M1U1: Teaching And Learning in Engineering (TALE) and Good Engineer

Need

 Shift to learner centric education

 Accreditation and Outcome Based Education (OBE) became the foci of higher education in
India since 2015.
 Most of the higher education institutions (HEIs) offering UG and PG programs in engineering
want their programs to be accredited by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA).
 NBA requires, since 2015, all engineering programs attain the Program Outcomes, and
demonstrate that they are continuously improving their performance.
 Many HEIs also wish to have their institutions accredited by NAAC (National Assessment and
Accreditation Council)
 All teaching and learning activities in HEIs should be planned and conducted to facilitate the
students to attain well defined and measurable Outcomes (OBE). This is a new requirement for
all faculty members of engineering colleges.
 TALE is designed to facilitate teachers meet these requirements.

TALE

 This course aims at enabling the teachers in engineering programs to facilitate their students
to become good engineers at the time of graduation
 The course is offered as four Modules:

 Learning Outcomes
 Course Design
 Instruction
 Accreditation

 Each module constitutes one credit

 Each module is offered as 20 units of about half-hour video lectures
 Each Unit will have a set of assignments

This course will be useful to

 Working teachers in engineering colleges

 Aspiring teachers
 Graduate students who wish to make careers in education technology
 Companies offering education technologies and training programs to corporates, educational
institutes, teachers and students.

Acknowledgements

 Gratefully acknowledge the inputs and comments given by Prof. K. Rajanikanth.

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Structure of TALE

 
Course Outcomes (TALE)

At the end of this course (four modules) the students (practicing and aspiring teachers) should be able
to
Module 1
CO1. Understand the nature of Outcome Based Education, and Objectives and Outcomes of an
undergraduate program in engineering as required by National Board of Accreditation.
CO2. Understand the Anderson-Bloom-Vincenti Taxonomy, and the three domains (Cognitive, Affective
and Psychomotor) of learning.
CO3. Write outcomes of a course in an engineering program that address a subset of Program
Outcomes and Program Specific Outcomes.
Module 2
CO4. Design a course in an engineering program in the Instructional System Design framework of
ADDIE.
CO5. Design assessment that is in good alignment with course outcomes.
Module 3
CO6. Design instruction following Merrill’s principles for attaining the course outcomes and
competencies ensuring good alignment between course outcomes, assessment and instruction.
Module 4
CO7. Prepare for NBA accreditation at the Department level.

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CO8. Prepare for NAAC accreditation at the institution level.

Module 1: Learning Outcomes *

 
What do engineers do?

 Groups of engineers and non-engineers solve socially relevant complex technical problems.
 Engineers architect/plan, design, develop, manufacture, test, install, operate, and maintain
technological products and systems.
 Engineers are involved in wealth generating activities.
 Engineers provide services using technological products and services
Engineers are required to operate and behave within well-defined professional and ethical standards.

Good Engineer

Characteristics of a good engineer considered important by the industries

 Having sound knowledge of engineering sciences and technologies

 Ability to solve well defined and ill-defined problems.

 Awareness of customers’ needs and market trends.

 Ability to work in a team.

 Ability to document, plan and communicate effectively.

 Willingness and ability to learn on the job.

 Having an interest and awareness in all facets of engineering activities

Engineering Programs
are required to impart

 Knowledge

 Skills

 Attitudes
and to facilitate the graduates of 12th Standard

 to acquire the characteristics of a good engineer

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Assignments

 Who is your favourite “good engineer”?

 Why do you consider him/her a good engineer? (Write 250 to 400 words)

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M1U2: Education and Teaching

M1U2: Outcomes

M1U2-1: Get reintroduced to the familiar words “Education” and “Teaching”.

Education

 Education, in its broad sense, refers to any act or experience that has formative effect on the
mind, character or physical ability of an individual.
 Education in this sense never ends; we truly learn from experiences all through our lives.
 Education, in its technical sense, is the process by which society deliberately transmits its
cultural heritage – its accumulated knowledge, values and skills – from one generation to
another.
 Education, in this context, is concerned with intentional learning like in schools, colleges and
universities.
 To educate people wisely we must know what we educate them to become.

Philosophy of Education

 To know what to educate it is necessary to ask what can be the purpose of life and what sort
life it should be.
 This leads to the necessity to consider education philosophically.
 Educational philosophy involves the application of formal philosophy to education.
 One convenient classification of philosophies is

– Idealism
– Realism
– Pragmatism
– Existentialism
– Analysis

Sample: Pragmatism

 It is a practical and utilitarian philosophy.

