Faculty Adoption and Perception of Teaching Methods: Traditions, Technology & Tricks

Different methods and technologies supporting the learning process are discussed, and many times also applied, in most higher education institutions. Using versatile, activating methods, instructors can help students make connections among key concepts and facilitate the application of the acquired knowledge to new settings (CDIO Standard 8). Some early adopters are willingly experimenting with new approaches, whereas others prefer utilizing more traditional settings. However, the effect of these methods, and utilization of emerging educational technologies, are often critically discussed by at least a part of the faculty. There has been a series of educational developments piloted and implemented at the Department of Information Technologies at Åbo Akademi University, too. In addition to the general goals to improve learning as well as to meet the challenges connected to student attrition typical in ICT-engineering education, the dual-campus environment has required novel approaches as students are not always physically present. In this paper, the current structure of the M.Sc. in Computer Engineering curriculum, and the different methods and educational tools recently applied at the department are presented. The faculty members' experiences, reflections on the different approaches, and their possible impact on learning results and teachers' workload are analyzed based on semi-structured interviews. Also, future insights are discussed based on the results.