CGHE webinar series | Webinar 1 – Enabling change: Science and engineering programme leaders’ reflections on educational intentions
- Reneé Smit, Centre for Research in Engineering Education, University of Cape Town
- Jan McArthur, Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University
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This opening webinar in the ‘Exploring the outcomes of educating scientists and engineers’ series will set the scene for understanding the impact of studying science and engineering by focusing on the intentions and aspirations of the academics responsible for the students’ programmes of study, drawing on interviews with six senior academic staff exploring overarching questions about their programmes. These interviews gave us data in-between and spanning the student and graduate data: insights into the often-complex history of the programmes, and the intentions to facilitate the transition of students beyond the university. The interviews express the aspirational views of programme leaders, on the educational and wider purposes of the programmes.
In the first part of this webinar, Reneé will use the interview data to compare and contrast the educational intentions of the degree programmes as expressed by leaders on the chemistry and chemical engineering programmes. Using a Bernsteinian lens to speak to disciplinary difference, we attempt to analytically separate a ‘professional’ degree programme from a ‘pure’ disciplinary one in similar contexts. In the second part of this webinar, Jan will offer a complementary view of the broader social, and social justice, intentions of the programme leaders. In what ways, if at all, do they aspire to their programmes offering a transformational role that goes beyond employment, discipline or profession?
Event Materials
This event is now archived and we are pleased to provide the following event media and assets, along with the original event overview.
Event Notes
This webinar is part of the CGHE webinar series on ‘Exploring the outcomes of educating scientists and engineers’. Find out more about the other webinars here.
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Reneé Smit is Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Electrical Engineering, and current Director of the Centre for Research in Engineering Education (CREE) at the University of Cape Town. Her research interest lies at the intersection of professional education in engineering, including the formation of an engineering identity, and the applied philosophy of engineering. The research has implications for educating engineers, but also for collaborative work between practitioners in science and engineering.
Jan McArthur is Head of Department and Senior Lecturer in Education and Social Justice in the Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University. Her research focuses on how the purposes of higher education relate to teaching, learning and assessment. Her most recent article, “Rethinking Authentic Assessment”, applies critical theory to our understanding of assessment. She has previously published two monographs, Rethinking Knowledge in Higher Education (Bloomsbury) exploring how Adorno’s critical theory can inform our understanding of, and engagement with, knowledge in higher education; and Assessment for Social Justice (Bloomsbury), using Honneth’s conceptualisation of mutual recognition to rethink the nature of assessment.
