2014 iNEER Engineering Education Conferences: an overview

Speaker: Vojislav "Vic" Ilic

Affiliation: University of Western Sydney

Time: Monday 15/12/2014 from 14:00 to 15:00

Venue: Access Grid UWS. Presented from Campbelltown (26.1.50), accessible from Parramatta (EB.1.32) and Penrith (Y239).

Abstract:

Online Learning is widely practiced, mostly in a blend of face-to-face and e-learning. It is mostly a continuation of what is practiced already in secondary schools, and is seen as students useful primer for life long learning. Staff and students both benefit by the blend, adopted in earnest by the SCEM last year. International Conference on Engineering Education (ICEE) in June 2014 held in Riga, Latvia focused on Blended Learning and SCEM provided a well received input there.

In August 2014, another conference sponsored by the International Network for Engineering Education, ICEER (International Conference for Engineering Education and Research) was hosted by McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada with a focus on Experiential Learning. Seen as an essential ingredient of Engineering Practice, it is being promoted there with a help of bench top 3D printers in the First Year Engineering. SCEM provided a welcome input to this conference as well.

This seminar describes highlights of both INEER conferences as well as an interesting visit to the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA.

Biography: A SCEM Adjunct Fellow into his second year, Vic spent 16 years as a full time academic with UWS, teaching varied aspects of Mechanical Engineering. His expertise and main interest has been Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences 2013 honed at ANSTO and CSIRO although he easily adapted to any teaching needs as they arose (Biomedical Engineering, Engineering Ethics, Mechatronic Design, etc). Through these endeavours he developed an interest in Engineering Education, with regular contributions to conferences at home and abroad. He much enjoyed hospitality of his overseas colleagues at Dartmouth College, NH, University of California, UCSB, CA as well as University of Belgrade.