Skempton Teaching Newsletter #2
Issue 2 (March 2019)
In-class Structural Dynamics experiments
Dr. Christian Malaga-Chuquitaype received a Commendation for Excellence in Structural Engineering Education from the IStructE last year. In the past weeks, a further enhanced version of this awarded student project was carried out by the third year cohort following the module CI3-339 Dynamics of Structures. Using emerging technologies, such as 3D-printing and low-cost open-source electronics and software, the project hits multiple educational targets at the same time. An article by Christian describing the project, definitely worth reading, can be found here: https://bit.ly/2Fa6W9E. Christian also provided some videos of this year’s student designs and tests here: https://bit.ly/2J8xNa9. Finally, he also uses a range of Jupyter notebooks: https://bit.ly/2T3DZjw. I conclude this item with a citation from the article: “The experience we have presented here favours a deeper understanding of the challenges associated with engineering design and lateral thinking. It brings to life the theoretical material on the challenging subject of dynamics and allows future engineers to construct their own knowledge base via physical experimentation.”Paragraph. Klik hier om te bewerken.
In-class Structural Dynamics experiments
Dr. Christian Malaga-Chuquitaype received a Commendation for Excellence in Structural Engineering Education from the IStructE last year. In the past weeks, a further enhanced version of this awarded student project was carried out by the third year cohort following the module CI3-339 Dynamics of Structures. Using emerging technologies, such as 3D-printing and low-cost open-source electronics and software, the project hits multiple educational targets at the same time. An article by Christian describing the project, definitely worth reading, can be found here: https://bit.ly/2Fa6W9E. Christian also provided some videos of this year’s student designs and tests here: https://bit.ly/2J8xNa9. Finally, he also uses a range of Jupyter notebooks: https://bit.ly/2T3DZjw. I conclude this item with a citation from the article: “The experience we have presented here favours a deeper understanding of the challenges associated with engineering design and lateral thinking. It brings to life the theoretical material on the challenging subject of dynamics and allows future engineers to construct their own knowledge base via physical experimentation.”Paragraph. Klik hier om te bewerken.
Preparing educational video material
Many of you will share the experience repeating certain explanations to students year after year, either to clarify a particular fundamental concept, demonstrate a technology or take away common misconceptions. Why not record your explanation once and for all, and put it online for later reference by students? Furthermore, recording the experimental research that you are working on could be very instructive for students. Or what do you think of videos from the construction site? Some examples can be found below. The top left video gives you a quick overview of all possibilities. Did you know that Imperial College can also offer facilities and support for your productions? Equipment and software are available for recording and editing, and Digital Media Producer Martin Sayers is happy to tell you more about what is possible and how things work. Feel also free to contact myself to hear about my personal experiences in this field.
Many of you will share the experience repeating certain explanations to students year after year, either to clarify a particular fundamental concept, demonstrate a technology or take away common misconceptions. Why not record your explanation once and for all, and put it online for later reference by students? Furthermore, recording the experimental research that you are working on could be very instructive for students. Or what do you think of videos from the construction site? Some examples can be found below. The top left video gives you a quick overview of all possibilities. Did you know that Imperial College can also offer facilities and support for your productions? Equipment and software are available for recording and editing, and Digital Media Producer Martin Sayers is happy to tell you more about what is possible and how things work. Feel also free to contact myself to hear about my personal experiences in this field.
Home-made instruction video with Panopto Home-grown video capture using Panopto at my PC, presenting an overview of what is possible, ranging from studio-recorded to D.I.Y. |
Professional studio-recorded lecture
Part of an Open Courseware course on human- induced earthquakes due to gas drilling in the north of The Netherlands, to which I contributed two episodes on seismic behaviour of masonry. Below an example video of Dr. Mandy Korff on soil related effects. |
Experimental set-up filmed by professional crew
Lab experiments can be instructive for students as well as for public relations. In this short video a student start-up film company made a brief overview of the seismic assessment of a lab-tested two storey unreinforced masonry house |
In-class recording of experiment by students
Structural experiments leading to collapse are not only fun to watch but also very instructive. Here a compilation of balsa wood structures tested on stability and load bearing capacity in class. |
Short news
- Flipping without spilling – Past November, Dr Adrià Junyent-Ferré gave an inspiring Talking Teaching lunch lecture titled "Flipping the classroom without spilling: the ongoing trials in Electrical & Electronic Engineering”. Slides can be found here. As a follow-up to this lecture, we have invited Adrià for 27 March to meet lecturers at our Department that intend to apply the flipped classroom principle in (part of) their lectures. Further to this, we intend to measure the effect of this pedagogy change. For those interested in supporting evidence, an often cited article by Bishop and Verleger (2013) provides an comprehensive survey on educational research on the flipped classroom. If you want to join the meeting with Adrià 27 March at 4 pm in room 444, please notify me by mail.
