Event on Education
Final Report BEST Symp!ium on Education "Principles of Effective Teaching
& Learning" & "Cla" & Course Organisation" Authors:
Nikolena Christofi Adria Balcazar Castell Design:
Nikolena Christofi
Ankara 13 - 20 September 2015
Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS
2
1. BEST EVENTS ON EDUCATION
3
DEFINITION EOE ANKARA 2015
3 3
2. FACILITATORS TEAM
5
EVENT COORDINATOR FACILITATORS
5 5
3. EXPERTS PANEL
6
EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS SPACEBOARD
6 6 6
4. LIST OF PARTICIPANTS OF EOE ANKARA 2015
7
5. OBJECTIVE
10
6. WORKING HOURS OVERVIEW
10
7. SCHEDULE - GAMIFICATION VERSION
12
8. BRIEF DESCR. OF THE SESSIONS AND PRESENTATION OF THE AIMING OUTCOME
14
9. EXTENDED REPORTING OF SESSIONS
21
EUROPEAN TERTIARY EDUCATION; NEEDS, PROBLEMS, SOLUTIONS COURSE LENGTH & DIVISION SPACE UP YOUR SESSION! INTERNSHIPS LAB WORK IN CURRICULUM DEGREE OF ENGAGEMENT OF STUDENTS IN LEARNING INTERDISCIPLINARY COURSE EXPERIMENT INTERACTIVE LECTURING ONLINE MATERIAL IN COURSES & TEAMWORK VS. INDIVIDUAL WORK ONLINE MATERIAL IN COURSES TEAMWORK VS. INDIVIDUAL WORK EDUCATIONAL QUESTION FAIR OPEN SPACE TECHNOLOGY / LEARNING CAFE
21 23 26 28 31 34 36 37 38 39 42 47
10. CONCLUSION
49
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
50
11. SOURCES
51
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1. BEST Events on Education Definition BEST Events on Education are events where students gather to discuss, share knowledge and contribute to new ideas on specific education-related topics. EoE’s increase higher education students’ awareness of educational issues by initiating discussions amongst them and between the other stakeholders of education participating in the event; Universities Companies and European Organisations and Partners of BEST. Participants in EoE’s, along with 22 European engineering students, are mostly important foreign experts in the field of European Engineering Education (EEE), either present as experts from different organisations or professors from other universities. The sum of these events and all the related activities, such as surveys and workshops, constitutes the so-called BEST Educational Programme. Through its Educational Programme, BEST strives to encourage and facilitate discussions related to Higher Engineering Educational matters between the stakeholders of education (universities, companies, student community) in Europe, to gather the students’ input on these issues and finally to disseminate the outcomes to other interested and relevant parties, through publications in international conferences and journals.
EoE Ankara 2015 This Event on Education took place on the 13th until the 20th of September 2015 and was hosted by our local BEST group in Ankara. During the event, 22 science and engineering students from various Technical Universities in Europe had the opportunity to participate in panel discussions together with other experts on the field of engineering education. The topics tackled in the event were: Principles of effective learning and teaching, and class and course organisation.
3
The outcomes of the discussions and workshops were be collected by our team and are hereby presented in this conclusive report which will be disseminated to our speakers and within our network of Higher Engineering Education partners in Europe.
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2.
Facilitators Team
Event Coordinator Nikolena Christofi | nikolena.christofi@BEST.eu.org
Facilitators Adrià Balcázar Castell | Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya Anil Tugay Turan | Middle East Technical University Nikolena Christofi | National Technical University of Athens
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3. Experts Panel European Space Agency Natacha Callens, PhD - The European Space Agency and its student projects | Survey for the ESA e-learning centre Administrator ESA Academy – Training and Learning Centre Education and Knowledge Management Office Relations with Member States Department Director General's Cabinet ESA Redu | Natacha.Callens@esa.int | www.esa.int/education ESA Representative to the Event Nikolena Christofi - ESA Space mission group project | Concurrent design & CDF Study simulation STEM Education and Outreach Unit Education and Knowledge Management Office Department of Relations with Member States Director General's Cabinet TEC-MMA - Automation and Robotics Section ESTEC | www.esa.int/education
National Technical University of Athens Evangelos Papadopoulos, Professor - Lab Work in Curriculum | Degree of engagement of students in learning | Teamwork Vs Individual Work | Questions in Educational Question Fair - Sessions design by Nikolena Christofi Department of Mechanical Engineering Control Systems Lab | csl-ep | egpapado@central.ntua.gr
SpaceBoard Aleix MegĂas Homar - Internships - Session design by Nikolena Christofi Public Relations | SpaceBoard.eu | aleix@spaceboard.eu
The following topics were proposed by Nikolena Christofi: European
Tertiary
Education;
Needs,
Problems,
Solutions
|
Course
Length
&
Division
|
Interdisciplinary Course Experiment | Interactive Lecturing | Online Material in Courses
6
4.
List of Participants of EoE Ankara 2015 Name
Surname
University
1
Adrijana
Mudrinić
University of Zagreb
2
Aleksandra
Laszczkowska
AGH University of Science and Technology
3
András
Bogdán
BME, Budapest
4
Andreea Elena Găleşanu
Transylvania University of Brasov
5
Anton
Dembytskyi
Kyiv Polytechnic Institute
6
Christina
Gouvatsou
National Technical University of Athens
7
Daniel
Valle Zuazu
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
8
Despoina
Terzopoulou
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9
Dijana
Neskovic
Ss. Cyril and Methodius
10 Jane
Djumerkoski
Ss. Cyril and Methodius
11 Karlo-Josip
Andrić
University of Zagreb
12 Konrad
Korf
Gdansk University of Technology
13 Lucas
Corre
ENSAM
14 Marco
Sensale
Politecnico di Torino
15 Marta
de la Torre Hernández
Polythecnic university of Madrid
16 Mirko
Nespoli
University of Trento
17 Natasha
Miteva
Ss. Cyril and Methodius
18 Roberto
Ruggiero
University of Naples Federico II
19 Ruth
Hinojosa
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
20 Stefan
Serafimoski
Ss. Cyril and Methodius
21 Vicente
Vassalo Melo
Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa
22 Wioletta
Skoczen
Warsaw University of Technology
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Listed in the table below are the field of study in which each of our participants are currently studying.
