Project Name

REEdI- Rethinking Engineering Education in Ireland

 

For more information, visit our website at  www.reedi.ie



Project Team

  • Professor Joseph Walsh- Project Lead, Munster Technological University
  • Dr Fiona Boyle- Head of Dept, STEM- Director of REEdI, Munster Technological University
  • Professor Martin J Hayes- Project Partner, University of Limerick
  • Dr Eoin O Connell- Project Partner, University of Limerick
  • Professor Donna O Shea, Project Partner, Munster Technological University
  • Jacqueline Kehoe, Project Partner, Munster Technological University

Provide a short description of the project

The REEdI project has developed an agile and innovative framework for the design, development and delivery of engineering education in Ireland.  The project has built on the success of world-leading cutting-edge models of engineering pedagogy to deliver a transformative programme of self-directed and self-scheduled learning for the next generation of engineers.

 

One of the key outputs of the project was a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering- the “REEdI Engineering degree”. This programme is an agile and innovative blended 4-year degree where student engineers get to learn using immersive technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality, and cutting-edge models of engineering education. The student engineers time is equally divided between on-campus activities and industry (enterprise) placement. Students will spend the first two years on campus and the final two years at a host industry partner gaining the essential industry skills and personal attributes an employer looks for in a graduate engineer. The three-way relationship between student, university and industry is core to the approach on which the programme is designed. The industry partners committed to hosting REEdI student engineers on placement range across a variety of manufacturing sectors- MedTech, Pharma, Automotive, General Manufacturing and AgriTech. The REEdI project will provide an alternative framework for engineering education and indeed, other undergraduate and post graduate programmes across higher education in Ireland. The REEdI model is already being scaled to other programmes in the School of STEM at MTU Kerry. The ultimate aim is for any HEI to be able to adopt our approach utilizing the roadmap’s and framework’s developed and tested through REEdI.

Pictured: REEdI students in ACE VR Suite with Lecturer

Highlight interesting collaborations / partnerships

 The REEdI project:

  • has a consortium of 23 industry/ enterprise partners to date, across a variety of manufacturing industries.
  • A network of research centres as key partners- Science Foundation Irelands Confirm Smart Manufacturing Centre, SFIs Lero Software Development Research Centre, the IMaR Research Centre, and the AgriTech Centre of Excellence (ACE)
  • The international academic partners on the project are Charles Sturt University (NSW, Aus) and Harper Adams University (Newport, UK).

Provide a brief summary of the project’s key enterprise engagements to date

The REEdI project embedded enterprise by design into everything we do. There are currently 23 partners from the manufacturing industry in Ireland. The partners are across a number of different sectors- general manufacturing, agritech, pharma, medtech, automotive and electronics. Enterprise partners are involved with the project in many different ways, including- programme design, development and delivery (e.g. programme validation panels, guest lecturing), facilitating student taster days at their manufacturing facilities, hosting students on work placement, part of the REEdI steering committee, champions for the project, collaborative outreach initiatives, donation of production parts for “teardown analysis” for our students, and mentoring initiatives.

 

Pictured: REEdI Student Engineers visit Liebherr Container Cranes project partner

 

The REEdI team have established an industry/ enterprise mentorship network, which enables knowledge sharing of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in relation to student work placement. This network will benefit from a suite of tools and resources being developed by REEdI to support work placement supervisors and REEdI students whilst on work placement. In conjunction with this suite of activities, the REEdI Team set up a learning community in MTU on Industry Mentorship, which involves networking with other departments across the campus. A key focus of this network is mentorship of students on work placement (by the enterprise partner). This allows the REEdI Team connect with other enterprise partners already affiliated with MTU and gives valuable insights into co-operations with enterprise.

Pictured: REEdI Engineers in Residence visit partner Avonmore Electrical

Engagement is excellent from the REEdI enterprise partners, they are enthusiastic to be part of the transformation of engineering education in Ireland. They require the engineers of the future that the REEdI programme is producing to fill their talent pipeline. The level of engagement and collaboration between the REEdI Team and enterprise partners is exemplary.

