To find, design and create solutions to global challenges, 21st century engineering professionals work in multi-disciplinary and international teams that are expected to work effectively, efficiently and innovatively. Universities are following this trend, as they acknowledge the importance of soft skills for employability. The integration of soft skills in higher education curricula is not straightforward, especially in engineering education. At our university, soft skills courses score low in student satisfaction surveys. This is the reason why we study the motivation, attitude and anxiety of computer engineering students toward learning soft skills. To do so, we performed a quantitative study using an online survey based on the mini-AMBT. Overall, our data indicate that computer engineering students have a positive motivation and attitude toward learning soft skills from both an integrative and an instrumental perspective. The obtained results do not give clear insights as to what causes the low satisfaction scores for soft skill courses. All of the above calls for further, qualitative research. We studied the motivation and attitude of computer engineering students in a Dutch university of applied sciences; the motivation and attitude of students in other disciplines and countries may differ and should be studied separately. Full text for members of IEEE : https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8363231/
Before the start and during the first weeks of their first year, it has been observed by teachers that engineering students start with a high level of motivation, which often seems to decrease during the course of the first semesters. Such a decrease in motivation can be a main driver for students dropping out of University early. A qualitative research will be carried out to answer the main questions that have been raised within the engineering department of the Fontys University of Applied sciences: to what extent does a decrease in the motivation of first-year students exists, exactly when during the course of the first year does this decrease occur and what are the underlying reasons causing this decline in motivation? Gaining more insight in the motivation drop of students could result in modifications to the curriculum. The final objectives are reducing the dropout level of students in the first year and increasing the quality level of young propaedeutics. In [1] and [2] studies are carried out to measure student’s motivation constructs, which have been carried out for first year Engineering students. The authors describe a certain level of motivation drop for first year students at an Engineering University. In Geraedts 2010 [3] it is defined that Maslow rules for students can be seen as an element of a student’s perception onto his or hers education. Often it can be observed that in most cases undergraduates start their education as an unconscious insufficient competent student having a very limited view on the work arena and complexity of the engineering discipline. Quickly after the start of the education year this view develops into a more defined perception of what the content and complexity of the future work field is and what is expected of the student during his or hers education. It is hypothesised that this gain in insights of the student into the work field and the related expectations is a significant contributor to the decline of intrinsic motivation. In this paper the investigated hypothesis and possible other aspects that influence the motivation of students will be presented. Based on results, potential corrective and preventive measures will be defined and discussed. Corrective and predictive measures depend on the results of this study and could be aimed for instance at: 1) making adjustments to the content and/or structure of the first semester curriculum, 2) improving the support of students in making adaptations into a better learning strategy and 3) improve the information on-which students decide to start a mechanical engineering education. This paper will focus on the first year mechanical engineering students of the Fontys University of Applied Sciences. About 100 first year students will be questioned using predefined questionnaires and additionally 20 of them will be interviewed for validation. References [1] Brett D. Jones, Marie C. Paretti, Serge F. Hein, Tamarra W. Knott, An analysis of Motivation Constructs with first-Year Engineering students, Journal of Engineering Education; Oct 2010; 99, 4; Research Library pg. 319 [2] L. Benson, A Kirn, B. Morkos, CAREER: Student Motivation and Learning in Engineering, 120th ASEE annual conference & Exposition June 2013 [3] HGM Geraedts (2010) Innovative learning for innovation ISBN 978-90-5284-624-8 4751
We found out that 25 % of our students came to study at the Electrical & Electronic Engineering department (E&E) because they were active (as a hobby) in music. Because of this the E&E department offers their students to work in video and audio themes in all projects of their education. From our inquiries we found out what students interests are and we use these interests for new project themes. The study has been changed in such a way that it is possible to have these project themes twice in every semester. Amongst them are, besides music, e.g. medical, sports, automotive and mechatronics. Other inquiries show that 47 % of our students choose for ICT because they are interested in computers or programming or do this for their hobby. Inspired by this the ICT department defined four new fields of interest: game design, management & security, mobile computing and life style. Both E&E and ICT connect the projects in their courses directly to industry and in this way students and lecturers are intensively involved in industry. From two surveys we learned that working this way is an excellent way to get students motivated and gives them drive and enjoyment in their study.
