Teaching, Learning and Research in Engineering Education

M. Raja Reddy

“The educational role of faculty members is not to

impart knowledge; it is to design learning

environments that support the process of knowledge

acquisition “

“Educate, Enlighten, Inspire ”

We are here to……

Our Roles

Teaching

• Conventional curricula teaching neither helps the students nor faculty

• May be useful to get marks and get the degree, but not the skills required for employability

Problem-based learning

• PBL is a way of constructing and teaching courses using problems as the stimulus and focus for student activities. The goals are– To develop students' thinking or reasoning skills (problem solving, critical

thinking) and;– To help the students become independent, self-directed learners (learning to

learn, learning management).

• Engage a challenge (problem, complex task, and situation) with initiative and enthusiasm;

• Reason effectively, accurately, and creatively from an integrated, flexible, usable knowledge base;

• Monitor and assess their own adequacy to achieve a desirable outcome given a challenge;

• Address their own perceived inadequacies in knowledge and skills effectively

• and efficiently; Collaborate effectively as a member of a team working to achieve a common goal.

PBL benefits to learning

• The PBL learning environment is more stimulating.• Learning and teaching is more enjoyable for students and faculty in

PBL • PBL promotes interaction between students and faculty.• Self-directed learning skills are enhanced and retained in PBL

learning .• PBL fosters self-directed learning skills.• PBL promotes interaction between different disciplines.• PBL promotes collaboration between students .• PBL enables reflection-in-action.• PBL enables students to spend more time on self-directed learning

activities using more information resources .• PBL enables staff to have more contact with students

How to prepare new course

• Start preparing as soon as you know you’ll be teaching a particular course

• Don’t reinvent the wheel

• Write detailed learning objectives, give them to the students as study guides, and let the objectives guide the construction of lesson plans, assignments, and tests.

• Get feedback during the course

• Do everything you can to minimize new preps early in your career, and especially try to avoid having to deal with several of them at a time

Preparing for the lecture

• Decide on a reasonable amount of time to prepare for a lecture and stick to it.

• Organize your lecture around your learning objective(s). When you identify what you want

• Preview lecture content and learning objectives.

• Write clear detailed notes for yourself.

• Prepare lots of visuals.

• Plan demonstrations whenever possible.

• If it isn’t written down, it will be ignored.

• If possible use the video of your lecture before you step in to class room.

During lecturing

• Come to the classroom a little before class begins to talk informally with students..

• Learn the students’ names and use them.

• Make eye contact. Don’t read notes or talk to the board.

• Cue students on important points.

• Make effective use of the board.

• Don’t be afraid to pause periodically..

• Ask questions periodically, not just, “Is that clear?” or “Do you have any questions?”

• Avoid calling on individual students cold

• Use technology wisely.

• Have students individually write responses to questions in class.

• Respond with respect to student comments, questions, and answers.

• Don’t bluff in response to student questions.

• Summarize occasionally during the lecture and always at the end…or get students to do it.

• Remember the colleague who will follow you in the classroom. End on time. Erase the board.

Teaching engineering

• Teach the unit with practical examples

• Do few samples in the class and give the assignments to the students to do.

• Examples

• Digital electronics with logic gates shall be explained with more on transistor level rather with blocks.

• Mechanical machine design with CAD models

• Electrical problems with MATLAB simulation

Why undergraduate research

• Engages and empowers students in hands-on learning

• Enhances the student learning experience through mentoring relationships with faculty

• Provides effective career preparation & promotes interest in graduate education

• Develops critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, self confidence, and intellectual independence

• Promotes an innovation-oriented culture

Why pursue undergraduate research?

• Research experiences provide opportunities to

integrate and use what you learn in class as

well as to develop marketable skills.

• Research experiences allow you to explore

your interests and passions.

• Research experiences help you stand out on

the job market.

• Undergraduate research is self-directed work under the

guidance and supervision of a mentor/advisor ― usually

your professor.

• Next level will be working independently once you gain

confidence and is able to work with minor supervision.

• Students are normally participate in an ongoing research

project and investigate phenomena of interest to them and

their advisor.

What is the research at undergraduate level?

Undergraduate Research

• When should I get involved in undergraduate research?

– It is recommended that you get involved in research as

early as possible. Ample undergraduate research experience

gives you an edge in the eyes of potential employers.

• How much time should I allocate to research?

–The quick answer is as much as possible without

jeopardizing your course work.

–The rule of thumb is to spend 3 to 4 hours working in the

lab week.

–However, depending on the project, some progress can be

achieved in just 3-4 hours of research/week. Most advisors

would recommend 8-10 hours/week

Undergraduate Research

• What will I learn by participating in an undergraduateresearch program?