Name
Surname
University
1
Adrijana
Mudrinić
Applied Sciences
2
Aleksandra
Laszczkowska
Production Engineering/Management
3
András
Bogdán
Mechanical Engineering
4
Andreea Elena
Găleşanu
Economics/Business Administration/Marketing
5
Anton
Dembytskyi
Computer Science/Informatics/Systems engineering
6
Christina
Gouvatsou
Applied Mathematics and Physical Sciences
7
Daniel
Valle Zuazu
Industrial Engineering
8
Despoina
Terzopoulou
Mathematics
9
Dijana
Neskovic
Computer Science/Automatic Control/Informatics
10 Jane
Djumerkoski
Computer Science/Automatic Control/Informatics
11 Karlo-Josip
Andrić
Mechanical Engineering, Power Engineering
12 Konrad
Korf
Industrial Management, Power Engineering
13 Lucas
Corre
Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
14 Marco
Sensale
Biomedical Engineering
15 Marta
de la Torre Hernández
Industrial Engineering
16 Mirko
Nespoli
Telecommunications/Electronics
17 Natasha
Miteva
Economics/Business Administration/Marketing
18 Roberto
Ruggiero
Computer Engineering
19 Ruth
Hinojosa
Industrial Engineering
20 Stefan
Serafimoski
Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering
21 Vicente
Vassalo Melo
Industrial Engineering
22 Wioletta
Skoczen
Environmental Engineering
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5.
Objective
To raise awareness of educational related subjects and the gathering of the input of Tertiary level students of Technology on various subjects under the umbrella of the main topics of "Principles of effective learning and teaching & Class and course organisation". Realisation of the impact students can have on the shaping of the Future Higher Level Technical Education in Europe. Furthermore, students individually have the opportunity to practice
and
develop
several
soft
skills
such
as
presentation,
interpersonal
and
communication skills as well as the trait of international interdisciplinary cooperation and teamwork.
6.
Working Hours Overview Lectures
3
Tutorials
0
Group Seminars or Workshops
11
Project or Field Work
8
Examination
*[4]
Other Methods
7
Total
Facilitated Discussions
3
Survey
2
Debate
**[1]
Silent Clustering
**[2]
OST
** 2
Opinions sharing involving physical activities
[2] 29
*Indicates practices included in other time slots (not stand-alone session)
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The examination took place on the last day during the ‘Educational Fair’ Session and lasted four hours. A team presentation was included for each exercise, with strict time limits imposed on both the presentation and preparation. The participants all responded very well both to the time restriction and to the level of difficulty of the subjects tackled, which was continuously increasing. Their performance was also astonishing, as individuals and as teams, taking into consideration the fact that most of the participants expressed that they had never performed in public before the event, nor spoken in the English language to such a great extent. **Debate: The participants are divided in two teams and debate on a specific topic, by expressing arguments in favor of their team’s concept and against the other team’s proposals. **Silent Clustering: The participants express their opinion and conclude with a team decision without using any words; only by moving post-its with texts they or the facilitator have prepared in the relevant categories/groups. **OST: Open Space Technology (or Learning Cafe): The participants go around in "stations"; each one of them have a specific topic and they discuss amongst them and write down in FCs their ideas and comments.
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7.Schedule - Gamification* Version 13 September 08:00-08:30
14 September 15 September 16 September 17 September 18 September 19 September 20 September 21 September 1st Breakfast
Wake Up!
Horse Riding
08:30-09:00 09:00-09:30
Leaving Shire
09:30-10:00
Welcome to Rivendell
Departure from Isengard
10:00-10:30 10:30-11:00
Home is Behind, Mines of Moria World is Ahead
11:00-11:30
How to Ride a Horse like a Rohirrim
Elvish Bow and At the first light of the 5th day, Sword Look to the East
Transfer
11:30-12-00
House in Isengard
12:00-12:30
Lord Elrond's Council
12:30-13:00 13:00-13:30 13:30-14:00
The Arrival of the Fellowship
2nd Breakfast
14:00-14:30
Horse Riding
14:30-15:00
Fighting with the Darkness
15:00-15:30 15:30-16:00 16:00-16:30
Elvish 101
16:30-17:00 17:00-17:30 17:30-18:00
Horse Riding
Horse Riding
Games of Middle Earth and Shire Pipes
The Bridge of Khazad Dum Campus rally
18:00-18:30 18:30-19:00 19:00-19:30 19:30-20:00
The Battle fo Helm's Deep
Advanced History in Gondor
Horse Riding Welcome to Middle Earth
Lazy Hobbits
Dwarvish 101
Horse Riding There and Back Again: See you Somewhere in the Shire
Çiğ Köfte Technical Trip Flying with Eagles Lazy Orcs
"Tales of Tolkien"
Council with Elders Doors of Durin and Palantir Orb
City Walk Lazy Dwarves
Horse Riding
Lazy Elves
Cooking Hobbits
Council with Elders
20:00-20:30 20:30-21:00
Hobbithole Crawl
Feast
21.00-21.30
The Final Feast
Sessions Social Activities Evening Activities
*Gamification: the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts
[1]
; the process of adding games or game like elements to something (as a task)
so as to encourage participation
[2]
.
*The gamification was based on the event’s theme, which was Lord Of The Rings (LOTR).
Gamification in Education: Gamification is one of the educational approaches and techniques that increase motivation and engagement of learners
[3]
.
12
In the picture above is indicated the correlation of sessions with the gamificated slots in the schedule.
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8.
Brief Description of the Sessions and Presentation
of the aiming outcome Session no. 1: European Tertiary Education; Needs, Problems, Solutions “Defining the needs of European students in High Level Education with respect to what is missing and what should be done to fill in the gaps” Working Hours: 2 Type: Facilitated discussion and group work Description: Introductory course. Definition of Tertiary Education; identification of flaws of the European educational system from Secondary to Tertiary Education; opportunities provided for undergraduate studies in correlation with the needs of science and engineering students of Europe. Solutions proposed to the problems identified. Learning Objectives and Internal Scope: The students are expected primarily to be introduced to the subject of the session as a preparation to the context and concept of the whole event, content and behavioural wise. Apart from the students input on the session content, it is intended to create a comfortable sharing environment among the participants, which shall continue and develop in the upcoming sessions.
Session no. 2: Course Length & Division “The importance of course length within the curriculum and proposal of new division of semesters” Working Hours: 3 Type: Group Work and participants' presentations Description: The length of the semester and of the subjects within the curriculum varies in the different universities countries around Europe. Students are called to provide their input on the matter as well as to plan and design the ideal academic year. Learning Objectives and Internal Scope: Topic awareness, group work, participants' opinions gathering.
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Session no. 3: The European Space Agency and its student projects “Presentation of the ESA, the Education Office of ESA, and its activities” Working Hours: 1.5 Type: Presentation Description: Presentation of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the activities of the Education office of ESA and the opportunities it offers to university students Learning Objectives and Internal: Awareness of the ESA, its activities and education program, and the space related opportunities it offers to the science and engineering students of Europe.
Session no. 4: Survey for the ESA e-learning centre Working Hours: 1.5 Type: Survey Conduction Description: Students are called to give their input on the shaping and design of an aerospace training and learning centre, for the needs of the ESA Academy kickoff Learning Objectives and Internal Scope: Realisation of the impact of the participants' opinion on the shaping of the ESA learning and training academy and input gathering.
