Talking about Teaching 2012

The Portuguese Society for Engineering Education (SPEE) was publically launched in 2010. Its start-up initiatives and consolidation process were complemented with the simultaneous establishment of SPEE international links. In 2010-11 international workshops were run with the support of University of Porto (UPorto) and FEUP. Later on, in 2011, SPEE joined the International Society for Engineering Education (IGIP) and together both societies organized the SPEE-IGIP Flash Moment within the 1st World Engineering Education Flash Week. SPEE has participated in other initiatives, such as CISTI 2011 (Chaves, Portugal), ICECE 2011 (Guimarães, Portugal), Educa Berlin 2011 (collaborating with the IGIP and SEFI workshop “The Role of Pedagogy in Online Engineering Education”), and has also organized Special Tracks in CLME 2011 (Maputo, Mozambique) and in the 41st International Conference of IGIP (Villach, Austria). Here, SPEE organized a Special Track entitled “Talking about Teaching 2012 (TaT’12)”. In the Special Track Session TaT’12 within IGIP2012, SPEE intended to contribute to promote the discussion on Engineering Education (EE) by providing an opportunity for debating and sharing approaches, developments and experiences, in line with the mission of both SPEE and IGIP. “Talking about Teaching” is the name of a thought-provoking column of Susan Zvacek, from Fort Hays State University, in the SPEE Newsletter and it was planned to give continuity to her reflections and to potentiate them within TaT’12 and in future TaT’xx. The proposed topics were concerned not only with resources in EE and with the constant demand on the use of technology, but also with the effectiveness of knowledge in order to guaranty simultaneously the spirit of engineering leadership in society and the lifelong learning capability. They also included the perspective of EE oriented for STEM teachers and students, as well as the sharing of resources with developing countries. The TaT’12 Special Track has been organized in 3 sessions. Each session had an invited speaker, regular presentations and a final group discussion on all its topics. Susan Zvacek engaged all the participants with the topic “Visualizing Understanding with Concept Maps” which motivated some interactivity. James Uhomoibhi discussed “Collaboration and Resource Sharing in Engineering Education”, stressing the importance of the interaction with developing countries and Teresa Larkin spoke about “Authentic Assessment using a Research Conference Format”, showing how complementary and more effective methods can be used to supplement traditional paper and pencil examinations