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Stakeholder Report 2011/12

Overview of Activities for the Year 2011/12

This interactive brochure provides an overview of the activities and initiatives the Centre has been undertaking in 2011/12. Click the associated links within each section for more

information and you will be taken to the latest update.

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Aim 1: To support engineering and design academics, with a particular focus on probationers

• Access to the time, skills and expertise of specialist staff to provide research-informed additions or enhancements to current engineering education practice

• Events programme (teaching seminar, training, development), with a probationer focus, in collaboration with other units

• One-to-one discipline specific support, including up-to-date information on effective practice, pedagogic research, evaluation of both new and current practice

• Facilitation of transfer of effective practice into and between Loughborough’s engineering related schools

• Provision of cross-school multi-disciplinary opportunities

Centre for Engineering and Design Education Overview of activities for the Year 2011/12 – September 2012

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1a: Encourage effective, efficient and innovative practice

1b: Transfer of effective practice

Centre for Engineering and Design Education Overview of activities for the Year 2011/12 – September 2012

3 CEDE Management Boards held providing ongoing dialogue and input into activities, between schools and other support services.

4 EDEN Seminars:

‘Collaborative Learning, Assessment and Feedback’

‘Digital Video Reporting to Inspire and Engage Students’

‘Enhancing Employability via Student-Led Projects workshop’

‘Curriculum Enhancement and Innovation: A showcase of National HE STEM Programme activity at Loughborough University’

Representation on University committees including:

• E-Learning Advisory Group

• Placements Project steering group

• Student Information Steering Group

• Institutional Repository Advisory Group

• University Equipment Group

• M5 Regional Group meetings

• Employability Award Steering Group

Workshops provided for staff including:

• PG Demonstrators workshop

• New Lecturers’ workshop

• Enhancing employability via student-led projects

12 school projects undertaken for the 5 Schools, directly working with 25 members of school staff.

Projects:

• Enhancements to the DIS placements process, administration and monitoring (AACME)

• Review into feedback and assessment practices building upon work of the Teaching Centre and unpicking from the student perspective issues identified in the NSS (CV)

• Series of graduate success stories and presentation skills workshops for students (DS)

• Support to facilitate research into student concentration levels (DS)

• Online scheduler for module assessments and physical coursework submission system (EL)

• Review of best practice in delivery of key skills in lab-based learning (EL)

• Addressing over assessment and consistency in marking practices (MM)

• Updates to WebPA (EL) and ProjectList tools (MM,CV)

• Feasibility study on use of smart phone apps in conjunction with Learn (EL)

Building effective internal partnerships by putting processes in place for complementary working with ITS and the Teaching Centre.

4 cross-School projects aimed at transfer of practice.

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Aim 2: To maintain Loughborough’s leading position in the delivery of high quality engineering and design education

• Support academic staff to apply for teaching awards

• Disseminate outcomes internally

• Disseminate outcomes externally

• Raise external income (JISC, STEM, HEA)

• Run and manage projects

• Loughborough specific guides/reports

• Engineering Education Journal

• International engineering education conference

Centre for Engineering and Design Education Overview of activities for the Year 2011/12 – September 2012

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2a: Champion learning and teaching

2b: Provide opportunities for publication

Centre for Engineering and Design Education Overview of activities for the Year 2011/12 – September 2012

During 2011/2012 two issues of the Engineering Education Journal were produced; one being a special issue on student engagement with engineering education (guest-edited by Daphne O’Doherty of Cardiff University). A complimentary copy of each edition distributed to all our academics in the 5 supported Schools. A total of 4 out of 14 published articles authored by Loughborough staff.

The Centre has also facilitated a successful transition of the journal’s website and administration to the Higher Education Academy which will take over fully as of issue 8.1 (due for publication in summer 2013). This has included a change to the subtitle, becoming Engineering Education: a Journal of the Higher Education Academy.

Successful awards include Peter Willmot’s HEA International Fellowship, Prof Rachel Thomson’s S-Lab Award for Kit-Catalogue and Thomas Jun and Tom Page for their Teaching Innovation Award.

Organisation of the EE2012 International conference to be held in September, 2012, attracting 108 abstract submissions and resulting in 83 accepted papers and workshops, including 10 submissions from Loughborough staff.

