Research-based coaching of academic staff as means to improve Engineering Education

Abstract

In Engineering Sciences innovative methods are needed, in order to promote further professionalization towards improving the effectiveness of Engineering Education. These were the targets laid down for the research project “LeWI - Teaching, Effectiveness and Intervention” which was founded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in Germany (time period: 2009 - 2012). In a cooperating forum of four German universities1 an individual Coaching Concept for teaching staff was developed, with additional monitoring, based on earlier research. The research-based coaching concept, its implementation into Engineering education and the empirical findings of the complex evaluation research will be presented. Two Best-Practice-examples will show the impact on improvement of gender-sensitive Teaching and Learning mechanisms in Engineering Education.