Internationalisation in Engineering - Showcasing the Global Engineering Challenge

1. Internationalisation in Engineering- Showcasing the Global Engineering Challenge Rachel Horn Senior University Teacher, Department of Civil Engineering Trish Murray University Teacher, Faculty of Engineering University of Sheffield Faculty of Engineering

2. The next 20 mins… • The Global Engineering Challenge – an overview • Drivers • Aims • The challenge • Obstacles & solutions • Evaluation: • Staff and facilitators • Students • Summary

3. Drivers • Cross-faculty inter-disciplinary interactions Global Engineering Challenge • Synoptic learning • Employability & skill awareness International / global dimension • University L&T Strategy

4. Development Process Employability FoEDepts

5. Aims of the week Skill development: • global, professional, academic, employability • Multi-disciplinary, multi-national team-working • Global / sustainable / cultural / ethical awareness • Independent learning • Problem-solving • Plagiarism • Communication / presentation • Understanding the purpose of and using feedback • Reflection on own learning • Career planning

6. Challenges • Space in the timetable / curriculum • The removal of the January exams (where possible) • Not credit bearing, but compulsory • Not onerous for staff • Not credit bearing • Assessment in the week – no additional marking • Use post graduates as facilitators • A vehicle for the skills development • EWB Challenge project • Support (financial and other) • 10k for setup • 30k for running costs

7. Challenges Not credit bearing, but compulsory Assessment in the week – no additional marking Inspire the students! Interactive and FUN Set it up well Relevant (employability, sponsorship) Encourage competitiveness (prizes) Topic (EWB projects) inherently of interest Follow through from the week (EWB National competition) Pass / fail by attendance / participation Sanctions / assignments for non-participation Peer assessment of presentations using clickers

8. Global Engineering Challenge Week 900 students • Groups of 6 students in hubs of 36 ~150 groups = 25 hubs, • Multi-disciplinary – 9 ‘departments’ in faculty • Multi-national – approx 1/3 international each group ~4 home, 2 international • Hubs led by PG facilitators

9. Global Engineering Challenge Week • Mon – Fri 9am – 5pm • Independent project work (hub rooms) interspersed with interactive facilitated sessions • Intro & finale (1hr each)– 3 large lecture theatres • PG facilitator-led sessions – hub rooms – top & tail the day • Project / engineering & skill-development • Team building, problem-solving, sustainability, communication • Skills awareness- 22 alumni and 5 external speakers • Staff involvement in hubs • “Assessment” by group presentations • peer marking using “clickers” in two categories “Best communicated solution” & “Best overall solution”

10. Making it happen • A small team (4) of highly committed individuals with shared vision and different/overlapping areas of responsibility • Employed 3 undergraduates as “resource developers” over the summer • Tested materials on students and reworked • All L1 students were issued with individual “clickers” • Invested in the recruitment and training of facilitators • Staff buy in

11. What we think went really well • The students were very engaged (largely) • The team working • The mid-week alumni session • The quality of the final presentations • Attendance at 4pm on a Friday! • The facilitators

12. Student Evaluation • Before and after using Blackboard/clickers • Questionnaire • Focus groups

13. What was the best thing in the week (free text response)? • “team working and meeting new people” (over 50% of responses) • “working on real problems” (second significant response)

14. What motivated you in the GEC week? (select as many as is appropriate)

15. Motivations • All students are motivated by becoming a better engineer • Home students (UK and European) also by becoming more employable • ***International students: already stand out by virtue of studying overseas • UK students less interested in “Helping people of Devikulam” • *** Don’t believe that the projects will help Devikulam

16. “Which sessions/activities do you think will BE USEFUL in terms of your future as a student engineer and as a graduate engineer (you can select more than one answer)?”

17. All students found project working useful • UK students: • found giving presentations the most useful • International students: • Found more sessions useful • Team working useful • ***more appreciated to aid in integration in the team • ***less prior experience • Global issues and Problem solving and Project design useful • *** more globally aware

18. Summary Weds pm Project choice Facilitators for cascade teaching Communication to students Registration 9am – 5pm Applicability to all depts in Engineering – COM Limited time / student attitude International – home interactions Facilitator selection & training Project based Board rooms Alumni Employer comments & student interview anecdotes Journalism students video

19. How did it go? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UUrGjFtkXc&feature=youtu.be