INTERNATIONAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION DIGEST

 

September 2007

 

Copyright © 2007 World Expertise LLC – All rights reserved

A periodic electronic newsletter for engineering education leaders,

edited by Russel C. Jones, Ph.D., P.E., and Bethany S. Jones, Ph.D.

 

CONTENTS

1 - International developments

2 - US developments  

3 - Technology

4 - Students, faculty, education

5 - Employment, competitiveness

6 – Journals

7 – Meetings

 

 

1 - International developments

New OECD report on higher ed in thirty countries – The new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development report “Education at a Glance 2007” gives data about higher education in its thirty member nations, including the US, most of Europe, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan, Korea and New Zealand.  According to Doug Lederman, writing in Inside Higher Education, in countries which have emphasized expanding enrollments, the benefits associated with having a university degree, such as higher pay and less unemployment, have not deteriorated, while employment prospects for less educated people have declined.  Overall, the growth in spending on higher education in the 30 countries did not keep up with growth in national income. Warning signs for the US in the report include a low graduation rate for students admitted into higher ed, and the country’s declining share of the market for students interested in studying abroad.  (See http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/09/18/oecd)

Iran tightens restrictions on scholars’ travel – The government of Iran is now requiring university faculty to inform security forces before they engage in any foreign travel, whether for professional work or for pleasure.  And Iranian students have been warned that if they contact people from the US or other foreigners they would be “confronted.”  These measures are a result of escalating fear on the part of the Iranian government that students and faculty are being recruiting by the west in order to undermine the country.  In the past months Iran has also accused Iranian-American scholars of being spies, and only recently freed Haleh Esfandiari, the Middle East director at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington , DC , after holding her in prison for over three months.  This report comes from Robert Tait writing for the Guardian on-line on August 29. (See http://education.guardian.co.uk) 

Japan identifies five World Premier International Research Centers – The Japan Ministry of Education has announced the five groups which have received long-term grants to position Japanese research into the global mainstream. Kyoto University will begin the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, Tohoku University a Research Center for Atom, Molecule, Materials, the University of Tokyo, the Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, Osaka University, the Immunology Frontier Research Center, and the National Institutes for Materials Science the International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectronics. These funds require the centers to conduct their work in English, and to hire 30% of their staff and up to 20% of their researchers from overseas, writes Dennis Normile in the September 14 issue of Science.  (See http://www.sciencemag.org) The Ministry of Education is also proposing a large budget increase for supporting young researchers, and for sending Japanese scientists abroad, writes Dennis Normile in the September 7 issue of Science. Whether this proposal will be passed is unclear.  Similar efforts have failed in the past, as recently as last year, when a 20% increase for science netted only .4%. (See http://www.sciencemag.org)

Report highlights reality of Israel-Palestinian research collaboration – Jason Pontin, reporting for The New York Times on September 23, profiles Dr. Mukhles Sowwan, a Palestinian, who, working with his mentor and college, Dr. Danny Porath, has established a productive joint research project based at both Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem and the Hebrew University in West Jerusalem .  Dr. Sowwan, who works in nanotechnology, and Dr. Porath, a physical chemist, managed to obtain funding through the UNESCO bas Israeli-Palestinian Scientific Organization, which they then leveraged to obtain further funding from the German Research Foundation and the French Academy of Sciences.  Government restrictions and deep-antipathies have often created funding and logistics problems that are not shared by other researchers in other less contentious regions of the world. But Dr. Sowwan claims that “Science and technology are university languages like music and not connected to any religion or politics.” (See http://www.nytimes.com)

New Tsunami Warning System gets a reality check – After the disastrous December 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Sumatra that killed 230,000, countries in the region began to put in place a Tsunami Warning System, writes Dennis Normile in the September 21 edition of Science. Although only partially completed, the system proved helpful on September 12 when an 8.4 earthquake occurred again in Sumatra , and within 15 minutes, tsunami warnings were being heard in local villages.  Small tsunamis occurred, but no one was lost.  Experts were pleased with the results, but point out that there needs to be more work to perfect the ability to predict whether a tsunami will actually be caused by an earthquake, and whether evacuation needs to be carried out.  One disaster management expert said that this recent quake was an excellent drill which allows them to see the weaknesses in the improved warning system and correct them before the next quake. (See http://www.science.org)

