A Co-curricular Approach for Teaching Practical Skills to Students with Diverse Backgrounds - SEFI2024

One of the reasons that the teaching in Engineering at Sheffield is effective and high quality is that it is a team effort, delivered by experts and supported by many. Jon Fullwood is a Technical Team leader in Computing, Control and Electrical Engineering in Diamond Engineering and presented his work, A co-curricular approach to addressing the variation of practical skills in students from diverse backgrounds, at the recent European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI24) conference. Jon's work is an accessible means for students to grow confidence and skills in practical electronics. Here, Jon shares his experience of SEFI24.   

Having never been to a SEFI conference before, jetting off to present my work was little daunting to say the least!

I needn’t have feared, the whole experience from start to finish was amazing and something I will never forget.

I have to admit that I approached SEFI with excitement but also with fear and trepidation as I didn’t believe that my work was anywhere near good enough to be listened to by this type of audience. My imposter syndrome soon disappeared and luckily, I got to present my practice paper on the first day of the conference which allowed me to settle and enjoy the experience much more.

The first day consisted of a seemingly long journey which included a delayed flight to Geneva. I think we were all glad to finally get to the hotel. The following day started with breakfast and a metro journey to the EPFL campus in Lausanne which hosted the SEFI 2024 conference. The Campus itself was set just above the shores of lake Geneva which made for a very impressive sight.

My presentation took place straight after the opening address which in some ways was great as it got me straight into things and also got it over and done with but in other ways it was difficult because I had no idea where my presentation room was and had no real time to set up and practice.

A snapshot from a keynote talk

I eventually found the correct room and was warmly welcomed. I had just enough time to test that my laptop was working, and we were soon straight into the presentations. My presentation was third on the list which was good for me because others were also finding difficulty finding the room and as such many people were still filtering in whilst the first presentation was taking place. I honestly couldn’t tell you a thing about the preceding two presentations, I was too focused on what I was delivering and was soon stood in front of an audience of people, most of whom I’d never seen before. It was great to have a few friendly faces from the University team who were there to support as well as listen.

I launched into my talk which focused on bridging the skills gap for students from diverse backgrounds arriving at university with little practical skill. I soon settled into my usual teacher style. I decided to approach this in as much a relaxed way as possible which turned out to be a good call. I surveyed the room as I was giving my presentation and noticed most people paying attention and even getting the occasional laugh which helped me settle.               

I had some lovely feedback from the talk and had some great questions which I answered as fully as I could. I told myself before I started that I was ‘the’ expert on my topic and kept this in mind all the way through. I think I even got called ‘inspirational’ at one point but maybe my hearing aid was turned down!

It was such a relief to get to the end and could then focus on the rest of the conference.

I attended some wonderful presentations, one of note which was delivered by Professor Sheryl Sorby from the University of Cincinnati. The presentation talked about Developing the Mindset for Future Engineering Education and was a topic that is very close to my heart. A quote from her paper which I found truly inspirational:

No spinning please.

“To transform engineering education across the globe, it is essential to shift from an exclusive ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality to a growth or ‘gain the skill’ mentality”.

This is something that I strongly believe in, and it was fantastic to listen to someone who had experience in this field who backed up her thoughts with evidence gained over a number of years.

I also attended talks and workshops which were based on STEM education bringing in youngsters to our subject. The workshops highlighted that our current practice in STEM education in the UK is (generally) in advance of most European countries. Although the patterns shown in the workshops were not relatively new, they did show some innovation in the way they were approaching STEM, in particular the use of the latest technology and involving as many outside people from industry as possible to show youngsters the latest advancements in technology. I left these sessions with some new ideas and things to ponder about how we attract more younger students into the world of Engineering. I think the key thing I noted from the research was the age range in which to attract students to Engineering, looking at the higher primary school to lower secondary school age children rather than the higher age range that we seem to be aiming our Outreach projects at. Maybe this is the next project for me to look at?!

It wasn’t just about work; it was also about bonding with a team of people and sharing an experience like this has I am sure strengthened both friendships and working relationships. From the Gala dinner in the aquarium to table football (I was not offside!) in the hotel, I am sure that this experience has affected us all in the most positive of ways.

Bring on SEFI 2025!