IDEE’s success is guaranteed by the following elements: 

• The IDEE Board: responsible for advising and guiding the IDEE teams, safeguarding the quality of the programme and ensuring alignment with the strategic priorities of the university.    
• IDEE’s Engineering Education Scientific Expert: a full professor in Innovation in Engineering Education.  
• Resources to support the five theme teams  
• The IDEE development programme: The IDEE development programme equips members to combine innovation and research activities by organising sessions to develop themselves in education innovation and to broaden their (educational) horizons in different areas of expertise.   
• Two dedicated programme managers from the Teaching Academy Facilitation Team, who via close collaboration with the Academic Director and Scientific Expert, facilitate IDEE as a programme and community; and the pioneering projects within the programme. 

Taking responsibility and acting autonomously are key competencies for professional engineers and their future contribution to society. They also play an important role in stimulating intrinsic motivation. In this theme, the main question is how to create the conditions to have students take the responsibility for their own learning process. These conditions apply to students, lecturers, the curriculum as well as the learning environment in which they operate. Key questions possibly addressed within this theme are: what do students need to be able to take responsibility? How to design a curriculum which allows students to take responsibility? And what should lecturers do to stimulate and enable students to take responsibility?

For more information about the this project, e.g. the project proposal or the IDEE-STR blogs, click here.

Students and lecturers often experience a loss of knowledge and skills among students during their studies. And students’ new employers experience a lack of knowledge and skills necessary in their companies. Wouldn’t it be nice if students would retain the knowledge and skills acquired during their studies and be able to apply them throughout their studies and in their future jobs? Some possible questions within this theme are: how to design a consistent curriculum to stimulate retention of knowledge and skills? And: How to design the assessment of knowledge and skills in such a way that knowledge and skills retention is guaranteed?

Courses on engineering skills are part of many engineering education programmes. In a rapidly developing society, required engineering skills change quickly. One of the challenges is to better anticipate engineering skills needed in the future and to stay updated on the state-of-the-art engineering skills needed in society. How to design agile degree programmes in which future engineering skills are effectively acquired and seamlessly integrated? How to make sure that the skills addressed in the programmes are in line with the skills needed? And how to stimulate critical reflection among students on the application of new engineering skills in professional practice and society?

Technological innovations influence how we learn and teach. As the newest technology impacting education, artificial intelligence brings both opportunities and challenges into education. This creates a need to understand how AI enhances teaching, and consequently, learning. At the same time, it is necessary to handle the risk that students use AI to circumvent learning, and teachers use AI to circumvent teaching. Therefore, in the age of AI, how to teach and assess so that we know that students really learn, and so that students feel seen and supported by the teachers? There is a need for strategies for assessing learning that prevent attempts to circumvent learning and have a rich teaching presence, but not necessarily using AI. The innovations and research of this theme could focus on, for example: Can AI offer new learning and teaching strategies; how does AI influence assessment of student work; what do educators need and want in delivering education in an era where technology evolves with disruptive speed?

TU Delft and its engineering education expect a lot from students to ultimately graduate as high-end engineers. In the transition from secondary education to higher engineering education, there are challenges with serious implications both for students and educators. For example, whether students come from Dutch high schools or from international backgrounds, they often need to develop their ways to approach the studies at university. Success is not only about students passing courses but also strengthening their sense of belonging. Also, many students are going through life changes at the same time, such as living places, living arrangements, social groups and income. The innovations and research could be about, for instance: What does this journey entail for students, and how can we ensure a successful transition; what is the role of an educator in supporting students’ transition; what strategies can we adapt into our programmes and courses to support students with this transition, taken into account students’ diverse backgrounds and needs?