Plans begin for what will replace Kyoto Protocol – With arguments about the Kyoto Protocol still echoing, notably with President George Bush adamantly opposed to capping industrial emissions, the Protocol is set to expire in 2012.  So in December of this year, negotiations will take place in Bali , Indonesia , for plans to move forward to combat global warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is urging industrialized countries to show leadership in reducing emissions and is promoting the development of incentives to make it possible for less developed nations to do the same without sacrificing their economic growth. It is believed that Ban wants a binding agreement to limit industrial emissions.  Bush agreed to discuss climate change this month and has planned a meeting with the largest emitters of gases to plan their response to global warming.  Other leaders, both inside and outside the US , are taking more proactive approaches: California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger supports the European Union’s plan to achieve a 50% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050, reports Colum Lynch in the September 25 on-line edition of the Washington Post. (See http://www.washingtonpost.com)

Japan moves slowly toward changes in academic calendar – Current School Education Law in Japan stipulates that the academic year begin in April, posing significant problems in efforts to collaborate with European and North American institutions.  So the Education, Science and Technology Ministry has announced plans to permit greater flexibility, reports the Daily Yomiuri Online on September 19.  Plans call for a regulation stating that university presidents have the authority to decide when their academic year begins and ends. However, the National Center Test for University Admission is held only in January, making it unlikely that there will be any rush to change. (See http://www.yomiuri.co.jp)

Many segments of UK graduate programs dominated by foreigners –  Anthea Lipsett writing for the Education Guardian on-line edition of September 13, says a recent report shows that 71% of students doing post graduate studies in strategic subjects (engineering, science, medicine, technology, math, languages) in the UK come from outside of the UK, and in all subjects, 48% are from outside the UK. While there are many advantages to this diversity, this makes the country vulnerable to changes in demand.  The call is not for fewer foreign students but for more UK students to undertake graduate studies in these critical areas. (See http://education.guardian.co.uk)

Foreign branch campuses attract attention, questions – US universities’ branch campuses abroad are coming under increased scrutiny for administrative practices that would not be acceptable at home in the US, reports Elizabeth Redden in the September 18 issue of Inside Higher Education. The University of Maryland University College, for example, is attracting attention for its relationship with ST International, which receives 25% of the tuition of each student in the doctor of management program the UMUC offers in Taiwan . ST International is responsible for student recruiting: in the US , federal law prohibits colleges from paying recruiters on a per capita basis. The UMUC points out that ST International is also responsible for providing the infrastructure of the program, for example classrooms and computer labs, equipment, housing for faculty, meals for students, and office space, not just recruiting: the 25% covers the cost of those services, as well.  (See http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/09/18/maryland)

Koreans alarmed by false academic credentials – The Korean public has been shocked recently by a series of revelations that many of its prominent citizens have lied about their academic credentials, reports Blaine Harden in the September 4 issue of the Washington Post. As a result, the state prosecutor has said it would investigate and has asked for tips from the public. College credentials are highly valued in Korean society, dating back several decades ago when traditional social structures had disappeared and academic accomplishments became proxies.  The scandal has hit artists, media stars, some scholars and also some religious personalities, with more revelations threatening to come. Most of those involved have been successful middle-aged people who lied in order to achieve advancement when they were young. (See http://www.washingtonpost.com)

European doctoral programs changing under pressure to increase research – The European University Association has published a report on doctoral education in Europe, and called for increased financial support for doctoral candidates, including those from less-affluent groups and part-time students, writes Aisha Labi in the September 5 on-line edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education. The report notes that the old apprentice model of doctoral education is being replaced by more structured programs delivered through graduate schools and research centers.  The professional doctorate is expanding, resulting from university-industry interaction.  The emphasis continues to be on developing strong research capacities in Europe as a goad to innovation and international competitiveness. (See http://chronicle.com/daily/2007/09/2007090503n.htm)

UNESCO appoints new assistant d-g for education – UNESCO has appointed Mr. Nicholas Burnett from the UK as the new assistant director-general for education, according to a letter from Director General Koichiro Matsuura on September 5.  Mr. Burnett took his BA (Hon) from Balliol College , Oxford University , then earned an MA and Ph.D. from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University (USA). His academic specialty is education and economics.  From 1983 – 2000 he was with the World Bank working mostly on projects in Africa .  After managing his own international consulting company from 2001 – 2004, Mr. Burnett has directed UNESCO’s EFA Global Monitoring Report. (See http://intranet.unesco.org)

 

