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To uncover and analyze conceptualizations of cross-institutionalcollaboration in engineering education, a systematic review study wasconducted, identifying commonalities in frameworks, assessments andevaluations, and challenges across prior studies. 74 papers werereviewed, revealing study descriptors, theoretically applied frameworks,outcomes of assessments and evaluations, and common challenges. Thefindings indicate that the concept of cross-institutional collaboration inengineering education is region-specific, with papers most frequentlyoriginating from the US. The outcomes identified also highlight thedifficulty in establishing clarity among outcomes based on assessmentsand evaluations, since the majority of the reviewed papers do notinclude empirical data gathered outside the collaborative activities. Thestructural and personal challenges and barriers found underline theneed for more efforts to ensure successful collaboration with and acrossengineering education. Finally, designing, delivering, and sustainingcollaboration require further attention from decision-makers inengineering education to address and facilitate collaboration betweenacademic staff and students across institutions.

Collaborative learning has been proposed as a strategy to improve engineering female students’ learning by providing the opportunities to work in a supportive group. However, female students still face multiple challenges especially in a maledominant group. To gain a deeper understanding on female students’ team experiences and thereby improve their performance, this research investigates the spectrum of team roles among female engineering students in project-based learning. Using a phenomenographic approach, which features investigating the variation of experiences, we mapped twenty-one female engineering students’ diverse roles in three dimensions-task, social, and individual roles in a qualitative manner. A variety of roles were identified, ranging from initiators, task assistants, to task outsiders (task), from coordinators, conflict mediators, communication outsiders (social), and from challenger-lovers, recognition-seekers, to free-riders (individual). Moreover, factors such as gender ratio and group dynamics, were found to be associated with their role-taking. The exploration of female students’ functional roles provided an overall understanding about the diversity in female students’ functional roles and associated factors influencing their role-taking. Suggestions as related to group arrangement, task division and other aspects in PBL were discussed for future course design.

This study follows three Chinese university instructors’ learning and role identity change in a six-month Problem-Based Learning (PBL) professional learning programme in Denmark. Data sources include individual progressive portfolios and two rounds of interviews. Data analysis using the Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity indicates that all three participants experienced change in all four dimensions of the model: ontological and epistemological beliefs, purpose and goals, self-perceptions and definitions, and perceived action possibilities, resulting in changed teacher role identities. Furthermore, the role of the intercultural context of the programme in triggering enablers and/or constraints for learning was also studied. It was found that beliefs about cultural community and ‘‘othering’’ in some cases acted as initial triggers for learning and motivation, while, in other instances, beliefs about cultural differences could be a constraint. The results provide evidence of the effectiveness of using a PBL methodology to organise professional learning activities and facilitate teacher role identity change and explore the roles of culture and interculturality in relation to the DSMRI model.

Engineering identity has been seen as a significant indicator for engineering students’ persistence and competence development. In order to develop students’ engineering professional identity, PBL has becomean effective learning method because it provides a pathway for engineering students to experience solving real-world problems as real engineers. Among various PBL implementations, the PBL Model in Aalborg University has been practiced over decades. Previous studies have evidenced benefits of PBL on localstudents regarding problem-solving skills, teamwork skills and leadership. However, it has also been reported that PBL can be challenging for international students who come from educational backgrounds that focus on lectures and individual learning and who had no prior PBL knowledge and experiences. It’simportant to clarify how international students perceive and how AAU PBL model contributes their engineering identity development. Thus, this study explores major components of engineering identity developed by international students during their study in the AAU PBL model, compared with their perviouslearning experiences. Methodologically, a qualitative method with six first-year international engineering students in their Master study participated in the semi-structured individual interviews. Compared to lecture-based traditional learning, students reported that they improved their confidence, interest in engineering, transferable skills and understanding of teamwork and engineers’ responsibilities through AAU PBL experiences.

