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
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
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/
Energy transition is key to achieving a sustainable future. In this transition, an often neglected pillar is raising awareness and educating youth on the benefits, complexities, and urgency of renewable energy supply and energy efficiency. The Master Energy for Society, and particularly the course “Society in Transition”, aims at providing a first overview on the urgency and complexities of the energy transition. However, educating on the energy transition brings challenges: it is a complex topic to understand for students, especially when they have diverse backgrounds. In the last years we have seen a growing interest in the use of gamification approaches in higher institutions. While most practices have been related to digital gaming approaches, there is a new trend: escape rooms. The intended output and proposed innovation is therefore the development and application of an escape room on energy transition to increase knowledge and raise motivation among our students by addressing both hard and soft skills in an innovative and original way. This project is interdisciplinary, multi-disciplinary and transdisciplinary due to the complexity of the topic; it consists of three different stages, including evaluation, and requires the involvement of students and colleagues from the master program. We are confident that this proposed innovation can lead to an improvement, based on relevant literature and previous experiences in other institutions, and has the potential to be successfully implemented in other higher education institutions in The Netherlands.
Physical rehabilitation programs revolve around the repetitive execution of exercises since it has been proven to lead to better rehabilitation results. Although beginning the motor (re)learning process early is paramount to obtain good recovery outcomes, patients do not normally see/experience any short-term improvement, which has a toll on their motivation. Therefore, patients find it difficult to stay engaged in seemingly mundane exercises, not only in terms of adhering to the rehabilitation program, but also in terms of proper execution of the movements. One way in which this motivation problem has been tackled is to employ games in the rehabilitation process. These games are designed to reward patients for performing the exercises correctly or regularly. The rewards can take many forms, for instance providing an experience that is engaging (fun), one that is aesthetically pleasing (appealing visual and aural feedback), or one that employs gamification elements such as points, badges, or achievements. However, even though some of these serious game systems are designed together with physiotherapists and with the patients’ needs in mind, many of them end up not being used consistently during physical rehabilitation past the first few sessions (i.e. novelty effect). Thus, in this project, we aim to 1) Identify, by means of literature reviews, focus groups, and interviews with the involved stakeholders, why this is happening, 2) Develop a set of guidelines for the successful deployment of serious games for rehabilitation, and 3) Develop an initial implementation process and ideas for potential serious games. In a follow-up application, we intend to build on this knowledge and apply it in the design of a (set of) serious game for rehabilitation to be deployed at one of the partners centers and conduct a longitudinal evaluation to measure the success of the application of the deployment guidelines.
Het DIEET project onderzocht hoe de eerstelijns diëtetiek effectief en toekomstbestendig zou kunnen zijn: meetbaar en stuurbaar. In het project is onderzocht wat de succes- en faalfactoren zijn in het handelen van de diëtist tijdens het eerste consult met een patiënt. Door observaties van 605 consulten bij 237 diëtistenpraktijken in heel Nederland zijn potentiele predictoren in kaart gebracht. Op basis van deze predictoren (zoals bijv. een directieve houding van de dietist tijdens het consult) en het vaststellen van een effectieve behandeling na 9 maanden is een model ontwikkeld. Het model bleek echter minder eenvoudig dan gedacht, en de verklaring daarvoor is eigenlijk wel eenvoudig: diëtetiek is MAATWERK. Zo bleek bijvoorbeeld dat bij oudere mannen de directieve houding van de diëtist wel samen gaat met een effectieve behandeling, bij jonge vrouwen werkt motivational interviewing beter. Dit is voor de diëtetiek (en volgens onze voorzichtige inschatting ook andere beroepsgroepen) volstrekt unieke informatie. Deze resultaten hebben we nog een keer kwalitatief met de Stuurgroep van het RAAK-MKB project DIEET besproken en unaniem besloten dat de impact van dit product (model) voor de praktijk heel groot is. Deze nieuwe inzichten zullen ook verwerkt worden in de nieuwe druk van het boek (landelijk lesmateriaal diëtetiek opleidingen) dat is ontwikkeld (Neelemaat F, Ozturk H, Weijs P. Kritisch Redeneren in de Diëtetiek; bol.com). Het ontwikkelde model bleek door het maatwerk fors ingewikkelder dan vooraf ingeschat. Dit model kan echter in een web-based applicatie worden ingebouwd en de predictoren kunnen worden ingevoerd. Met deze applicatie kan bij elke diëtetiek (paramedische) stage en bij elke diëtist professional een scan worden gedaan op effectief handelen. Bij de studenten zal een relatie worden gelegd met het stagecijfer en bij de professionals met de effectieve behandeling na 9 maanden. Implementatie van de webbased applicatie in de eerstelijns diëtetiek praktijk zal meteen breed worden ingezet. Echter onderdeel van deze aanvraag is een interventie en controle groep, waarbij de interventie groep wel feedback krijgt op basis van de score en de controle groep niet. De snelle feedback (na het consult en niet pas na 9 maanden) is namelijk de sleutel tot succes. Top-up subsidie is nodig om voor het bestaande model een web-based tool te ontwikkelen en ontsluiting naar onderwijs en beroepspraktijk te bevorderen. Om in de toekomst goed gebruik van de tool door professionals, onderzoekers, studenten en docenten mogelijk te maken, is een geïntegreerde web-versie van de tool wenselijk waarin nieuwe updates eenvoudig kunnen worden doorgevoerd. Tot slot kan met Top-up de tool beter ontsloten worden voor de praktijk en voor inzet in het onderwijs door het maken van enkele goede casus beschrijvingen en het presenteren van de tool door middel van bijvoorbeeld workshops. Door Top-Up op deze manier in te zetten krijgt de doorwerking van de resultaten van het RAAK-project een flinke extra impuls.
