Session Information
16 SES 01B, Online Courses and Discussion
Paper Session
Time:
2008-09-10
09:15-10:45
Room:
B4 416
Chair:
Ton Mooij
Contribution
Thirteen institutions of higher education in Flanders have joined forces in the Association K.U.Leuven. The Association actively promotes quality improvement through the Education Development Fund (in Dutch: Onderwijsontwikkelingsfonds or OOF). In Octobre 2007 an OOF project of the University College KHBO has been set up. This OOF-project is called ‘Practical scripts for the competence-based and student-centered implementation of the digital learning environment’. The first pilot of this OOF-project is a project involving the students of the 2nd year Master of Applied Sciences and Engineering: Civil Engineering of the K.U.Leuven and the students of the Master year Applied Engineering of the KHBO.
In Belgium two engineering master degrees exist: a Master of Applied Sciences and Engineering (5 years) which is more theoretically oriented, and a Master of applied engineering (4 years), with a more practical orientation. Both master degrees have a different profile and in their professional lives they frequently work together. However, there is no cooperation between the two master degrees during study time.
To carry out the project work, the students are divided into heterogeneous (students of KHBO and K.U.Leuven) teams of 9 or 10 students. The project is presented as an ‘open end’ design project based on an authentic civil engineering task, i.e. designing the (planned) harbor breakwater in Oostende.
To facilitate the important change of the educational framework for this project the OOF staff member develops a specific practical script for the implementation of Toledo as a significant educational tool within the project. The script will help the tutor to integrate digital didactics in the digital learning environment. Toledo can support the implementation of constructivism. First of all it facilitates the communication and cooperation: each group will have a private ‘space’ where they can communicate among themselves and where they can stay in touch with their coach. This will solve two pragmatic problems: distance (Leuven – Oostende = 140km) and time. Secondly, because each group includes students of K.U.Leuven and KHBO, students learn to function actively in a heterogeneous team. Thirdly, students can post all their documents, reports, hyperlinks etc. in the electronic logbook and their global planning in the electronic planning box by which students and tutors always have an overview of the project progress. And finally, because coaches have a clear view on the progress of each group, they can apply process evaluation, completed with Toledo-based peer assessment.
Method
- development and implementation of a digital learning environment in education.
- perception of the students (QMP)
Expected Outcomes
The main aim is to actively develop and train the competences of the students which play a prominent role in the field of engineering education: problem formulation, problem solving, critical (self) reflection, communication skills with specialists, project management and collaboration in heterogeneous teams. Each individual student is responsible for his/her own learning process.
In order to reach this goal the shared digital learning environment of the Association (Toledo, based on Blackboard) will enable us to support the development of competences. The two instructors (from KHBO and KULeuven) become ‘tutors, coaches’ who survey the progress of the groups and the individuals and who interfere if necessary. They get support from a pedagogue with a master in educational sciences and a coordinator of ‘educational reform’ of KHBO. They provide the tutors pragmatical guidelines with regard the role of tutor, (digital) didactics, project-based learning,… The tutor coaches the students in an active way, because active coaching increases the success rate of the learning process of the students . This new active way of learning in engineering education is defined as constructivistic: learning is an active process (student) and instruction supports the learning process (instructor) . The course uses two forms of education: face-to-face (F2F) education and e-learning. The combination of F2F and e-learning, so-called blended learning, will provide the best support for the intended learning goals.
References
- Valcke, M. (2000). Onderwijskunde als ontwerpwetenschap. (2nd edition). Gent: Academia Press.
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