Roger,
Thanks for your encouragement, shared views and
Sorry for the rather cryptic nature of the last part. What I meant
here is that there is growing concern, particularly in science and
engineering arenas, that good A-level grades do not necessarily
translate into well prepared freshers. We are finding some horrific
gaps in mathematics knowledge and it does appear that school
league tables encourage 'learning by assessment drilling' with lots of
sample tests becoming the main learning vehicle. This in turn
produces a spoon fed student who is not ready for university life,
student-centred learning activities and deeper thinking about the
meanings behind the subjectmatter. My comments were meant to
imply that students leaving university (certainly from vocational
courses like many of ours) are much better prepared for
employment than school leavers are for university. I guess this is
one of those issues where I have fairly strong views but engineering
has the added difficulty that many students seem to pe put off
mathematics (and physics, often) at GCSE stage. We have
employers crying out for honours engineering graduates but we
work quite hard to make our numbers. I hope this is helpful and
possibly a useful trigger to associate the modularity topic with
second level education where it has made its mark.
One other point is that our experience in relation to choice and the
notion of a grand credit accumulation and transfer (CAT)
environment suggests that vocational courses tend to restrict choice,
notwithstanding the plethora of modules that can emerge. We
certainly have no courses with a 'supermarket trolley flavour' in
engineering although we are keen to increase choice for final year
students.
Regards
Alan Webb
Dr J A C Webb,
Senior Lecturer,
School of Electrical & Mechanical Engineering,
Coordinator of Student Learning,
Faculty of Engineering.
Tel. 028 90365131 Ext. 6696, Personal Direct: 028 90366696
Fax. Ext.6804 EMail: [log in to unmask]
Secretaries: 6276/6091
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