scholarly journals Engineering Students' Readiness For Self Directed Learning

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sang Ha Lee ◽  
John Wise ◽  
Thomas Litzinger
Author(s):  
Elizabeth DaMaren ◽  
Danielle Pearlston ◽  
Stephen Mattucci

Reimagined curriculum models offer new possibilities for embedding durable competencies into the curriculum, including critical reflection, which promotes the development of self-directed learning skills. However, students often perceive these skills as unimportant with pre-existing biases focusing on technical content as the core of engineering.  The primary goal of this work was to identify key considerations when integrating critical reflection into engineering curricula, specifically in the context of first-year engineering, to promote the development of student self-directed learning skills.  This work was framed within the Students-as-Partners (SaP) approach, where two undergraduate students worked in collaboration with the instructor. To gather information regarding student perceptions of critical reflection, focus groups were conducted for first-year engineering students and students familiar with reflection.  Qualitative thematic analysis was performed on the focus group data and key insights were identified and categorized into five themes: approaches, supporting students, evaluation and framing, development pathway and value, and reflection for engineers. Suggested learning outcomes, student activities, and evaluation methods are proposed. These findings are applicable to implementing reflection across a variety of academic settings, as they highlight main considerations and challenges faced with reflection from the perspective of students in multiple programs. 


Author(s):  
Elizabeth Kuley ◽  
Sean Maw ◽  
Terry Fonstad

This paper focuses on feedback received from a set of qualitative questions that were administered to undergraduate students in the College of Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan, as part of a larger mixed methods study. The larger study aims to identify what characteristics, if any, can predict or are related to student success; The “start-stop-continue” method was utilized to assess student perceptions about  their success in the college as a whole. The students were asked: Are there any specific things that you can think of that act/acted as barriers to your success in engineering (stop)? What could the college do/change to make first year more successful for engineering students (start)? Is there anything in your engineering degree so far that you feel is done well and helps students succeed (continue)? Students identified the quality of instruction early in their program as well as adjustment to college workloads and self-directed learning as the most significant barriers tostudent success.


Author(s):  
Norhidayah Mohamad ◽  
Azrina Othman ◽  
Tan Siew Ying ◽  
Neerosha Rajah ◽  
Norsamsinar Samsudin

Over the years, there has been tremendous growth in online social networking which contributed to the revolution of higher education’s learning environment. Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) is now common in online education, which provides open networks of self-directed learning. MOOCs are referred as a continuation trend in innovation that initiated by learning from geographical distance and online. MOOCs is a current evolvement in higher learning institution in Malaysia with the aims to provide quality education for the students. However, there are some challenges in developing effective instructional design courses and retaining learners in MOOCs. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to discover the relationship between MOOC’s content design and students’ performances among UTeM’s engineering students. Through literature review, variables are identified such as courses content design, enhancement in teaching and learning and students’ performance. In this study, 373 samples have been collected and the data analysed using SPSS. The results revealed that there are significant relationships between courses materials, courses activities, and courses tools with students’ performance. It is believed that this research paper will beneficial to higher education to improve MOOC’s content design in order to enhance the students’ performance in the future.


2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pao-Nan Chou

This study aimed to explore engineering students self-directed learning abilities in an online learning environment. The research centered on the correlation relationship between students self-directed learning abilities and learning outcomes. The instructional activity in one experimental study was to simulate an online learning task in the real-world online courses. The results of the study showed that a significant, positive relationship existed between engineering students self-directed learning abilities and online learning performances. High level of self-directed students performed better in the criterion test.


Author(s):  
Kristina Maria Schulz

  Software engineering is a profession, that requires expertise, but also underlies fast changes of contents and requirements. To cope with these challenges students in this subject need self-directed learning competencies. This paper explores Just-in-Time Teaching as one exemplary teaching method known to support self-directed learning processes. The focus in this analysis lies on a didactical evaluation of the sensitive use of this method concerning the special target group of software engineering students, the teaching content and material. The aim is to avoid a mere transfer of didactical approaches to students without additional value for the learners. Additional didactial consideration are directed towards (already existing) learning strategies of the students, which are essential for enabling students to efficiently benefit from self-directed learning arrangements. Resulting issues need to be evaluated through a serious data collection and analysis, that will be carried out in the subject of software engineering.


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