2 - US developments  

9/11 didn’t result in greater funding for engineering research – The American Society for Engineering Education’s September 2007 issue of Prism features a major article examining the impact of 9/11 on the flow of research money to engineering colleges in the US .  Thomas K. Grose writes that despite the belief that there would be a large infusion of money into security-related academic research in engineering, it isn’t all that simple.  While federal spending on R & D for homeland security is going to increase in 2008, only a small portion of that will go to engineering research.  But on the other hand, the National Science Foundation is supporting more security-related research.  And all the while many engineering research programs have been negatively affected by the dropping numbers of foreign graduate students.  The Department of Homeland Security has never become a major source of money to dispense in support of security R&D, and recently Congress has cut its R&D budget saying that it had no clear research goals.  The article points out that terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, have a good understanding of technology and the Internet, areas where engineering research could help in defense.  These past few years, overall, have seen a greater emphasis on funding the practical, and projects which promise shorter-term payoffs. The article concludes saying that some believe that the threat greater than terrorism is the US reliance on fossil fuels and that little has been done to make the country energy independent. (See http://www.prism-magazine.org)

US Global Change Research Program critiqued – An expert panel has been called upon to examine the Climate Change Science Program (CCSP), successor to the US Global Change Research Program.  As restructured by President Bush in 2002, the CCSP has made good progress in understanding the hows and whys of climate change, but is threatened seriously by the decision to cut the number of satellite sensors in 2010. The panel, named by the National Research Council, also criticized the structure, which allows the CCSP to control only the $1.4 million to staff the CCSP, and not the research projects themselves, which are funding through thirteen separate participating agencies.  Finally, writes Richard A. Kerr, writing in the September 21 issue of Science, the CCSP will need to invest more heavily on research into the social implications of climate change, how human beings will react to it. (See http://www.sciencemag.org)

SAT scores continue decline – For the second year in a row, math and critical reading scores on the popular SAT college admissions tests declined, reports Scott Jaschik in Inside Higher Education. This news comes at a time when some colleges are no longer requiring applicants to submit their SAT scores, and when some are advocating less test-score driven admissions standards.  One other trend to note: a larger percentage of the test takers come from more affluent families, and a high correlation between test scores and family income has been observed. While the number of students taking the SAT and the rival ACT tests both increased, in absolute numbers it appears that ACT had larger gains. And the ACT, traditionally more popular in the mid-western US, is now seeing significant increases in test takers from the northeast. (See http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/08/29/sat)

US Congress resumes earmarking – An analysis done for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) states that the US Congress – after a one year hiatus – has returned to the practice of earmarking, tagging 2008 funding for “performer-specific projects,” rather than giving the money to agencies or departments to spend as they see fit.  While the budget is still being drawn up, the Senate has already assigned $624 million and the House $529 million to earmarks.  The lion’s share of the money would go to the Department of Defense.  The analyst who did the study, Kei Koizumi, says that the total now being earmarked, if the DoD amount is not counted, is the same as or less than was earmarked before Congress promised to reform the practice in the 2007 budget. But the earmarked programs represent in virtually all cases a lower percentage of the total agency budgets than in the past.  This year the House earmarks are being directed to the big states such as California and Florida , while in the Senate, most of the money is going to the states from which powerful Senator committee chairs come from, such as New Mexico and Mississippi . This report was written by Edward W. Lempinen for the August 31 edition of the AAAS News. (See http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2007/0831earmarks.shtml)

ACE advises colleges on affirmative action – The July 28, 2007 , US Supreme Court decision on k-12 public school admissions policies prompted the American Council on Education to examine the implications of that decision for colleges and universities.  In a new paper, the ACE has determined that the 2003 Supreme Court decision on Grutter v. Bollinger, involving the University of Michigan, has not been overturned by this most recent ruling, so institutions of higher education may continued to use race in admissions decision under narrowly defined guidelines.  The ACE suggests, however, that institutions have a tight connection between their mission and their admission policies, that they continue to look holistically at applicants, and that the outcomes of any racially-based criteria need to be explicit. (See http://www.acenet.edu)

MacArthur Fellowships announced – Among the winners of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowships this year are Marc Edwards, a water quality engineer from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Saul Griffith, who works with spanning optics and high performance materials at the Squid Labs, Yoky Matsuoka, a neuroboticist at the University of Washington/Seattle, and Paul Rothemund, a nanotechnologist from the California Institute of Technology. (See http://www.macfound.org)

 

