Beverley Gibbs PhD CEng FIET

Across higher education, increasing regulation and a focus on student satisfaction and experience have stimulated a proliferation of student engagement activities aimed at driving positive change. Nevertheless, we are not seeing the transformative changes we seek. We position this as a dual problem of focus and organisational learning. In examining focus, we draw on two-factor theory as a lens through which to interrogate and prioritise the many actionable findings that can result from student… Show more

Across higher education, increasing regulation and a focus on student satisfaction and experience have stimulated a proliferation of student engagement activities aimed at driving positive change. Nevertheless, we are not seeing the transformative changes we seek. We position this as a dual problem of focus and organisational learning. In examining focus, we draw on two-factor theory as a lens through which to interrogate and prioritise the many actionable findings that can result from student engagement practice. We further demonstrate the power of action research approach to student engagement in driving double-loop learning in educators – a deeper, more transformative, mechanism for organisational learning. This work contributes to an area of student engagement that is considered by many to be under-theorised – the lack of clear understanding and agreement as to the processes and conditions under which student engagement can achieve the transformative effect we pursue. Show less

Capturing approaches and exoeriences being taken in the middle of the first pandemic lockdown, with case studies from contributors across the UK. Student narratives are included, providing a unique insight into the experiences of engineering students in their own words.

A short practice paper providing an account of our work, over five years, introducing student reflection as an aid to effective learning. We share four interventions that provided reflection opportunities with varying degrees of formality and at various points in the learning process. Interventions took place with MSc and MEng finalists, all at FHEQ Level 7. We offer a high-Level evaluation of these interventions, and share our conclusions on the purposes, efficacy and power of reflection for… Show more

A short practice paper providing an account of our work, over five years, introducing student reflection as an aid to effective learning. We share four interventions that provided reflection opportunities with varying degrees of formality and at various points in the learning process. Interventions took place with MSc and MEng finalists, all at FHEQ Level 7. We offer a high-Level evaluation of these interventions, and share our conclusions on the purposes, efficacy and power of reflection for engineering students. Our experiences have caused us to focus much more closely on the structuring power of various stimuli for reflection, and the learning design choices that influence the long-term impact – reaching into professional practice – that students can glean from reflection in learning. Show less

If it is understood that engineers are ‘turning dreams to reality,’ then educators share the responsibility for supporting engineers in developing the capacities to consider the future impacts of their decisions. Yet even the most competent engineer's decisions can contribute to macro-ethical failures that arise from narrow problem framing, unevenly distributed risks and benefits, or design solutions unfit for their intended social and cultural contexts. This paper describes how macro-ethical… Show more

If it is understood that engineers are ‘turning dreams to reality,’ then educators share the responsibility for supporting engineers in developing the capacities to consider the future impacts of their decisions. Yet even the most competent engineer's decisions can contribute to macro-ethical failures that arise from narrow problem framing, unevenly distributed risks and benefits, or design solutions unfit for their intended social and cultural contexts. This paper describes how macro-ethical failures can arise at different points in engineering design processes, and considers how competences associated with responsible innovation might assuage those vulnerabilities. To build those competences among future professional engineers, examples of pedagogical approaches are presented at three scales: activities, courses and curricula. For scholars and educators interested in engineering ethics, this article challenges approaches that favor individualistic understandings of responsibility, instead seeking to support learners’ awareness of, and ability to, ameliorate macro-ethical failures. For scholars and educators interested in operationalizing responsible innovation as a learning outcome that aligns with engineering practice, we offer an entry point for that conversation. Show less

This paper reports action research exploring the problem of engaging students as true collaborators in the design of a new engineering curriculum, with a focus on the development of intellectual abilities. Intellectual abilities – to deploy knowledge in analysis, create solutions, and exercise judgement – represent the essence of engineering, but cannot be directly taught. As educators, we must create learning experiences and an environment conducive to their development, by allowing students… Show more

This paper reports action research exploring the problem of engaging students as true collaborators in the design of a new engineering curriculum, with a focus on the development of intellectual abilities. Intellectual abilities – to deploy knowledge in analysis, create solutions, and exercise judgement – represent the essence of engineering, but cannot be directly taught. As educators, we must create learning experiences and an environment conducive to their development, by allowing students to integrate their knowledge, understanding and skills. Responding to this task requires us to understand, in detail, how students experience learning as young engineers, and answering that question was the starting point for the present work. We needed to engage students in our development process. Having found few tools in the extant literature to help us with the process of engaging students as partners, we present here alternative tools we developed with the dual aims of: (1) uncovering how students integrate their learning; and (2) engaging students as true collaborators in learning design. Findings are grouped into two areas: the first concerns the kinds of collaboration processes that are most amenable to achieving real insight into how students integrate and mobilise their learning; and the second group presents what we have uncovered about what contemporary engineering students are looking for in their education. Show less

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) recently gained traction in science, engineering and technology (SET) policy in the European Union and United Kingdom and is currently an important initiative for both researchers and educators to consider as they pursue public funds. While attention is often paid to the implications of RRI in the research arena, fewer conversations have explored how this SET policy affects educational and curricular efforts within research-intensive universities. This… Show more

