Integrating Foreign Engineering Students in Project Groups-
A workshop on how to teach foreign engineering students
Collaboration, Learning and Project Management (CLP) –
Aalborg Universitet, onsdag den 29. oktober 2003
Background
Most engineering colleges and universities in Denmark offer part of or full study programmes in English, e.g. International Master degree programmes which are followed by Danish and foreign students alike. Problem based and project organised group work is increasingly being introduced as the study form at engineering educations and the Danish students will already be familiar with this study form while most of the foreign students are not. Therefore a number of initiatives have been taken to introduce the foreign students to the project organised study form and to help them develop the skills needed to cope with this study form.
This workshop will focus on how to teach foreign students the required skills, given that they come from different cultural backgrounds and learning traditions. While being aware that there may be problems of integrating foreign engineering students also in other study forms, the planning group assumes that this workshop will address a broad range of problems and therefore be relevant also to teachers in more traditional study forms. Based on inspiration from people, who have experience with teaching foreign students CLP, there will be workshops on how to improve this kind of teaching.
Aim
The overall aim of the workshop is to improve the process of integrating foreign engineering students into a Danish learning environment, with focus on problem-based and project-organised group work. This aim will be pursued by assisting teachers actively involved in the process uncover and prioritise areas of critical importance.
Outcome
Results of the workshop will be:
- a list of identified problem areas for CLP teachers as well as for project supervisors
- a list of useful literature on the subject
- a network of engineering teachers interested in the issue
Furthermore, it is our hope that after the workshop a majority of the participants will commit themselves to participate in educational experiments aimed at continued improvement within specific areas of CLP.
PROGRAM
09:00 – 09:30 Registration and coffee/tea
09:30 - 09:45 Welcome and introduction, Søren Hansen, the SLP-group, AAU
09:45 – 10:45 “Capacity Building for Development - New Solutions to Old Problems”, Johnny Baltzersen, Director, Copenhagen International Centre for Educational Development (cìced; www.ciced.dk)
10:45 – 11:00 Coffee/tea and cake
11:00 – 11:30 “East is East and West is West – can the Two meet?”, Xiang-yun Du, Ph.D. student, AAU
11:30 – 12:00 “Experiences from Intensive Introduction to PBL for International Students”, Peder Maribo, Engineering College of Århus
12:00 – 12:30 “The CLP-course at Master of International Environmental Management”, Claus Monrad Spliid, the SLP-group, AAU.
12:30 – 13:00 “Project Organized Learning – a course from the Master Programs Introduction Semester for foreign student in Electronics and Information Technology”, Lars Peter Jensen, the SLP-group, AAU.
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
14:00 – 14:15 Introduction to workshops, Mona Dahms, the SLP-group, AAU
14:15 – 15:15 Workshop about problemformulation
15:15 – 15:30 Coffee/tea and cake
15:30 – 16:30 Workshop about exchange of experiences
16:30 – 17:30 Workshop about new initiatives
17:30 – 18:00 Break
18:00 – 19:00 Dinner
19:00 – 19:45 Formation of groups for educational experiments, start-up of new initiatives
19:45 – 20:00 Summing up and goodbye, Søren Hansen, the SLP-group, AAU
Practical information
Time Wednesday, October 29th, 2003, from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Place Department of development and planning, Aalborg University, Fibigerstræde 13, DK – 9220 Aalborg Ø.
Price Participation in the workshop, incl. meals, is free of charge (What about materials for the workshop, as well as documentation afterwards – who will pay for that???)
Registration No later than Friday August 29th. Please register with:
Marianne Nyborg,
Department of development and planning, Aalborg University,
Fibigerstræde 13, DK – 9220 Aalborg Ø.
Tel. 96 35 83 08, e-mail:
In connection with planning of the workshops in the afternoon the planning group will appreciate any useful input from participants. Therefore you are encouraged to indicate your specific interests in the area when registering for the workshop. More detailed information about the workshops will be sent out in September.
Is there anything missing – any info that we need to include etc.??