KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Hans Hoyer, Secretary General of the
International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES)

Global Partnerships in Engineering Education Abstract: 1. Review of the drivers and critical elements to build global partnerships which are essential for global innovation; 2.  Key elements which are critical for engineering education to address the challenges of local needs  and a flat, economically-stressed world.  These include: - Innovation, reform of curriculum and the learning experience; - focus on learning rather than teaching; - foster creativity and innovation; - educate the engineering professor of the 21 st. century 3. Review of the strategic priorities/challenges faced of the global organizations IFEES, GEDC, IUCEE and IIDEA.

Sabina Jeschke, Director TeachING-LearnING.EU, RWTH Aachen, Germany

VisioneerING – Future Trends in Engineering Education Abstract: The profile of engineers has changed comprehensively over the last years due to increasing globalization and digitalization, shortening of innovation cycles, demographic change, shift in production methods, new questions of sustainability, and changing types of working conditions. These trends, clustered in the topics - trends in society, - trends of diversity and - trends of virtuality, lead to considerable changes in the worldwide engineering education. Within this talk, the three clusters of trends are introduced, their consequences are analyzed, and future scenarios in research and teaching are discussed to show how it is possible to deal with the given challenges.

Russ Meier, Vice-President of the IEEE Education Society

Global Trends in Engineering Education Abstract: Even though teachers of engineering largely teach the same material to students regardless of their location in the world, the techniques and practices used in the classroom vary dramatically by geographical region and culture. Modern technology tools such as social media, on-line environments, remote laboratories, and augmented reality are unifiers that may cause a paradigm shift in the way information is transferred from mentors to students. This presentation will review the current research trends in engineering education technology and provide examples of how different technologies are changing the way teachers teach.

Jose Carlos Marques dos Santos, Rector University of Porto, Portugal

New challenges in engineering education and the answer of University of Porto Abstract: With roots dating back to 1762 the University of Porto (U.Porto) is currently the largest of the fifteen public universities in Portugal, with over 31,000 students, 2,470 teaching and research staff and 1,700 technical and administrative staff, in its 14 faculties, one business school and 60 research units spread across the city in 3 campuses. Around 3,000 international students attend U.Porto each year. Its Faculty of Engineering (FEUP) is the largest, with over 7,000 students, 700 of which in 19 doctoral programs. More than 70% of the teaching staff hold a PhD. With 9 Departments (Chemical, Civil, Electrical and Computer, Industrial and Management, Informatics, Mechanical, Metallurgy and Materials, Mining and Physics Engineering), FEUP has fully implemented the Bologna process since 2006. FEUP has been active in the Erasmus mobility program (1988-) and also in Mobile (2003-). Looking to the academic staff professional development, continuing education at FEUP started informally in 1998. From 1998 to 2008 a total of 108 courses and workshops have been offered, attended by 1536 teaching and research staff members. The “Teaching/Learning Lab” is another continuing initiative at FEUP since 2009, offering many opportunities for cross fertilization experiences among teaching staff. U.Porto and in particular FEUP have invested a substantial effort in new technologies, offering to students and teaching staff e-learning platforms and technical support, online labs, video-conference rooms, voice over IP (VoIP) technologies, etc. In 2010 FEUP launched the Portuguese Society for Engineering Education (SPEE) with extensive support of Portuguese engineering schools. In 2011 FEUP has been accredited as IGIP training centre, presently the first in the Iberian Peninsula.

Djamshid Tavangarian, University of Rostock, Germany

Is Social Online Based Learning the Cure for Knowledge Poverty? Abstract: Not only in developing, but also in industrial countries, different forms of information poverty exist, either by restricted access to information, or by information overload which complicates the identification and impartation of relevant information. With information being the basis for knowledge creation, information poverty - regardless of its type and its reason - may lead to knowledge poverty. While information and education poverty are well known, knowledge poverty seems to be a phenomenon which still needs to be discussed. To facilitate information access and processing, and to support knowledge creation, we developed the "Wiki-Learnina" system which follows the Web2.0 technology. In a complex process and based on defined learning goals for different subjects, relevant information are filtered and transformed to learning objects by the community for various target groups. This talk discusses information and knowledge poverty, asks whether social media based learning can be the cure for knowledge poverty, and presents the "Wiki-Learnia" system as our approach to fight knowledge poverty.

Steve Wheeler, Plymouth University, UK

Learning 3.0 and the Smart eXtended Web Abstract: The knowledge economy is characterised by increased access to content, and a deeper awareness of the need for lifelong learning. The internet continues to evolve into an increasingly complex and diverse range of tools, services and spaces, raising questions about how teachers and learners will successfully exploit it in the coming years. Learning has become Learning 2.0 as learners exploit rich participatory social spaces and tools. As we head inexorably toward the next phase of digital learning - Learning 3.0 - what features will future web applications bring that make searching, organising and sharing content more intuitive and transparent? How will search engines become more intelligent and more streamlined? What other features and tools will make the discovery, organisation and sharing of web content more manageable? What role will teachers and professors play in this new knowledge economy? And what new literacies will students need to acquire to survive and thrive in the digital age? In this presentation I will present a brief history of the web and its evolution through the earliest iterations (Web 1.0), its development into participatory environments as the social web (Web 2.0) and onwards into the uncharted terrain of the emerging semantic web (Web 3.0). I will conclude with some considered speculation of what the future may bring in terms of meta-web developments (I will refer to this as the Smart eXtended web or Web x.0) and its potential impact on Learning 3.0. The convergence of smart mobile devices, social media and 3D visualisation techniques, coupled with the 'internet of things', will constitute new and exciting virtual spaces within which 21st Century learners will prosper and thrive. What will Learning 3.0 look like, and will it be sustainable?

