April 2015 Interim Report - CEDE
Transcription
April 2015 Interim Report - CEDE
April 2015 Update on Activities from CEDE The Centre for Engineering and Design Education Interim Report for the CEDE Management Board Melanie King April 2015 The Centre for Engineering and Design Education 1 April 2015 Update on Activities from CEDE This is an interim progress report, from the Centre for Engineering and Design Education (CEDE) on the activities for our Schools for the period November 2014 – April 2015 and other projects and activities we are undertaking. For further, more detailed project information please click the EDEN Share repository link for each project or get in touch with the CEDE Project lead. CEDE are also piloting a project Kanban wall in our main office. This shows up-to-minute information on what we’re all currently up to and the progress of activities. Pop in at any time and we’d be happy to give you an overview. 1. Update on Schools’ projects WebPA enhancements AACME School contact: Richard Holdich Start date: Summer 2015 CEDE contact: Melanie King End date: September 2015 Activity outline Carry out minor updates to WebPA so that students can be randomly assigned to groups. Outputs An updated WebPA. Progress to date Not yet started. Further details available at: http://eden-share.lboro.ac.uk/id/item/90/ ProjectList updates AACME School contact: Karen Coopman CEDE contact: Melanie King Start date: End date: Activity outline Carry out minor updates to ProjectList to include categories. Outputs An updated ProjectList. Progress to date Not yet started. Summer 2015 September 2015 Further details available at: http://eden-share.lboro.ac.uk/id/item/91/ The Centre for Engineering and Design Education 2 April 2015 Update on Activities from CEDE COSHH for engineering laboratories AACME School contact: Simon Martin Start date: December 2014 CEDE contact: Lynda Gibbins End date: October 2015 Activity outline Options to simplify the process of creating and approving COSHH forms within AACME are under investigation. Outputs Possible improvements to consider will be identified, although there is insufficient IT resource to build any new tools at this stage. Progress to date A comparative list of available commercial software to manage COSHH forms and chemical stock control was provided to the Department of Materials to see if any of these met the current needs. Initial investigations into functionality of existing software tools and Google Forms are underway. The departmental Safety Officer has been interviewed to understand better the current process and problems. Further details available at: http://eden-share.lboro.ac.uk/id/item/92/ CASPA: Impact assessment and enhancements AACME School contact: Dawn Dawson CEDE contact: Sarah Bamforth Start date: January 2015 End date: October 2015 Activity outline The activity aims to enhance functionality for CASPA based on key user requirements. The activity will gather these requirements through surveys of Admin staff and students. The activity will also identify from the user’s perspective the impact of CASPA on their processes. Outputs Progress to date A focus group discussion has been undertaken with administrative staff to identify additional user requirements. A pilot survey has been undertaken with students. Additional surveys with administrative staff and students will take place shortly; these will focus on the impact of CASPA. Evaluation of CASPA in terms of its usefulness A prioritised list of CASPA enhancements Enhanced functionality in CASPA Further details available at: http://eden-share.lboro.ac.uk/id/item/93/ Extension of laboratory refresh project AACME Activity outline School contact: Simon Martin Start date: November 2014 CEDE contact: Lynda Gibbins End date: October 2015 This is an extension of an earlier project to update and refresh the undergraduate laboratory experience. It aims to assess how to adapt the Department of Materials The Centre for Engineering and Design Education 3 April 2015 Update on Activities from CEDE model to other departments within AACME. Outputs A set of guidelines is in preparation that will capture the lessons learned during the laboratory refresh project undertaken with the Department of Materials. Advice and key success factors are offered on quick wins and more substantial changes that could be introduced by others in the future. Progress to date The views of affected staff and students have been captured, and several of the new laboratory sessions were observed. The guidelines document is in the final stages of review. Further details available at: http://eden-share.lboro.ac.uk/id/item/94/ Gap to map: critical thinking for civil engineers CBE School contact: Graham Sander CEDE contact: Lynda Gibbins Start date: December 2014 End date: October 2015 Activity outline The aim of this project is to identify more opportunities to teach and assess critical thinking skills to undergraduates across CBE. Outputs A critical thinking “Manifesto” will be produced, which will capture the current position on critical thinking skills