Due to the existing pressure for a more rational use of the water, many public managers and industries have to re-think/adapt their processes towards a more circular approach. Such pressure is even more critical in the Rio Doce region, Minas Gerais, due to the large environmental accident occurred in 2015. Cenibra (pulp mill) is an example of such industries due to the fact that it is situated in the river basin and that it has a water demanding process. The current proposal is meant as an academic and engineering study to propose possible solutions to decrease the total water consumption of the mill and, thus, decrease the total stress on the Rio Doce basin. The work will be divided in three working packages, namely: (i) evaluation (modelling) of the mill process and water balance (ii) application and operation of a pilot scale wastewater treatment plant (iii) analysis of the impacts caused by the improvement of the process. The second work package will also be conducted (in parallel) with a lab scale setup in The Netherlands to allow fast adjustments and broaden evaluation of the setup/process performance. The actions will focus on reducing the mill total water consumption in 20%.
Manual labour is an important cornerstone in manufacturing and considering human factors and ergonomics is a crucial field of action from both social and economic perspective. Diverse approaches are available in research and practice, ranging from guidelines, ergonomic assessment sheets over to digitally supported workplace design or hardware oriented support technologies like exoskeletons. However, in the end those technologies, methods and tools put the working task in focus and just aim to make manufacturing “less bad” with reducing ergonomic loads as much as possible. The proposed project “Human Centered Smart Factories: design for wellbeing for future manufacturing” wants to overcome this conventional paradigm and considers a more proactive and future oriented perspective. The underlying vision of the project is a workplace design for wellbeing that makes labor intensive manufacturing not just less bad but aims to provide positive contributions to physiological and mental health of workers. This shall be achieved through a human centered technology approach and utilizing advanced opportunities of smart industry technologies and methods within a cyber physical system setup. Finally, the goal is to develop smart, shape-changing workstations that self-adapt to the unique and personal, physical and cognitive needs of a worker. The workstations are responsive, they interact in real time, and promote dynamic activities and varying physical exertion through understanding the context of work. Consequently, the project follows a clear interdisciplinary approach and brings together disciplines like production engineering, human interaction design, creative design techniques and social impact assessment. Developments take place in an industrial scale test bed at the University of Twente but also within an industrial manufacturing factory. Through the human centered design of adaptive workplaces, the project contributes to a more inclusive and healthier society. This has also positive effects from both national (e.g. relieve of health system) as well as individual company perspective (e.g. less costs due to worker illness, higher motivation and productivity). Even more, the proposal offers new business opportunities through selling products and/or services related to the developed approach. To tap those potentials, an appropriate utilization of the results is a key concern . The involved manufacturing company van Raam will be the prototypical implementation partner and serve as critical proof of concept partner. Given their openness, connections and broad range of processes they are also an ideal role model for further manufacturing companies. ErgoS and Ergo Design are involved as methodological/technological partners that deal with industrial engineering and ergonomic design of workplace on a daily base. Thus, they are crucial to critically reflect wider applicability and innovativeness of the developed solutions. Both companies also serve as multiplicator while utilizing promising technologies and methods in their work. Universities and universities of applied sciences utilize results through scientific publications and as base for further research. They also ensure the transfer to education as an important leverage to inspire and train future engineers towards wellbeing design of workplaces.
ICT'ers hebben in hun werk 'soft skills' nodig, zoals sociale vaardigheden. Hoewel er in ICT-opleidingen ruim aandacht is voor dit soort vaardigheden, staan studenten vaak afwijzend tegenover cursussen over soft skills. Waardoor komt dit? Doel Studenten van ICT-opleidingen in het hbo beoordelen de vakken die gericht zijn op soft skills (zachte vaardigheden) lager dan andere vakken. We willen weten waardoor dit komt. Waarom zijn deze studenten minder gemotiveerd om sociale, emotionele en persoonlijke vaardigheden te leren? In dit onderzoek ontwikkelen we een leerlijn soft skills die wel aanslaat bij ICT'ers. Deze leerlijn bestaat uit werkvormen voor studenten en aanwijzingen voor docenten. Resultaten Dit onderzoek loopt. We hebben onze eerste resultaten gepresenteerd in het artikel 'Motivation and Attitude of Computer Engineering Students toward Soft Skills'. Daarnaast gebruikt Mariecke Schipper de inzichten uit dit onderzoek in haar functie als verantwoordelijke voor de leerlijn Professional Skills bij HBO-ICT. Na afronding van het onderzoek vind je hier een volledig overzicht van de resultaten. Looptijd 01 september 2017 - 31 december 2020 Aanpak We zijn begonnen met verkennend kwalitatief onderzoek. De resultaten daarvan zijn opgenomen in ons eerste artikel. Nu doen we verdiepend kwalitatief onderzoek in de vorm van interviews. Op basis van die resultaten gaan we de leerlijn verder vormgeven in een ontwerponderzoek.
