Pedagogical Competence
20a) What are aims for the pedagogical competence of the teaching staff?
Aims for pedagogical competences are the following:
Staff should be able to convey the scientific, technical knowledge, selecting the
appropriate teaching methods, develop the autonomyand the motivation of the students
There exists different types of learning skills and learning medium. The three key
interaction processes that can be used to learn are the visual, auditory and (hands-on)
kinestetic processes. In the same manner there is also different level of command of the
learned knowledge. In the first level of command the student have heard about the
concepts. In a more developed level the student can explain to others and in the most
advanced command level the student can use, apply and combine knowledge. The
pedagogical staff should be able to understand these gradation levels and also being
able to define the practical meaning of these levels in there own fields of competences.
They should be able to develop different type of pedagogical tools and interractions
approaches with the students in order to interact with the different learning approaches
described above.
20b) How has teaching staff developed its pedagogical competence and how does the
degree programme support teachers in developing their pedagogical competence?
Teachers have been encouraged participating in the YOP programme and other
individual courses. The degree programme can make use of development resources to
develop specific skills. This has been done in several courses.
20c) Estimate on a scale of 1-4 the quality of the pedagogical competence of the
teaching staff: 1_2_3_4_
3
20d) Provide an example of a situation or course which has demonstrated that the
teacher has a good level of pedagogical competence.
On the course Kon-41.4002 Product development project (10 cr.) the students form
groups of ca. 8-10 members and take on a real product development task obtained from
industry. A project manager is nominated within the group whereafter the group will self
managed make a project plan and schedule to carry out the project. The course spans
over the whole academic year and the aim is to produce a functioning prototype, test
equipment set up or a representative mock up model, normal technical and project
documentation is required also. A multidisciplinary approach is stressed and most
groups typically include engineering, econonics and industrial design students.
International participants from partner universities are typical also. Each group is
provided with a modest project budget for associated costs, the funding is coming from
the respective industrial project sponsors. Project results are presented for the media
also in an annual gala-type event in the Design Factory facilities. The project course is
supported by a simultaneously running Product development theory course (5 cr). The
cources mentioned are positioned in the master’s level studies. Same principles with
modifications are applied e.g. on the cource Kon-41.4160 Mechatronics project (8cr).
20e) What are the challenges and problems in developing the pedagogical competence
of teaching staff?
The tenure track process is involving pedagogical training
There is a need for available time for the teaching staff to concentrate on the
development of teaching skills.There is also the need to identify who is really the
teaching staff (Do they also involve the professors).