for CBE students and identify any gaps in undergraduate teaching and assessment. Strategies to address any gaps will be proposed. Progress to date A review of the pedagogical literature is well advanced, and case studies and teaching approaches from a range of institutions are under investigation. Interviews with CBE Programme Directors are scheduled to analyse each module in detail. Further details available at: http://eden-share.lboro.ac.uk/id/item/85/ Review of peer assessment practice in CBE CBE School contact: Graham Sander CEDE contact: Glynis Perkin Start date: January 2015 End date: October 2015 Activity outline The aim of this project is to determine good practice in assessing and feeding back on group coursework with specific guidance on peer assessment. Outputs The output will be a report setting out good practice in assessing and feeding back on group coursework with specific guidance on peer assessment. Progress to date A small review of the literature has been undertaken. Meetings have been arranged with staff in other engineering departments. Further details available at: http://eden-share.lboro.ac.uk/id/item/86/ The Centre for Engineering and Design Education 4 April 2015 Update on Activities from CEDE Enhancing engineering learning and teaching with technology EESE School contact: Vince Dwyer Start date: November 2014 CEDE contact: Glynis Perkin End date: October 2015 Activity outline The aim of this project is to determine what innovative technology is used for teaching engineering at Loughborough and other institutions. Outputs The main output will be the production of a booklet (resource bank) of ideas. CEDE will also provide assistance to Vince Dwyer to raise awareness of the technologies being used amongst staff in the School. Progress to date A comprehensive search and review of the literature has been undertaken. Further details available at: http://eden-share.lboro.ac.uk/id/item/83/ Understanding excellence in distance learning for systems engineering EESE School contact: Vince Dwyer CEDE contact: Sarah Bamforth Start date: December 2014 End date: October 2015 Activity outline This project seeks to assess the new Systems Engineering distance learning module to capture the staff and student perspective and thereby to extend good practice to enhance this and other teaching elements. Interviews with students, model leaders and module helpers are planned. Outputs Progress to date The student interview aspect of the study has been conducted and the findings analysed and disseminated to the module leaders in order for them to make enhancements to the module design. Informal report on the findings of the evaluation Effective practice for developing and running a Distance Learning module resource for EESE. (Resource type to be agreed) Further details available at: http://eden-share.lboro.ac.uk/id/item/84/ Kit Critique enhancements LDS School contact: John McCardle CEDE contact: Matt Mould Start date: November 2014 End date: October 2015 Activity outline Some developments to Kit-Critique in order to allow for specific commenting types on the items have been made as well as support for a live trial with a module and then further edits as required. Outputs A trial of Kit-Critique in a live module (14DSA002) and enhancements based on the trial. Progress to date Some issues were noted and fixed in February about its usage – mainly to do with the student comments and ability to edit (which went from having a window, to the window being removed altogether). There are still issues based around removing items, and categorising items within the Critique catalogue. The Centre for Engineering and Design Education 5 April 2015 Update on Activities from CEDE Further details available at: http://eden-share.lboro.ac.uk/id/item/54/ Evaluation of Design School feedback forms LDS School contact: John McCardle CEDE contact: Glynis Perkin Start date: March 2015 End date: October 2015 Activity outline The aims of this project are to evaluate the standardised paper-based feedback form that was developed during the 2013/2014 academic year. Following evaluation the feedback form is to be incorporated in Co-Tutor. Outputs A digitised method of providing the agreed LDS feedback form(s) in Co-Tutor. Progress to date Members of the Design School staff are undertaking a trial of the paper-based forms during Semester 2. Further details available at: http://eden-share.lboro.ac.uk/id/item/88/ Marking Design School presentations: exploring how technology can help LDS School contact: Richard Bibb Start date: January 2015 CEDE contact: Glynis Perkin End date: October 2015 Activity outline The aim of this project is to produce grade descriptors, assessment criteria and feedback comments for oral presentations and then undertake a feasibility study for an automated system. Outputs A paper-based document with grade descriptors, assessment criteria and a bank of feedback comments and an outline of an automated system. Progress to date A paper-based document detailing grade descriptors, assessment criteria and a bank of feedback