Session no. 5: ESA Space mission group project “Design and promote your own ESA space mission” Working Hours: 2 Type: Group project and participants' presentations Description: Students are introduced to the different faces of a space mission and as a first step they are called to conceptualise and design their own innovative space mission. They are then expected to present it to their colleagues, with the goal of winning the "space mission competition" and getting their project to be studied in a CDF. Learning Objectives and Internal Scope: Raise awareness of space missions; development of group work and presentation skills.
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Session no. 6: Concurrent design & CDF Study simulation “Introduction to Concurrent Design, Presentation of the Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) of ESA & CDF study simulation� Working Hours: 1 Type: Presentation, Lecture, and Case Study Description: Introduction to the concept of the concurrent design and its benefits, especially in space missions. Experience a real-time short CDF Study simulation. Learning Objectives and Internal Scope: Basic knowledge acquirement of Concurrent Design and the experience of a space mission design and implementation process, from the definition of the concept and high level requirements identification, to a CDF study; teamwork development.
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Session no. 7: Internships “Internships within the curriculum or not? What is their importance and impact to "what's next?" after studies? Where do you "stand" on that?” Working Hours: 2 Type: Workshop Description: How important are internships within the university life and/or after, for having a successful career as a graduate student and how they could be integrated within the studies' program of a technical university. Learning
Objectives
and
Internal Scope: Topic
awareness, input gathering, active
involvement of the participants in the session.
Session no. 8: Lab Work in Curriculum Degree of engagement of students in learning “How to involve and aid students in the learning process of their academic years and current laboratory subjects assessment” Working Hours: 2 Type: Workshop Description: Ways of engagement of students in their learning process within university subjects and assessment of current lab work infrastructure; improvement points and suggestions. Learning Objectives and Internal Scope: Input gathering, introduction to silent clustering, group work.
Session no. 9: Interdisciplinary Course Experiment “Create, design and develop an interdisciplinary subject that fits within the curriculum and debate on it” Working Hours: 3 Type: Group Project / Workshop
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Description: With two broad interdisciplinary course proposals, students are divided in two groups and are called to shape their own ideal interdisciplinary course and then debate on it, for their own and against the other team's arguments. Learning Objectives and Internal Scope: Input gathering on the topic. Realisation of the problems that are being introduced when working in large groups of people without expert guidance and facilitation; lessons learnt.
Session no. 10: Interactive Lecturing “Definition of interactive lecturing; ways of introducing or improving interactive methods in learning” Working Hours: 2 Type: Classroom Discussion Description: Students are being introduced to the term "interactive lecturing" and are providing input on the subject within a facilitated discussion. Learning Objectives and Internal Scope: Topic awareness input gathering, innovative thinking.
Session no. 11a: Online Material in Courses “Shape the ideal subject website” Working Hours: 3 Type: Group Project (facilitated) Description: Assessment of the need for online material provided by the professor; pros, cons and definition of requirements. Learning Objectives and Internal Scope: Experience of working in large groups of people with expert guidance and comparison with non-aided work; lessons learnt. Input gathering.
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Session no. 11b: Teamwork Vs. Individual Work “Teamwork or individual work? Why?” Working Hours: 3 Type: Group Project (facilitated) Description: Comparison of the pros and cons between teamwork and individual work. Learning Objectives and Internal Scope: Experience of working in large groups of people with expert guidance and comparison with non-aided work; lessons learnt. Input gathering.
Session no. 12: Educational Question Fair “Intensive teamwork and presentations on several questions posed, relevant to the subject of the event” Working Hours: 4 Type: Workshop, Participants' (final) Presentations Description: Students are asked several questions and are called to answer them and present their proposals in public, in a short, given amount of time. Learning Objectives and Internal Scope: Students are expected to demonstrate opinions sharing and teamwork at its peak; critical thinking development. Final presentations performance.
Session no. 13: Open Space Technology / Learning Cafe Working Hours: 2 Type: Workshop Description: Topics rose through the event and extra topics proposed by both the facilitators and the participants, were discussed in different stations within a room between them, in a dynamic way. Learning Objectives and Internal Scope: Input gathering, OST experience.
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9.
Extended Reporting of Sessions
European Tertiary Education; Needs, Problems, Solutions Facilitator: Nikolena Christofi With this first session of the event, it was intended to introduce participants to the basic educational terms and definitions and make them aware of fundamental concepts. Moreover, to challenge them mentally in a social environment in order to set the basis and proper grounds for the rest of the event and cultivate a comfortable sharing environment, where the participants felt free to share their opinions on high-level discussions and personal matters. Following the introduction (surprisingly none of the participants was aware of the term “Tertiary�), the discussion aimed to gradually gather the students’ opinions concerning their assessment of the quality of their current education. Moreover, how satisfied they are with their choice of their studies and whether they think they were properly oriented when they had to make a choice and whether they were aware of all the future opportunities. Very few of the participants ended up studying what they like, or what they always wanted, or dreamt of doing, either due to lack of guidance when they were finishing High School, or because of the professional opportunities this choice can offer to them. They expressed a desire for more guidance at a young age, big job fairs, company visits, and weekly traineeships during High School, which would give them an insight of each profession. They would prefer to have more freedom and flexibility in their choices; more creative and entrepreneurship courses, and studies with less duration. The participants were then divided in 4 groups and were called to discuss what they think is missing from their educational system, what they need, and propose solutions to the problems identified. Inexperienced and under qualified professors carry the majority of the issues mentioned by the participants, as they seem to have a miscommunication with the students, and lack of
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empathy. As a result, the students perceive their professors as under-skilled and dull, leading to a loss of motivation during their lectures and therefore for their courses. Another point mentioned was the lack of optional courses and many mandatory courses the students find not necessary to be taught in the curriculum. They would like to have more flexibility in their lectures and lab work, boosted motivation for attending lectures as well as increased empathy and interaction in the relation with the professor in addition with further communication with the university. The participants suggested that the professors should be more aware of their teaching skills, perhaps through an education on classroom teaching, and they would prefer to have younger professors, who are more keen to integrate technology in their lectures. There should also be an assessment tool for the professors by the students. They want more lab slots within their curriculum. They mentioned the start of a new movement on changing students' mindset on attending lectures.
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Course Length & Division Facilitator: Adrià Balcázar Castell Students talked about the current situation regarding the topic based on their own experiences and then were called to identify its flaws. They later created, in teams; their own yearly plans, trying to solve problems like exhausting exam periods, stressful semesters and difficulties finding the time to do an internship. Their solutions focused on splitting the year into more semesters, with fewer subjects in each one in order to have time for other activities such as internships and soft skills development. During the first group exercise, where participants were asked to identify the flaws in the current system, problems related with course organisation and semester distribution, the following problems were mentioned: bad knowledge flow throughout the year, due to the fact that students forget what they have learned the previous semester; long, exhausting exam periods, in which students just try to pass, not to learn; long semesters, which lead to burnout; exam periods taking place long after finishing the classes, which enlarge the semesters and trim the holidays, therefore reducing the students’ time availability and thus their chances to have an internship; having too many exams per week. How to solve these problems? The participants, again in teams worked on a so-called “perfect plan” and presented it in front of their peers, explaining its advantages and how it would solve specific issues. Hereby are presented the main ideas that the students resulted in by concluding their task: •
Semester Length:
2 teams kept the 2 semesters that we typically see in universities, but
one team split it to 3 and another to 4. Participants agreed that shorter semesters with fewer subjects would help them focus better. In the case of keeping the 2-semester format, there would be either holidays or an “extra-activities month” in between. •
Subjects per semester:
•
Exam periods:
in general, students prefer to have fewer subjects per semester.
all teams preferred having their exams clustered in exam periods.