Higher Education Institutions are increasingly aware of the urgency of the global sustainability crisis and making efforts to prepare a new generation of students to rise to the challenge. New sustainability initiatives are appearing in numerous disciplines, from introducing sustainability contents to disciplinary courses, to overhauling entire curricula with an interdisciplinary, problem-based approach to environmental issues. However, little attention has been paid to the role of assessment in education for sustainability – creating a problem where students want to engage in rethinking the world of tomorrow, but feel constrained by outdated individual, disciplinary, recall-based examinations that do not promote effective engagement. We noticed this at Erasmus University College (EUC), a liberal arts institution in The Netherlands that uses the seven-step (a.k.a. “Maastricht”) approach to problem-based learning. Our previous research showed EUC students experienced despair about sustainability issues but did not feel empowered to act on it. In response, inspired by alternative sustainability scholars Donna Haraway, Anna Tsing, Cyril Dion, Pablo Servigne, Renée Lertzman and Stephen Sterling, we developed three new forms of assessment for a bachelor PBL course called “The Climate Crisis”. Our aim was to foster three key attitudes identified by these thinkers to help us through the sustainability crisis: collaboration, (self) reflection, and imagination. In this PBL practice paper, we present the modes of assessment that we developed: firstly, a collaborative documentary filming project about climate change in the Netherlands; secondly, a reflection diary which the students use as data to write a meta-reflection essay on their journey in coming to grips with climate change; finally, a world-building essay in which students use their imagination to contemplate the rest of their lives in a warming world. We conclude on a brief assessment the impact of these new assessment methods on students through an analysis of the end-of-course evaluations.

Project-based learning (PBL), a learning environment in which projects drive learning, has been increasingly applied in educational programmes across various disciplines. In terms of Environmental Engineering education, the primary pedagogy still remains “chalk and talk”, although many studies have confirmed its inefficacy. In the last decade, project-based learning (PBL) has been increasingly used as an effective learning method because it provides a pathway for engineering students to experience solving real-world problems as engineers. This paper researches students’ learning experience and skill development in the PBL in one module (Air Pollution) in an Environmental Engineering programme. Students were divided into small teams working on the greenhouse gases (GHGs) (CO2, CH4 and N2O) concentrations on one university campus. With a certain level of supervision, students selected sampling sites, collected air samples, conducted laboratory measurements, calculated GHGs concentrations and presented the group presentations. A questionnaire survey was conducted to understand students’ learning experience and feedback on the PBL. Semi-standardized interviews were employed to provide a micro-level view of the students' study situations, and lessons and challenges. A majority of the students applauded the PBL for its benefit of applying knowledge from lectures to field problems. In contrast to lecture-based learning, students confirmed that their interest and confidence in environmental engineering had substantially increased, together with the development of transferable skills, and understanding of teamwork and engineers’ responsibilities. With the development of transnational education, further research is needed to understand the learning experience of international students, particularly those whose studies are primarily teacher-centred in their home countries.

The current trends in engineering education require new competencies that go beyond students’ technical expertise. Among these skills, adaptability is regarded as one of the important skills as it indicates how engineering students approach changing circumstances. In general, this means to what extent engineering students are able to adjust to new learning methods and different social and academic environments. The transition into any university is generally known to create some difficulties for students. Problem-based and project-based learning (PBL) has been part of curricula over the past four decades at Aalborg University (AAU), and also here the transition process into the university can be challenging. Students usually transit into the university on two occasions, as undergraduates or as graduate. This paper focuses on the challenges encountered when adapting to PBL for international graduate students without prior knowledge and experience in PBL. In addition, these challenges are even larger for students from China due to the differences in culture, language, learning behaviours, conceptions of learning, and so on. From these perspectives, it is necessary to broaden our understanding of Chinese students’ transition from lecture-based traditional learning and adaptation into a new problem-based and collaborative learning. Therefore, as an exploratory study, this paper aims at investigating what challenges first-year graduate Chinese students experienced when entering AAU and discussing the strategies they used in the adaptation process. Four first-year master Chinese students from different engineering departments participated in the semi-structured interviews and answered open-ended questions. The result showed that Chinese students face challenges in heavy academic workload, collaboration, communication and different assessment. However, making more efforts on study, clear groupwork division, good project management, inclusive and balanced team and effective communication we anticipate that this will help Chinese students to become better at adapting the Danish PBL context at AAU.