 There are no established systems of ideas which will be true for all times.
 Pragmatists want education according to aptitudes and abilities of the individual.
 Individual must be respected and education planned to cater to his inclinations and capacities.
 It makes activity the basis of all teaching and learning.

Higher Education

 Aims of higher education cannot be and are not that universal.

 Universities/Colleges offering the programs will identify the aims, called Program Outcomes.

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  In case of professional courses the national level Accrediting agencies identify the Program
Outcomes with some freedom given to the Department offering the program.

Teaching

 Teaching is the process of helping others to acquire knowledge, skills and values.
 Teaching is the process of attending to people’s needs, experiences and feelings, and
intervening so that they learn particular things. (Mark K Smith).
 Interventions commonly take the form of questioning, listening, giving information, explaining
some phenomenon, demonstrating a skill or process, testing understanding and capacity, and
facilitating learning activities (such as note taking, discussion, assignment writing,
simulations)

Models of Teaching
Teaching models
 may help teachers to create conducive environment for learning
 may help teachers to plan learning centered educational experiences
 may stimulate development of new and better forms and opportunities for education

Families of Teaching Models

 Information processing family

 Personal family
 Social family
 Behavioural system family

Glasser Model of Teaching

William Glasser (1962)
 Instructional objectives stated in behavioural terms.
 Entering behaviour of students.
 Instructional procedures
 Performance assessments
The success of this model depends upon the competency and ability of the teacher in terms of skills
like the formulation of objectives, use of proper strategies, and techniques of evaluation.

Assignments
These assignments are only to sensitize to the many features of education and teaching, an not really
to master them at this stage.
 Give your reasons why you should be concerned with philosophy of higher education.
 Select a model of teaching that you consider will help you to plan your teaching the subject
you are presently concerned with. Write a justification for your choice (maximum of 250 words) There
is huge amount of literature on the Internet.

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M1U3: Learning, Assessment and Instruction

M1U3: Outcomes

M1U3-1: Get reintroduced to the familiar words “Learning”, “Assessment” and “Instruction”.
M1U3-2: Understand the centrality of assessment in facilitating good learning.

Learning

 Learning is acquiring new knowledge, skills, and values.

 Learning is a process that leads to change, which occurs as a result of experience and
increases the potential for improved performance and future learning (Ambrose S.A., Bridges
M. W, DiPietro M. and Lovett M.C., 2010).
 Learning is a complex interaction of myriad influences includinggenes, neurophysiology,
physical state, social experiences and psychological factors (Stewart Hase and Chris Kenyon)
 As we learn, our view of the world keeps changing.
 Possession of information is not synonymous with learning.
 Learning is stabilizing, through repeated use, certain appropriate and desirable synapses in
the brain (Leamnson R, Biologist, 1999).
 Learning imposes new patterns or organization on the brain, and this phenomenon has been
confirmed by electrophysiological recordings of the activity of nerve cells. (National Research
Council, 1999).

Learning Theories

Behaviorism (J. Watson)

 Learning is the acquisition of a new behavior through conditioning.
Cognitivism (Jean Piaget)
 Humans learn by generating knowledge and meaning through sequential development of their
cognitive abilities including recognition, recollection, understanding, application, reflection,
analysis, evaluation and creation.
Social Constructivism (John Dewey 1933, Bruner1990, Piaget1972 and Vygotsky1978)
 Considers that learning occurs within a context that is itself part of what is learned, knowing
and doing cannot be separated, and learning is a process that is extended over time.
 Discovery, hands-on, experiential, collaborative, project-based, and task-based learning are
based on constructivism.
Heutagogy (Stewart Hase, 2000)
 Heutagogy is the study of self-determined learning Heutagogy, a form of self-determined
learning, is a holistic, learner centered approach to learning and teaching, in formal and
informal situations.
 Knowing how to learn will be a fundamental skill given the pace of innovation and the

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 changing structure of communities and workplaces.
Paragogy (J. P. Schmidt, 2009)
 Paragogy deals with analysing and co-creating the educational environment as a whole by the
peers, who share their learning situations and experiences benefiting from information
technology.
Connectivism (George Siemens, 2005)
 Connectivism is the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, and complexity and
self-organization theories.
 Learning is a process that occurs within nebulous environments of shifting core elements – not
entirely under the control of the individual. Learning can reside outside of ourselves (within an
organization or a database). It focuses on connecting specialized information sets, and the
connections that enable us to learn more.