Nevertheless, those periods should be neither long nor crowded. Fewer subjects per semester would help. There should be at least one midterm exam every semester, two in
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the case of only two semesters per year. For small subjects, partial exams should suffice: that way there would be few final exams for the students to focus on. A favored practice is exam retakes: placed either right after the final exams or the holiday’s season; preferably not to interfere with possible work/internships/summer courses opportunities. •
Holidays:
Long summer holidays seem to be amongst students’ essentials and favorites.
Some teams proposed having high amount of work during the year and longer holidays; they also split the year in 4 semesters, in order to avoid burnout. However everyone agreed that there should be at least one month of holidays. This way, if internships are not planned to be done during the school semester, essentially there should be at least 2 months of summer holidays in order to have enough time for both doing an internship and following lectures. One of the teams proposes to have internships within academic the year as part of the curriculum (ECTS assigned to them), with a month+ of summer holidays in the end. Christmas holidays were viewed as a necessary break, but no need to make it longer than two weeks; the students did stress the importance of a free week in Easter and another one in October. Breaks of this sort and length would allow the students to regain the lost energy and release the stress caused within the semester and the exam period and catch up with a subject if needed. Students took into account new experience and skills acquiring, as it is a very important matter for them. Therefore all teams included internships in their ideal plans, and even mentioned the importance of assignments within projects. •
Internships:
There are two main suggestions concerning internships: either the students
are given enough free time during the summer holidays both to rest and do an internship or internships are done throughout the year and the hours dedicated are counted into the academic hours in each semester. It is important that the exams are not in a period of year so as to cause an intersection with a possible internship. The university should be giving more weight providing real work experience opportunities to its students. •
Extra-activity month:
both teams who split the year in just two semesters use this idea.
In the winter break, instead of having a longer holiday, they favor having a full month of extracurricular activities or internships. With a low workload and a more flexible schedule,
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students would be able to rest and develop themselves without loosing the working pace in the middle of the academic year, they could easily continue and catch up with attending the lectures at the start of the second semester. Activities that the students would like to perform during those periods would be, for example: advanced classes in particular subjects, language lessons, soft skills training sessions, courses from other degrees for interdisciplinarity. Summing up, concerning semester division, participants suggest to either increase the amount of semesters within the academic year or to have longer breaks, where an extraactivity month could fit in. On exam periods, they propose to reduce the amount of subjects or to evaluate some of them though partial exams and/or projects only, in order to avoid having too many exams per year. Moreover, to have exam periods should be taking under consideration the students' availability, based on their internships. Keeping one free month in the summer dedicated for resting (no classes and no internship) and small breaks in October and April are necessary for an optimal learning experience. Last but not least, stressing the importance of real life experience and other skills: internships are a must and time must be allocated for the students to have such opportunities (at least one month a year). This could be done either by extending the holiday’s season or by including them in the curriculum. A soft skill month (or extra activity month in general) in between the semesters was a globally embraced idea.
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Space up your session! Expert on site: Nikolena Christofi The European Space Agency and its student projects In this session the participants learnt about ESA, its missions and space activities and the projects of ESA Education Office. Students were informed about all the opportunities offered by the Education Office and how they can be involved and propose a student project.
Survey for the ESA Training and Learning Centre All the participants conducted a survey by filling in a questionnaire providing their inputs concerning the design of ESA Training and Learning Centre in Redu. Some of the results from the survey are presented hereby: More than half of them were satisfied with the teaching methods in their studies, which are mainly lectures, laboratory and practical learning, projects, self-study and seminars. Their favourite teaching methods are laboratory and practical learning, problem-based learning and projects. They mainly miss in their studies field trips and more laboratory and practical learning. None of them already collaborate with ESA Education Office but 48 % would like to work in the space sector! If they had the opportunity to participate in a ESA training their favourite subjects would be: project management, risk management, space technology and application, space system engineering and mission design. The best learning methods would be practical learning and projects followed by lectures and presentations.
Natacha Callens
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ESA Space mission group project The participants made a group exercise to try and propose potential projects for ESA hands-on programmes on education. They very much enjoyed this exercise and came up with some very interesting ideas. Most of them were exploiting solar energy and some eco-friendly oriented.
Concurrent design & CDF Study simulation To conclude the session, they got an introduction to CDF and the benefits of concurrent engineering, as well as a short CDF study simulation. The simulation was hard to execute since none of the participants had space studies background.
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Internships In this session we intended to gather the input of the students in an interactive way, which involved their physical movement around the space. After asking participants a question, they indicated their agreement or otherwise by standing on a point along an imaginary line. This way we could perform a kind of survey and gather opinions on each topic, since some participants were called to justify their choice. The scale survey followed a facilitated group discussion.
Q1: Should internships be provided by the university? 30% Yes - 40% No - 30% In between In this question, the participants’ answers were directly influenced by the situation in their country/university. The participants that answered yes, or neutral said that it is very important for the university to be helping the students in this effort since it is very hard for them to find an internship without the help of the university (for some it is taken for granted). Others say that without the help of the university they can find internship of higher quality and interest and most importantly, paid internships, and even search for better opportunities abroad.
Q2: Should internships be mandatory within the curriculum? 70% Yes 20% Neutral - 10% No The one person against expressed the opinion that it should be your choice whether you want to do an internship or not. The participants standing in the middle said that even though internships are very useful it should still be your decision, while you are still a student. The students that agreed had an attitude towards the enforcement of internships within the university life because this way everyone would get the chance to do one, even if they are lazy or unaware of the opportunities that lie ahead.
Q3: You think internships should be paid? 65% Yes - 25% In Neutral 10% No On the no side, the arguments were that there is no pressure towards fail or success if there is no money involved after all, the objective is to learn. Amongst the neutral opinions were included that the main purpose of internships are self-development and not to earn money; moreover, an inexperienced intern cannot contribute significantly to any company.
28
However the rest of the students mentioned of a raise of motivation when they are receiving money, they see it as a kind of reward for the work they are carrying out, and it feels closer to a real life occupation.
Q4: In your opinion, internships should take place after the end of the academic years and last for a whole year or during the academic year and substitute classes? 50% Yes - 40% In between (diverse opinions) 10% no The student who answered no shared that they would prefer to have the internship split in more parts, while a student can see themselves grow throughout that year, instead of doing it after the end of their studies. Other students expressed the opinion that internships might raise your motivation for other subjects therefore would prefer to have completed an internship before the end of their studies. The students that chose the other option, said that they would prefer to have an internship at the end of their studies where they have limited workload from their school and they can focus on their studies during their academic years and on their work during their internship respectively.