comments has been completed. The Centre for Engineering and Design Education 6 April 2015 Update on Activities from CEDE Further details available at: http://eden-share.lboro.ac.uk/id/item/89/ DPS management MM School contact: Darren Watts CEDE contact: Caroline Lowery Start date: January 2015 End date: October 2015 Activity outline The current management of both DIS and DPS placements has inconsistencies with academic staff undertaking student/visiting tutor interactions, giving feedback and undertaking company visits at different times and using different formats. There needs to be a consistent way to undertake the management of student placements to allow students to receive the same effective experience and to enable staff to efficiently monitor and manage student placements. Outputs Improved management of DIS and DPS placements using existing university systems (CASPA, Co-Tutor and Learn). A manual for visiting tutors on the steps that need to be undertaken. Also, a student guide to what needs to be done, when and how. A manual for the Industrial Placement Co-ordinator (Darren) will also be produced. Progress to date The user requirements have been outlined and existing functionality within the current university systems available has been examined. CEDE is currently determining how staff and students should utilise the existing systems and examining any enhanced functionality necessary in order to undertake effective placement management. A proposed generic process map using service design methodology has been created along with a systems architecture diagram of how data and systems to support all processes will be developed. A proposed solution has been designed and a meeting has been arranged with Darren to sign off the proposed approach. Further details available at: http://eden-share.lboro.ac.uk/id/item/95/ The Centre for Engineering and Design Education 7 April 2015 Update on Activities from CEDE Elective modules: online information MM School contact: Ann Hall CEDE contact: Caroline Lowery Start date: October 2014 End date: April 2015 Activity outline The existing module option information for mechanical and manufacturing students is difficult for users to navigate. The activity involves the development of a more user friendly interface to aid students in making an informed decision about their elective module choices. Outputs A user friendly set of module option information webpages that allows students to navigate to their required information easily and efficiently. Progress to date The existing webpages have been redesigned to provide a more user friendly experience for students. Students are now able to access their required module material efficiently using a tabbed structure. The completed pages have been developed and provided to Wolfson School to allow them to upload the pages to their School server. Further details available at: http://eden-share.lboro.ac.uk/id/item/96/ Consistency of marking MM School contact: Paul Maynard CEDE contact: Caroline Lowery Start date: March 2015 End date: October 2015 Activity outline The original project proposal identified issues with marking inconsistency between multiple markers due to differences in interpretations of ‘excellent, good, poor’ and how these translate to marks. The proposal originally focused on solving this issue by the creation of a system where the mark is automatically generated from the categorisation of a student’s performance. However in scoping out this project, the issue of a single set of grade descriptors to cover multiple assessment methods has been identified and the difficulties this presents. The focus of the project has therefore shifted to addressing this issue first before specifying the functional and user requirements for a system that could automate the process of translating grade descriptors into marks. Outputs Progress to date The creation of assessment method specific grade descriptors bespoke to the Wolfson School. (Oral Presentations; Group viva; Report; Posters). Recommendations for a system suitable to computerise the process. The final scope of the project has now been signed off so the project is currently underway. Further details available at: http://eden-share.lboro.ac.uk/id/item/97/ The Centre for Engineering and Design Education 8 April 2015 Update on Activities from CEDE 2. Externally funded projects Co-Tutor Commercialisation CEDE contact: Melanie King Funders: HEIF & Jisc Start date: July 2014 End date: July 2016 Activity outline To create a commercial version of Co-Tutor and to pilot that version in 2+ institutions in the UK on the Jisc’s cloud based Janet platform (Arcus global). To continue to develop features and functionality based on requirements from the pilot group and to evaluate the use of the tool in other institutions in the context of it becoming a national Jisc service. Outputs Future roadmap features include: TUTORING AND SUPERVISING Richer student data (disability and additional needs, social / extra curricular activities, CV, records of achievement) Milestones and workflow for all student