Widening the Participation of Disadvantaged Students in Engineering

Author(s):  
Scott Sciffer ◽  
Mahsood Shah

The University of Newcastle, Australia has a long history of providing enabling education which provides access and opportunity for students to participate in undergraduate education. The enabling programs at the University allow higher school leavers, and mature aged adults to prepare for undergraduate degrees. Students who complete enabling education at the University undertake undergraduate studies in various disciplines including engineering. This paper outlines the extent to which enabling programs have played an important role in widening the participation of disadvantaged students in engineering disciplines. The different levels of academic preparedness of students in enabling programs and barriers faced in learning require effective strategies for teaching and engaging students in learning. The paper outlines the strategy used in teaching an advanced level of mathematics to the diverse groups of students to prepare them for success in first year undergraduate engineering programs. While research on undergraduate engineering education is significant, limited studies have been undertaken on enabling or university preparatory programs and their impact in various professions.

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Kellam ◽  
Michelle Maher ◽  
James Russell ◽  
Veronica Addison ◽  
Wally Peters

Complex systems study, defined as an understanding of interrelationships between engineered, technical, and non-technical (e.g., social or environmental) systems, has been identified as a critical component of undergraduate engineering education. This paper assesses the extent to which complex systems study has been integrated into undergraduate mechanical engineering programs in the southeastern United States. Engineering administrators and faculty were surveyed and university websites associated with engineering education were examined. The results suggest engineering administrators and faculty believe that undergraduate engineering education remains focused on traditional engineering topics. However, the review of university websites indicates a significant level of activity in complex systems study integration at the university level, although less so at college and department levels.


Author(s):  
Marcia Friesen ◽  
Nadine Ibrahim ◽  
Grant McSorley ◽  
Stephen Mattucci

Industry engagement in undergraduate engineering education is a community-centred approach to learning that is hands-on and links the engineering theory to practice. This paper provides a review of existing Engineer-in-Residence (EIR) programs in Canada, including the University of Manitoba, Dalhousie University, University of Calgary, Ryerson University, University of Ottawa, and the University of Waterloo, as well as a brief international scan. We consider the motivations behind the institutions’ initiative to introduce EIR programs, different types of engagements, challenges, and opportunities. Programs are also examined externally relative to professional residency programs in business schools, among others, and relative to other forms of industry engagement in undergraduate engineering education. A brief overview of the history and role of EIRs within engineering programs is also presented. The paper will be of interest to those exploring a similar industry engagement framework at their institution, and offers a forward-looking perspective on ways to leverage the skills and experience of practicing engineers in preparing students to tackle the challenges of the future.


Author(s):  
Michel Couturier ◽  
Dawn MacIsaac ◽  
Liuchen Chang

Following its rich tradition of over 150 years of excellence in engineering education, the Faculty of Engineering at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) is currently implementing an exciting first year program. In consultation with Atlantic businesses, governments and members of the Faculty, an Engineering Education Task Force was formed in the summer of 2003 with the mandate to enhance integrated learning in undergraduate engineering programs at UNB. The Task Force proposed a substantially-common first year program for all engineering disciplines with design projects in both the first and second terms. The design projects are used to integrate knowledge gained in the first year and are part of two new design courses. The first design course is centered on Design and Communications. The second design course is centered on Design and Computations. This new approach requires that teaching of core materials be integrated at a level that crosses disciplinary boundaries.


