Abstract:

All higher education institutions are in need of organizational structures that allow teaching and learning strategies to keep up with the rapid changes in societal and technological context. This is especially the case for complex multicampus institutions such as the University of Leuven (Belgium). At this university, context alignment and implementation of centrally set policy priorities regarding education is done at the faculty level through a dynamic model of discipline-specific educational development. In 2019 an extra, intermediate level was initiated for educational development, hereby stimulating interdisciplinary educational innovation without losing touch with the specific context and content.

This paper elaborates on educational innovation initiatives at the Group of Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) of the University of Leuven, creating an interesting interplay between university-wide policy priorities and bottom-up initiatives, between policy makers and those who teach and learn. As an integral part of KU Leuven Learning Lab (KULLL), a university-wide networking structure, a project manager educational innovation strengthens the links between the faculties of Science, Engineering, Bio-engineering, Engineering Technology and Architecture. The Leuven Engineering and Science Education Centre (LESEC) plays a crucial role herein: this research centre groups disciplinary stakeholders in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Architecture and Mathematics) with a focus on educational research and practice.

Six group-wide educational innovation projects were launched, each involving several SET faculties and integrating educational technology. First, the needs and solutions for blended and online learning are investigated within the context of multicampus education and fed by (post-)covid opportunities. Second, existing courses are didactically transformed into international courses in virtual mobility, hereby stimulating the development of intercultural competences. Third, MOOCs for credit are developed, online courses which are an integral part of several traditional programs within different SET faculties but also provide credits to international participants after successful completion. Fourth, learning analytics are used to analyze data generated by online learning materials and give feedback to didactic teams and students. Fifth, facultary teaching assistant training programmes are boosted with the development of cross-curricular yet STEAM-specific online modules [1]. Sixth, the innovative use of collaborative learning spaces is stimulated by guiding didactic teams and sharing good practices.

Additionally, A SET Advisory Board Educational Innovation was initiated, allowing dialogue between the vicedeans education, facultary educational developers, the chairs of LESEC and KULLL, a teaching assistant representative and a student representative. Throughout all initiatives, change management and finding ways to consolidate results remain the most important challenges.

References:
[1] S. Loix and I. Peeters, “Full STEAM ahead: training teaching assistants in Science and Technology”, Proceedings of the EDULEARN21 Conference, pp. 2143-2148, 2021.

Keywords:

Higher education, STEAM, interdisciplinary, innovation, network, collaboration, management.