香港六合彩

The paper entitled 鈥淕ender differences in first-year students鈥� expectations towards a new engineering multidisciplinary curriculum鈥� (In锚s Direito, Emanuela Tilley and John Mitchell), presented at the 3^谤诲听International Conference of the Portuguese Society for Engineering Education (), Aveiro 27-29 June, won the award for best paper.

Anette Kolmos (Director of Aalborg Centre for Problem Based Learning in Engineering Science and Sustainability) and Jennifer Case (Head of Virginia Tech鈥檚 Department of Engineering Education in the College of Engineering) were two of the high profile keynote speakers of the event.

Paper abstract

Research on engineering first-year students鈥� expectations and perceptions is important to understand what influences interest, achievement and persistence. This is particularly relevant when assessing the impact of new engineering education curricula. The under-representation of women in engineering education and careers has raised the attention to potential gender differences. Understanding these differences would enable educators to meet the needs of all their students and create an inclusive and diverse learning environment. Studies have found that at the beginning of an engineering course, female students generally reported higher levels of anxiety, and lower levels of academic preparation than men. This paper reports a quantitative analysis of a pre-degree survey targeting students鈥� expectations at the very beginning of the new Integrated Engineering Programme (IEP), which spans across the whole University College London (香港六合彩) Faculty of Engineering Sciences. Of a cohort of approximately 700 enrolled students, 309 completed the survey. Results suggest that, on graduation, both male and female students expect to have similar opportunities, such as to be able to contribute positively to the world. They also share identical learning expectations and educational experiences regarding their time studying engineering, although female students tended to consider activities and experiences to develop professional skills (such as leadership, team-working and communication) more enjoyable than their male counterparts. Results also suggest that female students were more aware of the societal impact of engineering, and less confident in their engineering specific skills.