Group Discussion: Outcomes What are the benefits of the internships? Real life work experience; hands-on/practical experience; teamwork; feelings of belonging; networking; possibility of getting hired in future; CV key point; motivation boost for university /to study; self evaluation (realising your strengths and weaknesses); career assessment; possibility of success in a challenging environment would lead to a raise of self confidence; self development & growth; gain knowledge; increase awareness; creating working habits; time management; passion for work; travelling; earning money;
What should the duration of the internships be? Depending on the year: after the 1st year: 1 month, after the 2nd: 1 month, after the 3rd: 1,5 month; 3 months if it is a well-organised scheme. Other opinions: 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, as long as you keep learning, depending on the internship, as long as you are able to develop to a real professional position.
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What should be the working hours and schedule? It should be measured productivity, quality and goals setting -wise, not time-wise. Proposal: 25 hours per week, 160 hours per month if the schedule would depend on the students. Other opinions: 6 hours per day (9-15), 5 days per week, +200 hours in total. Or, 4 hours per day, flexible working time. Schedule should depend on the company and on your learning capabilities. Another suggestion was: 8 hours per day during summer, 5 days in a week, 2-3 months in total. First day would include a presentation of the company, find your bearings. Training sessions for a week. Then getting involved with the project, followed by working on the project and finally the presentation of the results.
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Lab Work in Curriculum Degree of engagement of students in learning Facilitator: Adrià Balcåzar Castell During this session, students brainstormed on engagement tools in classroom, as well on quality and quantity of lab work within the curriculum. Particularly important was the variety of content and teaching methods, which should allow more interaction with the students. Teachers were expected to be positive and empathic. They must show interest on the students' learning process and should seek to connect with them not just professionally but also on a personal level. More importance should be given to lab work, since it bridges the gap between lectures and real life experience. Lab courses should have a higher occurrence and the general lab conditions shall improve. Participants thought that this would be a good opportunity for connecting companies and universities, by hosting practical sessions in company labs. During the session, students brainstormed on engagement tools, which they have noticed their professors are using, or they would like them to use. They used these ideas and clustered them in three broad topics: professor’s attitude, working methods and content. They also looked on what [they think] is missing from laboratories courses and finally made some proposals, in order to improve higher education overall, in a greater extent.
Content:
participants found that having more variety in the content would help them keep
their focus, while, if it would relate to real life-job experience, which would boost their motivation. A stronger university-company relation would support this last point, as well as inviting external experts for particular lectures. Sharing daily updates related to the topic would be very engaging to the course subject; for it not only cultivates a connection with real life but also helps students understand the theoretical concepts studied throughout the year. Short educational audiovisual material would also empower content variety and raise attention.
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Working Methods and Activity Types:
strongly related to the previous point, the participants
suggested the following activities, claiming that would allow them to accomplish their previously set goals. Case Study based lectures, projects and TED-like sessions with guests, allow the students to learn about future jobs and help them develop, within the sphere of interdisciplinarity and preparation of a multi skilled engineer, something strictly theoretical lectures cannot offer. For a higher level of engagement, students would like to have more interactive sessions, such as debates, round-tables and discussions. Changing the environment by having sessions in labs and in the outside, having field trips are also a way to increase student engagement in the learning. Students point out the importance of personal relationships, therefore our participants encourage group projects. They would also like to have sharing sessions with the teacher, for example by talking about the previous lesson at the beginning of the class, having conversations outside the classroom (both related and unrelated to the subject), divided group sessions, small Q&A and problem solving sessions. Other ways to engage students in the subject would be leaving open questions at the end of each lecture (answering them later on), playing games, talking about the teacher’s personal experiences and sharing the students’ feeling about the subject.
Attitude:
for a class to be engaging, the professor needs to have an attitude that
encourages involvement. Smiling, being positive and showing empathy seem to be greatly valued traits. Putting an effort into understanding the students and taking their opinions into consideration is very important in order to establish a good teacher-student relationship. Patience, enthusiasm and empathy are key characteristics of a good professor. In order to create a positive and therefore engaging learning environment a teacher should try to learn the students’ names, joke freely and prompt students to ask questions. Participants would be very happy to see teachers asking for feedback and for new ideas for their lectures, caring about the students’ opinions on the lectures. Professors are perceived by many students as role models. Thus they should be open for discussion and positive towards interaction, ask questions and make an effort to provide the students with the best education they can.
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Lab Work:
The general feeling was the need to increase the quality and the amount of lab
hours. The participants talked of their poor lab conditions and expressed a desire for more advanced equipment and in higher quantities. Particularly, they would like to have the chance to use up-to-date equipment, since they want to be prepared for their professional lives. This also goes for computer software. A very interesting proposal that derived from the participants’ group discussions was the suggestion of going to companies’ laboratories for the practical sessions, instead of having them in the campus. This way the university wouldn’t have to buy all the equipment. That would enable them to have real projects experiences as well. Students want to be trusted and to be able to do more during lab work, as well as to have more hands-on sessions. Hands-on sessions give them the opportunity to learn in a more interactive and thus engaging way and gather more and various experiences. Teamwork was highly appreciated, as long as everyone gets equally involved in the team and has the chance to work in a lab. Lab professors should be enthusiastic and provide clear instructions for the students to follow. The requested submitted reports should somehow change; participants agree that currently most of them just copy them from one another, since they seem completely useless, while teachers should find a better way of asking for reports from their lab courses. Other interesting ideas proposed by the participants were, for example, to divide a big project in various labs, or dedicate full academic weeks to labs and workshops. Everyone agreed that more Labs and hands-on experience is needed. Finally, participants were asked to present and discuss improvement points that could apply within a university curriculum. Hereby are presented the proposals that were commonly approved:
Companies and Labs:
Participants would like to have interactive visits to company labs.
Encouraging companies to have their labs at university would make this much easier. That would also remove the need for better equipment at university and increase the flexibility of lab hours.
Having big projects divided into various labs was also one idea that the
participants quite seemed to fancy. Labs should count with increased support and supervision.
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Giving more weight to the students' performance in laboratory work in the final grade of the subject is another idea the participants agreed on, since it stresses the direct practical use of the subject in real life application.
