not clearly defined. The legal system operating in the viceroyalty was subordinated to the personal decisions of the king, and order and equilibrium were maintained through the interaction of patronage networks that were reproduced at all levels of the colonial society. ^ The final charges against Viceroy Conde del Villar, as well as their impact on the political career of those involved in the accusations, reveal that situations today understood to constitute bribery had a different meaning in the context of a patrimonial order. ^

The influence of study and travel abroad on the personal and professional development of students in architecture design programs

International travel has significant implications on the study of architecture. This study analyzed ways in which undergraduate and graduate students benefited from the experience of international travel and study abroad. Taken from the perspective of 15 individuals who were currently or had been architecture students at the University of Miami and Florida International University or who were alumni of the University of Florida and Syracuse University, the research explored how international travel and study abroad enhanced their awareness and understanding of architecture, and how it complemented their architecture curricula. This study also addressed a more personal aspect of international travel in order to learn how the experience and exposure to foreign cultures had positively influenced the personal and professional development of the participants.^ Participants’ individual and two-person semi-structured interviews about study abroad experiences were electronically recorded and transcribed for analysis. A second interview was conducted with five of the participants to obtain feedback concerning the accuracy of the transcripts and the interpretation of the data. Sketch journals and design projects were also analyzed from five participants and used as data for the purposes of better understanding what these individuals learned and experienced as part of their study abroad.^ Findings indicated that study abroad experiences helped to broaden student understanding about architecture and urban development. These experiences also opened the possibilities of creative and professional expression. For many, this was the most important aspect of their education as architects because it heightened their interest in architecture. These individuals talked about how they had the opportunity to experience contemporary and ancient buildings that they had learned about in their history and design classes on their home campuses. In terms of personal and professional development, many of the participants remarked that they became more independent and self-reliant because of their study abroad experiences. They also displayed a sense of global awareness and were interested in the cultures of their host nations. The study abroad experiences also had a lasting influence on their professional development.^

The Didache and Traditioned Innovation: Shaping Christian Community in the First Century and the Twenty-First Century

Church leaders, both lay and clergy, shape Christian community. Among their central tasks are: building communal identity, nurturing Christian practices, and developing faithful structures. When it comes to understanding the approach of the earliest Christian communities to these tasks, the Didache might well be the most important text most twenty-first century church leaders have never read. The Didache innovated on tradition, shaping the second generation of Christians to meet the crises and challenges of a changing world.

Most likely composed in the second half of the first century, the Didache served as a training manual for gentile converts to Christianity, preparing them for life in Christian community. This brief document, roughly one third the length of Mark’s gospel, developed within early Jewish-Christian communities. It soon found wide usage throughout the Mediterranean region, and its influence endured throughout the patristic and into the medieval period.

The Didache outlines emerging Christian practices that were rooted in both Jewish tradition and early Jesus material, yet were reaching forward in innovative ways. The Didache adopts historical teachings and practices and then adapts them for an evolving context. In this respect, the writers of the Didache, as well as the community shaped by its message, exemplify the pattern of thinking described by Greg Jones as “traditioned innovation.”

The Didache invites reflection on the shape and content of Christian community and Christian leadership in the twenty-first century. As churches and church leaders engage a rapidly changing world, the Didache is an unlikely and yet important conversation partner from two millennia ago. A quick read through its pages – a task accomplished in less than half an hour – brings the reader face to face with a brand of Christianity both very familiar and strikingly dissimilar to modern Christianity. Such dissonance challenges current assumptions about the church and creates a space in which to re-imagine our situation in light of this ancient Christian tradition. The Didache provides a window through which we might re-examine current conceptualizations of Christian life, liturgy, and leadership.

This thesis begins with an exploration of the form and function of the Didache and an examination of a number of important background issues for the informed study of the Didache. The central chapters of this thesis exegete and explore select passages in each of the three primary sections of the Didache – the Two Ways (Didache 1-6), the liturgical section (Didache 7-10), and the church order (Didache 11-15). In each instance, the composers of the Didache reach back into a cherished and life-giving aspect of the community’s heritage and shape it anew into a fresh and faithful approach to living the Christian life in a drastically different context.

The thesis concludes with three suggestions of how the Didache may provide a resource for the way the Church in the present thinks about training disciples, shaping community, and developing leadership structures. These conversation starters offer beginning points for a richer, fuller discussion of traditioned innovation in our current church context. The Didache provides a source of wisdom from our spiritual forebears that modern Christian leaders would do well not to ignore. With a look through the first century window of the Didache, twenty-first century Christians can discover fresh insights for shaping Christian community in the present.

Convergence and translation: attitudes to inter-professional learning and teaching of creative problem-solving among medical and engineering students and staff

Background: Healthcare worldwide needs translation of basic ideas from engineering into the clinic. Consequently, there is increasing demand for graduates equipped with the knowledge and skills to apply interdisciplinary medicine/engineering approaches to the development of novel solutions for healthcare. The literature provides little guidance regarding barriers to, and facilitators of, effective interdisciplinary learning for engineering and medical students in a team-based project context. Methods: A quantitative survey was distributed to engineering and medical students and staff in two universities, one in Ireland and one in Belgium, to chart knowledge and practice in interdisciplinary learning and teaching, and of the teaching of innovation. Results: We report important differences for staff and students between the disciplines regarding attitudes towards, and perceptions of, the relevance of interdisciplinary learning opportunities, and the role of creativity and innovation. There was agreement across groups concerning preferred learning, instructional styles, and module content. Medical students showed greater resistance to the use of structured creativity tools and interdisciplinary teams. Conclusions: The results of this international survey will help to define the optimal learning conditions under which undergraduate engineering and medicine students can learn to consider the diverse factors which determine the success or failure of a healthcare engineering solution.

The Uses of Print and Writing in Eighteenth Century European Ballet: the Case of The Letters on Dancing and Ballets by Jean-Georges Noverre

This article aims to study the uses of print, especially the Letters on Dancing and Ballets by Jean-Georges Noverre, throughout the emergence of pantomime ballet in the late eighteenth century. Noverre’s discourse is directly associated with a project to revitalize the art of dance. In this sense, books as an object are not only a support for the new aesthetic discourse, but a tool with multiple uses. It simultaneously seeks to modify the spectator’s view of the scene, legitimize the success of the new theatrical genre and value the ballet master profession.