– Conducting a research project involves a series of steps that start atthe inquiry level and end in a report. In the process, you learn to:• Conduct scientific literature searches• Read, interpret and extract information from journal articles relevant to the

project• Design experimental procedures to obtain data and/or products of interest• Operate instruments and implement laboratory techniques not usually available in

laboratories associated with course work• Interpret results, reach conclusions, and generate new ideas based on results• Interact professionally (and socially) with students and professors within the

research group, department and school as well as others from different schools,countries, cultures and backgrounds

• Communicate results orally and in writing to other peers, mentors, facultyadvisors, and members of the scientific community at large via the followinginformal group meeting presentations, reports to mentor/advisor, posterpresentations at college-wide, regional, national or international meetings; formaloral presentations at scientific meetings; or journal articles prepared forpublication

The Changing Nature of Research

► Use-inspired– Addressing social concerns, national needs and/or global

challenges

► The quest for innovation– New research approaches and complex questions

– National competitiveness

► Interdisciplinary, collaborative teams

► The impact of information technology– Massive databases/data mining

– Online access to primary literature

– Continental scale projects

– Global collaborations through social networking

Value of Undergraduate Research for Students

►High impact practice for student engagement & learning

“Many of the benefits of undergraduate research are aligned

with three of the essential learning outcomes intellectual and practical skills, personal and social responsibility, and integrative and applied learning.

Value of Undergraduate Research for Faculty

►Faculty vitality

“ Undergraduate research is beneficial to faculty. The fresh

perspectives and questions from students can be productively challenging, and the research can provide a bridge between the two poles of publication and teaching. When working with undergraduates on research, there’s no boundary between teaching and scientific exploration.”

“Faculty will achieve most when their teaching has lively connections with their role as expert scholars…”

Research apart from teaching

Teaching

Research

Research becomes another burdensome task or something you have to “escape” from teaching to do.

Research as a part of teaching

Teaching

Research

Teaching and research help improve one another!

Teaching: the research added value

• Introducing new knowledge resulted from research into curriculum – provides clear clarity,

• Visibility of staff research activity to students;

Teaching and Research synergy at the faculty level

• Needs balance between teaching and research• The teacher is able to give accurate and up-to-

date information to students with relevant examples rather than second-hand knowledge from textbooks.

• The teacher’s research is also beneficial when presented and opened to challenges from students. This could in turn stimulate new research directions.

• Teaching could be a recruitment platform for attracting students with a passion for research.

Teaching and Research synergy at student level

• Postgraduate level, the synergy is very rich as the learner is in a transition towards the status of a qualified researcher.

• undergraduate level, the student participation in research is more reduced and therefore the synergy is at a lower level, being done in principal with the purpose to train students to become independent learners

• student participation in research events (e.g. seminars, lectures, conferences and colloquia);

• undergraduate and taught postgraduate involvement in staff research

Teaching and research synergy in the context of Institute – industry cooperation

synergy between teaching and research allows them to offer much competitive prices for the new knowledge generated and delivered.

Teaching-Research synergy - a key factor for the entrepreneurial university

• Helping research reorientation towards more feasible and marketable topics and contracts with industry

• Helping research to turn into real solutions able to produce entrepreneurial opportunities.

• Grant acquisition both for research and education innovation

• Innovation and technological transfer, especially through firm creation and spin off companies

How to write a research proposal

• Identify your areas of interest• Prepare sketch with broad objectives• Segment the total problem with small parts• Prepare your strengths and skills and look for partner to

work along with you.• Team work always wins the game• Prepare the research proposal and ask the expert to wet

with his comments.• Prepare the reasonable budget and time frame• Select the funding agency • Submit with standard format.• Engage the students to work on planned research work for

their project requirements

How to work on publications

• Select your research topic and study the literature and identify the gaps and plan a bridge.

• If it is theoretical model work on and develop clear understandable methodology.

• Develop the mathematical formulae and derive the parameters needed.

• Verify with published measured parameters and provide the insight in explaining the data.

• Interdisciplinary problems are very good for solving

What benefits research publications

• Research publications, patents show the quality of your research work.

• You be invited as resource person for chairing the session n the conference, workshops and seminars –results visibility in the technology world

• Quality publications in good reputed journals with high impact factor will make you key decision maker.

• You will be invited as member of top bodies in government organizations

• You may be the consultant for high tech companies with big income

Final note

• You have lot of opportunities to improve teaching, learning and research

• Develop innovative ways of teaching, learning and research for both graduate and undergraduate engineering.

• Provides connectivity with industry, national laboratories, government organizations as specialist.

Thanks