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Strategies and Applications for Sustainable Engineering Education
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Strategies and Applications for Sustainable Engineering Education

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 26230

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Diana Mesquita

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Centre for Human Development (CEDH), Faculty of Education and Psychology, Portuguese Catholic University, 4169-005 Porto, Portugal
Interests: school management and organization; professional development; collaborative and professional learning; curriculum innovation; active learning
Dr. Rui M. Lima

E-Mail Website
Assistant Guest Editor
Algoritmi Research Center, Department of Production and Systems, School of Engineering, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal
Interests: industrial engineering and management; production management; lean and agile project management; lean healthcare; lean thinking; engineering education; project-based learning (PBL); active learning; university-business cooperation (UBC)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the last few decades, engineering education has been dealing with a demand for quick changes, in order to prepare engineers to deal with societal and technological challenges, in public and private sectors and in industries and services. A wide range of innovative initiatives have been conducted in terms of curriculum design in engineering programs, strategies to foster students’ engagement in active learning environments, and partnerships between university and industry, amongst other areas.

Currently, in order to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and COVID-19 recovery, engineering education challenges are even more complex. A new world implies the need to rethink a whole new engineer. Thus, academics, researchers, students, and practitioners need to be engaged in designing, developing, and evaluating strategies and applications for sustainable engineering education. With this in mind, this Special Issue looks for original research and empirical contributions to reflect on sustainable engineering education. Amongst other themes, this may include the following:

  • Sustainability initiatives in engineering education
  • Strategies to foster attractiveness of engineering to young people
  • Implementation of active learning strategies in disruptive contexts
  • Perspectives of engineering competences for a new world
  • Organizational initiatives to sustain engineering education

Dr. Diana Mesquita
Dr. Rui M. Lima
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Active Learning Strategies
  • Project-Based Learning
  • Curriculum Design
  • Engineering Competences
  • Teachers’ Training and Professional Development
  • STEAM Initiatives
  • University-Business Cooperation
  • Engineering Education Research
  • Sustainability in Engineering Education

