This article describes the possibilities offered by the online assessment system Etude to achieve the benefits of formative assessment. In order to find out the way this works in practice, we carried out an experiment with the use of Etude for formative assessment in the course on collaborative report writing. Results show that online formative…

A bioprocess engineer should have at least a set of basic design skills. Bioprocess design is a complex cognitive skill, which should be trained in every year of an academic Bioprocess-Engineering curriculum. However, there is little existing learning material to support the initial training of design skills early in the curriculum. For this…

This study examined whether divergent thinking test scores obtained from engineering students during college predicted creative work activities fifteen years later. Results showed that a subscore of the "Owens Creativity Test", which assesses divergent thinking about mechanical objects, correlated significantly with self-ratings of…

In this article, the author discusses the relation of technology, science, self-concept, interest, and gender. For nearly 20 years the topic of "women and technology" has played an important role in discussions about gender equality in Germany. The very first project for promoting females started in 1978 under the title "Women in…

Plans are described for creating a Graduate Record Examination (GRE) test for the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines. Previous work showed that a quantitative measure for the STEM disciplines exacerbated group differences beyond those reflected in the current GRE General Test. A test development approach is…

Though the rapid evolution of technology makes it difficult to pinpoint "the next big thing," the outlook for information technology (IT) employment appears to be promising. In fact, several categories of IT jobs currently face shortages of qualified workers, a troubling trend that is projected to get worse over the next five to seven years. These…

Technology has made a significant impact on assessment, including its use to automate assignment submission. On-line assignment submission, marking, and return were introduced into a fourth-year engineering management unit for the first time, and a formal evaluation was undertaken to assess student perceptions of this new development. Nearly all…

In France today most initial vocational training is delivered within the school system, in the lycees professionnels (vocational lycees) and the technological streams of general lycees. Historically this characteristic feature of the French system came about at the end of the 19th century as a result of the educational policy of the Third Republic…

Purpose - The authors have developed an educational model that operates at the undergraduate level and aims to produce graduates who can comfortably operate in the gulf between the laboratory bench and the commercial marketplace. The purpose of the paper is to describe the course, approaches, activities and initial outcomes of the Bachelor of…

An important challenge in the introductory communication networks course in electrical and computer engineering curricula is to integrate emerging topics, such as wireless Internet access and network security, into the already content-intensive course. At the same time it is essential to provide students with experiences in online collaboration,…

Shortly after becoming a CIO (Chief Information Officer), the author read an article by Gregory Jackson in the January 2004 Chronicle of Higher Education entitled, "A CIO's Question: Will You Still Need Me When I'm 64?" Jackson, one of the most widely known and respected CIOs in higher education, argued that CIOs in higher education face four…

This paper presents the preliminary work for developing guidelines to ensure that industry-sponsored projects in first-year courses aid, not hamper, retention of students. Specifically, the overall research plan includes the following steps: (1) investigating the appropriateness of industry projects in a required introduction to engineering design…

It is striking to notice that the notion of skill is not only used in industry but also in higher education in most major industrialized countries. If a significant number of companies have taken a skills approach, one notices that this term is also used in higher education to determine teaching programmes according to a simple idea: higher…

The work of Activity 1 of the Thematic Network E4 "Employability through Innovative Curricula" on curriculum development issues has been guided by the intention to contribute to the establishment of a European Higher Education Area (EHEA) by addressing crucial aspects of harmonisation, compatibility and comparability. In due course the…

The individual stories of scholars of South Asian descent are as divergent as the communities, countries of origin and cultural traditions from which they and their families originate. Though their numbers are believed to trail those of their counterparts in business, science and engineering fields, U.S. scholars of South Asian descent are adding…