PowerPoint Presentation

Change Challenges the TeacherHAMKs Electrical and Automation Education Develops in Study ModulesLea Mustonen, Senior Lecturer & Susan Heikkil, Senior LecturerSchool of TechnologyHme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK), Finland

Finland in Europe

HAMK in FinlandSituated centrally in the greater Helsinki metropolitan area of southern Finland at 7 campuses

Objectives and GoalsFocus of this presentation is to present an example of electrical- and automation engineering studies by our larger module study programme.

It integrates the technical aspect with the communication studies.

BackgroundHAMKs new strategy was implemented in 2013.One of the main changes was the group oriented work method of the teachers. HAMK moved from isolated small study courses to larger study modules. Modules consist of 15 credits. A certain area of interest is observed from various points of view.It has grown to be a significant trend in education in Finland. This method of learning is called Phenomenom learning.

MethodsThe work of engineers requires more and more interaction and social skills. Social and interaction skill studies have been integrated to vocational studies with various ways of collaboration between teachers in their teaching.As an example we will describe our module Tekniikkaprojekti, Technical Project.It was implemented as the first module of our students that started in January 2016. Main focus was to learn the basic skills of working in a project. From the communicational point of view the main focus is to learn the basics of written and oral reporting and also the basics of videoreporting skills.

Siemens boxConcrete example of this integration was a project of building a Siemens PLC control unit -box. Control box was made to be easily moved and to serve as a PLC main unit for courses and student projects in automation.Students also filled the Belbin -test and that way learned about their own strengths.

EvaluationModule was concluded by the students presentation.They presented their work to a team of 3 teachers. Teachers evaluated the students growth in their vocational learning, the technical implementation of the Siemens -box and form the communicational point of view the report, oral presentation and the video report. Evaluation was based on self- and peer assessment and the evaluation of the 3 teachers.

Results/Conclusion/ContributionWe collect feedback from our students in middle of the module and at the end of the module.

We got the best result from the following areas:

Main results 1I understood the modules learning objectives (100%).

Main results 2Ive gotten enough support and guidance to achieve the objectives (93%).

Main results 3The study methods helped to reach the learning objectives (100%).

Main results 4There is an atmosphere that supports learning in my student group (100%).

Conclusions

The technical implementations proved that the students have the capability to apply their theoretical knowledge in practice. The written reports in particular showed skills that are usually achieved in the later phase of studies. The students learned and liked a lot to practice video reporting skills.The student group also has an excellent accumulation of credits.

The future of Module studies?Module type of studies has been in use for about 2 years. After the difficulties at the start, the students progress in studies has significantly improved. It has been verified by the conversation with students by the teaching staff and statistics.The teachers need to co-operate with each other much more than before.It is a way to learn from each other and develop new methods of teaching together. Needs time but is rewarding!

Auditing HAMK was a subject of international auditing in spring 2016. Degree Programme in Electrical and Automation Engineering programme was chosen to take part in the auditing. In three grade valuating system Degree Programmes were evaluated to the best level: advanced. From our point of view the module system is one of the main reasons for these results.

The students greetings