Whether they are increasing student engagement or providing opportunities to work across disciplines, these U of T Engineering graduate students aim to improve engineering education both in Canada and around the world.
Kirstin Newfield (CivE PhD candidate) and Alan Fong (MIE MASc candidate) are enrolled in the Collaborative Program in Engineering Education (EngEd). Launched in 2014, the EngEd program allows master and doctoral students from either U of T Engineering or the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) to join the small community of scholars immersed in research and learning at the nexus of education and engineering practice. The program is the first of its kind in Canada.
Students apply to the program through their home departments, but are brought together at a weekly seminar course where they share ideas and discuss theoretical foundations, methods and topics related to engineering education. Students also take a core course that introduces them to engineering learning, knowledge, assessment, and culture and community.
“Our educational methods need to evolve to meet society’s changing needs — we can’t hope to educate the engineers of tomorrow using the teaching approaches of yesterday,” says Professor Greg Evans (ChemE), director of the EngEd program. “The EngEd program builds on the innovative work that many professors from U of T Engineering and OISE are already doing, and will help us find and shape tomorrow’s best practices.”
This story was originally posted on U of T Engineering News. Read the entire story here!
-Tyler Irving