Exploring Teaching for Active Learning in Engineering Education (ETALEE)

The present paper presents the results of an experiment of close collaboration between two courses at the fourth semester at the bachelor programme ‘Process and Innovation’ at Technical University of Denmark. The two courses are Innovation and Knowledge Management (IKM) and Innovation in an Organisation Context (P4). Design-based learning has been used as a learning philosophy in both courses. The two courses shared six hospital cases at Herlev/Gentofte Hospital in the Region of the Capital of Denmark. The aim of the collaboration was to emphasize the students understanding of the organizational context in order to generate more value for the case-partners. Initially the students conduct an in-depth organisational analysis of a hospital department in the IKM course, followed by problem definition and an innovative process in the P4 course. The case partners answered with some variation that they recognized that the groups had taken the context into consideration e.g. economic and organizational issues and that it led to a more comprehensive understanding of the problem they solved, and to value creation in the proposed solutions. For some of the case partners the value generation did not primarily came from the final solution but from the initial analysis and inspirational discussions between staff members about the organisational context and situations from daily practice at the hospital. As an additional finding, this led us to explore the concept of premature closure of the problem definition. We concluded, that our actual framing of design based learning, based on Design Thinking and Double Diamond do not address the problem of premature closure. Based on literature we suggest a re-interpretation of design-based learning with “design as a hermeneutic practice” as its core.

[1]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Communities of practice: A brief introduction , 2009 .

[2]  Ghislaine M. Lawrence.  The social construction of technological systems: new directions in the sociology and history of technology , 1989, Medical History.

[3]  Dwayne Spradlin,et al.  Are you solving the right problem? , 2016, IEEE Engineering Management Review.

[4]  Ashley Garlick.  Experiential Learning: rationale, approaches and implications for practice in Events Management and Hospitality courses , 2014 .

[5]  Benjamin S. Bloom,et al.  A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives , 2000 .

[6]  Ib Ravn.  The learning conference , 2007 .

[7]  B. Sortland.  Læringsarena for tverrfaglig samarbeid - Eksperter i team , 2015 .

[8]  Luke Pittaway,et al.  Assessment: Examining Practice in Entrepreneurship Education , 2012 .

[9]  Richard E. Clark,et al.  Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching , 2006 .

[10]  D. Mair,et al.  The Teaching of Mathematics , 1912, Nature.

[11]  David Rae,et al.  Developing an entrepreneurial mindset in US engineering education: an international view of the KEEN project , 2017 .

[12]  Pernille Hammar Andersson,et al.  Improving innovation and multidisciplinary competences among bachelor of engineering students , 2017 .

[13]  D. Kolb.  Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development , 1983 .

[14]  C. Bonwell,et al.  Active learning : creating excitement in the classroom , 1991 .

[15]  Shell Education,et al.  Professional Learning Communities , 2015 .

[16]  Vicki A. Vescio,et al.  A review of research on the impact of professional learning communities on teaching practice and student learning , 2008 .

[17]  Seth Rose.  A Spreadsheet Approach to the Hydrological Cycle , 1997 .

[18]  Flemming Kobberøe Fink,et al.  The Aalborg PBL model : progress, diversity and challenges , 2004 .

[19]  Stan Majoor,et al.  Progressive Planning Ideals in a Neo-liberal Context, the Case of Ørestad Copenhagen , 2008 .

[20]  E. Graaff,et al.  Characteristics of Problem-Based Learning * , 2022 .

[21]  J. Schaubroeck,et al.  Achievement Goals, Feedback, and Task Performance , 2010 .

[22]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity , 1998 .

[23]  Pia Hurmelinna-Laukkanen,et al.  Finding the right problems to solve: value creation unpacked , 2012 .