Interdisciplinary Course Experiment Facilitators: Nikolena Christofi & Adrià Balcázar Castell This session was conducted as an experiment, both in terms of content, as well as towards the participants’ team dynamics. So far, the participants have never worked alone (without the guidance of a facilitator) in such large groups, which is why it was decided that for this exercise they would be randomly divided in 2 groups of 10, and execute the task given to each group without the help of any facilitator. For this reason, no further explanation was given on the topics assigned to each team and in the end the two teams were to debate, in order to support their scheme over the other team’s plan. The task description was the following:
“In the vast expanding and multiverse society of today, all technical projects require the successful cooperation of engineers from all sorts of different fields, scientist, and other professionals (lawyers, marketing, etc.). However technical education does not prepare students for working life, but focuses on the narrow field of study instead.” We have a proposal of introducing an interdisciplinary course, which would either include:
1. Students of different faculties working together on a final project at the end of
the semester, or 2. Having classes of various subjects during the semester and a final project at the
end of the year” The participants found it very hard to start working inside the group; they didn’t know where to start from, in which way to tackle the topic, there was a general discomfort and miscommunication and most of the times, the most strong-minded and less shy people in the group seemed to take the lead and tried to impose their opinions on the group. As a
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result, there were not many arguments to be discussed during the debate since the participants were already tired and hadn’t had any solid work from their group. Moreover, they hadn’t fully comprehended the context of the task. Summing up the debate, the participants of Team 1 were supporting that their concept would promote teamwork, diversity, team dynamics and interactive learning. Team 2 was supporting that their concept was working towards shaping a more complete engineer, essential for the needs of today’s society. During the debriefing the participants expressed that they had learned a lot from this exercise and it had helped them grow; as persons and as a team.
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Interactive Lecturing Facilitator: Nikolena Christofi In this session many subjects were tackled, around the topic of interactive lecturing, in a long discussion amongst the participants, led by a facilitator. Participants shared that interactive lecturing is an interesting way for the students to be involved in the learning process, however it depends on the subject. Lectures that take place in large classrooms with a large number of students make it very hard to create an interactive environment in the classroom. Many ways were suggested for professors to encourage interactivity amongst the participants, one of which being the use of technology through the lecture. Students mentioned professors could increase communication between the students by integrating new technological features in their presentations,
as long as they make proper use of it.
For example, they enjoy a nice PowerPoint presentation with good illustrations, in more theoretical modules, however professors might achieve opposite results when they are just reading through their presentation and when they are dealing with complex concepts. Especially when the lecture involves step-by-step equation solving, students agreed that they preferred to see the professor solving it real-time on the blackboard. Students also thought that depending on the country, and especially in mandatory classes, the use of smartphones or tablets could be integrated to help the students follow the class real time. When students were asked whether they have projects, workshops or case studies as part of their curriculum, very few answered yes. Students say they would very much enjoy to have more projects and workshops within their study year; a couple of students shared some very positive experiences of professors that organised very successful workshops that motivated and helped them gain a deeper understanding of the subject. Therefore, the students would appreciate it if the professors spent some time to organise relevant activities.
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Online Material in Courses & Teamwork Vs. Individual Work Facilitators: Nikolena Christofi, Adrià Balcázar Castell & Anıl Tugay Turan In this session, the participants were divided in two groups and were given two completely different topics. A facilitator (one and two, respectively), was sent with each group to guide them to their goal efficiently and effectively, by facilitating their discussion. This exercise followed a session, which was held on the previous day and where the students were again divided in two large groups. However, the facilitators were not interacting at all with them through the whole process, resulting to miscommunication and loss of control amongst the members of the groups, with no final result.
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Hereby are presented the outcomes of the two teams and the topics they were working on. The first one, ‘’Teamwork Vs. Individual Work� took very little time to complete, since the benefits of teamwork over individual work were obvious from the participants' perspective, and so advantages and disadvantages of each were concluded quickly. On the other hand, the team that was called to design an ideal online website of a course found many problems on the way, including internal arguments and clash of ideas, which sometimes was based on a different conceptual realisation.
Online Material in courses Facilitator: Nikolena Christofi The participants, with the guidance of the facilitator, finally decided to tackle the subject by making a representation of their ideas in a 3-column table which would include a) the benefits of having a website of the course b) what the website would contain and c) the drawbacks of this concept. They approached the matter with great detail. Within the benefits they mentioned that it would be an eco-friendly concept, constantly adaptable to new scientific updates that would allow long distance attending. It would also contain complementary course material and the content could be compressed, thus be helpful for the students. For disadvantages, a poorly organised site can cause opposite effects and lead to the confusion of the students, like mirrored* or unnecessary information. Moreover, the participants mentioned that improper use of the site could make them lazy and therefore skip the lectures. Finally, sometimes they might face the problem of server failure, when it is overcrowded, especially near exam periods, as well as the danger of copyright infringement. As it comes to the design, the students propose an interactive concept. First of all, the site would have to be easily accessible from the university main page and should include material uploaded from the professor, such as the year plan of the course, an announcements section, pre-materials for labs, uploaded lectures and tutorials, educational
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videos, solved exercises, online documents. However it shall include a students’ section. Students should have the opportunity to upload their homework through this website, rate and review the documents archive, give personal feedback to the professor, as well as a student forum. A key point mentioned was the presence of a direct link that would allow instant subscription to the course mailing list. *Same material contained in places and links around the website
Teamwork Vs. Individual Work Facilitators: Adrià Balcázar Castell & Anıl Tugay Turan Working system: alone or in a team? Both teamwork and individual work have advantages and disadvantages, pros and cons. Participants had some interesting ideas on the topic.
Teamwork:
the variety of ideas, points of view and skills are a huge plus for this system. The
human factor is also very relevant: contagious positive attitude and feeling of belonging boost motivation and commitment. Having support and being able to split the tasks depending on the members’ interests makes the job execution much more pleasant. Amongst the downsides the participants mention the loss of independence and efficiency due to the social and communication requirements. Risks that lie in this kind of engagement, such as conflicts, unfair recognition, lack of participation or trust is not to be disregarded
Individual work:
opposite to teamwork, in this case one has full responsibility, which can
help motivation and satisfaction. Not depending on anyone makes time management and organisation easier. It has drawbacks, though: big responsibility can lead to stress. One person needs to have all the knowledge necessary for the task, besides a good discipline to overcome boredom and frustration. Participants were separated in two groups, one taking care of teamwork and the other one of individual work. The groups discussed the advantages of their way of work and, after changing groups, the disadvantages of it. In a later session, they generally stated that the
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advantages of teamwork were more important to them and that they mostly preferred that method of working. On teamwork, the students considered the variety of opinions as one key factor: it allows for ideas to grow bigger and enables the team to find better solutions for any occurring problem. Having different people involved in the same project also gives the chance to split the tasks according to the different interests, abilities and knowledge of the team members, thus increasing the productivity of the team and making the work more enjoyable. Being able to ask each other for help in difficult moments also makes the team flexible. Furthermore, the social aspect of teamwork is not to be underrated. Mutual support, encouragement and contagious positive attitude, increases everyone’s commitment and feeling of belonging, which can end up impacting greatly on the motivation levels of the individuals. Since most students have more fun when working with other people, teamwork is viewed as something very positive: having fun while working is motivating and pleasant. Last but not least, teamwork requires communication and social skills, which students value considerably, and group projects enable them to develop those skills and grow as individuals. Teamwork has its disadvantages, though. Amongst them, students found particularly relevant the lack of independence and risk for many things to go wrong. About independence, students valued being able to organise themselves and manage their time. Being bound to other people's agendas and expectations prevents them from to working freely. There are also different risks to consider. Firstly, the lack of participation: everybody will expect things to get done, but won’t be necessarily doing them themselves. Trust issues can also become a problem, particularly in projects where innovation is occurring and internal information shall be classified. Furthermore, when the members of the team do not trust others’ commitment to the task, confrontations can arise and working on the project can become a struggle. Unfair recognition is a dangerous issue as well. Moving on to individual work, students also found many interesting advantages and disadvantages in this system. Individual work is particularly positive for self-confident people, who are more comfortable and usually depend only on themselves. The
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satisfaction of creating something alone can be bigger than the result of teamwork and therefore the motivation can be higher too. Having full responsibility of the project does not leave other options but to actually work on it. Negative aspects of working alone were also pointed out. For instance, having full responsibility can lead to stress; having to do everything by oneself can be overwhelming. As working alone tends to be more boring, the student will need to motivate him/herself and be disciplined. Dealing with frustrating situations alone can be hard and discouraging, too. All in all, students give an important value to the interrelationships between group members that teamwork implies, as well as of the diversity of opinions when approaching an issue. Nevertheless, the comfort of independence should not be disregarded. As seen in other discussions, students would like to have more teamwork projects in their academic life, which would better prepare them for their future career, however success lies in the balance between both types of assignments.
