What is interdisciplinary engineering education, how difficult is it to teach, and why is it considered an integral part of modern engineering studies?
We discussed this with Professor Jan van der Veen, who chairs the Eindhoven School of Education at TU Eindhoven in the Netherlands, where he focuses on teaching training and projects within engineering higher education. Jan was inspired by both his time as a physics teacher and the silos formed by different disciplines within higher education. Jan believes that interdisciplinary education is becoming more important for engineers who face complex problems such as progress towards the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He describes the differences between multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary and provides examples of integrating interdisciplinary within engineering programmes.
*must read show notes* https://www.sefi.be/2022/12/19/podcast-episode-4-european-engineering-educators-is-online/
Join Dr Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) for this informative discussion.
Thanks to Jan for tolerating both of us suffering from colds while recording!
Timestamps:
0.00 Abstract
0.40 Podcast intro
1.07 What we will talk about
1.21 Experiences of interdisciplinary from Neil and Natalie
2.45 Jan’s background
4.40 TU Eindhoven
5.28 What do we mean by interdisciplinary?
7.07 The need for interdisciplinary
8.00 Students’ perception of interdisciplinary
8.43 Terminology: multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, or transdisciplinary
10.22 Boundary crossing
11.48 Implementation, teaching teams and support
14.10 Example of interdisciplinary in action; Mechanical Engineering, Product Design and Business Studies.
15.51 Problems provided by external collaborators
17.31 Challenges
19.09 Opportunities for new degree programmes
22.40 Assessment of interdisciplinary skills
25.40 Disciplinary identities
28.00 The future of interdisciplinary
29.30 Final advice from Jan
30.28 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil.
Resources:
Eindhoven School of Education (tue.nl)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jee.20347
Become a member of the European Society for Engineering Education, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineering educators: www.sefi.be
Music by ComaStudio https://pixabay.com/users/comastudio-26079283/
Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint.
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