Opportunities for and Barriers to Innovation in Engineering Education

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorHugo, Ronald J
dc.contributor.authorMeikleham, Alexandra
dc.contributor.committeememberBrennan, Robert
dc.contributor.committeememberJohnston, Kimberly
dc.date2019-06
dc.date.accessioned2019-01-14T17:43:25Z
dc.date.available2019-01-14T17:43:25Z
dc.date.issued2019-01-04
dc.description.abstractThe 21st Century has brought both tremendous promise and challenge for engineers. The need for sustainable development and growing pressures from automation are some of the societal challenges facing tomorrow’s engineering graduates. Educational institutions must ensure students possess competencies in professional skills, such as adaptability, critical thinking and creativity to thrive in today’s rapidly evolving ecosystem. Continuous improvement in teaching techniques and content will be required to ensure students are prepared for life beyond graduation. Technology-mediated course delivery, blended learning, and project-based learning are promising approaches to work lateral thinking and professional skills into the curriculum; but no new solution comes without drawbacks. It is critical that ongoing research be conducted and documented into the effectiveness of interventions so that informed decisions on course and program design can be made. This work presents findings and experiences of implementing a technical project-based, blended fluid mechanics course; analyzes factors that affected professional skills development indicated by twelve Graduate Attributes. Project-based and blended learning were found to be effective in developing professional skills, however several institutional barriers were identified to the scalability of these approaches. Two self-efficacy surveys were assessed for their reliability, and opportunities were identified for future improvements to be made on several survey questions. Opportunities for the development of professional modules on ethics and equity, professionalism, and lifelong learning were identified. End of term student surveys revealed that as student-centred approaches to teaching and learning increased, student perception of teaching quality decreased and workload increased, indicating a potential barrier to achieving buy-in from tenure-track instructors who rely on student end of term survey results for promotion. Teaching assistant training, resource allocation, risk management, and institutional memory were identified as critical areas requiring interventions for project-based learning to be sustained within the system. This work can be utilized to inform discussions on local program design within the University of Calgary, but the insights and ideas presented are relevant for instructors, institutions, and international initiatives looking to facilitate sustainable educational change across the post-secondary system as well.en_US
dc.identifier.citationMeikleham, A. (2019). Opportunities for and Barriers to Innovation in Engineering Education (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/35710
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/109446
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisher.facultySchulich School of Engineeringen_US
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.en_US
dc.subjectProject-based learningen_US
dc.subjectEngineering educationen_US
dc.subjectFluid mechanics educationen_US
dc.subject.classificationEducationen_US
dc.subject.classificationEngineeringen_US
dc.titleOpportunities for and Barriers to Innovation in Engineering Educationen_US
dc.typemaster thesisen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineEngineering – Mechanical & Manufacturingen_US
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgaryen_US
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Science (MSc)en_US
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrue
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
ucalgary_2019_meikleham_alexandra.pdf
Size:
13.23 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Thesis File
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.74 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
Open Theses and Dissertations