ENGINEERING EXPERIENCES: ANTICIPATING PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS

The renewed education programme of the Faculty of Engineering Technology focuses not only on the mastery of technology, but also on many other qualities and capabilities expected of an engineer. A striking novelty in the programme is the ‘Engineering Experience’, which in the first bachelor’s year alone accounts for 9 ECTS. What does this programme component stand for? And what is there to experience? Christel Willemaerts, coordinator at Group T Leuven Campus, gives the answer.

“ An engineering experience is both a programme component and a work method”, Christel explains. “It belongs to the category of alternative educational work methods that aim to encourage problem-solving skills, independence and creativity as well as to convey professional competences such as communication, teamwork, entrepreneurship and critical reflection. What makes the Engineering Experience special is that it ‘touches’ the students and is therefore memorable -thus instructive. Pine and Gilmore, who coined the term ‘experience economy’, make a distinction between ‘absorption’ and ‘immersion’.

Whereas classical project work often involves absorption, an experience provides immersion, a ‘total experience’ that also appeals to emotions and thus provides greater and longer memory value. What makes an engineering experience haunting? To begin with, the attractiveness of course, but other factors also play a role: the challenge, the element of competition, the reward or -simply- the fun. Engineering experiences make learning more fun”.

Deployment

“In the experience of engineering, you can go all the way,” Christel continues. “You are challenged to tap all your knowledge, skills and attitudes and bring them together. Furthermore, you can use your own talents or competencies acquired elsewhere. This occurs in assignments of which the outcome or result is not always fixed in advance. The more open the assignment, the more you can apply your creativeness”.

“Not only the degree of openness varies, so does the approach: individually or in a team. Furthermore, the complexity and authenticity, i.e. the degree of involvement of the companies, increase as the programme progresses. Important is that a concrete result or a tangible product is expected from the student or the team. This learning by trial and error greatly contributes to the intensity and learning potential of the experience. The ultimate goal of the Engineering Experience is to be a reflection of the future professional life”.

Educational learning activity

Engineering Experience 1 in the first bachelor year consists of four educational activities; an integrated lab, a project, spatial insight & CAD and a series of supporting seminars focusing on professional competences. “Within, students learn the methodologies and skills required to cope with increasingly complex assignments and challenges in the course of their studies”, says Christel.

The Integrated Lab consists of carrying out delineated hands-on assignments involving various disciplines. The experiments cover gravity acceleration, mass acceleration, microscopy and electrochemistry. The project is an open assignment that contains elements from the specialisations from which the students have to choose after the first year. The student teams will build a part of a large Rube Goldberg machine; an ingenious device that produces a mechanical chain reaction that reaches its goal at the end. “Making chain reactions not only creates tension and suspense, but is also very instructive”, Christel notes. “Energy conversion, friction resistance, strength calculation, sensors, actuators, materials, construction techniques ... the students can really show everything they have to offer”.

Spatial insight & CAD is about reading, interpreting and developing technical drawings. These are used in the examples and designs that have to be carried out in the project.

Christel Willemaerts

Professional competences

The seminars Professional Competencies are an essential part of Engineering Experience 1. “Here the students are familiarised with the scientific framework and acquire specific skills such as writing skills, project management, presentation techniques, group dynamics and creativity”, Christel explains. “A faculty team of experts has been put together to provide input. The competencies are practiced within the project and the Integrated Lab”.

“The experts are also responsible for the coaching of the students. The same coach supervises the student, or the team, throughout the entire Engineering Experience. Within the same component, the coach cannot simultaneously teach or supervise the subject matter of the project.

In this way, there is no mixing of roles and the students clearly identify the right recipients for their questions”.

Onward journey

The new curriculum, including Engineering Experience 1, started in September 2020. “The experts are already working hard on a follow-up trajectory that will make the students’ track records visible throughout their study programme,” Christel reports. “In time, this should result in an e-portfolio linked to a personal development plan in which the students can set their own learning goals and bring in proven competencies. Immediately after their studies, they will have a CV supplement at their disposal to demonstrate their starting competences. And -last but not least- they will have an instrument to keep documenting their development throughout their career. After all, learning never stops. The real engineering experience begins when they start practicing the profession. Our task is to anticipate this in the best possible way”.

Yves Persoons