Principles of Learning Process

 Educational psychologists derive principles of learning process

Principles of Learning: some examples
 Contiguity
 Repetition
 Reinforcement
 Socio-cultural context of learning: Negotiated meaning, situated cognition, activity theory etc.

Assessment

 Assessment is a measure of performance

 Evaluation is an interpretation of assessment
 Our assessment tools tell students what we consider to be important
 Teachers guide students to learn through their assessments
 It is a glue that links the components of a course - its content, instructional methods, and
skills development
 Assessment drives student learning

Types of Assessment

 Formative Assessment (Assessment for Learning or Educative Assessment)

 Summative Assessment (Assessment of Learning)

Alignment

 Assessment should be in alignment with stated outcomes of education

Instruction

 Purpose of instruction is to help people learn and develop

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 Learning and development can be

– cognitive
– affective
– psychomotor
– Spiritual

 Learning can certainly occur without instruction

 Instructional designers apply the principles of learning to the design of external events we call
instruction.

Principles of Instructional Design

Would help
 Instructors to decide

– when practice and feedback will be most effective,

– when it would benefit students to be put into groups,
– the pre-requisites for problem-solving and higher-order learning skills

 Producers of instructional materials

 Curriculum material developers
 Web-based course designers
 Knowledge management system designers

Instructional Design Theory

 It is a theory that offers explicit guidance on how to better help people learn and develop
 It is a design-oriented theory
 Identifies methods of instruction (ways to support and facilitate learning) and the situations in
which those methods should and should not be used
 Methods are probabilistic rather than deterministic

Design Theories

 are prescriptive in nature, in the sense that they offer guidelines as to what methods to use to
best attain a given goal.
 are intended to provide direct guidance to practitioners about what methods to use to attain
different goals
 their major concern is preferability

Theory One (Perkins 1992)

Clear information: Descriptions and examples of goals, knowledge needed, and the performances
expected.

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Thoughtful practice: Opportunity for learners to engage actively and reflectively whatever is to be
learned.
Informative feedback: Clear, thorough counsel to learners about their performance, helping them to
proceed more effectively.
Strong intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: Activities that are amply rewarded, either because they
are very interesting and engaging in themselves, or because they feed into other achievements that
concern the learner

Some more theories of ID

 Direct Approach
 Discussion Approach
 Experiential Approach
 Problem-Based Approach
 Simulation Approach

Assignments

 Which one of the learning theories you can relate to more in your experiences and why?
(maximum 250 words)
 Why do we need to be concerned with assessment in engineering education and how?
(maximum 250 words)
 Give two examples of your approaches to instruction you felt led to better learning by students
in the courses you taught or experienced. (Write maximum500 words for each example giving
some evidence of better learning)

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M1U4: Outcome Based Education (OBE)
Unit Outcomes

M1U4-1: Understand the origins of Outcome Based Education

M1U4-2: Understand what an outcome is and its most important features
M1U4-3: Identify the level (PEO, PO, PSO and CO) of a given outcome statement and comment on its
appropriateness, observability and measurability

How did OBE start?

 Policy makers and stakeholders in several countries have been emphasising since 1970s on
the need to develop instruments to obtain comparable information on what students actually
learn across schools and HEIs.
 The term Outcome Based Education was first presented by William Spady in 1994 through his
book “Outcome–Based Education: Critical Issues and Answers”, American Association of
School Administrators.
 ABET, in 1997, adopted Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC2000) which shifted the focus away from
the inputs (what material is taught) to the outcomes (what students learned).

William G. Spady

 Outcome-Based Education means clearly focusing and organizing everything in an educational

system around what is essential for all students to be able to do successfully at the end of
their learning experiences.
 This means starting with a clear picture of what is important for students to be able to do, and
then organizing curriculum, instruction, and assessment to make sure this learning
ultimately happens.
 Spady’s focus was School Education

Outcomes of learning

are referred to in the literature as

 Outcomes  Terminal Objectives
 Learning Outcomes  General Instructional Objectives
 Intended Learning Outcomes  Specific Learning Outcomes
 Instructional Objectives  Subordinate Skills
 Educational Objectives  Subordinate Objectives
 Behavioral Objectives  Competencies
 Performance Objectives

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What is an Outcome?