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Educational Question Fair Facilitator: Nikolena Christofi This was one of the last and most challenging sessions of the event; therefore the level of difficulty was higher, compared to the other sessions. Moreover, the final evaluation of the participants was based on their performance in the accomplishment of their tasks. The participants were divided in 7 groups of 3, and every person was assigned to each group based on observations on their social traits, personal attributes & interaction within the group, and their participation-so-far in the sessions. This way everyone would get the chance to equally contribute in their group discussion as well as present in front of their peers, even if they had never done so far (or the other way around).
Questions 1. What do students expect when they take a course? To learn? / To obtain a high grade? / To maximize grade/effort? 2. Field Trips Yes or not? ; Like or Dislike / Why? / When? / What kind of courses? Where? 3. Invited Lecturers Yes or no / Why; Benefits / Who 4. Why students talk in class? 5. How to teach large classes 6. Is an organised course (time schedules, specific class material, book etc.) better or worse compared to a free-form one?
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Outcomes Q1:
We
start
with
a
general
and
ground-setting
question,
concerning
students’
expectations when they take a course. Their responses were varied. The most
dominant opinion was that it depends on the subject; whether it’s mandatory or
not, or whether it is interesting or not. Therefore, if they find a subject interesting and useful, they expect to learn. For a mandatory subject, they expect to learn, primarily, especially when it is interesting, and just maximize their grade if it’s a boring one. For a non-mandatory one, some participants say they would expect to maximize grade over effort, plus learn, if it is interesting, but only maximize their grade if it’s only boring. One team put their expectations on a scale. Starting from low to high: obtain high grades, maximize grades/effort, learn. We see that the participants care more on the content of the course; gain knowledge and develop, and if the grade comes with it, it is kindly welcomed, but it is not their primary goal.
Q2:
Students are called to give their input on the topic of field trips; whether they think they
should consist part of their curriculum or not; when and where they should take place and in which subjects. The response from the participants was extremely positive. Field trips would give them a motivational boost, enhance their knowledge on the subject and connect theory with practice. Apart from providing a hands-on opportunity, it could give them the chance of a real life experience and to create new contacts in the working world. They also consider it exciting and fun! Most of the courses would be applicable for field trips to be applied within their curriculum, however some participants mentioned specific subjects such as: engineering, economics, management, law and medicine. As far as the sites concerned, factories, companies, hospitals, research institutions, laboratories, museums, farms and nature were mentioned. Students would like to be more active in the field trips rather than be simple observers,
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especially if their duration is more than one day, for example, participating in a case study or a workshop.
Q3:
With this question we intended to see where the participants stand on the proposal of
having invited lecturers to present various topics within the year. It seemed like they all find it an excellent idea. Every once in awhile, students would very much enjoy to have presentations from experts on an interesting topic, successful and experienced people with good soft skills, researchers, other professors with publications, mentors, inspirational individuals, companies’ CEOs, people that succeeded in start-up companies, or even experienced other students. This would increase the students’ interest and motivation on the subject. It would also provide a new point of view and new contacts and opportunities for future cooperation, as well as inspiration for starting their own projects and start-ups. Moreover, if the lecture is in another language, they have the chance to practice a foreign language (English).
Q4:
Students are called to tackle a long term problem, that concerns professors all around
the world, for decades and decades now: “Why students talk in class?”. Their answers were not lacking in neither interest nor honesty! The reasons could be grouped into 4 major categories: professor performance, class facilities & room acoustics, physical state of the students in combination with course schedule. The first and most discussed factor was related to bad teaching practices. Students complain about boring classes, related to the content of the subject and the way the teacher is presenting it to the students, leading to a lack of interest. They mention bad lecturing skills by the professor, a monotonous and quiet voice, a “traditional lecture” as they call it, causing a lack of focus. Students mentioned that these attributes might contribute to a loss of respect for and discipline from the professor, encouraging a negative atmosphere in the classroom. All in all, the professor fails to win the students’ enthusiasm and motivation, in order to follow the lecture with full focus.
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Adding to this, sometimes the room acoustics might not be ideal; therefore the students cannot hear clearly what the professor is saying and thus losing their interest. Moreover, they might not be feeling comfortable because of bad ventilation, uncomfortable furniture etc. which makes them more energetic and keen to talk with their fellow students since it’s easier to lose their focus. The participants also mentioned quite a lot that some lectures have long duration and do not include breaks, leading to their physical exhaustion. Students have a full and long schedule and breaks are essential for their proper nutrition and rest in between lectures. Moreover, in some cases, students prefer to ask each other questions and further clarifications on the subject; sometimes they even debate on a topic they find interesting!
Q5:
Students are given the question of how to alleviate the problems created in large
classes (big classrooms and with a big audience). The participants expressed the opinions that the teacher should try to make the lecture more dynamic, in order to catch the students’ attention. First of all, he should try to speak loud and clear, or use a microphone, use projectors to make presentations on big screens, take advantage of the new technology by introducing the use of tablets in the classroom to help the students follow the lecture real-time on their gadgets. Try to walk around the classroom and encourage taking questions by the students, so as to increase the interaction and break the barriers with them. He can also have students make presentations instead of him from time to time. The professor can also choose to reduce the number of the students for a more efficient class, by splitting them into groups and design case study activities for them. This way, all the students can be actively involved in the learning process.