Pictured: REEdI Student Engineers visit Stryker Neurovascular project partner

Project Showcase

Website: https://reedi.ie/

Social media:

We have presented the work being done through REEdI at international conferences in education, in peer reviewed books (as book chapters), in peer reviewed journals and as guest speakers of the academic society of Engineers Ireland. Please see below for references:

  • Boyle, F., Moolman, J., Stephens, R., & Walsh, J. (2022). Using immersive technologies to rethink engineering education in Ireland. In M. E. Auer, A. Pester, & D. May (Eds.), Learning with Technologies and Technologies in Learning – Experience, Trends and Challenges in Higher Education. Springer.
  • Boyle, R. Hadgraft, E. Lindsay and R. Ulseth, “Innovating Engineering Education at Greenfield Sites: Transferable Insights from Doblin’s Model of Innovation,” 2022 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), Uppsala, Sweden, 2022, pp. 1-8, doi: 10.1109/FIE56618.2022.9962702.
  • Boyle, F., Walsh, J., Riordan, D., Geary, C., Kelly, P., & Broderick, E. (2022). REEdI Design Thinking for Developing Engineering Curricula. Education Science, 12. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12030206
  • * Lindsay, R. Hadgraft, F. Boyle, and R. Ulseth, “Disruptive Models for Engineering Education,”. Accepted for publication in the International Handbook of Engineering Education- scheduled for publication in May 2023.
  • Fitzgerald, N., O’Sullivan, K., Morris, I., Walsh, J., Boyle, F., O’Connell, E., & Corkery, G. (2022). An enhanced assessment methodology for significant work-based placement 14th annual International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, Mallorca, Spain.
  • Morris, I., O’Sullivan, K., Fitzgerald, N. P., Walsh, J., Boyle, F., O’Connell, E., & Corkery, G. (2022). Co-design and co-development of an overarching work placement framework with industry 16th annual International Technology, Education and Development Conference, Online.
  • O’Sullivan, K., Morris, I., Fitzgerald, N., Walsh, J., Boyle, F., O’Connell, E., & Corkery, G. (2022). Implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in the Project Framework for Rethinking Engineering Education in Ireland 14th annual International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, Mallorca, Spain.
  • Cassidy, K. O’Sullivan, N. Fitzgerald, I. Morris, F. Boyle, G. Corkery, J. Walsh (2022) Addressing the need for a more gender balanced participation in engineering education. 14th annual International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, Mallorca, Spain.
  • Moolman, G. Corkery, J. Walsh, S. Morrissey-Tucker (2022) The Use of Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs) for Engineering Education in Higher Education Institutions, EDULEARN22 Proceedings, pp. 5073-5081.
  • O’Sullivan, K., Morris, I., Fitzgerald, N., Cassidy, C., Walsh, J., O’Connell, E & Boyle, F. (2023). Developing Primary School outreach activities as part of the Rethinking Engineering in Ireland Project. 17th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation and will be held in Valencia (Spain), March 2023.
  • Fitzgerald, N., O’Sullivan, K., Morris, I., Walsh, J., O’Connell, E & Boyle, F. Developing a student retention framework for engineering education in Ireland. (2023). 17th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation and will be held in Valencia (Spain), March 2023.
  • Kelly, P., Moolman, J., Geary, C., Walsh, J., & Boyle, F. (2023) Integration of a Virtual Reality platform into undergraduate engineering in Ireland. 17th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation and will be held in Valencia (Spain), March 2023.
  • Morris, I., Fitzgerald, N., O’Sullivan, K., Walsh, J., O’Connell, E & Boyle, F. 2023. An evaluation of requirements for an industry mentorship framework, incorporating industry feedback. 15th annual International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, Mallorca, Spain. July 2023.
  • Geary, C., P. Kelly, F. Boyle, J. Walsh. 2023. Career focused curriculum design in engineering. 15th annual International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, Mallorca, Spain. July 2023.
  • Geary, C., J. Moolman, C. Mbabazi, F. Boyle, J. Walsh. Experiential Learning using Augmented Reality in Engineering Education. 15th annual International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, Mallorca, Spain. July 2023.
  • Rethinking Engineering Education in Ireland, News & Insights 28.04.2022, Engineers Ireland Journal How industry and academia have come together to rethink engineering education in Ireland – Engineers Ireland
  • Engineers Ireland Webinar, 09.12.2022, Aligning 2nd & 3rd Level Education from an Engineering Perspective (engineersireland.ie)

 

Last updated: Monday 24 April 2023

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