Author(s):  
Marcia R. Friesen ◽  
Randy Herrmann

Canadians live with a legacy of troubled relationships between Indigenous Canadians and non-Indigenous Canadians, rooted in a history of colonialism and racism. Aligned with the Truth & Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action and the University of Manitoba's Strategic Priorities 2015-2020, The Faculty of Engineering is planning curriculum initiatives to incorporate Indigenous Knowledge, perspectives and design principles.The paper reviews the conceptual approach which encompasses both the culture of the institution as well as specific curriculum initiatives. These curriculum initiatives include redeveloping three core courses, first-year Design in Engineering, third year Engineering Economics, and third year Technology & Society for explicit inclusion of Indigenous knowledge, perspectives, and design principles; integrating Indigenous design emphases in capstone design courses, including Indigenous design principles and design application of importance to Indigenous communities, such as infrastructure development, energy independence, and food security; increasing the participation of Indigenous students in the Coop/Industrial Internship Program (IIP), and using the Coop/IIP to build authentic linkages to Manitoba Indigenous communities and environments; and, fostering linkages between teaching and existing faculty research programs


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachelle Reisberg ◽  
Joseph Raelin ◽  
Margaret Bailey ◽  
Jerry Hamann ◽  
David Whitman ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 4-10
Author(s):  
Mekhribonu Kayumova ◽  

The article deals with the problem of the formation of a corporate style among first-year students of the university. To solve this problem, the use of pedagogical strategies is proposed. Their implementation is aimed at uniting the collective spirit of society (group), as well as the awareness of each student of this need, not forgetting about national values, acceptance of the values and history of a higher educational institution, rational use of opportunities created for girls and women in the renewed UzbekistanKeywords:corporate culture, innovation, higher education institutions, corporate identityof female students, pedagogical strategies, cultural education area of higher education institution.


2000 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 515-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel M. Brown ◽  
Hans Kornberg

Alexander Robertus Todd (Alex to his friends), was born in October 1907 in Cathcart, to the south of Glasgow. His father, Alexander Todd, of southern Scottish descent, was at first a clerk in the Glasgow Subway Railway Company and later its Secretary; subsequently he was the Managing Director of the Drapery and Furnishing Co–operative Society Ltd in Glasgow. He was ambitious to better himself and his family and although his formal teaching had ended at thirteen he held a strong regard for education and was determined, as was his wife Jane (née Lowry) that it should not be denied to their children. As their affluence increased they moved to the village of Clarkston, whence Alex had to trudge one and a half miles each day to the public school in Cathcart. One should recall that this was during wartime: life was hard and boots were of poor quality. At the age of eleven he passed the entrance examination to Allan Glen's school, the Glasgow High School of Science in the centre of the city. Among the teachers was Robert Gillespie, who taught chemistry and fostered Alex's growing interest in that subject. This gave him the impetus, after passing the Higher Leaving Certificate examination in 1924, to enter the University of Glasgow to read for an honours degree in chemistry. Once there, he was recognized by his teachers as a highly talented student, taking the James Black Medal and the Roger Muirhead Prize in his first year, which also gave him a scholarship for the rest of his course. Alex graduated BSc with first class honours in 1928 and was awarded a Carnegie Research Scholarship of €100 a year to work with Professor T.S. Patterson. He and his predecessor, G.G. Henderson, F.R.S., had strong interests in alchemy and the history of chemistry. The latter subject was even compulsory in the final year. Alex was interested in this and, much later in life, spoke and wrote knowledgeably on several aspects of the history of organic chemistry. Patterson's research interest was optical rotatory dispersion and, although Todd's first two papers were published jointly with Patterson in 1929 (1, 2)*, it was clear that a subject in which theory and practice made little contact was not for him. With encouragement from Patterson, Alex transferred to the University of Frankfurt to work in the laboratory of W. Borsche.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 757-760
Author(s):  
Harvey J. Graff

I first met Michael Katz on a clear, cool autumn afternoon in 1970. I was an uncertain first-year graduate student at the University of Toronto intending to complete a doctorate in British history with a project on antisocialism. Feeling confused, anxious, and unsatisfied by my courses, I began to share my concerns with fellow students. One of them, who became a lifelong friend (and editor), suggested that I contact that “young professor up the street” in history of education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education who worked in the new social history. Having read Thernstrom, Tilly, E. P. Thompson, Eric Hobsbawm, Barrington Moore, and so forth, in a senior honors seminar, I drew up my courage and went to meet Michael.


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