Podcast European Engineering Educators

There continues to be a growing focus on the need for engineering students to develop transversal skills. There are a number of barriers which can stifle efforts in teaching such skills and approaches increasingly focus on developing engineering educators’ ability to integrate a diverse set of skills with technical knowledge.

The Archimedean Oath, first developed in 1990 and inspired by the Hippocratic Oath, was promoted as a reflection tool during SEFI 2024. Historically, the oath was read and signed at the end of master’s level study and allowed engineers to emphasise their commitment to their institution and global responsibility.

As we enter the 3rd year of recording the SEFI podcast, Neil and Natalie bring season 5 to a close with their person highlights from all six episodes. And, as ever, a heartfelt thanks to all listeners from across the world!

Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) is transforming engineering education by allowing students to tackle real-world interdisciplinary challenges in collaboration with external partners. Jorge Membrillo-Hernández from Tecnologico de Monterrey is a pioneer in integrating CBL.

The isolation felt by engineering educators who are passionate about teaching and learning, but who reside in technically focused engineering departments, is widely reported. The case is no different in Africa, where few institutions recognise educational research as a valid research focus in engineering.

The increasing importance of transdisciplinary approaches in engineering education is driven by the need to address complex societal challenges by moving beyond disciplinary silos to embrace new and forgotten knowledges …

In this episode we spoke to Dr. Ann-Kristin Winkens, a postdoctoral researcher in the Gender and Diversity in Engineering Research Group (GDI) at RWTH Aachen in Germany. Ann-Kristin draws upon her prior education in environmental engineering when researching areas of systems resilience and competencies needed when designing resilient systems.

In this episode we spoke about how ChatGPT and other Gen-AI tools may affect engineering education assessment methods, and how it might be used to facilitate learning.

Terms such as diversity, equity, equality, and inclusion have long featured in discussions relating to engineering education, and are often used interchangeably. Their meaning both evolve over time and vary significantly across context. Such changes and variation have implications for the areas in which efforts towards DEI, are focused, as well as to learn from good practice and monitor progress

The SEFI podcast was originally conceived as a project which would run for two years with monthly episodes. As we approach its second anniversary, Neil and Natalie would like to thank everyone listeners and guests for their support in making it into a valuable source of information about the SEFI community and contemporary topics in engineering education.