Information and Communications Technology in Engineering Education
Team
Alberto Cardoso – Department of Computer Engineering at FCT-UC
Carlos Miguel Borges – Department of Mechanical Engineering at ISEC
Diogo Ribeiro – Department of Civil Engeneering at ISEP
Gustavo R. Alves – Department of Electrical Engineering at ISEP
José Ribeiro da Fonseca – Department of Electrotechnical and Computer Engineering at FCT-UNL
Luís Santos – Department of Informatics and Systems Engineering at ISEC
Maria do Rosário Oliveira – Department of Civil Engeneering at ISEP
Raúl Cordeiro – Department of Electrotechnical Engineering at IPS
Coordinators
José Ribeiro da Fonseca – jmf@uninova.pt
Gustavo R. Alves – gca@isep.ipp.pt
Summary
The working group “Information and Communication Technologies in Engineering Education”, created during the Engineering Education Development Forum (FDEE) that took place on May 9, 2019 at ISEC, aims to share experiences and knowledge in ICT in Engineering Education. The aim of this group is to stimulate the dissemination of scientific articles, hold meetings and lectures and encourage cooperation between groups dedicated to the teaching and learning of Engineering supported by communication and computational tools that allow both classroom and remote teaching taking advantage of the new technologies currently available or under development.
ICT-based tools, which were already playing a very important role in the teaching of Engineering before the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, have been reinforcing their role in supporting teaching and learning processes since the need for communicating remotely with students and allow them to do much (or even all) of their learning remotely. Thus, it is possible to avoid the physical presence of both teachers and students in educational institutions, minimizing the risk of contagion both at the teaching site and during travels that are thus avoided. The need to teach engineering remotely has created new needs and reinforced motivations that can and should benefit from the experience of those who have been using these technologies throughout their academic or professional career.
Certain that the path that awaits us in the construction of more efficient and attractive teaching systems based on ICTs is complex, but very appealing and with enormous potential, we hope that this working group will give all its participants a space for reflection that allows them to move faster and safer in the implementation of these technologies to support teaching and learning.
Suggested publications
Five Major Shifts in 100 Years of Engineering Education
Review: This article identifies 5 main shifts in teaching, exploring in detail a set of information and communication technologies in teaching, namely:
- Dissemination of content: television, video and internet
- Personalized teaching: content adjusted to the student
- Customized response systems
- Computational technologies
- Smart tutors: second level of personalized education
- Simulation
- Games and competitions
- Remote labs
- Evaluation
Hands-on, simulated, and remote laboratories: A comparative literature review
Review: this article focuses on the educational objectives of so-called traditional (hands-on) and non-traditional (virtual and remote) laboratories, offering a review of the associated literature. The almost 1000 citations (according to Google Scholar) make this article an almost mandatory reference for all teachers and researchers interested in the use of online tools for laboratory teaching in engineering.
LabsLand – Real laboratories, on the Internet
This company has a business model based on the concept of “prosumers”, i.e. it serves as a broker between educational institutions that offer access to remote laboratories and that, in turn, access remote laboratories supported by other educational institutions as customers. . In the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it facilitates access to some of its resources.
Initiatives
SPEE Webinar: Distance Learning Experiences – Wednesday, 17 June 2020, 17:00 (WEST)
A webinar was held on June 17, 2020, conducted by Filomena Soares, Gustavo Alves and Paulo Moura Oliveira.
This year has brought new and unexpected challenges to engineering education. In this webinar, three colleagues from SPEE shared their experiences on how they applied online teaching techniques and technologies. After the set of presentations, a period of discussion followed, moderated by Bill Williams.
1st Presentation: Teaching and Learning with art!
According to the Priberam dictionary of the Portuguese language, a mural is a painting or graphic work, usually of large dimensions, made on a wall or wall. A digital wall can have an adapted definition Digital wall is a painting or graphic or textual work, performed on a virtual wall. How about the student recording his learning process, and the teacher accompanying and supporting that process, in a digital Mural, shared with everyone, in a colourful pattern and successively fed? Report of a facilitator of Teaching and Learning with art!
Video at: https://youtu.be/DQKfGBn-xTo
Presentation at: WebinarSPEE_FS
Filomena Soares
Department of Industrial Electronics
School of Engineering
Centro Algoritmi
University of Minho
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4438-6713
2nd Presentation: Online applications for practical teaching
A so-called traditional laboratory environment is characterized by practical experiments, usually done by groups of students, under the supervision of a teacher. Is it possible to recreate this type of environment in an online mode? What kind of applications can be used? How can a teacher supervise the individual work (of each group or student) and help to overcome the doubts and difficulties reported? This presentation shares the experience in a specific curricular unit of an Electrical and Computer Engineering Course, addressing in the end possible forms of generalization to other scientific areas of Engineering.
Presentation at: WebinarSPEE_GCA
Gustavo R. Alves
Department of Electrical Engineering
School of Engineering
Centre for Innovation in Engineering and Industrial Technology
Polytechnic of Porto
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1244-8502
3rd Presentation: Teaching Automatic Control with the TCLab Portable Laboratory
The use of TCLab – Temperature Control Laboratory, in the context of teaching Control Systems course units is the theme of the presentation. Questions to address: How can a portable laboratory (pocket-size laboratory) be used in the practical teaching of modelling techniques and systems control? How has this laboratory been used in the days of COVID-19? How important can similar kits play in complementing practical education?
Presentation at: WebinarSPEE_PMO
Paulo Moura Oliveira
Department of Engineering
School of Science and Technology
University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD)
INESC-TEC
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4283-1243