Launch event held for 117 guests, from all across the UK. Host to over 10 external visitors from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Australia, and the University of Edinburgh.

Promotion of Loughborough’s excellence in teaching and learning by presenting at over 20 National and International events.

Supported 10 staff to apply for funding and awards.

• Teaching Innovation Awards

• HEA Department Grants

• JISC Community Engagement Programme

• EPSRC National Equipment Sharing

• HEA Doctoral Programme

• RAEng

• HEA International Fellowship Scheme

• HE STEM Programme

~£450k of external funds successfully gained from the HEA, JISC, HE STEM, EPSRC, RAEng, sigma and MEGS.

Centre staff have authored 15 contributions to national and international conference and journal publications, many in conjunction with academics, raising the profile of engineering and design education at Loughborough University (see overleaf).

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Wheeler, Andrea, Simon Austin and Jacqui Glass (2012) “E-mentoring for employability” International Conference on Innovation, Practice and Research in Engineering Education (EE2012) Coventry University, 18th – 20th September.

Wheeler, A. and King, M. (2012) “Exploring the Balance Between Automation and Human Intervention in Improving Final Year University Student Non-Completion” International Technology, Education and Development Conference (INTED2012), Valencia, Spain, 5th – 7th March.

King, M. ‘Issues around using attendance data to improve student progression’, JISC CETIS Conference, February 2012, Nottingham, UK.

King, M. 2012, ‘Co-Tutor: An Intelligent Personal Tutoring System’, Higher Education Academy What works? Student retention and success conference 2012, March 2012, University of York, UK.

Perkin, G., Ahearn, A. and Lamb, F. (2012) Enhancing Employability: transfer of student-led activity. Paper presented at ISEE 2012 – Educating the Engineers of Tomorrow, 19th – 20th July 2012, Sheffield. (Proceedings not yet published).

Perkin, G., Croft T. & Lawson, D. (2012) Mathematics Learning Support: extent of the provision in UK Higher Education institutions in 2012. Paper presented at the CETL-MSOR 2012 Conference, 12th – 13th July 2012, The University of Sheffield, UK. To be published in the CETL-MSOR 2012 Conference Proceedings.

Ahearn, A., Perkin, G., Lamb, F., Man, M. and Olumide, M. (2012) Student-led Projects Symposia: harnessing the wow factor and emphasising employability. Paper presented at the HEA 1st Annual STEM Conference: Aiming for Excellence in STEM Learning and Teaching, 12th – 13th April 2012, Imperial College London, (awarded prize for best engineering paper).

Willmot, P. & Perkin, G. (2011) Using Parallel Enquiry-Based Interventions to Engage and Motivate Engineering Students. Paper presented at the First Biennial Conference of the South African Society for Engineering Education (SASEE), 10th – 12th August 2012, Stellenbosch, South Africa. ISBN:978-0-620-50774-5. (Published in the proceedings:http://www.sasee.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Proceedings-of-the-1st-Biennial-SASEE-Conference.pdf)

Lamb, F., Perkin, G. & Ahearn, A. (2012) Student-led, employer-focused, extra-curricular activity: a method of enhancing employability at Imperial College London and Loughborough University. Journal of the Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre, 7, (1), pp30-39.

Willmot, P. & Perkin, G. (2011) Evaluating the Effectiveness of a first-year module designed to improve Student Engagement. Journal of the Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre, 6, (2), pp57-69.

Perkin G. & Bamforth, S. (2011) A variety of approaches to the provision of mathematics help for first year engineering undergraduates. International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education, 48, 1, pp79-91.

King, M., “Co-Tutor: a relationship management system to enable staff to monitor students’ engagement and provide support to ‘at-risk’ students”, Compendium of Effective Practice in Higher Education Retention and Success, Higher Education Academy, 2012, p121-124, ISBN 978 1 85449 427 6.

Perkin, G., Ahearn, A. & Lamb, F. (2012) Showcasing and extending student-led, employer-focused, extra-curricular activity. The National HE STEM Programme.

