Paper presented at Engineering Education Research Network Annual Symposium 2017

1. Karen Wood, Chemical & Biological Engineering
karen.wood@sheffield.ac.uk | @ABCSheffield
Dr Gary C Wood, University of Sheffield Enterprise
g.c.wood@sheffield.ac.uk | @GC_Wood
Challenging Industries:
An enterprising module led by industry

2. University Industry Students
‘Value add’ PGT offer
- Reducing student
numbers, increasing
choices
‘Ready to work’ employees
- Skills to support
application of knowledge
Agreeing the Vision
- Work experience that
leads to employment
Why?
2

3. 3
Session Activity Session Activity
1 Bootcamp 6 Tutorial on business analysis
2 Visit from FDB – Dr Charles Heise 7 Group work and video chat
3 Industry Visit 8 Bringing blue sky back to earth
4 Tutorial – project template, context 9 Presentation skills
5 Creativity/Innovation – Thinking
outside the box
10 Working with business
What?

4. How?
4
Partnership building
Agreeing the Vision
Designing the Module
Pilot & Evaluation

5. How?
5
Partnership building
Agreeing the Vision
Designing the Module
Pilot & Evaluation

6. How?
6
Partnership building
Agreeing the Vision
Designing the Module
Pilot & Evaluation

7. Univ. of Sheffield Fujifilm Diosynth Students
Building networks
Understand industry needs
(research and teaching)
Understanding uni. offer &
identify industry projects
Understanding business
relevance of academic study
Ensuring relevance Collaborative opportunities Employability skills
Differentiation Work-ready graduates
Generate income Differentiation
Development potential
How?
7
Partnership building
Agreeing the Vision
Designing the Module
Pilot & Evaluation

8. Key take-home messages
● Industry Advisory Boards should be involved in L&T matters.
● Engage supportive industry partners early.
● Start from the skills rather than the specific engineering knowledge.
● Membership of the project team is important: education developers to
mediate industry expertise with education theory and best practice.
Academics are not necessarily well-placed to do this.
● Understand and agree the vision defined as learning outcomes.
● Keep the focus on skills rather than knowledge to avoids niche input from
industry partners – they all want the same skills.
8

9. Karen Wood, Chemical & Biological Engineering
karen.wood@sheffield.ac.uk | @ABCSheffield
Dr Gary C Wood, University of Sheffield Enterprise
g.c.wood@sheffield.ac.uk | @GC_Wood
Challenging Industries:
An enterprising module led by industry