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Coursera’s chief academic strategist and former U of T provost Vivek Goel gives a keynote address at the launch of the new EngEd initiative (Photo: Sydney Goodfellow).

Whether we move from scrolls to eBooks, or from telegrams to text messages, we are always evolving how we share information. Technology is integral to engineering education, yet limited research focuses on this specific field of study.

“Every time a new technology is introduced in the classroom—printing press, videos, etc.—it forces us to reevaluate what we’re doing as professors and how we’re spending time with students,” said Vivek Goel, former vice president and provost of U of T and chief academic strategist at Coursera, a leading online learning platform.

Goel delivered the keynote address at the October 14 launch of a new collaborative program that will develop the next generation of experts in engineering education. The EngEd, offered by U of T Engineering and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, is Canada’s first collaborative program in engineering education for master’s and PhD students.

“We can’t use the educational methods of yesterday to build the engineers of tomorrow,” said Professor Greg Evans (ChemE), EngEd director and chair of the Dean’s task force that proposed the initiative. “We hope the EngEd will become one of the many wonderful features that distinguishes our university.”

The program allows students to enrich their learning through a weekly seminar series, a course in instructional design, elective courses, and advanced thesis research that will expand the intersection of engineering and education.

“Through EngEd, we hope to cultivate engineers that are more holistic, global thinkers,” said PhD student Patricia Sheridan (MechE 0T9, MASc 1T1, PhD candidate in Engineering Leadership Education). “This program provides that breadth without sacrificing the technical competencies that engineers are known for.”

The EngEd aims to improve engineering education through research and course work from an engineering perspective. Teamwork, knowledge communities, career readiness, and engineering culture are among the many topics that EngEd students will explore. They will also examine new ways to use the Internet as a teaching tool through on-line education and inverted classrooms.

“UofT Engineering has the expertise, therefore the responsibility, to lead innovations in engineering education,” said Dean Cristina Amon. “The EngEd research findings will contribute the knowledge we need to develop pedagogical innovations and to inspire the next generation of engineering educators.”

Dean Amon emphasized that the launch aligns with our Faculty’s growing emphasis on education innovation, highlighting a number of initiatives such as the Engineering Instructional Innovation Program (EIIP), the Technology Enhanced Active Learning (TEAL) pilot classroom and the many advanced learning spaces that will be included in the forthcoming Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CEIE).

“Application is what makes educating engineers unique,” said Sheridan. “As critical and practical thinkers, we ask two questions of our teachers: why do I care? And what can I do with [this information]? It is not enough to present theory to an engineering student in a vacuum—we have to see how we can use that theory to make an impact.”

Learn more about EngEd.

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