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 1784 KiB  
Article
Implementation of Integrative Projects as a Contribution to the Major Design Experience in Chemical Engineering
by Carlos Ocampo-López, Fabio Castrillón-Hernández and Hader Alzate-Gil
Sustainability 2022, 14(10), 6230; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14106230 - 20 May 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2320
Abstract
The training of chemical engineers requires creating dynamics that bring them closer to the reality of professional practice and providing active learning experiences to develop skills that strengthen critical thinking, autonomy, teamwork, and communication, as a contribution to sustainable engineering education. However, these [...] Read more.
The training of chemical engineers requires creating dynamics that bring them closer to the reality of professional practice and providing active learning experiences to develop skills that strengthen critical thinking, autonomy, teamwork, and communication, as a contribution to sustainable engineering education. However, these experiences are isolated, and sometimes do not show an integrated vision between different areas of knowledge. This work aims to introduce the lessons learned by creating capstone integrative projects as tools for the design and control of processes in the Faculty of Chemical Engineering of the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana. The capstone project was developed in randomly selected groups to develop a basic engineering proposal for an industrial process of local or national interest. Validation was carried out, consisting of surveys of 54 students in the last year of the program, an opinion query of 60 recent graduates, and a focus group of five graduates, with a profile of employers, management of innovation, development, and design of chemical processes. Between 2016 and 2020, more than 43 processes were evaluated with students, evidencing a significant improvement in the skills defined by the faculty in the graduation profile. A total of 94% of the graduates in that period recognize the capstone project as an integrator of design and process control, and it is concluded that this contributes positively to the professional development of the chemical engineer. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategies and Applications for Sustainable Engineering Education)
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11 pages, 236 KiB  
Article
What Is Engineering and Who Are Engineers? Student Reflections from a Sustainability-Focused Energy Course
by Marissa H. Forbes, Susan M. Lord, Gordon D. Hoople, Diana A. Chen and Joel Alejandro Mejia
Sustainability 2022, 14(6), 3499; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063499 - 16 Mar 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2100
Abstract
In the spring of 2021, the University of San Diego’s Department of Integrated Engineering taught the course, “Integrated Approach to Energy”, the second offering of a new required course, to nine second-year engineering students. The sociotechnical course covered modern energy concepts, with an [...] Read more.
In the spring of 2021, the University of San Diego’s Department of Integrated Engineering taught the course, “Integrated Approach to Energy”, the second offering of a new required course, to nine second-year engineering students. The sociotechnical course covered modern energy concepts, with an emphasis on renewable energies and sustainability, and it exposed the students to other ways of being, knowing, and doing that deviated from the dominant masculine Western White colonial discourse. Following the course completion, we interviewed five students by using a semistructured protocol to explore how they perceived of and communicated about engineers and engineering. We sought to identify the takeaways from their course exposure to sustainability and the sociotechnical paradigm, which were central to the course. The findings suggest that the students were beginning to form sociotechnical descriptions, and that they were still developing their understanding and perceptions of engineers and engineering. Moreover, we observed that they were still wrestling with how best to integrate sustainability into those perceptions. There was an a-la-carte feel to the students’ conceptualizations of sustainability as it related to engineering, as in, “you can ‘do’ sustainability with engineering, but do not have to”. We argue that engineering students likely need these pedagogical paradigms (sociotechnical engineering and sustainability) woven through the entirety of their engineering courses if they are to fully accept and integrate them into their own constructs about engineers and engineering. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategies and Applications for Sustainable Engineering Education)
13 pages, 909 KiB  
Article
Mobile Learning Acceptance Post Pandemic: A Behavioural Shift among Engineering Undergraduates
by Jeya Amantha Kumar, Sharifah Osman, Mageswaran Sanmugam and Rasammal Rasappan
Sustainability 2022, 14(6), 3197; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063197 - 9 Mar 2022
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2679
Abstract
Mobile learning has become an essential telematic tool to facilitate and compliment online teaching and learning during the pandemic. This study investigates the change of behaviour and acceptance of using mobile learning specifically for engineering undergraduates due to this shift. The data collected [...] Read more.
Mobile learning has become an essential telematic tool to facilitate and compliment online teaching and learning during the pandemic. This study investigates the change of behaviour and acceptance of using mobile learning specifically for engineering undergraduates due to this shift. The data collected pre-Covid19 (n = 326) and post-pandemic (n = 349) indicated an inclination for utilizing laptops than smartphones, while Telegram prevails as a popular tool for communicating and sharing information within the learning community. Next, while video conferencing tools and online learning management systems utilization increased, educational games and reading behaviour via mobile devices declined. Concurrently, behavioural intention post-pandemic were found to reduce marginally as importance were also given towards establishing learning communities via social influence compared to perceived usefulness. The outcome of this study contributes to the limited body of literature on engineering education mobile learning acceptance, and recommendations are provided for further investigation to ensure continuous sustainable use. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategies and Applications for Sustainable Engineering Education)
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10 pages, 383 KiB  
Article
Virtualizing Project-Based Learning: An Abrupt Adaptation of Active Learning in the First Days of the COVID-19 Pandemic, with Promising Outcomes
by Marco Antonio Carvalho Pereira, Luísa Miranda Nunes da Costa Ignácio and Cristiano E. Rodrigues Reis
Sustainability 2022, 14(1), 363; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010363 - 30 Dec 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1563
Abstract
Project-based learning (PBL) is renowned as an active learning practice that promotes the application of the accumulation of knowledge through real-world and often open-ended problems. This work assesses a case evaluation of an introductory PBL course in a typical industrial engineering curriculum in [...] Read more.
Project-based learning (PBL) is renowned as an active learning practice that promotes the application of the accumulation of knowledge through real-world and often open-ended problems. This work assesses a case evaluation of an introductory PBL course in a typical industrial engineering curriculum in Brazil. This course is taken during the first semester, in which students must develop solutions for a single given problem through weekly meetings. The case presented herein highlights the forced abrupt virtualization of the learning process, which imposed an unprecedented scenario on the students and instructors, especially with regard to this course, which is based primarily on presented discussions and activities. The first weeks of class following the abrupt virtualization of activities encountered misinformation and a lack of clarity about the adaptation of the activities. Fortunately, through rapid iterations, the adjustment process resulted in time invested by the students and classes, with an active discussion, using the tools made available by the university. This work aims to present the forced abrupt changes applied to this first-semester course, highlighting the challenges faced, and the positive outcomes obtained and observed by both the students and the instructor, and to make a comparison to the evolution of the course over the past years. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategies and Applications for Sustainable Engineering Education)