3 - Technology

Even “digital natives” can spot a bad teacher – The Educause Center for Applied Research’s new report, “The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2007,” argues that today’s “digital natives” understand that it’s still difficult to learn from bad teachers even if they are using IT, while good teachers are good teachers whether or not they use IT. Information from this survey of 27,864 students from 103 two and four year US colleges shows that 73.7% have a laptop computer, over half of those laptop owners never bring them to class, 59% like a moderate amount of IT in their classes, about 40% claim to being more interested in classes which included IT, and about 20% claim to be less interested in classes which included IT.  They spend an average of 18 hours per week on-line. Andy Guess, who wrote this article in Inside Higher Education, uses the Franklin E. Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts as an example of a place where the learning environment was designed from the beginning to include IT.  But even there, the students still like some face-to-face activities, preferring, for example, a help desk that they can access through e-mail or drop-in visits, rather than test messaging or chats. (See http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/09/17/it)

Article traces move from big science to networked science – In an essay entitled, “The Dawn of Networked Science,” Diana Rhoten of the Social Science Research Council describes the development of scientific research from bench-top science, which saw its demise with the Manhattan Project, through Big Science, as exemplified by the Hubble Space Telescope, to Team Science, such as the Human Genome Project, to what she describes as Networked Science, such as the Biomedical Informatics Research Network, which is emerging today. Moving away from hierarchical structures, dedicated facilities, bureaucracies and national agencies, Networked Science is characterized by work done in virtual space, engaging participants on an ad hoc basis, not anchored to buildings and location, paying less attention to professional reputations and institutional affiliations. We are only at the dawn of this way of conducting research, as we search for ways to finding innovation solutions to difficult and complex problems. “Tomorrow’s discoveries will depend less on our capacity to manage the biggest accelerator, the largest research center, or the fastest computer, and more on our ability to create fluid, responsive networks of scientists and engineers.” Networked Science presents threats to authority and security, and will require new answers to questions about how to assess the contribution of individuals in this open environment. (See http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i02/02b01201.htm)

Giving supercomputers something worthwhile to work on – “What’s So Super About Supercomputers, Anyway?” asks Dan Carnevale in the September 21 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education. The National Science Foundation sponsored a symposium at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as part of the celebration of its new supercomputer, the seventh fastest in the world and faster than any other on a college campus. But supercomputers are limited by the minds of the computer scientists and too many of them today know a lot about the machines and not much about anything else.  Computer science programs were encouraged by participants at the symposium to take in students who have interest and expertise in various topics including biology and humanities, to help shape important questions for the supercomputers to tackle, rather than having computer science students limit themselves to knowing how to build ever more powerful machines without knowing how to use them for good effect. (See http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i04/04a2402.htm)

Consensus report on climate change needs to examine uncertainty – In an article appearing in the September 14 issue of Science, written by Michael Oppenheimer, Brian C. O’Neill, Mort Webster and Shardul Agrawala, the authors state that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in its fourth report since 1990, reveals again that consensus has been reached on the notion that human beings are influencing climate change. There is, however, a lack of consensus on what to tell policy-makers about the range of possible consequences of that change.  The authors conclude that a “fuller accounting of uncertainty would be more appropriate.”  (See http://www.sciencemag.org)

“Give 1 Get 1” promotes “One Laptop Per Child” project – The “One Laptop Per Child” project, led by Nicholas Negroponte, is moving along, but slowly, reports Steve Lohr in the September 24 on-line edition of The New York Times. The initiative was given a prod recently by the announcement of a “Give 1 Get 1” project, which invites Americans and Canadians to purchase two laptops for $399, one of which will be given to a child in a developing country, the other delivered to the purchaser by Christmas.  The donated computer qualifies as a tax-deduction.  There is a two week window for orders, from November 12 – 26. The computers are built to run on free, open-source software and come equipped with high resolution screens. They are energy efficient, sturdy, and will eventually sell for about $100. Negroponte hopes to receive enough contributions to permit distribution of about 5000 machines in 20 countries to kick start the project.  So far, two huge orders, for one million machines each for Nigeria and Brazil , did not materialize, although Mexico , Peru and Uruguay have made commitments, and Italy is purchasing 50,000 laptops for Ethiopia .  (See http://www.nytimes.com)

Cyberinfrastructure the key to academic excellence in the future – Arden Bement, director of the US National Science Foundation, has written about “Cyberinfrastructure: the Second Revolution,” suggesting that leadership in higher education world-wide may depend primarily on the quality of its cyberinfrastructure.  And he points out that although the NSF has been a leader in promoting supercomputing centers and high broadband connections, it falls to the nation’s universities to have primary responsibility for developing and maintaining the cyberinfrastructure. (See http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i18/18b00501.htm)

