IT Trends in European Technology Education: Students’ Perspective S. Antera1,7, D. Baselga2,7, V. Kalfa3,7, C. Smekens4,7, K. Smirnova5,7, and T. Van den Maegdenbergh6,7
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Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
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Polytechnic University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
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Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece 4
Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium (celine.smekens@BEST.eu.org)
5
Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation 6
Institut National des Sciences Appliquées Lyon, Lyon, France 7
Board of European Students of Technology (BEST)
Abstract. In order to plan changes in education following to the omnipresence of Information Technology, students have been able to give specific input on how valuable but risk-bearing those changes can be. During an Event on Education (EoE), organised by the Board of European Students of Technology (BEST), students coming from all over Europe analysed new upcoming learning styles and their effect on engineering education. More specifically, Virtual Exchange Programs, Open Access materials and Remote Labs were subjected to scrutiny. Despite their urgent need for further development, these and many other IT trends were evaluated as crucial for the improvement of today’s engineers. IT in university thus shows high potential if its implementation respects the students’ and teachers’ needs, privacy and safety. Keywords: European engineering education, BEST, Virtual Exchange Programs, Open Access materials, Remote Labs.
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Introduction
Living in the era of digitalization, the set of valuable skills is being redefined, and digital literacy is raising its importance, as well as the application of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in numerous educational contexts. Higher education institutions are vital actors in the production of labor force and the definition of academic credentials are changing rapidly nowadays [1], in order to face the new market and social demands marking the course towards development. Thus, the current technological progress has introduced technology and its services in higher education, including an “abundance of resources and relationships that are easily accessible via the Internet” [2].
However, judging from the importance of higher education, the emergence and exponential course of the new technological trend in learning is regarded at least as detrimental. Nevertheless, online and distant learning supporters are increasing, while the general impact of technology in tertiary studies is perceived as positive [3], even in a traditionally ‘in person’ educational area, such as Engineering. Consequently, the