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28 pages, 4714 KiB  
Article
Comparing Competency Assessment in Electronics Engineering Education with and without Industry Training Partner by Challenge-Based Learning Oriented to Sustainable Development Goals
by Graciano Dieck-Assad, Alfonso Ávila-Ortega and Omar Israel González Peña
Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10721; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910721 - 27 Sep 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 5196
Abstract
This study assessed the “creation of technological solutions for electronic devices” competencies evaluation when faculty–industry liaison is available. This experience at Tecnológico de Monterrey (TEC) was developed with challenge-based learning provided by the automotive electronics industry addressing subjects oriented toward some objectives of [...] Read more.
This study assessed the “creation of technological solutions for electronic devices” competencies evaluation when faculty–industry liaison is available. This experience at Tecnológico de Monterrey (TEC) was developed with challenge-based learning provided by the automotive electronics industry addressing subjects oriented toward some objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Electronics Engineering faculty and project engineers from automotive electronics and instrumentation companies promote design competencies in college students. This study analyzed the competency performance and outcome results of students who took applied electronics courses for the undergraduate level under the “i-Semester with industrial partner” for one semester and compared results with students that took the course under the traditional program. The competence evaluation was classified into three preliminary domain levels: 1 or low-level, 2 or medium-level, and 3 or high-level. Students were exposed to the conceptual, procedural, and attitudinal contents applied to solve the challenge assigned by the industrial partner. Students with an industrial partner showed a higher engagement, and they were more motivated in learning the subject, compared to students having classes in the traditional way. This study showed that in developing the competency “create technological solutions for electronic devices”, 55 students with an industrial partner obtained higher domain levels than 61 students with the traditional course. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategies and Applications for Sustainable Engineering Education)
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22 pages, 1592 KiB  
Article
Teacher Competences for Active Learning in Engineering Education
by Renato Martins Neves, Rui M. Lima and Diana Mesquita
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9231; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169231 - 17 Aug 2021
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 3686
Abstract
The implementation of active learning strategies in engineering education still encounters barriers when facing conventional teaching-learning practices. This work aims to contribute to the discussion on teachers’ pedagogical competences required for active learning. This contribution is developed from the perceptions of 205 engineering [...] Read more.
The implementation of active learning strategies in engineering education still encounters barriers when facing conventional teaching-learning practices. This work aims to contribute to the discussion on teachers’ pedagogical competences required for active learning. This contribution is developed from the perceptions of 205 engineering teachers of Brazilian higher education institutions, centered on significant teaching competences necessary for teachers of engineering courses and how to develop them in the active learning context. The results show that essential competences identified by the participants are (I) teamwork (teachers’ cooperation); (II) teacher–student relationships (empathy); (III) feedback about students’ performance throughout the learning process; (IV) information and communication technology (ICT) competences; (V) selecting and adapting the teaching-learning methodologies to the class context; and (VI) creativity. A complementary logistic regression model suggested that female Ph.D. full-time teachers are more likely to employ active learning. Differences in active learning adoption among Brazilian regions were also captured by the model. The identified competences are essential for the sustainability of the innovation of teaching practices in the context of active learning, which may be used to inform more effective professional training of engineering teachers in the current globalized scenario. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategies and Applications for Sustainable Engineering Education)
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20 pages, 898 KiB  
Article
Students’ Preference Analysis on Online Learning Attributes in Industrial Engineering Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Conjoint Analysis Approach for Sustainable Industrial Engineers
by Ardvin Kester S. Ong, Yogi Tri Prasetyo, Michael Nayat Young, John Francis T. Diaz, Thanatorn Chuenyindee, Poonyawat Kusonwattana, Nattakit Yuduang, Reny Nadlifatin and Anak Agung Ngurah Perwira Redi
Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8339; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158339 - 26 Jul 2021
Cited by 30 | Viewed by 7188
Abstract
The decline of enrollees for industrial engineering during the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing demand for professional industrial engineers should be explored. The purpose of this study was to determine the preference of industrial engineering students of different educational levels on online learning [...] Read more.
The decline of enrollees for industrial engineering during the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing demand for professional industrial engineers should be explored. The purpose of this study was to determine the preference of industrial engineering students of different educational levels on online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this study utilized conjoint analysis with orthogonal design considering seven attributes: delivery type, layout, term style, final requirements, Coursera requirements, seatwork and practice sets, and platforms. Among the attributes, 20 stimuli were created through SPSS and were answered voluntarily by 126 respondents utilizing a 7-point Likert Scale. The respondents were comprised of 79 undergraduate, 30 fully online master’s degree, and 17 master’s and doctorate degree students collected through purposive sampling. One university from the two available universities that offer all educational levels of IE in the Philippines was considered. The results showed that undergraduate students considered the final requirements with multiple-choice as the highest preference, followed by non-modular term style, and no seatwork and practice sets. In addition, fully online master’s degree students considered delivery type with the mix as the highest preference, followed by layout, and no seatwork and practice sets. Finally, master’s and doctorate degree students considered final requirements with publication as the highest preference, followed by no seatwork and practice sets, and mix delivery type. The students are technologically inclined, want to learn at their own pace, know where and how to get additional online learning materials, but still need the guidance of teachers/professors. The results would help contribute to the theoretical foundation for further students’ preference segmentation, specifically on online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Moreover, the design created could be utilized for other courses in measuring students’ preference for online learning even after the COVID-19 pandemic. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategies and Applications for Sustainable Engineering Education)
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