This paper reflects an interest and effort in reforming higher education (HE) study programmes through ensuring curricula that are highly relevant to Africa's modern economic and social needs, thus equipping graduates with skills and competences for employability and self-employment.The context of the paper is the EU funded Erasmus+ Capacity Building Project EEIS-HEA, which has the overall aims of firstly, developing study programmes which are aligned with local, national and regional needs and secondly, integrating entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability into curricula that aredelivered with the use of e-learning through student-centred learning approaches, such as, problem based learning. The project is based on cooperation between HE Institutions in East and West Africa andin the EU.The ABC Learning Design (ABC LD) is a toolkit developed for curriculum revision at course level, but in this case, it was modified to a study-programme level. ABC LD enables a high level of engagement, creative informed dialogue and group reflection on curriculum design among time- prioritising academics. Empirically, this study is based on observations, reflection journals, surveys and focus-group interviews with participants from different ABC LD workshops conducted in five East and West African universities.The aim of this paper is to investigate to what degree the ABC LD is applicable in an African context as a tool for instigating a problem-based learning (PBL) approach within subjects such as Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and Sustainability. The end goal will be new practical knowledge on the applicability of the ABC LD toolkit and recommendations for further development to fit a PBL approach in an African context. This paper reflects an interest and effort in reforming higher education (HE) study programmes throughensuring curricula that are highly relevant to Africa's modern economic and social needs, thus equippinggraduates with skills and competences for employability and self-employment.The context of the paper is the EU funded Erasmus+ Capacity Building Project EEIS-HEA, which has theoverall aims of firstly, developing study programmes which are aligned with local, national and regionalneeds and secondly, integrating entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability into curricula that aredelivered with the use of e-learning through student-centred learning approaches, such as, problembased learning. The project is based on cooperation between HE Institutions in East and West Africa andin the EU.The ABC Learning Design (ABC LD) is a toolkit developed for curriculum revision at course level, but inthis case, it was modified to a study-programme level. ABC LD enables a high level of engagement,creative informed dialogue and group reflection on curriculum design among time- prioritisingacademics. Empirically, this study is based on observations, reflection journals, surveys and focus-groupinterviews with participants from different ABC LD workshops conducted in five East and West Africanuniversities.The aim of this paper is to investigate to what degree the ABC LD is applicable in an African context as atool for instigating a problem-based learning (PBL) approach within subjects such as Entrepreneurshipand Innovation, and Sustainability. The end goal will be new practical knowledge on the applicability ofthe ABC LD toolkit and recommendations for further development to fit a PBL approach in an Africancontext.

In this book we present the contributions from the International Research Symposium on PBL (IRSPBL2021), organised by the Aalborg UNESCO centre for PBL in Engineering Science and Sustainability.The IRSPBL 2021 has collected 21 contributions from 13 different countries, all compiled in this book. The contributions cover a number of relevant topics: blended PBL environments and online learning; sustainability, creativity and interdisciplinarity; PBL implementation for professional competence development; assessment and management of change.This book represents some of the newest results from research on PBL and best practice to inspire other practitioners to innovate their teaching and learning activities. We hope that you will find the book useful and inspirational for your future work. In this book we present the contributions from the International Research Symposium on PBL (IRSPBL2021), organised by the Aalborg UNESCO centre for PBL in Engineering Science and Sustainability.The IRSPBL 2021 has collected 21 contributions from 13 different countries, all compiled in this book. The contributions cover a number of relevant topics: blended PBL environments and online learning; sustainability, creativity and interdisciplinarity; PBL implementation for professional competence development; assessment and management of change.This book represents some of the newest results from research on PBL and best practice to inspire other practitioners to innovate their teaching and learning activities. We hope that you will find the book useful and inspirational for your future work.

