1. Online Learning and the Future of
Engineering Education
Pieter de Vries
1

2. Please attribute to
Pieter de Vries
pieter.devries@tudelft.nl
2

3. Delft University of Technology
• Delft University of Technology was
founded in 1842 by King William II.
• It is the oldest and largest University
of Technology in the Netherlands.
• The 8 faculties offer 15 Bachelor’s
courses and 29 Master’s courses in
comprehensive programmes of
education and research.
3

4. Faculties
Applied
Sciences
Electrical
Engineering,
Mathematics and
Computer Science
Architecture
Mechanical
Civil Engineering
and Geosciences
Aerospace
Engineering
Technology, Policy
and Management
Industrial
Design Engineering
Engineering &
Marine Technology
4

5. Research areas systems engineering
•Gaming
•Learning
•Collaboration
•Simulation
•Decision
Making
5

6. What do I do?
Organizational Learning & Technology
•
Capacity building for online learning
•
Expereince Informal and self-directed learning
•
Social media and other technologies
•
Business related learning analytics
•
Participatory systems design
•
Chair of the SEFI work group on Educational Technologies
6

7. My student
I can answer any question you have
in less than 5 minutes!
7

8. Web 2.0 Ingredients
8

9. 9

10. It’s all about content
10

11. E-content
11

12. Demands from industry
Collaboration
International Teams
International Communities
Multi-Tasking
Proactive
Creative
Networked learning
Skills development and maintenance
12

13. Beyond the workplace
•
Changing Demographics – 40% of the workforce
will retire or significantly reduce work between
now and 2020. Severe shortage of skilled
workers.
•
Technology is changing at an unprecedented rate.
•
“The objective is creating the capacity for
innovation.” We need thinkers and doers to
maintain our quality of life, and prepare students
for the jobs that not yet exist.
13

14. Trends in the industry
14

15. Formal and informal learning
Learning activities and their relevance (Sara Lee/KPMG 2005 by Weistra)
15

16. Informal and social learning
80% of the informatin we need ……
Colleagues
Small talk
Mobile phone
Internet
Networks
Mentors
Blogs
Experts
Cooperation
Work groups
Newspaper
Handbooks
Instruction leaflet
Pod Casts
Wikis
Twitter
Virtual Libraries
Documents
Key words
Tags
16

17. Informal
Close to the
workplace
Performance driven
Learning on demand
Just-in-time
Just enough
Hopefully right
No reuse policy
17

18. Micro learning management
for self-directed learning
Always organized in the same way:
•3 min
1. Active start
•6 min
2. Exercise / Demonstration
•4 min
3. Feedback/ Discussion
•2 min
Introduction
4. Conclusion: What’s next? How do we learn more?
Series of Sessions on sub-issues
Conclusion
•etc.
•etc.
18

19. Lean production
19

20. Observation
Peter Drucker:
“We will redefine what it means to be an educated
person. Traditionally an educated person was
someone who had a prescribed stock of formal
knowledge. Increasingly, an educated person will be
someone who has learned how to learn, and who
continues learning throughout his or her lifetime.”
20

21. 21st century learning skills
21

22. Traditional Engineering Education
•
Highly sequential, a pyramid of prerequisites
•
Highly specialized within majors
•
Little flexibility (few free electives)
•
Stress scientific analysis rather than design and
synthesis
•
Very much technical content at the expense of a
broader, liberal education
22

23. Trends in Education
Open Educational Resources
Learning analytics
Massive Open Online Courses
23

24. Open educational resources
24

25. Learning analytics
Siemens & Long, 2011
25

26. Educational industry 2.0
•edX
•Coursera
•Udacity
Mittelpunkt steht ein digitaler Studienkonfigurator, der es
erlaubt, das Studium nach den persönlichen Bedürfnissen,
Fachrichtung, Budget, Zeit und Abschluss frei zu kombinieren.
Glubal entstand aus einer Kooperation der Neuen Zürcher
Zeitung und Trommsdorff + Drüner, innovation + marketing
consultants GmbH.
www.glubal.com
26

27. Major online education efforts
27

28. 28

29. We need new learning strategies
…… for the next ‘generation’ of learners, customers
and co-workers
• Learning 2.0 inevitable
• Informal learning is critical
• Continuous learning
• Learning analytics
• Sustainable solutions
• Change thinking to cope with disruptive
technologies
29

30. Imagine the future

Intensify collaboration with the industry


Innocentive – idea marketplaces
Education and research

Teachers and students working on the same set of questions
with the same tools

Dump the curriculum, stimulate enterpreneurship


Networked learning


Let students find out what they want and need to know
Combine teaching with online communities & open education
Universities as meta-accreditors

Control of content, quality of online communities, badges,
reputation
30

31. Positioning of the
next generation universities
1st Generation
2nd Generation
3rd Generation
Scholasticism
Enlightment
Sustainability
Education oriented
Research oriented
Valorization oriented
Latin as lingua franca
Mother tongue
English as lingua franca
High mobility
Low mobility
Virtual mobility
Oral dissemination
Journal dissemination
Open access dissemination
Ruled by religion
Ruled by government
Ruled by market
Van der Zanden, 2009.
31

32. Join the discussion
SEFI working group on Educational Technologies
www.sefi.be
Pieter.devries@tudelft.nl
32