Engineering Education Research

Head of Section: Hanne Løje.

We conduct research and follow-up research in development and research projects within engineering didactics and pedagogy, especially in relation to STEM education for higher education and STEM subjects in primary and secondary education with a focus on student learning and the use of digital tools to support teaching.

The research group is responsible for leading and participating in national and international research projects within engineering didactics and pedagogy, with a focus on developing new and improved teaching and learning methods to support student learning and enhance student motivation, engagement, and retention in educational programs.

The research work includes the evaluation of educational programs, teaching sequences, and the impact of pedagogical development and research projects, as well as the use of digital tools in teaching. For example, it may involve evaluating students' learning outcomes from teaching, courses, and other educational activities.

A direct purpose of engineering education research is to enhance motivation, activation, and engagement among students, especially in the context of challenge-based learning, the use of digitization in practical academic engineering education, and collaborations with industry. Thus, the research should contribute to the development of the teaching practice and bring new knowledge about value creation and learning dynamics both internally among students and externally with companies.

A specific focus of the research group's research is the retention of students in BEng programmes and how varying teaching and learning methods can contribute to motivating students for greater engagement in teaching and retention in programs, which is currently being investigated in an ongoing PhD project. 

The research is based on the institute's teaching portfolio and teaching at partner institutions, such as other Danish professional BEng education providers, universities, and particularly N5T and EuroTech partners.

One of the group's activities is the "Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)" programme, held every year. The project consists of various presentations and workshops designed to inspire and support DTU Engineering Technology's own staff in working with their own teaching as a research object and publishing the results obtained at relevant teaching conferences and meetings, as well as in relevant journals.

Collaborations

The research group collaborates across the department on didactic issues in internal and external projects and participates in several projects where the group is responsible for evaluating the didactic effect of development, competence-building projects, etc., through follow-up research. Follow-up research also takes place with other national and international educational institutions. 

The research group currently collaborates with the following other educational institutions:

• University of Copenhagen
• VIA University College (Horsens/Aarhus)
• University of Southern Denmark (SDU)
• Aarhus University of Applied Sciences
• NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
• University of Bergen
• Uppsala University.

Projects

Currently, the research group is either the project leader or a project participant in the following projects:

• Interdisciplinary collaboration skills for value creation and sustainability (Funded by: Nordplus)
• Development of a concept for collaboration with industry (Funded by: The Entrepreneurship Foundation)
• Strengthening holistic STEM education in technical vocational education (Funded by: Novo Nordisk)
• Factors That Influence the Persistence of Engineering Students (Ph.D. project) (Funded by: internal)"