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) recently gained traction in science, engineering and technology (SET) policy in the European Union and United Kingdom and is currently an important initiative for both researchers and educators to consider as they pursue public funds. While attention is often paid to the implications of RRI in the research arena, fewer conversations have explored how this SET policy affects educational and curricular efforts within research-intensive universities. This workshop was an opportunity for collaboration between the social sciences, arts, medicine, humanities, and various SET disciplines to consider whether and how we might support the emergence of RRI in curriculum design for SET undergraduates.
This document shares the efforts undertaken at a workshop that occurred at the University of Sheffield on 24 May 2016, which explored the benefits of, and strategies for, promoting “RRI in the classroom.” Participants were from multiple disciplinary and institutional positions with backgrounds in education, science policy, science and technology studies, biomedical ethics, engineering ethics, project-based learning, and humanities. The report establishes a theoretical construct for RRI and then explores how existing educational activities might be aligned with this new framework. It comprises:
• an opening statement on the motivations and structure of the workshop
• a description of the activities, outcomes and the subsequent dialogue
• a series of reflections, discussion points, and takeaways. Show less

TERRAIN is a two-hour introduction to RRI for STEM students and early career researchers, providing them with the knowledge and skills to critically engage with the concept and their own practice in real world interactions. TERRAIN is an Open Educational Resource which includes a pack for lecturers, slides and printable materials which can be obtained by email free of charge.

The mining of rare earth elements (REEs) in Greenland has become a significant topic of debate. One the one hand, there is a general consensus in Greenland to pursue independence from Denmark, and REEs are highly valued as an economic tool in accomplishing this. On the other hand, the industry is nascent, and a series of global, regional and local challenges have beleaguered the emergent industry. In this paper, we focus on drawing out the sociotechnical imaginaries that shape and constrain… Show more

The mining of rare earth elements (REEs) in Greenland has become a significant topic of debate. One the one hand, there is a general consensus in Greenland to pursue independence from Denmark, and REEs are highly valued as an economic tool in accomplishing this. On the other hand, the industry is nascent, and a series of global, regional and local challenges have beleaguered the emergent industry. In this paper, we focus on drawing out the sociotechnical imaginaries that shape and constrain public and political understandings of REE mining in Greenland. It is anchored in document analysis and elite interviews, incorporating historical analysis and colonial theory to contextualise current debates and policy responses, looking towards comparisons of Greenland’s position and practices to those in Scotland and Nunavut to illuminate key issues. Our analysis shows that in Greenland, mineral resources are understood predominantly in terms of their economic potential, and that this economic potential is a determinant factor in facilitating independence from Greenland. In the paper, we show how both parts of this understanding have caused important issues to be neglected, firstly in that minerals require a stable and competent decision-making environment to generate economic flow, and secondly that economic gains will not generate a shared understanding of Greenland’s future. We conclude by considering how Greenland’s REE experience and prospects can inform one of the deepest political questions being asked: is independence achieved, or is it seized? Show less

How should we understand ‘the public’ in public dialogue given the dominant assumption within policy-making that the people brought together in these events must constitute a representative sample of the wider population? To improve the prospects for public dialogue and clarify what it can contribute to policy-making, this report explores ‘who or what is the public’ to make better sense of why and when public dialogue is carried out.

In recent years, UK government, research funders, learned societies and industry have sponsored numerous dedicated initiatives to engage publics around so-called emerging technologies. These include various “top-down” a empts to communicate basic science knowledge, convey enthusiasm about research and possibilities for future technological applica ons (especially common in the biomedical domain) and increasingly, communicate science related to emerging collective problems (climate change… Show more

In recent years, UK government, research funders, learned societies and industry have sponsored numerous dedicated initiatives to engage publics around so-called emerging technologies. These include various “top-down” a empts to communicate basic science knowledge, convey enthusiasm about research and possibilities for future technological applica ons (especially common in the biomedical domain) and increasingly, communicate science related to emerging collective problems (climate change especially). They also include ostensibly more interactive efforts, such as public dialogues on topics such as GM crops, stem cells and nanoscience.

These efforts have been widely studied as attempts to create or cons tute publics around science and technology in specific ways that are open to question (e.g. Irwin 2001, Irwin 2006, Martin 2008, Michael 2009, Mohr 2011). By contrast, the ‘self-creation’ or emergence of active publics has traditionally not been considered in the public engagement literature, though it has been studied under the rubric of social movement studies, or latterly, citienship (e.g. Elam & Ber lsson 2003, Hess 2010, Walker et.al. 2007). Active publics have, however, begun to impact on discussions of public engagement since 2003’s GM Na on? where self-selected, highly motivated individuals armed with various critiques of GM crops a ended open events organised to discuss the possibility of commercialising GM, and overturned all ‘normal’ expectations of how such public dialogues should be run. In light of critiques by policy-makers and dialogue evaluators that these ‘uninvited’ publics were unrepresentative of the general public, policy expectations of public dialogue as a space meant only for ‘innocent citizens’ have in turn been cri cally examined (Lezaun and Soneryd 2007, Wynne 2007).

We ask here, how can we account for different ways in which publics are constituted around science and technology? And which publics are made visible through these networks? Show less