Idea generation is one of the main aspects of problem-solving in the engineering design task. Notably, during the early stages, when students formulate the problem and proposing its solution, creativity is required. This article reports the incidence of PBL on the fluency, flexibility, usability, and originality of the ideas of a group of students in an introductory engineering course within a university with a PBL-based curriculum. That group of 47 first-semester students answered a creativity questionnaire, after which they were trained in project-work and idea management as part of the regular course program. At the end of the semester, the same questionnaire was applied to paired answers to analyse the variation in creativity. The results showed a significant increase in the fluency t(17)=5.17, p=.004, flexibility t(17)=4.33, p=.01 and usability t(17)=3.33,p=.01 of the ideas, but without any significative variation in the originality aspect of ideas t(17)=1.83,p=.2. Consequently, the research discusses potential recommendations for the curriculum.

The IRSPBL 2020 has collected 51 contributions from 26 different countries, all compiled in this book. The contributions cover a number of relevant topics: variation and understanding of problems and projects; implementation of new methods and programs (BIM); blended PBL learning environments; generating innovative and interdisciplinary knowledge and practice; implementation of PBL around the world; PBL, industry and entrepreneurship; development and awareness of future competencies and learning spaces, and assessment and the teachers’ role. This book represents some of the newest results from research on PBL and best practice to inspire other practitioners to innovate their teaching and learning activities.

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) can be defined as a learning environment where problems drive the learning. A teaching session begins with a problem to be solved, in such a way that students need to gain new knowledge before they can solve the problem. This paper discusses the application of PBL to teaching an introductory course in engineering mechanics at Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark for first semester students enrolled in the program “Sustainable Design". We pose realistic problems which do not necessarily have a single correct solution. Project work in groups also presents itself as a supplement for conventional engineering education. The students themselves should interpret the problem posed, gather needed information, identify possible solutions, evaluate options and present conclusions. The paper also presents an initial assessment of the experiences gained from implementing PBL in the course. We conclude with a discussion of some issues in implementing PBL in engineering and mathematics courses.

Generic competences such as teamwork, communication and system thinking have gained increasing attention in engineering education, and problem-based learning (PBL) models have been highlighted as effective in fostering such competences. Aalborg University (AAU), Denmark, has had a systemic approachto PBL since its foundation in 1974, and in 2018 a process was initiated to make the progression of PBL competences more explicit in the curricula. Consequently, all study programmes had to redesign their curriculum and integrate progressive intended learning outcomes (PILOs) for PBL. In theengineering and science faculties, a project was initiated with the purpose of supporting all study programmes in the process of designing such learning outcomes. The outcome was a guide for staff to develop PILOs for PBL, presenting a participatory process design and a complementary workshop format. This paper outlines the process for educational design, the workshop format, and reflections on the project carried out at AAU as a best practice example of integrating PBL throughout the curricula in an inclusive andparticipatory way. Generic competences such as teamwork, communication and system thinking have gained increasing attention in engineering education, and problem-based learning (PBL) models have been highlighted as effective in fostering such competences. Aalborg University (AAU), Denmark, has had a systemic approach to PBL since its foundation in 1974, and in 2018 a process was initiated to make the progression of PBL competences more explicit in the curricula. Consequently, all study programmes had to redesign their curriculum and integrate progressive intended learning outcomes (PILOs) for PBL. In the engineering and science faculties, a project was initiated with the purpose of supporting all study programmes in the process of designing such learning outcomes. The outcome was a guide for staff to develop PILOs for PBL, presenting a participatory process design and a complementary workshop format. This paper outlines the process for educational design, the workshop format, and reflections on the project carried out at AAU as a best practice example of integrating PBL throughout the curricula in an inclusive and participatory way.