 

4 - Students, faculty, education

OECD looking at global measure of college student learning – An article by Doug Lederman in Inside Higher Education reports on a quiet initiative led by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for the past year to explore designing measures of learning that would allow for comparisons between higher education institutions around the world, similar to the Program for International Student Assessment which the OECD currently gives to 15 year olds in member countries.  The group engaged in this exploration includes US educators who are generally known to be favorable to this sort of testing which has recently been pushed by the US Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education and the U.S. Education Department.  Many US higher education leaders have been opposed to such measures, citing the extreme diversity of higher education in the US , and thus are even less sanguine about creating world-wide measures. (See http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/09/19/international)

Engineering education research leads to higher retention, say scholars – A rationale for engineering-based education research is presented in an article in the August 31 edition of Science, written by Norman L. Fortenberry, Jacquelyn F. Sullivan, Peter N. Jordan and Daniel W. Knight, along with the findings of one such research project conducted at the University of Colorado at Boulder .  Research in engineering education looks at teaching, learning and assessment as well as the context of these activities such as department dynamics.  The authors believe that the high attrition rates in engineering programs (only 56% of students admitted into engineering programs remain until they graduate) need to be reduced. Since engineering students are extensively screened before admission, it appears that these losses are a result of correctable flaws in engineering education.  The First-Year Engineering Projects course at the Colorado-Boulder provided longitudinal data on retention by examining students who took the course and those who did not.  Overall, 64% of the students who took this course which emphasized collaborative, hands on learning and design, persisted through until graduation.  The authors believe that engineering educators should aim at retaining over 80% of students, and can achieve this with attention to research findings.  (See http://www.sciencemag.org)

Plans progress for international cooperation on graduate education – Representatives from the US , Europe , Canada , China and Australia – all regions which offer many graduate programs – met recently in Banff , Alberta , and issued a statement of principles for their future work together.  The signatories agreed to study and strengthen the master’s degree, to promote collaboration across national borders, to study the worldwide population of graduate students and post docs, and to promote innovation.  One of the organizers of the event was the US Council of Graduate Schools.  Debra W. Stewart, president of the CGS, said that the participants were not attempting to standardize graduate education, but to assure quality and to establish a common vocabulary to use in discussing issues together.  This article, written by Scott Jaschik, appeared in Inside Higher Education. (See http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/09/10/banff)

E-testing can discourage cheating – Two professors from the Villanova University School of Business – Anthony Catanach Jr. and Noah Barsky – have concluded that electronic tests can not only save faculty time, but also reduce student cheating.  They have constructed tests that generate questions and variables randomly, that prohibit backtracking, and that are time-limited enough to discourage consulting with outside sources.  As a result, forty-five percent of the students claimed that the electronic format discouraged cheating.  The initial investment of time to set up such a testing system was great, but later in the semester, they claim that the time was recouped and then some. Finally, reports Elia Powers in this article from Inside Higher Education, student learning is increased because these tests are administered each week, so cramming for mid-terms and final exams is reduced and replaced by more regularly paced studying. (See http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/08/29/e_test)

UK engineers critique engineering education – The US Royal Academy of Engineers has criticized undergraduate engineering courses, saying that they are outdated, reports Rebecca Attwood in The Times Higher Education Supplement, in the September 16 on-line edition. Much blame is placed both on an excessive emphasis on research and on serious underfunding by the government.  Industry is saying that there is a shortage of appropriately educated engineers, and there are predictions of a serious decline in the UK ’s competitiveness.  Another problem is that graduates of engineering programs are electing not to enter the engineering profession, a situation blamed on a curriculum that fails to excite students to the satisfaction of discovery. (See http://www.thes.co.uk)

Foreign graduate school admissions continue to rise – An updated report on international student enrollment in US graduate programs shows that for a third year offers of admission have increased since hitting a low in 2004, reports Elizabeth Quill writing for the August 28 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education. The report, “Findings From the 2007 CGS International Graduate Admissions Survey, Phase II: Final Applications and Initial Offers of Admission,” notes a 9% increase in international graduate student applications and an 8% increase in offers of acceptance.  The ten universities with the biggest international graduate population had higher rates of increase in numbers of applications and lower rates of increase in admissions offers, while the universities which were below the top 50 in terms of international graduate population had lower rates of increase in the number of applications and higher rates of increase in offers of admission. This year’s survey included for the first time information on joint and dual degree programs.  Of those schools responding, 29% said they offered such programs. (See http://chronicle.com/daily/2007/08/2007082802n.htm)

