As engineering academics prepare for the new academic year, the Engineers Ireland Academic society hosted an inaugural free webinar on September 3rd, on the topic of Remote and virtual laboratories – equipping students for hands off learning.
This was the first seminar in a series that was offered free of charge to member and non-members of Engineers Ireland, in the spirit of collegiality to share opportunity and innovation in the classroom and to inspire all academics and technical staff in the engineering education sector.
The webinar was chaired by Una Parsons, CEng, FIEI, Head of Faculty of Engineering and Design at IT Sligo and Chair of the Academic society who welcomed delegates to the webinar. With over 300 registered for the event, there were 174 unique viewers on the day. Anyone not available to listen live is able to access the recording, with the link available below. The delegates came from all over the island of Ireland with other attendees some tuning in from the UK (12), Germany (3), Uganda (2) and one each from Switzerland, the US the Philippines and Spain.
In her opening address, Una Parsons remarked that engineering academics responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by moving teaching and assessment online; however, the delivery of laboratories and other ‘hands on’ activities can represent challenges for both academics and technical staff. The focus of the seminar was to showcase some ideas from key practitioners to give the academics and technical staff some helpful guidelines on how to move forward.
To access a recording of the webinar and read the full article, click here.