types (e.g. dept milestones, programme milestones for UG and PG students, plus associated reporting) STUDENT INTERFACE Students can log in and access certain parts of their record Book available meeting slots Contact tutor and save into record Submit placement reports and upload CV etc. CUSTOM CONFIGURATION PER ORGANISATION Organisational structure Additional Roles with associated permissions Custom comment categories Custom help and support links to local files and websites etc. REPORTING & ANALYTICS Additional visualisations and reports on data for tutors e.g attendance patterns Dashboards for tutor roles Tools for data-mining across organisation and associated visualisation for BI applications. SUPPORT MATERIALS FOR TUTORS AND STUDENTS Progress to date Context sensitive help links to online knowledge base Access to Co-Tutor Know-how Forum (Co-Tutor Community of Practice) Developments have been undertaken already and the latest version of Co-Tutor was released at Loughborough in October 2014. Systems are being set up for Queen Mary University in London (QMUL) and the University of Southampton on the cloud. Demos planned soon at Birmingham and Dundee Medical School. Further details available at: http://www.co-tutor.co.uk The Centre for Engineering and Design Education 9 April 2015 Update on Activities from CEDE Kit-Catalogue Activity outline CEDE contact: Melanie King Funders: Jisc Start date: July 2014 End date: July 2016 The pilot will take place over a two-year period (Aug’14 – Jul’16) with ten institutions. We will explore if Kit-Catalogue can: Make it easier for institutions to achieve efficiency savings through sharing facilities Deliver demonstrable progress against the Research Council UK’s (RCUK) strategic goals in this area Stimulate and facilitate new collaborations, both within HE and with industry. We will also: Establish resource requirements to offer Kit-Catalogue as a full cloud hosted Jisc service Support further development of the Kit-Catalogue software, according to a roadmap developed with pilot institutions Work with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC’s) equipment data project to create a user friendly ‘one stop shop’ for equipment sharing. Together, these databases now include details of over 10,000 items of high value equipment being shared with research and industry. Outputs A hosted pilot with 10 institutions (Aston University; University of Birmingham; University of Brighton; De Montfort University; Loughborough University; Newcastle University; Northumbria University; University College London (UCL); University of Leicester; University of Nottingham; University of Portsmouth). Two user group meetings, associated materials and system development. Progress to date A user group meeting was held in November 2014 to prioritise the roadmap and developments are underway. A Jisc promotional video was produced at the user group. A case study has been produced for the Efficiency Exchange website and a beta Android App has been developed. Project details available at: http://www.kit-catalogue.com/projectpages/community/jisc-pilot/ Case study: http://www.efficiencyexchange.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/KitCat_casestudy_ee_Feb15.pdf Jisc promotional video: http://t.co/am8Yj7FxP7 Kit-Catalogue Android App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.ac.jisc.kitcat&hl=en_GB The Centre for Engineering and Design Education 10 April 2015 Update on Activities from CEDE 3. Community of practice Events Attended Sarah Bamforth and Glynis Perkin attended INTED2015: The 9th International Technology, Education and Development Conference held in Madrid, 2nd – 4th March 2015. They presented a paper entitled “Feedback on student assignments: are there impediments to using feedback to feed forward?” UNITECH General Assembly 2014, Delft, Netherlands Huzaifa (CEDE’s intern) presenting at UNITECH GA Adam Crawford and Ashraf El-Hamalawi from Civil and Building Engineering and Huzaifa Essajee (CEDE’s graduate intern and UNITECH alumnus) attended the UNITECH General Assembly taking place in Delft, Netherlands from Wednesday 27th August to Saturday 30th August 2014. This is the yearly reunion event where academic partners, corporate partners, current students, new students who are starting the programme and alumni come together to network and gain new experiences. Huzaifa was one of four delegates selected (together with a panel of corporate and academic partners) to pitch ideas for the development of UNITECH to the audience of alumni and other stakeholders. Further details available at: https://cedeintern.wordpress.com/2014/10/09/what-do-bicycles-tu-delft-andunitech-have-in-common/ Events Hosted UNITECH Mid-Term-Week 2015 The second joint module for UNITECH was hosted by Loughborough University in the Keith Green Building and Stewart Mason Building from Sunday 5th January to Friday 9th January 2015. CEDE’s Kate Everest and Huzaifa Essajee were instrumental in organising and facilitating this event. Huzaifa was also closely involved with the dayto-day running of