Perkin, G., Ahearn, A. & Lamb, F. (2012) Showcasing and extending student-led, employer-focused, extra-curricular activity [a synopsis] in Enhancing Engineering Higher Education: Outputs of the National HE STEM Programme, pp85-88. The Royal Academy of Engineering, London. ISBN 1-903496-89-6

Pennington M., Atkinson H., Lamb F.M. et al, Unemployment of Engineering Graduates: Final Report, June 2012. The National HE STEM Programme.

Centre for Engineering and Design Education Overview of activities for the Year 2011/12 – September 2012

2b: Provide opportunities for publication

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Aim 3: To support engineering and design students, with a particular focus on meeting the recruitment needs of industry

Centre for Engineering and Design Education Overview of activities for the Year 2011/12 – September 2012

• Engineering focused student resources/support according to need (e.g. student-led activity, placements, enterprise, commercialisation), in partnership with e.g. CEE, careers centre

• Act as mediator between university and engineering related schools to provide engineering focused outreach and widening participation activity

• Co-ordination of UNITECH exchange scheme, in partnership with Schools

• Engage with professional bodies and employers in the area of higher education

• Continue work with visiting professors

• Planning of new flexible courses and innovative partnerships

• Development of courses/partnerships

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3a: Enhance engineering student employability skills

3b: Build and enhance innovative industrial engagement

Centre for Engineering and Design Education Overview of activities for the Year 2011/12 – September 2012

Working with the Careers & Employability Centre on a HE STEM project looking at the reasons for unemployment of engineering graduates. An interim report of findings submitted to a House of Lords Committee.

Working with the Department of Civil & Building Engineering to support an E-Mentoring project for students considering placements with mentors currently working in Industry.

Helping to manage the Kit-Catalogue project with Prof Rachel Thomson and ITS in order to facilitate the sharing of equipment within and outside the institution.

A series of workshops run with Design School students to enhance their presentation skills.

Running a variety of HE STEM funded student-led projects and now acting as a ‘custodian of effective practice’ and formally supporting 7 universities to adopt similar practices. Over 35 universities represented at workshops and national student symposium planned for November 2012.

2 undergraduate summer ENSURE placements hosted within CEDE to work on the HEA E-Mentoring project and the JISC Megs-KT knowledge transfer project.

2 EPSRC vacation bursary students hosted within CEDE from 23rd July for 10 weeks. The students will contribute to further work on the App/Learn project within Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering.

Working with JCB on a Schools Outreach project facilitating Loughborough students’ outreach with School children and raising the profile of engineering.

Supporting the work of the VPs, in particular 2 Loughborough student finalists for the RAEng Innovation Hothouse competition.

Building partnerships with the Energy sector in the JISC Megs-KT Project looking at innovative ways for creating and fostering networks of expertise between academia, students and industry.

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Aim 3: To support engineering and design students, with a particular focus on meeting the recruitment needs of industry

3c: Manage industrial standard teaching space

Centre for Engineering and Design Education Overview of activities for the Year 2011/12 – September 2012

Working with the Midlands Energy Graduate School (MEGS) to refurbish and innovate the Design Studio space to enable lecturing via video-conferencing and Echo360 lecture capture capability.

Provision of local management of the Keith Green Building upper floor teaching spaces. Year stats 2011/12 School usage (% of total use) TT 14.52 CV 11.31 CG 1.63 MM 27.26 MP 1.41 EL 7.93 Student usage (by school % of total use) TT 21.4 CV 30.96 CG 17.78 MM 13.18 MP 8.71 EL 7.98 Rooms in use 55% of the total time available, compared to 53.41% of West Park room usage.

Employing, on a casual basis, current students to help manage the space.

• Local management of KGB space – an environment that mimics the industrial workplace (hosting visitors, presentations, poster exhibitions)

• Rooms for group work which can be booked by students

The Centre for Engineering and Design Education

web: http://cede.lboro.ac.uk

email: cede@lboro.ac.uk

phone: (01509) 227191

The Centre comprises a total of 9.52FTE of staff, 3.9FTE of which funded directly by the 5 Engineering and Design Schools and currently (June 2012) 5.62FTE staff funded through external projects.

The team would like to thank all the staff within the 5 Schools, colleagues from around the University, contacts within the Professional bodies, funding councils and organisations for the help and support provided to us in our first year.