High social value of higher education tracked –While a college education will buy individual graduates higher lifetime earnings, it also is associated with social benefits to the community at large, reports Elia Powers writing in Inside Higher Education on September 13.   A higher proportion of college graduates engage in volunteer services than high school graduates, according to a new College Board Report, “Education Pays: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society.” College graduates also are more likely to vote, to try to understand the opinions of others, to refrain from smoking, and to engage in exercise, as compared with those without a college degree.  And college graduates also have more access to employer-sponsored health care benefits. (See http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/09/13/collegeboard)

 

5 - Employment, competitiveness

China tries to cut glut of master’s degrees – A glut of master’s degree holders in China has prompted the Chinese government to set a limit of 5% growth in these programs for the coming year, writes Paul Mooney in the August 29 on-line edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education. This information was posted on the China Internet Information Center and quoted unnamed sources as saying that the quality of education has fallen because of rapid expansion.  University officials say that they were told by industry in 1999 to expand these programs to meet industry demand. It is not known whether these caps would apply across the board or be targeted to specific disciplines. A similar move was made to cap undergraduate growth last year as employment of graduates failed to keep pace. (See http://chronicle.com/news)

Outsourcing outsourcing – A new face of outsourcing is emerging in India , as major companies such as Wipro and Infosys outsource their outsourcing operations to other developing regions, taking advantage of less developed regional economies and expanding their language capabilities.  Infosys, according to Anand Giridharadas writing in the September 25 on-line edition of The New York Times sees itself evolving into a global source of expertise in how to carve up projects, find the talent to accomplish the component parts, maintain quality checks, and then send a finished project back to clients. They claim that they can train back offices in other countries to be more productive, using models they invented in India .  This results in situations where an American company has hired Infosys in India to furnish it with Mexican engineers found right across the US border.  (See http://www.nytimes.com)

 

6 – Journals

Advances in Engineering Education – The American Society for Engineering Education has inaugurated a new electronic journal aimed at highlighting significant advances in instruction, pedagogy, technology and assessment that substantially improve learning in the broadest sense. Edited by Larry Shuman of the University of Pittsburgh , the new journal is actively soliciting articles for upcoming issues. In the inaugural issue, four papers cover challenge-based instruction, a hands-on interdisciplinary lab, an online database for physical models, and graphical user interfaces. (See http://advances.asee.org) 

European Journal of Engineering Education – The August 2007 issue focuses on pedagogic and didactic aspects of engineering education in the context of the emerging knowledge society. An editorial and eight papers explore this focus, with papers that cover need-based learning, introducing bachelor students to engineering practice, learning styles, immersive learning, and the need for alternative paradigms. Three additional papers on various topics are also published in this issue. (See http://www.informaworld.com)

 

7 – Meetings

IACEE World Congress on Continuing Engineering Education – The 11th WCCEE, sponsored by the International Association for Continuing Engineering Education, will be held in Atlanta , Georgia , from 20 – 23 May 2008. Abstract are currently being sought, due by 31 October. Topics include technology, marketing, fundamentals, faculty engagement, partnerships, and the marketplace. (See http://www.wcee2008.gatech.edu/abstracts.php) 

ASEE 2008 Annual Conference – The American Society for Engineering Education is calling for abstract submission for its next annual conference, with an October 19th deadline. The conference is scheduled for 22 – 25 June 2008 in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . (See http://www.asee.org/conferences/annual/2008/Call-for-Papers.cfm)

SEFI 2008 Annual Conference – The annual conference of the European Society for Engineering Education will be held in Aalborg , Denmark , from 2 – 5 July 2008. Contributions are currently being sought in areas such as quality assessment, employability, and innovation. Abstract submission deadline is 10 December. (See http://www.sefi2008.com)

ARCEE 2008 - The 4th African Regional Conference on Engineering Education will be held in Dar es Salaam , Tanzania , from 22 – 24 April 2008. Papers are being sought on the theme “ Capacity Building in Engineering Education for Sustainable Development”.  The conference is being organized by the African Engineering Education Association. (See http://www.coet.udsm.ac.tz/arcee2008) 

 

 

 

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