May 14, 2013May 14, 2013 by shannonchance

Slammin’

Education Research, Research Blog
circuit, DIT, electronics, hacking, programming, Robot
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We are running a RoboSlam robot hacking workshop with high school (transition year) students here in Ireland. Having great fun and learning circuitry, programming, and lots more!

May 13, 2013 by shannonchance

Around Aveiro

Modernist architecture abounds in Portugal. This is particularly true on college campuses, since most were built after the mid 1970s.

Although the population is just 10.6 million, there are 24 schools of architecture!

I’ve included a few photos of buildings at the University of Aviero campus below.

Here’s a view of downtown Aveiro.

Jose gave a me a grand tour of the campus of the University of Aveiro.

It has many modernist buildings….

arranged around a central courtyard.

All with tropical modernist flair.

Our drive to Agueda was also full of sites, because bird nesting is encouraged along the highway here.

May 13, 2013 by shannonchance

PBL Credits in Águeda

Projects that students made in past years at the engineering school in Agueda.

I misunderstood the credit allotment for projects at Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão de Águeda. As it turns out, the project design courses carry credits in keeping with architecture design courses in the States. Jose sent me this explanation:

Hi Shannon,

Good to hear from you, and thanks for sharing your blogpost.

I am afraid, though, that you didn’t get the project dynamics right. Projects are awarded, on average, 6 ECTS, which is more than they get for each of the supporting courses (we call them that, too), which tend to have 3ECTS each. At the end of the semester, the groups of students have to write a report and there’s a public discussion of their work, before a panel that includes the project supervisor and, usually, an external member (from another HE institution or from industry). Students get individual grades for their project work.

In fact, the number of credits associated with project work (exclusively, not including the supporting courses) in the program is roughly 30% of the total number of credits.

Cheers,

José

May 13, 2013May 13, 2013 by shannonchance

PBL at the Polytechnic School of Águeda

The audience was composed of experts and students in engineering and education.

Visiting Portugal’s University of Aveiro some weeks ago provided me opportunities to speak with doctoral students and professors of engineering and education.

After I delivered a formal presentation to a small but enthusiastic group at the University of Aveiro’s Department of Education, my host, José Manuel Nunes de Oliveira drove me to the University’s satellite campus, known as the Polytechnic School of Águeda (or Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão de Águeda, Universidade de Aveiro) where he teaches engineering.

Jose and his colleagues use Problem-Based Learning to teach engineering students. They have formatted their classrooms to support group-based learning. (My DIT colleague, Gavin Duffy, visited Jose and his campus earlier in the year to see how they use space. He wanted their advice to help in the programming phase of DIT’s new engineering facilities.)

What impressed me most in touring the buildings and grounds of the Águeda campus, though, was that the students were all working in groups–and that they seemed to be doing so on every type of project.

Jose says that after the teachers introduce the group-learning approach in the first year, students embrace it and want to do everything this way.

I thought that Jose said that students receive credit for their topic courses (i.e.,those with specific engineering content), but not for their project work (I was wrong, as I explain in my subsequent blog). In architecture we refer to these technical/topic classes as “support courses.”

All the courses a students take in a semester at the Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão de Águeda help support the project they have been asked to do in groups. They are able to apply what they learn in the projects they design… but they don’t get formal credit for the design activities. In architecture in the USA, the design activities are assigned the most credit (typically 5-6 credit hours per semester) while each support course is generally worth just 3 credits. The architecture community tends to value the project or “design studio” work above all else.

Engineering students working together

Jose showed me around the various classroom and group-work spaces.

Students and teachers…

…can check out keys fro each space.

Student discussion

Example equipment

Lab

Lab

Materials storage

Group-learning lab

Most equipment they have is actual scale (i.e., the real thing) but this one is a model.

Students working together

Students (and teacher) working together

Group-learning lab

Past projects made by students…

…usually in groups.

Another past project

Even the business students on this campus work in teams.

Here, students work in the cafeteria.

Robots available for use in the machine shop/testing lab.

Past projects stored in the in the machine shop/testing lab.

Past projects

Equipment in the in the machine shop/testing lab.

This so reminds me of my days in architecture school…

…I learned to use all this equipment…

…and I machined parts of an airplane I was building with my dad.

I loved working in the wood and metal machine shops.

A project under development

Faculty offices — they clearly work together, too, based on the arrangement of desks!

May 9, 2013 by shannonchance

Inter-Changes: Reflections from Dublin and Beyond

Lisa Caulfield, Shannon Chance, Colleen Dube, and Kevin Whelan

Shannon Chance, Cynthia Mara, and Dave Chance

The staff of Fulbright Ireland and Notre Dame’s O’Connell House organized a spectacular event for last night. The opening of the photography exhibition was a highlight of my year here in Dublin. So many people were there who have been instrumental in making this year a success.

Fulbright hired Conor McCabe Photography to document the event, and purchased the photos posted on this page. I hope you’ll enjoy the photos as much as I do!

May 9, 2013 by shannonchance

My Interview about the Fulbright Inter-Country Lecturing Program

YouTube video of interview with Ali of Fulbright Belgium.

The Fulbright staff in Belgium interviewed me during my visit. They asked me to describe some of my experiences with the program and explain how I got involved in it.

I hope the interview is helpful to other Fulbright scholars and to academics who would like to invite Fulbright scholars to speak at their institutions.

And, I hope my friends will enjoy hearing about what I was up to during my recent travels in Portugal and Belgium as well.

May 9, 2013 by shannonchance

Officially Launched

William and Mary’s School of Education published a press release about last night’s photo launch. The event was such fun.

What an honor it was to have so many friends and colleagues attend!

Here are a few photos of the start of events… I got too swept away to take more photos myself. I hope others will send me some to share.

Colleen’s daughters welcomed people as they arrived.

Entry Hall with the labels installed.

Chatting with firmer Fulbright, Jimmy O’Brien-Moran.

Dave and Mom arriving at the opening.

May 7, 2013 by shannonchance

Student-Centered and Urban: Architectural Education at IST

The second stop of my Fulbright Inter-Country Lecturing visit was to the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST). One of the organizers of the day, José Figueiredo, explained to me that IST “is the biggest and oldest engineering school in Portugal.”

Professor Teresa Heitor lined up all kinds of fascinating events for me. The 60 first year architecture students presented their work to me (in English!). Then, they came along as their professors gave me a tour of all the architecture studios. We got a glimpse of what these particular students will encounter in the coming years, as they progress through the five-year architecture program at IST.

Their architectural education will be structured very, very much like ours in the USA.

Their design assignments will be quite similar as well, although the projects students encounter here do tend to have more of an urban focus than most programs I’ve visited in the US. (I serve on architectural accrediting teams and have visited many different schools in the US through conferences as well as accreditation visits. I have to say, however, that my home institution–Hampton University–has done a noteworthy job over the past decade of integrating urbanism into the curriculum. Of that, I have been proud.)

At IST, I was particularly impressed with what I learned from the first year professors. They’re doing a great job overcoming what I see as a big weakness in architectural education today. So many teachers around the globe focus on teaching students to make “signature buildings” and “modernist masterpieces” that other architects will love.

These teachers, instead, endeavor to draw out their students’ unique interests and abilities. Unlike the many teachers who seemingly want to “wipe the slate clean”, these professors seek to help students draw from the wealth of experience and knowledge they bring to the first year design studio.