AAEE Newsletter - May 2005

May 2005

Contents

Invitation to the 2005 Conference! 1

Annual awards. 1

Interesting news from members. 2

Special interest groups. 4

Journal articles. 4

Hot issues – your input is required. 4

Organisations you should know about 5

Some useful websites. 5

Books to read. 5

Future Conferences. 5

Newsletter contributions. 5

Invitation to the 2005 Conference!

We extend a warm invitation to you to participate in the 4th ASEE/AaeE Global Colloquium on Engineering Education Australian in Sydney, Australia, 26-30 September 2005.

This is the fourth in a series of Global Colloquia initiated by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and it incorporates the 16th Annual Conference for the Australasian Association for Engineering Education and the 11th Australasian Women in Engineering Forum. The Colloquium will bring together over 300 delegate attendees from around the world.

Conference Themes

·         Globalisation of Engineering Education

·         K-12 Pipeline

·         Transformation of the Disciplines

These themes will be of particular interest to

·         Engineering educators

·         Engineering Deans and University administrators

·         Industry leaders

·         Professional engineering institutions and to related Professional Associations

·         Teachers and career advisors in primary and secondary schools and

·         Education policy makers

The Colloquium will feature up to 50 national and international Invited Speakers, selected for their expert knowledge of the themes and their impact as speakers.

Expressions of Interest

If you are interested in participating in the Colloquium, please complete the Expression of Interest Form below, and your information will be sent via email to the Secretariat Registrar.

Visit the website and register your interest

Annual awards

It is with great pleasure that the Australasian Association for Engineering Education brings to your attention that applications for the 2005 Engineering Education Awards are now called for.

As educators, our primary function is to produce graduates who are well prepared to take their role as engineering professionals. In doing so, our teaching staff are innovative, effective and highly committed to optimising their students’ outcomes. As we strive to encourage our students to aim for excellence, it is appropriate to also recognise those who facilitate that excellence. The AaeE Awards, judged by a panel of their peers, recognise in a tangible way the commitment and contribution of our excellent teachers.

The value of each Award has been increased in 2005 to $2000.

The four awards for 2005 are:

·         Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Engineering Education

·         Excellence in Curriculum Innovation in Engineering Education

·         Excellence in Inclusive Practice in Engineering Education

·         Excellence in a Curriculum Team Project in Engineering Education

The awards will be presented at the ASEE/AaeE Global Colloquium in Engineering Education, 26 - 29 September 2005 in Sydney.

Excellence abounds amongst our teaching staff – it is timely to highlight our "star players" and "star teams". The criteria for these awards are listed on the AaeE website below.

Please note that these criteria are a close match to the AAUT Teaching Award criteria.

The application process has been simplified to encourage either self nomination or nomination of your colleagues. Details and application/ nomination forms are available on the AaeE website.

Important Dates

Any questions …? 

Please contact Liz Godfrey [l.godfrey@auckland.ac.nz] or Yvonne Toft [y.toft@cqu.edu.au]

These awards are sponsored by AaeE (with the support of the Australian and NZ Councils of Deans) and Engineers Australia.

Interesting news from members

Creating designs ‘fit’ for people

Learning Resource Centre at http://peopledesign.cqu.edu.au.

This site has been created to provide engineering educators with user-friendly learning resources that will help develop an ethos of ‘human centred system design' within their courses.

The online learning activities are primarily aimed at undergraduate engineering courses, for use in subjects related to engineering design (all disciplines). In addition, the activities could easily be used for postgraduate courses and interdisciplinary professional practice courses. Each learning activity incorporates a case study/cooperative learning approach. The pedagogy is consistent with development of the generic attributes that will be demanded of future engineers.

We know from our research that engineering educators are very keen to help their students create great designs.  We also know that many engineering educators and engineers generally, have not previously had exposure to learning about ergonomic principles (other than manual tasks), and that many have not previously understood that their designs might actually be causing end users to err. 

Our experience has shown us that engineers have great potential to bridge this knowledge gap by opening their eyes to the possibility, using a case study approach.  We have found that once engineering students (and some of their lecturers) can get past the notion that ‘ergonomics is expensive’ …, ‘sure this is good but in the real world’ …, ‘we already do safety to death’ and all of the other phrases we have heard over the many years, they adapt very quickly to contemplating ergonomics in the concept phase of original design rather than as a ‘retrofit’ in the detailed design phase.  Our experience of teaching our CQU engineering students about ergonomics at various stages across their four year program has also shown us that the process results in enlightened engineers who become great champions for the human element in their systems and the productivity / sustainability arguments for the inclusion of ergonomics.

Please let us know how we can enhance the site for your use.  We would also love to hear from anyone who has material that they would like to share via the site and / or if you think you can use any of the activities for your own teaching.  Please share the resource with other colleagues in your institution.

We look forward to your input and feedback,

Yvonne Toft – y.toft@cqu.edu.au  and Prue Howard – p.howard@cqu.edu.au .

Journal of Learning Design

Allison Brown, former AAEE Executive member, has launched the Journal of Learning Design, sponsored by QUT. From its website:

“The Journal of Learning Design is a new educational journal which moves beyond a focus on technological applications in educational settings, to encourage more critical analysis of approaches to the design of learning environments and the extent to which they result in enhanced learning outcomes for learners. Traditional, didactic, delivery-focussed models of teaching in higher education still prevail, whether in the lecture theatre or in the online environment.

