Relationships, variety & synergy: the vital ingredients for scholarship in engineering education? A case study

Abstract

This paper begins with the argument that within modern-day society, engineering has shifted from being the scientific and technical mainstay of industrial, and more recently digital change to become the most vital driver of future advancement. In order to meet the inevitable challenges resulting from this role, the nature of engineering education is constantly evolving and as such engineering education has to change. The paper argues that what is needed is a fresh approach to engineering education -one that is sufficiently flexible so as to capture the fast-changing needs of engineering education as a discipline, whilst being pedagogically suitable for use with a range of engineering epistemologies. It provides an overview of a case study in which a new approach to engineering education has been developed and evaluated. The approach, which is based on the concept of scholarship, is described in detail. This is followed by a discussion of how the approach has been put into practice and evaluated. The paper concludes by arguing that within today's market-driven university world, the need for effective learning and teaching practice, based in good scholarship, is fundamental to student success.Keywords: relationships; synergy; scholarship; student-success; variety IntroductionIntroducing an innovative new learning and teaching approach in which the concepts of Relationships, Variety & Synergy (RVS) are used synchronously as the basis for change within engineering education, this case study starts with the research question, 'To what extent can the "RVS" approach to engineering education enhance students learning experience?' In doing so, the paper provides a useful and useable approach to learning and teaching that is specifically aimed at engineering educators working in higher education. In today's fast-changing global society, the role of engineering has changed from being one of technical innovation to become a fundamental driver of future societal advancement. In order to meet the challenges and expectations required of such an unprecedented role, engineering education has to change and keep pace. This case study introduces a useful and useable learning and teaching approach that has been purposefully developed to meet the needs of engineering education. Taking into account the need to make sure that any proposed changes to engineering education need to be articulated in such a way so as to be perceived as accessible by all engineering colleagues, the approach is unique, in that it was developed by an engineer for use in the engineering classroom. It encapsulates the concepts of * Corresponding author. Email: r.p.clark@aston.ac.uk RVS, within a pedagogical framework the purpose of which is to enhance the student experience and in doing so, promote success. This paper provides an overview of the approach and discusses some of the evaluation and critique underpinning its development.Background: learning and teaching in engineering. The UK context

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“…Moreover, newly qualified graduates often feel 'incompetent' [4], and experience difficulty in transitioning into the workplace as graduate engineers [5] [6]. This is perhaps unsurprising, given that that there is little, if any, correlation between academic performance and success in the workplace [7]. It should, perhaps, be noted that the call for graduates who can 'hit the ground running' with appropriate skills is contested; indeed, previous studies suggest that education is about 'higher skills' which equips students to be leaders in their chosen professions [7] [8].…”

“…This is perhaps unsurprising, given that that there is little, if any, correlation between academic performance and success in the workplace [7]. It should, perhaps, be noted that the call for graduates who can 'hit the ground running' with appropriate skills is contested; indeed, previous studies suggest that education is about 'higher skills' which equips students to be leaders in their chosen professions [7] [8]. On the other hand, there is some argument that the development of workplace skills is better done in the workplace [9].…”

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“…Among the different studies focused on issues faced in higher education, one of the studies proposed by Clark [7] who identified an equation to represent the key elements in higher education teaching which, can contribute towards the improvement in the student's performance. The relationship was described as follows [7,8]:…”