Application of research-inspired assessment to enhance students learning in civil engineering

Fatahi, B; Khabbaz, H; Valipour, H

Application of research-inspired assessment to enhance students learning in civil engineering

Fatahi, B

Khabbaz, H

Valipour, H

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Publication Type:: Conference Proceeding
Citation:: Proceedings of the 43rd SEFI Annual Conference 2015 - Diversity in Engineering Education: An Opportunity to Face the New Trends of Engineering, SEFI 2015, 2015
Issue Date:: 2015-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Fatahi, B https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7920-6946	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Khabbaz, H https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6637-4601	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Valipour, H	en_US
dc.date.issued	2015-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Proceedings of the 43rd SEFI Annual Conference 2015 - Diversity in Engineering Education: An Opportunity to Face the New Trends of Engineering, SEFI 2015, 2015	en_US
dc.identifier.isbn	9782873520120	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/36524
dc.description.abstract	The relationship between teaching and research has become a highly challenging issue due to evidence of synergy between them and complexity of integrating them. As reported by Locke [1], the separation of research and teaching could be the result of policy and operational decisions to distinguish the way these activities are funded, managed, assessed and rewarded. However, this would not necessarily excuse higher education institutions from a commitment to optimise the beneficial relations between teaching and research. For example, research conducted by Posch and Steiner [2] at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich on innovation for sustainability, concludes that appropriate integration of research and teaching activities leads to mutual benefits for both higher education institutions and students. In this study an approach introducing research activities in Civil Engineering subjects to enable students to develop skills within critical and creative thinking and being lifelong learners has been developed and evaluated. Research based activities/assessments in two major Civil Engineering subjects at undergraduate level have been introduced, and students? learning process has been monitored and evaluated. The results of this project indicate that by incorporating research components in subjects, research-based learning culture among Civil Engineering students were developed. This clearly gave more satisfaction to the students about the learning experience. Statistical analysis of results indicated that students with better performance in mini-projects performed better in the final exam, which was a totally independent assessment task. In addition, the averaged final exam mark of students with good quality projects was higher than the one for other students.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Proceedings of the 43rd SEFI Annual Conference 2015 - Diversity in Engineering Education: An Opportunity to Face the New Trends of Engineering, SEFI 2015	en_US
dc.title	Application of research-inspired assessment to enhance students learning in civil engineering	en_US
dc.type	Conference Proceeding
utslib.for	0905 Civil Engineering	en_US
utslib.for	090501 Civil Geotechnical Engineering	en_US
dc.location.activity	Orléans, France
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology/School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CBI - Centre for Built Infrastructure
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US

Abstract:

The relationship between teaching and research has become a highly challenging issue due to evidence of synergy between them and complexity of integrating them. As reported by Locke [1], the separation of research and teaching could be the result of policy and operational decisions to distinguish the way these activities are funded, managed, assessed and rewarded. However, this would not necessarily excuse higher education institutions from a commitment to optimise the beneficial relations between teaching and research. For example, research conducted by Posch and Steiner [2] at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich on innovation for sustainability, concludes that appropriate integration of research and teaching activities leads to mutual benefits for both higher education institutions and students. In this study an approach introducing research activities in Civil Engineering subjects to enable students to develop skills within critical and creative thinking and being lifelong learners has been developed and evaluated. Research based activities/assessments in two major Civil Engineering subjects at undergraduate level have been introduced, and students? learning process has been monitored and evaluated. The results of this project indicate that by incorporating research components in subjects, research-based learning culture among Civil Engineering students were developed. This clearly gave more satisfaction to the students about the learning experience. Statistical analysis of results indicated that students with better performance in mini-projects performed better in the final exam, which was a totally independent assessment task. In addition, the averaged final exam mark of students with good quality projects was higher than the one for other students.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/36524