The Journal of Learning Design will play an important role in raising awareness of how to move beyond such transmission models of education, to the design of more active, collaborative, authentic and engaging learning experiences for learners.

The Journal of Learning Design aims to provide a forum for critical debate and professional exchange about models, theoretical positioning and best practice in learning design”.

Visit the JLD at: http://www.jld.qut.edu.au/

Premier Award for Courseware

The NEEDS consortium in the USA is seeking exemplary pieces of courseware for their annual international awards competition called The Premier Award for Excellence in Engineering Education Courseware. Courseware includes the technology-based materials that faculty have developed to support their engineering learning environments.

Call for Submissions

2005 Premier Award for Excellence in Engineering Education Courseware (see http://www.needs.org/needs/public/premier/ )

NEEDS, John Wiley & Sons, Microsoft Research, The Mathworks, and Autodesk are pleased to announce the 2005 Premier Award competition. The Premier Award recognizes high-quality, non-commercial courseware designed to enhance engineering education. Beyond just recognizing outstanding courseware, the Premier Award evaluates and acknowledges exceptional learning experiences. Since 1997, eighteen outstanding courseware packages and learning experiences have been rewarded. If you or someone you know has developed non-commercial courseware or web sites designed to enhance engineering education, please consider submitting for the Premier Award.

Please visit our website for information regarding submissions, prizes, past winners, sponsors, etc. http://www.needs.org/needs/public/premier/ The winner(s) will be announced and prizes awarded at the 2005 Frontiers in Education Conference on October 19-22, Indianapolis, IN.

Important Dates

July 15, 2005 - Submissions Due by 5 PM PT

October 19-22, 2005 - Winner(s) Presented at the FIE 2005 Conference

For More Information

Please contact, Joe Tront, jgtront@vt.edu, (540) 231-5067 or Brandon Muramatsu, premier@needs.org, (435) 797-2703.

Special interest groups

Peer Support Network for New Academics in Engineering

The New Academic Peer Support Network (PSN) is an informal network of Academics new to Engineering.  It is aimed at providing those of us new to Academia with an opportunity to share experiences - both good and bad - with others in the same position, and facing similar challenges.  We’re looking for anyone who is new to the job of being an Academic, regardless of their background.  If you fit the description, get in touch with us.  If you know someone in your School who’s new to the job, let them know we exist so they can get in touch.  We’ve got a mailing list and a monthly newsletter to help share information and ideas.

You can find us through our website, or you can email one (or both) of the two organisers – Euan Lindsay and Marcin Ziemski.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Journal articles

Recent articles published in the AJEE are:

Hot issues – your input is required

Industrial practice/Vacation employment

What is the attitude of your Faculty/School to developing industrial experience in your students? Send me an email and I will collate for the next Newsletter.

EA Accreditation – new guidelines

See the new guidelines at: http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/./membership/accreditation.html

SEEK from the Environmental Engineers

In case you haven’t seen the paper copy, ask for a copy from your local EA office. (I couldn’t find it on the web).

Organisations you should know about

LTSN – changed its name

The LTSN in the UK has become part of the Higher Education Academy. Click here for more information.

Carrick Institute

See http://www.carrickinstitute.edu.au/carrick/go for more information. The Australian Awards for University Teaching are now available.

Other EE and HE organisations

See the AAEE Links page.

Flinders Foundations of University Teaching

Staff development at Flinders: http://www.flinders.edu.au/teach/nustaff/ffout.htm

Some useful websites

·         Future Engineering Challenges – http://www.caets.org/nae/naecaets.nsf/(weblinks)/NAEW-5CAJK5?OpenDocument

·         Engineers Week USA – http://www.eweek.org/site/News/Futurecities/2003/fc_world.shtml

·         ASEE Engineering K12 Centre – http://www.engineeringk12.org/

·         IDEAS – Institute for Diversity in Engineering and Society – http://smu.edu/ecenter/ideas/

·         Efunda – Engineering Fundamentals – http://www.efunda.com/about/about.cfm

Books to read

·         Blink by Malcolm Galdwell, Allen Lane (Penguin), 2005 – Thinking without thinking.

·         See also Gladwell’s The Tipping Point if you haven’t already read it – how to make change in organisations … and the sorts of people you will need.

·         Endangered Minds, by Jane M. Healy, Simon & Schuster, 1990, 1999.

·         Ecological Identity by Mitchell Thomashow, MIT Press, 1996.

·         Managing People across Cultures by Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, Capstone, 2004.

Future Conferences

2006

The 2006 conference will be in Auckland with the theme of: "Partnerships in Engineering Education”.

2007 and beyond

Expressions of interest are invited for hosting the 2007 (and beyond) conferences, preferably by June.  A copy of the guidelines for prospective hosts may be obtained from Wageeh Boles at QUT, w.boles@qut.edu.au.

Newsletter contributions

Share your good ideas, conference announcements, book titles, great websites, etc with other members. Send them to Roger.Hadgraft@RMIT.edu.au for inclusion in the next Newsletter.