 An outcome is what the learner will be able to do/perform as a result of some learning
experience
In the context of formal education
 An outcome of an education is what the student should be able to do at the end of a program/
course/ instructional unit.
 Outcomes provide the basis for an effective interaction among stakeholders

Outcome Based Education (OBE)

 Outcome-based education is an approach to education in which decisions about the

curriculum, instruction and assessment are driven by the exit learning outcomes that the
students should display at the end of a program or a course.
 In outcome-based education, “product defines process”.
 It is the opposite of input-based education where the emphasis is on the educational process
and where we are happy to accept whatever is the result

Advantages of OBE

 Relevance—Outcome-based education promotes fitness for practice and education for

capability.
 Discourse—The process of identification of the outcomes within an institution promotes
discussion of fundamental questions
 Clarity—An explicit statement of what the educational process aims to achieve clarifies the
curriculum for both students and teachers, and provides a focus for teaching and learning.
 Provision of a Framework—Outcome-based education provides a robust framework for
integration of the curriculum.
 Accountability—By providing an explicit statement of what the curriculum is setting out to
achieve, outcome-based education emphasizes accountability.
 Self-Directed Learning—If students are clear about what they are trying to achieve, they can
take more responsibility for their own learning. Outcome-based education thus promotes a
student-centered approach to learning and teaching.
 Flexibility—Outcome-based education does not specify educational strategies or teaching
methods.
 Guide for Assessment—The outcomes provide the framework for student examinations.
 Facilitates Curriculum Evaluation—The outcomes provide benchmarks against which the
curriculum can be judged.

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Reservations about OBE

 It is against the spirit of education

 It is a straight jacket

Features of an Outcome Statement

 Should unambiguously state what the student should be able to do/perform

 What the students do or perform are observable and assessable
 Students should be able to understand what it means (comprehensible)
 Should be able to provide guidance to students in planning their learning.

As per OBE students learn well when

 They are clear about what they should be able to do at the end of a course
 Assessment is in alignment with what they are expected to do
 Instructional activities are designed and conducted to facilitate them to acquire what they are
expected to achieve

Levels of Outcomes

 Program Educational Objectives

 Program Outcomes
 Program Specific Outcomes
 Course Outcomes

Program Educational Objectives (PEOs)

 PEOs are broad statements that describe the career and professional accomplishments in four
to five years after graduation that the program is preparing graduates to achieve.
Sample:
 Solve problems of social relevance applying the knowledge of electrical and electronics
engineering, and/or pursue higher education and research

Program Outcomes (POs)

 POs are statements that describe what the knowledge, skills and attitudes students should
have at the time of graduation from an engineering program.
 POs (12 in number) are identified by NBA and are applicable to all UG engineering programs.
 They address both disciplinary and professional competencies.

Sample NBA PO

PO3. Design/Development of Solutions: Design solutions for complex engineering problems and design
system components or processes that meet the specified needs with appropriate consideration for the
public health and safety, and the cultural, societal and environmental considerations.

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Program Specific Outcomes (PSOs)

 Program Specific Outcomes (PSOs) are outcomes that are specific to a program.
 PSOs characterise the specificity of the core (core courses) of a program.
 PSOs of an engineering program can only be two to four in number.
Sample
PSO1. Survey, map and plan layouts for buildings, structures and alignments for canals and roads

Course Outcomes (COs)

 Course Outcomes are what students are required to attain at the end of a course
 COs should be observable and measurable
 A course outcome addresses a subset of POs and PSOs
Sample
Understand the Divide and Conquer strategy for designing algorithms including Merge sort, Quick
sort, and Selection sort.

OBE - NBA Framework

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Assignments

 Give two examples of outcomes of your own undergraduate program paying attention to all
the features of an outcome.
 Give two examples of outcomes of an undergraduate course offered by you paying attention
to all the features of an outcome.
Identify the level of Outcome and comment on its appropriateness with respect to observability and
measurability
 Apply the knowledge of electrical and electronics engineering to solve problems of social
relevance, and/or pursue higher education and research
 Create, select, and apply appropriate techniques, resources, and modern engineering and IT
tools including prediction and modelling to complex engineering activities with an
understanding of the limitations.
 Study a variety of advanced abstract data type (ADT) and data structures and their
Implementations.
 Be familiar with ethical principles and commit to professional ethics and responsibilities and
norms of the engineering practice.
 Know the stress strain relation for a body subjected to loading within elastic limit.
 Specify, select and formulate environmental engineering systems
 Know the principles and construction of electrical machines and determine their performance
through testing.
 Design mechanical components and systems as per given specifications using CAD tools.
 Work effectively as individuals and as team members in multidisciplinary projects.
 Determine and optimize the performance of a given algorithm on a given computing platform
 Understand the behaviour of two-port networks, and active devices including amplifiers, Op
Amps, comparators, multipliers, BJTs and FETs.
 Apply problem solving techniques to find solutions to problems.

