Strategies for Continuously Improving the Professional Development and Practice of Engineering Educators

Resumen

Lifelong learning plays a fundamental role for all engineering professionals, including engineering educators, as the working context is now international and rapidly changing. The training and professional development of engineering educators are hence of vital importance for letting universities serve society. In this study, the main challenges for the promotion of well-trained and change-oriented engineering educators are methodically analyzed, as linked to preparing the future generations of engineers. A systematic analysis of such challenges is performed and helps with the finding of unsolved or critical aspects, which can be grouped into main problems. After studying them, a collection of actuations or potential solutions, together with a set of tools for checking their progress, are put forward. Key strategies directly involve teachers themselves and their teaching methodologies, implicate students and the relationships with educators, take advantage of available resources and are dependent on the surrounding environment. Their effects are discussed, based on authors' experience, and considering the information from the studies carried out by numerous colleagues worldwide.