the event and organised a site visit to our corporate partner, Caterpillar. The new students (2014-2015) were allocated groups and worked on case studies set by their corporate case advisors. They were required to share their interim ideas/results by the end of the week, which were presented to all the students, corporate case advisors and their UNITECH coaches. Further details available at: https://cedeintern.wordpress.com/2015/01/19/unitech-mid-term-week-2015/. UNITECH Assessment Centre 2015 Loughborough’s student participation in the UNITECH programme is increasing year on year with the number of applications increased to thirteen. Huzaifa Essajee actively promoted the scheme to our undergraduates, and facilitated the smooth running of the Assessment Centre (Thursday 12th February 2015). He also invigilated the student preparation sessions for the presentations. At the end of the assessment centre, carried out by HR personnel from the UNITECH Corporate Partners in the same fashion as carried out in industry for placement and graduate assessment centres, ten students were selected to be on the programme. The Centre for Engineering and Design Education 11 April 2015 Update on Activities from CEDE Further details available at: https://cedeintern.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/unitech-assessment-centre-2015/. British Computer Society’s 20th Annual SQM and INSPIRE 2015 international conference CEDE were pleased to host the above 2-day conference in the Keith Green Building, on March 30-31st 2015. Delegates from across the globe participated in sessions on a range of topics. Inspire addresses software process improvement related to teaching, training and research whilst SQM addresses issues relevant to business and industry. Melanie gave an Inspire keynote on day two entitled, ’18 years developing educational technology for Loughborough and beyond’. The talk covered the history of the Centre and the evolution of the Centre’s methods, management and learning technology products. The PowerPoint from Melanie’s Keynote presentation can be seen here: http://t.co/rG8FNetsGT EDEN FLIX This academic year has seen the screening of seven out of the nine scheduled EDEN FLIX documentaries so far which are open to Loughborough University staff and students. There have been a range of topics relating to engineering, design, sustainability, politics and economics amongst others. Huzaifa invited academic speakers to present and take questions on four of the documentaries, which gave an opportunity for patrons to think critically and look at different points of view. EDEN SHARE Our teaching and learning repository, EDENShare (http://edenshare.lboro.ac.uk), stores information on all CEDE’s projects, past and present. There are also a number of previous HEA Engineering Subject Centre resources, updated and republished online by CEDE as “Busy Academic’s Guides”. The following updated guides are currently available: An Introduction to Sustainable Development in the Engineering Curriculum Approaches to the Teaching of Design Education Theories of Learning Personal Tutoring To download the updated guides, visit: http://eden-share.lboro.ac.uk/item/busy-academic-s-guides/76 4. Working with other areas of the University Glynis and Sarah are members of the assessment sub-group, which is part of the Programme Design and Delivery initiative being led by The Centre for Academic Practice (CAP). Huzaifa and Glynis are members of the Student Enterprise group. The outputs of CONNECT (student-led activities) are presented at these monthly meetings. Melanie sits on the IT Portfolio Board (ITPB), the Student Systems Steering Group (SSSG), the Student Systems Monitoring Group (SSMG) and the Teaching Innovation Awards Panel. The Centre for Engineering and Design Education 12 Update on Activities from CEDE April 2015 CONNECT – Student-led activities Huzaifa is the advisor for CONNECT (student-led activities) which is run by students who engage with employers to develop their extracurricular skills. So far, the newly selected CONNECT committee have run two events this year. The first event was a Symposium held on Wednesday 19th November 2014. Following on from the success of this event, a PwC Workshop was held on Wednesday 18th February 2015. The purpose of the events was to involve students who are looking to develop their employability skills and learn about a new area outside their course. 5. Publications Bamforth, S., Perkin, G. & Glass, J. (2015) Feedback on student assignments: are there impediments to using feedback to feed forward? Paper presented at: INTED2015 Conference: 9th International Technology, Education and Development Conference, 2nd – 4th March 2015, Madrid. 6. Staffing We say goodbye Kate Collins after 10 years working in the HEA Engineering Subject Centre and CEDE. Kate is now working at the University Library. Kate Everest is also on secondment at the UTC within AACME for 9 months. Kay Davey, who is working at WEDC, will be covering Kate’s secondment at CEDE. The Centre for Engineering and Design Education 13