Sabina Jeschke, Director TeachING-LearnING.EU, RWTH Aachen, Germany

VisioneerING – Future Trends in Engineering Education Abstract: The profile of engineers has changed comprehensively over the last years due to increasing globalization and digitalization, shortening of innovation cycles, demographic change, shift in production methods, new questions of sustainability, and changing types of working conditions. These trends, clustered in the topics - trends in society, - trends of diversity and - trends of virtuality, lead to considerable changes in the worldwide engineering education. Within this talk, the three clusters of trends are introduced, their consequences are analyzed, and future scenarios in research and teaching are discussed to show how it is possible to deal with the given challenges.

Russ Meier, Vice-President of the IEEE Education Society

Global Trends in Engineering Education Abstract: Even though teachers of engineering largely teach the same material to students regardless of their location in the world, the techniques and practices used in the classroom vary dramatically by geographical region and culture. Modern technology tools such as social media, on-line environments, remote laboratories, and augmented reality are unifiers that may cause a paradigm shift in the way information is transferred from mentors to students. This presentation will review the current research trends in engineering education technology and provide examples of how different technologies are changing the way teachers teach.

Jose Carlos Marques dos Santos, Rector University of Porto, Portugal

New challenges in engineering education and the answer of University of Porto Abstract: With roots dating back to 1762 the University of Porto (U.Porto) is currently the largest of the fifteen public universities in Portugal, with over 31,000 students, 2,470 teaching and research staff and 1,700 technical and administrative staff, in its 14 faculties, one business school and 60 research units spread across the city in 3 campuses. Around 3,000 international students attend U.Porto each year. Its Faculty of Engineering (FEUP) is the largest, with over 7,000 students, 700 of which in 19 doctoral programs. More than 70% of the teaching staff hold a PhD. With 9 Departments (Chemical, Civil, Electrical and Computer, Industrial and Management, Informatics, Mechanical, Metallurgy and Materials, Mining and Physics Engineering), FEUP has fully implemented the Bologna process since 2006. FEUP has been active in the Erasmus mobility program (1988-) and also in Mobile (2003-). Looking to the academic staff professional development, continuing education at FEUP started informally in 1998. From 1998 to 2008 a total of 108 courses and workshops have been offered, attended by 1536 teaching and research staff members. The “Teaching/Learning Lab” is another continuing initiative at FEUP since 2009, offering many opportunities for cross fertilization experiences among teaching staff. U.Porto and in particular FEUP have invested a substantial effort in new technologies, offering to students and teaching staff e-learning platforms and technical support, online labs, video-conference rooms, voice over IP (VoIP) technologies, etc. In 2010 FEUP launched the Portuguese Society for Engineering Education (SPEE) with extensive support of Portuguese engineering schools. In 2011 FEUP has been accredited as IGIP training centre, presently the first in the Iberian Peninsula.

Djamshid Tavangarian, University of Rostock, Germany

Is Social Online Based Learning the Cure for Knowledge Poverty? Abstract: Not only in developing, but also in industrial countries, different forms of information poverty exist, either by restricted access to information, or by information overload which complicates the identification and impartation of relevant information. With information being the basis for knowledge creation, information poverty - regardless of its type and its reason - may lead to knowledge poverty. While information and education poverty are well known, knowledge poverty seems to be a phenomenon which still needs to be discussed. To facilitate information access and processing, and to support knowledge creation, we developed the "Wiki-Learnina" system which follows the Web2.0 technology. In a complex process and based on defined learning goals for different subjects, relevant information are filtered and transformed to learning objects by the community for various target groups. This talk discusses information and knowledge poverty, asks whether social media based learning can be the cure for knowledge poverty, and presents the "Wiki-Learnia" system as our approach to fight knowledge poverty.

Christian Dorninger, Austrian Ministry for Education, Austria

Engineering projects in secondary Education Abstract: In the last ten years engineering projects were established, where engineering tasks from companies and enterprises have been used as “Diplomarbeiten” at technical colleges in Austria. The program was quite successful: About 2200 different projects were finished in teamwork (two to five students) and a catalog of results can be watched (Adress: www.htl-innovativ.at). The spectrums of interesting results covers laboratory tasks for younger students, answers to interesting questions from enterprises, building construction, software adapted for shops around the schools and worldwide patents in different fields. With a new form of competence oriented last exams in the upper secondary school system in Austria, the balance of diploma work and standardized exams in German, foreign language and maths brings the education system to a better performance. Examples are shown.