Innovative approaches to Teaching and
Learning
Michael Stevenson, Warwick
July 2015
Cornell Tech: A new
approach to graduate
study, with an emphasis
on entrepreneurship.
Olin College of
Engineering: Students are
engineers from day one.
Integrated Engineering, UCL:
Scenario-based teaching
underpinned by a rigorous
technical programme.
Quest University:
Interdisciplinary block
programme, enabling
high-levels of flexibility.
Aalborg University:
Problem and project
based learning across
a broad curriculum.
D-school, Stanford:
Tackling ‘the world’s
messy problems’ by
applying design thinking
and design innovation.
Zeppelin University:
developing decision
makers and creative
thinkers, with a focus
on social innovation.
Minerva: A global
experience, using
technology to deliver all
learning online.
Jacobs University:
High quality,
transdisciplinary study
in a diverse community
High Tech High: projectbased learning for K-12
Harvey Mudd College:
Intellectual rigour combined with
innovative approaches to STEM
within a liberal arts context.
Amsterdam University
College: Liberal Arts &
Sciences aimed at
international students.
EPICS/ EPICS High:
Community-based design
and innovation projects in
vertical teams.
Florida Polytechnic
University: STEM education
designed to meet the needs of
the Florida economy.
Singapore University of
Technology & Design:
Technically-grounded
design, across the whole
value chain.
Features:
 Established in collaboration with MIT, opening for students in 2012
 Central focus on technically-grounded design, across the whole value
chain: ‘the Big-D’
 Curriculum designed from the ‘outside in’, taking the needs of business
and society first
 Features of teaching and learning:
 Multidisciplinary throughout the degree programme
 Collaborative learning, through cohort classes and group projects
 Experiential, with projects growing in complexity
 Interactive, making use of latest technology – included a Fab Lab
 Grounded in the real world, through real problems and compulsory
internships
Innovative practice:
SUTD
SUTD aims to nurture a new generation of technologically grounded
leaders and innovators equipped to create a better world through design.
Features:
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Founded in the School of Engineering at Stanford in 2005 to prepare a
generation of innovators to tackle complex challenges.
Serves as a university-wide hub for innovation where students from all
disciplines come together to work in classes and on projects.
Described as a ‘deliberate mash-up of industry, academia and the big
world beyond campus’, with a clear focus on human values in design.
Features of teaching and learning:
 Based on ‘a methodology for innovation that combines creative and
analytical approaches, and requires collaboration across disciplines’.
 Focus on application of design thinking and design innovation
 Multidisciplinary groups and teaching, with all classes team taught
by a mix of faculty and industry – class leaders work in parallel
 Experiential learning with a focus on real world problems
Students are encouraged to develop new ways of looking at old problems.
Innovative practice: D-School
Features:
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Engineering Projects in Community Service was founded in 1995 in the
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, and
has since been expanded across partner universities and high schools.
Provides opportunities for undergraduate and high school students to
earn academic credit for design projects.
Projects are focused on engineering or technology-based problems for
non-profit organisations in the local community.
Features of teaching and learning:
 Collaborative problem-based learning
 Grounded in the engineering design process
 Vertical and multidisciplinary teams, drawing in different levels of
knowledge/ experience
 Long-term, real-world projects
Students on EPICS have authentic experiences, working on projects that
are mission critical for the project partner
Innovative practice: EPICS
Design innovation
Real business problems
Students seek out real problems to solve. They identify
the challenge, shape the question, select an approach
and develop a solution, repeating the steps as
necessary.
Students focus on real challenges facing organisations
today, often working in partnership to define and
design solutions.
Aligned assessment
Learner accountability
Students take responsible for their own learning,
shaping their degree programmes to reflect their
interests and aspirations.
Assessment is designed to reflect both the teaching
model and the methods for measuring success that are
applied in the workforce: knowledge based and
professional competencies.
HASS
Entrepreneurial
Students are exposed to humanities, arts and social
sciences subjects as a core element of the curriculum,
bringing new perspectives to their STEM focus.
Students are encouraged to challenge convention, take
risks and create opportunities. They think about new
approaches and potential business models.
Focus
Research informed
The STEM curriculum balances the fundamental
essence of a range of engineering and technology
disciplines with authentic projects, usually
interdisciplinary, in areas of relevance to today’s world.
All courses are informed by cutting-edge research
across relevant fields. Students have the opportunity
to participate in multidisciplinary and applied research
projects.
Eight pedagogy dimensions
Focus on engineering as a design process
A pedagogy that delivers teaching through an engineering design process, with a
deep focus on a small number of subject areas. Highly entrepreneurial, with strong
opportunities to learn from and participate in cutting edge research. Real business
problems are used, but are not fundamental to the offer. As in the case studies,
assessment is not necessarily aligned with the innovative approaches to teaching.
Focus on an student choice
Focus on external impact
A multidisciplinary, student-centred, PBL approach, drawing on scenarios and research
from sources around the world, rather than creating new knowledge. Problems may be
related to the real world, but not necessarily. Responding to student demand,
assessment is aligned with teaching approaches. This approach is highly
entrepreneurial, reflecting the character of the Millennial generation, but is likely to be
associated with a less focused curriculum, in order to reflect the broad interests of the
student population.
This model delivers measurable impact for the real world, through faculty-led and
business-led projects. This might reduce the extent to which pedagogy can incorporate
design innovation, although this is likely to still be used as a teaching methodology.
Real world problem solving demands a broader approach to the curriculum, although
this could be solved by an Olin-type collaboration. Entrepreneurial thinking is not as
advanced, as the focus is clearly on delivering for the needs of local, regional and
national businesses.
Three pedagogy archetypes
 The national proposition. Rethinking the way
engineering and technology are taught in the UK
 The regional proposition. An engine for economic
development in Herefordshire
One framework,
two settings
Schools and
Colleges
Informal
digital
learning
Innovation
& Growth
Talent &
Learning
Enterprise
partners
University
Government &
its agencies
The ecosystem
Business:
corporates &
SMEs