A major focus of teaching and learning in undergraduate civil engineering is the enhancement of student performance. Feedback is vital for the improvement of students' performance. However, relatively few studies were conducted specifically to establish the relationship between feedback and student performance in engineering education, especially…

While prior scholarship has theorised on how to incorporate decolonisation in curriculum and pedagogy, there is limited empirical work on how students experience this initiative. With a goal to provide a more diverse and inclusive educational experience, this paper explores ten undergraduate students' perceptions of their learning in a revised…

A concern in engineering education is students adopting a 'recognise and reproduce' approach to problem solving. In this study, an assignment was conceived and analysed through Legitimation Code Theory -- which allows for visualisation of students' thinking, and to illuminate how students construct knowledge in open-ended problem solving. The…

Enabling theory-practice bridging in engineering education is essential for developing twenty-first century graduate capabilities. Massification, resource constraints, and technological development have resulted in significant shifts to alternative forms of practical engagement, such as the use of online laboratories, but how do these contribute…

This study aims to ascertain how the relationships between structures in the South African engineering education and training system condition the likelihood of the systemic transformation required by the changing contemporary engineering industry. Drawing on social realism as its theoretical framework, this qualitative case study analyses the…

Curriculum reform is a key topic in the engineering education literature, but much of this discussion proceeds with little engagement with the impact of the local context in which the programme resides. This article thus seeks to understand the influence of local contextual dynamics on curriculum reform in engineering education. The empirical…

Employer complaints of engineering graduate inability to 'apply knowledge' call for a better understanding of the theory-practice relationship in technology-driven twenty-first century industries. A novel systems-based model was developed to analyse how mechatronics engineering practitioners apply mathematics, physics and logic-based knowledge to…

Despite calls to address global challenges through community engagement, engineers are not formally prepared to engage with communities. Little research has been done on means to address this "engagement gap" in engineering education. We examine the efficacy of an intensive, two-day Community Engagement Workshop for engineers, designed…

Engineering educators express concern that undergraduate engineering students solve problems procedurally without the necessary conceptual understanding. While research in engineering dynamics has focused on using technology to improve student performance, this article focuses on using representations for modelling problem solving in the lecture.…

Academics must be encouraged to reflect on their teaching, to apply new pedagogies to support student learning and to report on the results of these actions, which really forms part of programmes relating to Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). However, there seems to be resistance among some academics to get involved in these programmes…

Learning outcomes are essential to any curriculum in education, where they need to be clear, observable and measurable. However, some academics structure learning outcomes in a way that does not promote student learning. The purpose of this article is to present the analyses of learning outcomes of an Electrical Engineering curriculum offered at a…

The retention of students to graduation is a concern for most higher education institutions. This article seeks to understand why engineering and built environment students fail to continue their degree programmes despite being academically eligible to do so. The sample comprised 275 students registered between 2006 and 2011 in a faculty of…

South Africa, with its national cultural diversity and post-apartheid challenges and commitments, finds echoes in the European context, especially considering the imperatives of openness and non-discrimination in higher education. With an historical tradition of excellence in engineering education, the emphasis on supporting educationally…

The research interest underpinning this paper concerns the type of mathematical knowledge engineering students may acquire during their specialised education in terms of the conceptual and procedural dimensions of doing and using mathematics. This study draws on interviews with 25 qualified engineers from South Africa and Sweden regarding their…

This paper explores the effectiveness of using "structured examples in concert with prompting reflective questions" to address misconceptions held by mechanical engineering students about thermodynamic principles by employing pre-test and post-test design, a structured questionnaire, lecture room observation, and participants'…