فصلنامه آموزش مهندسی ایران
پیاپی 101 (بهار 1403)

Expert manpower is the most important capacity needed to face crises. Qualitative and quantitative unsustainability of water resources and growing water scarcity has become one of the country’s biggest environmental challenges and has endangered the livability of parts of the country. Some experts consider the technocratic approach by the graduates of water engineering related fields as one of the factors influencing the formation and continuation of the water crisis in the country. In this article, the abilities that a water engineer must have to face today’s challenges are examined and the weaknesses of the existing educational system in the country in strengthening these abilities are examined. Based on the surveys, water engineering education programs in many leading universities in other countries have been modified to train T-shaped specialists. This type of specialists have deep knowledge in the specific field of water engineering and in other related technical fields, they have a limited level of information to work in teams with different specializations, as well as to understand the interrelationships between water, food, energy, environment and climate systems. Furthermore, T-shaped professionals have better understanding of nexus relationships between water, food, energy, environment, and climate systems and have been empowered for management and leadership. In this research, while explaining the knowledge components of the T-shaped professional personality, the way to design educational programs for the training of such engineers are explained. The findings of this research can be used for improvement of water engineering education programs in universities in Iran.

This paper discusses the application of Metameres in the field of higher education. Metaverse refers to a virtual reality world where users can interact with others using three-dimensional images. It also examines the potential benefits and challenges of integrating Metaverse into academic environments, discussing various types of Metaverse such as augmented reality, lifelogging, mirror world, virtual reality, and their applications. The advantages of using Metaverse in higher education provide new opportunities for social interactions, enhance creativity, and offer new learning experiences through virtualization. However, this research presents limitations such as potential issues in social interactions, concerns about privacy, and the challenge of integrating Metaverse experiences with the real world. To implement Metaverse in educational environments, instructors should analyze students’ understanding of Metaverse and develop platforms that prioritize data security. As a result, Metaverse provides a unique virtual environment for learning, offering facilities for higher educational transformation. It should be noted that a thorough examination of Metaverse advantages and limitations for successful integration into educational programs is essential.

Identifying, cultivating, and developing critical thinking competencies is one of the most important success factors of engineers in problem-finding, problem-oriented, problematizing and recognizing innovative solutions and solving complex problems. For this purpose, in the present study, an attempt was made to analyze the place of critical thinking in engineering education by identifying its outcomes. For this purpose, in a systematic review based on the guidelines of PRISMA, the articles indexed in Scopus, Google Scholar and Science-Direct databases in the period from 2010 to 2023, using the combination of keywords “Critical Thinking” OR “Engineering Education” OR “Critical Thinking in Engineering Education” AND “Outcomes OR results” AND “Engineering Education” OR “Engineering” and Benefits, AND “Limitations OR Critical Thinking” were identified and retrieved. Finally, 21 articles were selected for the final analysis after checking the entry and exit criteria. The articles must meet the four conditions including 1. Be related to the research topic; 2. Be published between 2010 and 2023; 3. The articles have reached the final publication; 4. The articles must have the words critical thinking, engineering education. The findings identify nine outcomes, use of critical thinking in engineering education. The results show that for effective teaching of critical thinking and its inclusion in engineering curricula, a more coherent approach is needed to provide a useful and effective formal platform for promoting knowledge, insight, values and skills throughout the curriculum. The needs of students should be considered; therefore, it is necessary to present the methods of teaching critical thinking to engineering professors and provide a concrete, practical and understandable context for cultivating this competence in engineering students. It is clear that considering the vital achievements of critical thinking, the examination and preparation of the requirements and conditions needed to review and update educational policies and micro and macro guidelines to empower engineering professors in cultivating critical thinking in engineering students is not only necessary but undeniable; It seems that not only these requirements have not been paid attention to, but even in practice, they have been neglected, and for this reason, this authentic competence has not been cultivated.

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of integrating reality-based instructional strategy (based on the Education for the Future project) on self-directed learning and academic motivation of mechanical engineering students at the Faculty of Engineering and Technology of Arak University. The research method was a quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of the study included all mechanical engineering students of Arak University in the academic year 2023-2024. 28 students who had taken the Pressure Vessels course in the second semester of the academic year were selected using the available sampling method and then the selected sample was randomly divided into experimental (14 people) and control (14 people) groups. To collect data, the Self-Directed Learning Questionnaire of Fisher and the Academic Motivation Questionnaire of Gunuc & Kuzu were used. The experimental group was trained in the Pressure Vessels course using a reality-based instructional strategy integrated with a reality-based instructional strategy for 26 sessions, and the control group was trained in the usual way and by attending university classes. To analyze the data, multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was used. The findings showed that after adjusting the pre-test scores, there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in the variables of self-directed learning and academic motivation. Therefore, the results of this research indicate that considering the learning styles of new generation learners, if a reality-based instructional strategy is used for these people, it will play an important role in increasing self-directed learning and academic motivation of students and will facilitate the transfer of learning to other situations.

 The speed of growth and change of knowledge in engineering fields, has led to the need for new approaches. Connectivism theory has solved this problem by placing the learner at the center of learning and providing a new definition of learning. MOOCs have been a successful experience based on this theory. Recently, researchers have introduced hybrid MOOCs by combining the distributive property of xMOOCs and the network property of cMOOCs to earn diverse skills and presented positive results. In order to achieve the goal of the research, which is to identify the components of the personalized learning environment in engineering education with hybrid MOOC technology, the components in cMOOCs and xMOOCs were investigated with the method of qualitative content analysis. For this purpose, 41 domestic and foreign researches were selected from the statistical population of related electronic researches by purposeful sampling method. Then, the data reached theoretical saturation by interviewing 7 experts in this field. Then, the data were qualitatively analyzed and the related themes of coding and the categories of self-learning, self-motivation, self-leadership, personalization, evaluation of communication, creation of strengthening and elimination of communication and social network platform were obtained in two groups of individual independence and networking.

The thoughts and ideas of artists and craftsmen, according to the way they perceive the manifestations of the world, are preserved in the form of works of visual arts, architecture and decorative crafts which are exhibited, as souvenirs of culture human. Aesthetics and art sciences introduce these works according to the change and transformation of human experiences, thus the precision and elegance “creativity” of artists throughout history, cultural value, dignity and validity of works of art are measured and determined. Today, given the new dimensions that have changed with technological progress and the production of new technical tools, the way of seeing the world and material effects has transformed and led to the creation of works of art more detailed and more complete. Paying more attention to (space) and creating new precise and comprehensive artistic dimensions is considered one of the modern achievements. The characteristics of design and creation of forms, which occupied the artist’s mind throughout the ages to see the world better and create better especially when he used “geometry”, he went through the exact terms of the world of senses and reason. Recently, some artists have paid special attention to the new common branch between mathematics, geometry and art called fractal geometry, which provides information about the common secret and harmony of the universe. Among them, modern architects and visual arts have created significant works in this regard.

Nearly ninety years have passed since the beginning of modern higher education in Iran. During this period, engineering education in the country, along with a large quantitative expansion, has gone through many ups and downs. Improving engineering education depends on identifying its challenges and providing solutions to overcome them. And this is possible only with organized research. One of the envisaged measures in this field is to create a center for communication between the activities carried out in the engineering education of the country and the educational centers of other countries and international organizations. In this connection, following the approval of the United Nations Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UNESCO Chair on Engineering Education was established at the University of Tehran. The UNESCO chair, as a think tank, has put research and futures studies in various fields of engineering education, at the top of its goals. In this paper, while introducing the objectives and scope of activities of the UNESCO Chair on Engineering Education, the achievements of a decade of its activities have been reviewed.