Journal of Engineering Education Transformations

Sivakumar Krishnan ¹

Affiliations
1 Vishnu Educational Development and Innovation Center, Aziz Nagar, Sri Vishnu Engineering College for Women, Bhimavaram, IN

Abstract

More and more higher education administrators in India are recognizing the imperative need for new faculty development. Many 'fresher' engineering faculty are eager and motivated to teach using innovative teaching methods that are student-centred and experimenting in their classrooms. However very few of them have industry experience and most begin teaching right after their post graduation. Given this scenario, what approaches can they take to create practical and relevant content for their classes? A hierarchical organization structure also constraints many young faculty initiatives. Then, there are curricular constraints resulting from the affiliated or autonomous status of the institutions. How can faculty and management address these constraints as well as student resistance to new approaches? In this context, as part of the IIEECP (IUCEE-IGIP International Engineering Educator Certification Programme), an attempt has been made by several institutional leaders and IUCEE to offer faculty development workshops in 3 phases. The scope of this paper is restricted to the experience of seven Phase 1 3-day workshops involving approximately 300 faculty members from various engineering institutions in India. The workshop sessions were highly interactive including group discussions and activities. The paper will share short summaries of participant survey data and facilitator observations from the workshops. As mentioned in many forums on higher education in India, a concerted and holistic approach involving leadership of forward thinking private higher educational institutions as well as academic and administrative bodies is long due to address issues regarding educational effectiveness at higher education institutions in India.

Keywords

Faculty Development, Student-Centred Teaching, Education Leadership(Maximum 6 Keywords)

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A. Varun ¹, Sivakumar Krishnan ²

Affiliations
1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, B V Raju Institute of Technology, Narsapur, Telangana, 502313, IN
2 Director (Learning and Innovation), Vishnu Educational Development and Innovation Centre (VEDIC), Hyderabad, IN

Abstract

Engineering students have misconceptions that need to be addressed to improve their understanding of the subject especially in courses that involve several interlinked concepts. While approaches such as concept inventories and concept maps have been used in the past, the present study addresses the importance of learning assessment design with a clear understanding of the conceptual difficulties faced by students. This paper describes a series of diagnostic assessments conducted to understand the most common misconceptions encountered by the Engineering Metallurgy subject students in the 3rd semester of a B.Tech. program in Mechanical Engineering. The goal of this exploratory study was to ascertain whether this diagnostic approach could help the instructor guide the students towards correct responses through multiple interventions. The primary learning interventions included live classroom lectures, asynchronous assignments, blended mode group discussion and supplementary video lectures while secondary learning interventions included periodic postassessment reviews used for some topics. Multiplechoice questions were used for assessment and student responses were classified as correct, misconceptions or 'no basis' responses. The proposed diagnostic approach provides a framework for educators to identify best interventions suitable for specific topics and forms the basis for Outcome- Based Education. The study revealed that for 12 of the 14 topics considered in this tracking approach, a target percentage of correct responses was reached by the students while the number of 'no basis' responses were reduced significantly. The results from this study provide a basis for choosing topics where alternate learning designs could be implemented in the future.

Keywords

Misconception, Outcome-Based Education, Engineering Metallurgy.

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