Q6:
Students were called to share their opinions on whether an organised course is better
or worse than a free-form one. Students approached the matter by spotting the advantages and disadvantages on both options.
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Based on their input, an organised course is easier to follow, since there is planning in advance so the students know what to expect and they can prepare and plan their time based on their schedule. The teacher is familiar thus a closer relationship can be achieved throughout the year. The fact of the possibility of providing organised materials removes stress and insecurity from the students. On the other hand, the lack of flexibility, content and schedule wise, as well as the monotony of repetition and routine make the course dull, especially if the teacher-student communication is not ideal. Students seemed to have mixed opinions on free-organisation courses; they say the key is in the balance. They can be dynamic classes, where the teacher improvises, encourages interaction with the students and thus catches their attention. This generates creativity, imagination and motivation. It is by definition more flexible, therefore can create more free time within the students’ overloaded schedule. However there are some drawbacks, due to the lack of fixed schedule and material, which would require further guidance and support, and perhaps time for searching and preparing materials. All in all, they do not find one better than the other, as long as they have a proper planning, in order to benefit the students in the most optimal way.
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Open Space Technology / Learning Cafe Facilitator: Adrià Balcázar Castell Various pending topics from other sessions were tackled: Grading & Exams, Hi-Tech classroom, Lecture App, Evaluating teachers. The participants discussed (without the help of any facilitator) 4 topics during this session. On the topic of Grading, participants talked on having a European standard grading system, common for all countries. Exams should be more real life & concept comprehension oriented, rather than theoretical memorisation. On the Hi-Tech topic, they would like to see technologies used to simulate lecture principles and allow them to conduct job life-related experiments. They would find an in-class app useful. Such a tool would help large groups of students follow the class better. Finally, the participants tried to tackle the matter of teacher evaluation. It seems like they feel there is a problem with bad teachers (as they are being perceived by the students) not improving themselves, and taking their occupation for granted. Instead, they and would like to see a system in which students’ feedback would be taken into account. Participants were allowed to move freely across the room. One flipchart with one topic written on it was placed at each corner of the room. Participants could choose what topic they wanted to contribute in the discussion of, and would change place & topic accordingly. Below are presented some of the ideas that derived from their discussions during this session.
Grading & Exams:
First of all, they noticed how different the grading scales were, depending
on each country. Spain, for instance, grades from 0 to 10 (with 5 as minimum passing mark), whereas Croatia’s marks vary from 1 to 5 (passing grade is 2) and Italy grades are from 0 to 30 (or even 31; passing grade is 18). This constitutes a problem in the case of changing countries and universities, for Erasmus students, for example, where validation of studies in another country is necessary. Students would like to have a global European standard grading system that would allow marks to be compared. Another idea proposed by the participants was to grade just through pass/no pass, but then
a motivation issue
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arose. People might not be motivated to do well on exams. That raised the question, shouldn’t students actually be striving to learn, not just to pass an exam? Exams should value actual understanding of the subject, rather than fact memorisation. They also referred to cheating; students should not strive to pass but to learn. Ultimately it’s the student’s responsibility, but more application-oriented exams would help.
Hi-Tech Classroom and Lab,
how would it look like? Participants brainstormed on the idea of
introducing technology to the classroom. They imagined some kind of device that would allow the professor to reproduce and make students experience the principles of science, or allow them to apply their knowledge to real life situations, simulated by the device. That would be useful for most degrees and for many types of lecture. The main idea was to connect the acquired information with future working life, in order to increase understanding and preparation for a successful career. The risk is, an application of this kind might limit communication and personal interaction, which should be one aspect of learning. Apps for learning were also mentioned, but were already covered in another topic.
Lecture App:
following the lecture online. This idea was brought up by participants and
consists of a multi-use tool in the form of a phone/tablet App. The app would help follow lectures where the number of students is very large (100 or more). Some features would be: asking questions through the App, so there’s no need to shout to be heard (the question would be displayed on the board by a click of the professor), smart board image being sent to everyone real time (avoiding difficulties to see the board from far away) and recording it, interactive presentations, global quizzes with multiple choice answer (for the teacher to see the general level of the class), attendance checks or even speech to text conversion. This comes of course at a certain risk: students may become too distracted by the App, too lazy to attend lectures and just following them online and so on. It would be required for both the App to be well designed in that sense, and for the professor to know how to use it efficiently.
Evaluating teachers:
students identified a problem existing in Higher Education, which
consists of teachers never interested on improving the quality of their lectures and at the same time, providing low quality education. Participants felt that they should be able to give
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feedback on the lectures and help their professors improve, and that there should be a system that ensures that the professors actually make an effort to deliver proper lectures and labs. Students’ evaluation and unexpected inspector visits should have an impact on the professor's work. Either through lecture hours reduction (and therefore salary reduction) for bad performance or another way, teachers should have their work quality assessed. Positive evaluation (voting for your best teacher) and motivating students to fill in surveys on lecturers are some ideas, but in order for them to work, students need to feel that their feedback can actually make a change. The participants recognised that this is a tricky and very delicate topic. Nevertheless, they really see it as a problem and believe that there’s a great opportunity for improvement that will benefit everyone.
10. Conclusion The most important conclusions to be drawn from this report can be summarised as follows. Students want to receive more orientation before they make their study decisions, which would allow them to make wiser life choices and consequently study what they love. That would help them to be part of a motivated student community adding to their performance during their studies and their future career. Lack of motivation seems to be the major factor for failure during academic years. Students are unwilling to follow dull lectures by professors who seem to show no interest in their students’ progress and who do not try to engage them in learning. Unsatisfactory classroom behaviour and lack of lecturing skills have a major impact on the absence of motivation of the students. Students seek more communication and attention from the professor, with more interactive courses within the curriculum. They suggest that all the professors receive special classroom training before they can start lecturing, and that they use more interactive material and they make use of recent technological resources. They point out the need for more laboratory work and the importance of having the ability to complete at least one internship before the end of their studies, since this could help them better assimilate the theory they are receiving in the lectures connecting them with real life applications, and bringing them closer to building a substantial professional profile.
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In an ideal case, the students prefer to be working in teams rather than individually, however they understand the difficulty that lies in the success of a good teamwork. Therefore, they want to have opportunities for group projects and hands-on activities during their university years, to help them grow as individuals as well as part of a social group. Furthermore, this would assist to preparing them to be good team players in a professional
and
competitive
engineering
world,
which
demands
interdisciplinary
cooperation and communication.
Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Robert Brennan-Craddock for his invaluable comments and corrections, the management 2014-2015 & 2015-2016 and the community of the Educational Committee of BEST for their help and support in the carrying out the work of this EoE and LBG Ankara for hosting the event. Photo Credits to Christina Gouvatsou, participant of EoE Ankara 2015.
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11. Sources [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification [2] www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gamification [3] Kiryakova, Gabriela, Nadezhda Angelova, and Lina Yordanova. "Gamification in education." Proceedings of 9th International Balkan Education and Science Conference, 2014.
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