Engineering Education for Sustainable Development (EESD) has been on the agenda for decades in order for engineers to develop sustainable technology for future societies. Increased international attention to the signs of an overarching sustainability crisis have further increased the sense of urgency in order to movefrom sustainable discourse to actions – in industry as well as in educational systems. At Aalborg University, several actions have been taken in order to highlight the importance of sustainability in engineering and science education. As an example, in the beginning of the 1990s, all engineering students entering the University were placed in inter-disciplinary groups and faced with sustainability as a crosscutting semester theme. Likewise sustainability in different shades has been introduced as semester themes withinprogrammes initiating engineering and science students to identify, analyse, formulate and address sustainability challenges in science and engineering. Furthermore, sustainability issues have been introduced in workshops for students and staff, and sustainability has been an integrated perspective in thedevelopments of new prototypes and products in problem based projects. The challenges have however been to balance the focus on sustainability with more domain specific perspectives – to foster engineers with enough engagement and knowledge to contribute to a sustainable development in their everydaypractice, and knowing when to bring in sustainability specialist when needed. The comprehensiveness of the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals have recently underlined the need for combining the generic with the specific in meaningful ways in order to cope with the complexity of the sustainabilitychallenge. In this practice paper, we present an initiative to support staff in engineering and science to integrate sustainability in their educational practice. The online resources are organised in three stages of ambition supporting staff in: i) making students aware of the sustainability challenges in relation to theirstudy domain, ii) providing students with an entrance to know more about sustainability, and finally yet importantly iii) empower students to do more and take action in their project to contribute to a more sustainable development. As such, the on-line resources are presented as a way to frame education forsustainability for engineering and science students, as a stepping-stone for staff to appropriate EESD for specific programmes. Engineering Education for Sustainable Development (EESD) has been on the agenda for decades in order for engineers to develop sustainable technology for future societies. Increased international attention to the signs of an overarching sustainability crisis have further increased the sense of urgency in order to move from sustainable discourse to actions – in industry as well as in educational systems. At Aalborg University, several actions have been taken in order to highlight the importance of sustainability in engineering and science education. As an example, in the beginning of the 1990s, all engineering students entering the University were placed in inter-disciplinary groups and faced with sustainability as a crosscutting semester theme. Likewise sustainability in different shades has been introduced as semester themes within programmes initiating engineering and science students to identify, analyse, formulate and address sustainability challenges in science and engineering. Furthermore, sustainability issues have been introduced in workshops for students and staff, and sustainability has been an integrated perspective in the developments of new prototypes and products in problem based projects. The challenges have however been to balance the focus on sustainability with more domain specific perspectives – to foster engineers with enough engagement and knowledge to contribute to a sustainable development in their everyday practice, and knowing when to bring in sustainability specialist when needed. The comprehensiveness of the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals have recently underlined the need for combining the generic with the specific in meaningful ways in order to cope with the complexity of the sustainability challenge. In this practice paper, we present an initiative to support staff in engineering and science to integrate sustainability in their educational practice. The online resources are organised in three stages of ambition supporting staff in: i) making students aware of the sustainability challenges in relation to their study domain, ii) providing students with an entrance to know more about sustainability, and finally yet importantly iii) empower students to do more and take action in their project to contribute to a more sustainable development. As such, the on-line resources are presented as a way to frame education for sustainability for engineering and science students, as a stepping-stone for staff to appropriate EESD for specific programmes.