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M1U5: Accreditation
M1U5: Outcomes

M1U5-1: Understand the role of Accreditation

M1U5-2: Understand the criteria of NBA Self Assessment Report
M1U5-3: Understand the centrality of closing the quality loop at the levels of COs, and PO and PSO

Accreditation

 Accreditation of engineering programs was introduced to ensure that graduates of engineering

programs have all the requisite characteristics of a good engineer.
 Many countries have identified such desirable characteristics of engineering graduates as
Program Outcomes (sometime called Graduate Attributes) since 1990s.
 India identified the Program Outcomes for engineering programs in 2015.

Engineering Education until recently

 
Accreditation prior to 2015

 The focus was on Inputs, Processes and Outputs

 Outputs were mainly, pass percentages, placements, number of graduates going for higher
education, and the number of entrepreneurs.
 These outputs did not necessarily measure what the students learnt.

Accreditation Post 2015

 The focus is on Inputs, Processes, Outcomes and their Attainment, and Outputs
 Outcomes represent what knowledge, skills and attitudes students have attained at the time of
graduation.

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  Outcomes are identified by NBA at the Program level, and by the Departments at Specific
Program and Course levels.
 The Institution uses the results of calculating the attainment of outcomes to continuously
improve the levels of outcome attainment.

Engineering Education in OBE-NBA framework 2015

 
Accreditation

 Accreditation is a process of quality assurance and improvement, whereby a program in an

approved Institution is critically appraised to verify that the Institution or the program
continues to meet and/or exceed the Norms and Standards prescribed by regulator from time
to time.
 It is a kind of recognition which indicates that a program or Institution fulfils certain
standards.
 While all institutions in India acknowledge the importance of these Program Outcomes, most
of them are yet to make efforts in adequately incorporating learning experiences that facilitate
attaining these outcomes.

Accreditation Process

 An Institution submits a document providing information on eligibility of the Departments

seeking accreditation
 NBA after ensuring the eligibility criteria are satisfied asks the institution to submit Self
Assessment Reports (SARs) of the programs sought to be accredited.
 The Institution submits SARs prepared by the Departments.
 NBA uses the mechanism of peer review to evaluate the program.

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Self Assessment Report

 SAR is compilation of such data and information pertaining to a given program for its
assessment (identifying strength and weaknesses) vis-à-vis accomplishment of defined POs
and PSOs by the college itself.
SAR has two parts
 Part-I seeks Institutional /Departmental information
 Part–II seeks information on ten criteria

SAR Criteria

Criteria Tier 1 Tier II

Criteria
No. Marks Marks

Program Level Criteria

1. Vision, Mission and Program Educational Objectives 50 60

2. Program Curriculum and Teaching–Learning Processes 100 120

3. Program Outcomes and Course Outcomes 175 120

4. Students’ Performance 100 150

5. Faculty Information and Contributions 200 200

6. Facilities and Technical Support 80 80

7. Continuous Improvement 75 50

Institute Level Criteria

8. First Year Academics 50 50

9. Student Support Systems 50 50

10. Governance, Institutional Support and Financial Resources 120 120

Total 1000 1000

Closing the Quality Loop

 All the processes required for accreditation need to have the step of “closing the loop”.
 A model useful for understanding this is the Deming’s Quality Cycle:

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Quality Loop

 We plan the activity; do it; measure the performance (CHECK); and finally based on what was
planned and what was actually achieved, initiate appropriate action commencing the next
round of the quality cycle.
ACTION:
 If the attainment lags behind the planned target, we need to further analyse the reasons for
the same and plan suitable corrective actions for the next round.
 If the achievement exceeds the planned target, we need to “raise the bar”!, and then we need
to plan for achieving the new target level.

Continuous Improvement

 The quality of learning will depend very much on the context characterized by students,
teachers, processes as determined by the system, technology, curriculum and infrastructure.
 Closing the quality loop enables the Departments to focus on what specific actions lead to
incremental improvements.
 Continuous improvement in the quality of learning is what characterizes the essence of the
present NBA accreditation.

Assignments

 What is the difference between outputs and outcomes?

 Who is benefited by Accreditation and how? (Write in 250 words maximum)
 What in your view are the advantages and disadvantages of Accreditation? (Write a maximum
of five each)
 Present your own view through a diagram of the dependence of the quality of learning on
specific factors related to a course you taught.

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