#31 Esther Matemba & Lelanie Smith on African Engineering Education

Welcome back to the podcast!The isolation felt by engineering educators who are passionate about teaching and learning, but who reside in technically focused engineering departments, is widely reported. The case is no different in Africa, where few institutions recognise educational research as a valid research focus in engineering, this resulting in lack of capacity for engineering education research (EER) and meaning that African educational innovations are not well represented in the literature. Although educators within Africa may make use of research findings from elsewhere, or receive support from those in different geographical locations, the contextual nature of education research means there is a need for supportive national and regional communities.In this episode we speak to Lelanie Smith, a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and IT at the University of Pretoria and Dr. Esther Matemba, an independent Engineering education researcher, consultant, and a sessional academic at Curtin University, Australia. Together, the two co-lead the Engineering Education Research Network for Africa (EERN-Africa).Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Dr. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about the rewards and challenges involved in setting up an Engineering Education network.Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.40 Podcast Intro1.02 Experiences with networks and communities from Natalie and Neil2.23 Introduction to Lelanie6.37 Introduction to Esther9.50 Introduction to engineering education in the African context and contextual characteristics17.36 Objectives and operation of the network27.58 The network as a community of practice (CoP)36.27 PhD and Masters programme41.41 The role of funding in development of the network48.08 Future opportunties for engineering education in Afria50.55 Becoming involved in the network51.55 Final advice59.37 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil Further Reading  A paper about EERN-Africa as a Community of PracticeDOI: 10.1080/22054952.2023.2233340An introduction to EERN-Africa posted on the REEN websitehttps://reen.co/introducing-the-engineering-education-research-network-africa-eern-africa/A podcast episode on which Esther featureshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/context-coalitions-and-collaborations-oh-my-dr-esther/id1334320403?i=1000646656515A link to the network LinkedIn pagehttps://www.linkedin.com/company/engineering-education-research-network-africa?trk=public_post_feed-actor-nameTo find out more about the Master’s and PhD programme visithttps://intra-africa-cb4ee.co.za/indexJoin us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.bemusic (c) Lizzie Cooke all rights reserved. Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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