MAREENE is an international Master programme on Reliability based structural MAintenance for marine Renewable ENErgy, delivered at Université de Nantes (France). This Master programme is a one-year programme that completes a first year to deliver a Master degree. It is developed in collaboration with Aalborg University (AAU), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the School of Mechanical & Materials Engineering of the College of Engineering and Architecture of University College Dublin (UCD). The programme curriculum is problem-based and project-organised (PBL), where small groups of students solve real and authentic problems within civil and marine engineering through a project of two ECTS per semester. Besides the project, students also have online courses, which provide technical knowledge and support their project work, namely in PBL and project management. Université de Nantes is running for the first time a Master engineering programme with a PBL curriculum, where both students and staff lack, or have limited, experience on how to manage and organise learning in a PBL environment. Therefore, the MAREENE programme includes a 15 h, fully online course on PBL and project management as part of the project module, the overall goal of which is to provide students the knowledge and tools needed to develop the skills and competences to carry out a problem-based project successfully. The course is student-centred, problem-oriented and focused on students’ experiences and needs. This paper describes the framework of the PBL online course, itslearning principles and evaluation. The course evaluation targeted students who participate in the course, and their responses were collected through a questionnaire distributed through Moodle. Results indicate that course structure, materials and assignments support student learning and have met their expectations from a moderate to a large extent. In addition, they also consider the course and topics addressed relevant, including for future projects they will be involvedin. MAREENE is an international Master programme on Reliability based structural MAintenance for marine Renewable ENErgy, delivered at Université de Nantes (France). This Master programme is a one-year programme that completes a first year to deliver a Master degree. It is developed in collaboration with Aalborg University (AAU), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the School of Mechanical & Materials Engineering of the College of Engineering and Architecture of University College Dublin (UCD). The programme curriculum is problem-based and project-organised (PBL), where small groups of students solve real and authentic problems within civil and marine engineering through a project of two ECTS per semester. Besides the project, students also have online courses, which provide technical knowledge and support their project work, namely in PBL and project management. Université de Nantes is running for the first time a Master engineering programme with a PBL curriculum, where both students and staff lack, or have limited, experience on how to manage and organise learning in a PBL environment. Therefore, the MAREENE programme includes a 15 h, fully online course on PBL and project management as part of the project module, the overall goal of which is to provide students the knowledge and tools needed to develop the skills and competences to carry out a problem-based project successfully. The course is student-centred, problem-oriented and focused on students’ experiences and needs. This paper describes the framework of the PBL online course, itslearning principles and evaluation. The course evaluation targeted students who participate in the course, and their responses were collected through a questionnaire distributed through Moodle. Results indicate that course structure, materials and assignments support student learning and have met their expectations from a moderate to a large extent. In addition, they also consider the course and topics addressed relevant, including for future projects they will be involved in.

New trends and demands on engineering workplace call for more generic and employable competences such as communication, teamwork skills, problem‐solving skills, lifelong learning, and digital literacy. Engineering education institutions are pushed to change and integrate more student‐centred learningmethodologies in their curriculum, such as problem‐based, project‐organised learning (PBL). PBL enables engineering students to develop knowledge and competences aforementioned. Furthermore, PBL provides opportunities to increase and diversify the collaboration between universities and industry, fostering innovation. Industry case examples have been proved to increase student interest and motivation. However, this paper describes a step forward on that industry‐university collaboration level: involving companies in the project based learning experience. That is, involving the company in the tutoring andevaluation of a project developed by different groups of students. This could be understood as a dual training format more adequate for intermediate levels of bachelor degrees, when students are not mature enough to do a job in a company and get paid for it. This paper describes the experience of the Faculty of Engineering, Gipuzkoa (University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain) in supporting PBL integration in curriculum and in building industry collaboration. This paper descries the strategy Faculty of Engineering, Gipuzkoa (University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain) implemented with aim to develop a moreinnovative engineering education by re‐organising their courses around projects and in collaboration with companies. Furthermore, the faculty’s strategy is compressive, meaning that includes different strategies giving the students different learning experiences and contact with work place and employers in different moments of their education. New trends and demands on engineering workplace call for more generic and employable competences such as communication, teamwork skills, problem‐solving skills, lifelong learning, and digital literacy. Engineering education institutions are pushed to change and integrate more student‐centred learning methodologies in their curriculum, such as problem‐based, project‐organised learning (PBL). PBL enables engineering students to develop knowledge and competences aforementioned. Furthermore, PBL provides opportunities to increase and diversify the collaboration between universities and industry, fostering innovation. Industry case examples have been proved to increase student interest and motivation. However, this paper describes a step forward on that industry‐university collaboration level: involving companies in the project based learning experience. That is, involving the company in the tutoring and evaluation of a project developed by different groups of students. This could be understood as a dual training format more adequate for intermediate levels of bachelor degrees, when students are not matureenough to do a job in a company and get paid for it. This paper describes the experience of the Faculty of Engineering, Gipuzkoa (University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain) in supporting PBL integration in curriculum and in building industry collaboration. This paper descries the strategy Faculty of Engineering, Gipuzkoa (University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain) implemented with aim to develop a more innovative engineering education by re‐organising their courses around projects and in collaboration with companies. Furthermore, the faculty’s strategy is compressive, meaning that includes different strategies giving the students different learning experiences and contact with work place and employers in different moments of their education.