- Diversity and inclusion – Past 12th of March, prof. Geoff Layer gave a presentation on Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education in the Perspectives in Education series. Based on the notion that disability is caused by the way society is organized rather than a person’s impairment or difference, and figures indicating a sharp increase of student numbers with physical or mental issues, he made a warm plea for building an inclusive learning environment. Prof. Layer gave several recommendations, of which some for me were real eye-openers:
- By building an inclusive learning environment, you will serve many more students that what you would expect
- Be aware of the use of colour in educational material possibly affecting students with colour vision defficiency
- Capturing lectures can be very helpful for students with difficulties attending class or absorbing knowledge in a packed classroom
- Some students rely on lip reading, so if you are aware of that, don’t walk back and forth and face the audience
- Publish bad news (e.g. low marks or failed exams) not on Friday afternoons, in order for mental assistance to be available at office hours for students that are desperate.
- Inclusive technologies are available at Imperial College for students and staff alike. Microsoft also offers a range of accessibility features in the software we use daily.
- HEA Fellowship – did you ever consider applying for an AdvanceHE Fellowship? Whether you are in the early stages of your academic career or are a seasoned academic, a Fellowship will bring you recognition in the field of education. Learn more about experiences of a lecturer here. The Imperial STAR Framework helps you in the application process.
- Dr. Andrew Philips – in the Talking Teaching of 13 March gave a lecture on Teaching in collaboration with alumni in industry. Andrew has partnered with alumni to teach the ‘Sketching and Modelling’ module that is taught to first year Civil and Environmental Engineering students. Alumni are employed as 'Visiting Design Fellows' and their feedback shapes the module, focusing the module on skills that the alumni put into practice in industry.
Agenda:
- Monday 22 March 2-4 pm EDU Drop-in support sessions for HEA applications - link
- Friday 29 March 2-5 pm – Assessment for Learning – EDU workshop - link
- Tuesday 9 April 10-12 am – Interactive teaching – EDU Workshop – link
- Wednesday 10 April – Talking Teaching seminar - The Talking Teaching series will showcase best practice approaches to teaching from around the College – speakers to be announced.
- Wednesday 10 April – Making Teaching more Inclusive - EDU workshop - link
- Wednesday 10 April, 10-12 am and Tuesday 14 May, 2-4 pm – Blackboard Learn introductions - link
Colofon
The Skempton Teaching Newsletter is an initiative to keep academic staff of Imperial College updated on teaching-related news from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Also I hope to give you a frequent update on teaching developments at IC and worldwide that might be relevant for our Department. If you have any suggestions or news from your own teaching that might be interesting for our Department, please let me know!
Roel Schipper
Strategic Senior Teaching Fellow
Imperial College London
Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
South Kensington Campus, Skempton building, room 308A
e-mail: [email protected]
www.tudelft.nl/hrschipper roelschipper.weebly.com/
The Skempton Teaching Newsletter is an initiative to keep academic staff of Imperial College updated on teaching-related news from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Also I hope to give you a frequent update on teaching developments at IC and worldwide that might be relevant for our Department. If you have any suggestions or news from your own teaching that might be interesting for our Department, please let me know!
Roel Schipper
Strategic Senior Teaching Fellow
Imperial College London
Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
South Kensington Campus, Skempton building, room 308A
e-mail: [email protected]
www.tudelft.nl/hrschipper roelschipper.weebly.com/