Mechanical Engineering and Production Technology Degree Programme of HAMK started Verkkovirta project actively in autumn 2016. In the beginning of September the aim of the work to be done was described more in details and degree programme staff members, Salla Niittymäki (study counselor) and Adeyinka Abass (teacher assistant), started their active collaboration towards the mutual goal with Irma Kunnari and the whole project team.
Defining what to do was not an easy job, and there was many open questions waiting to be answered during the year. The aim for this mechanical engineering pilot was to create and explore studifying practices in Mechanical Engineering education (Finnish and especially English programmes) and in close collaboration with companies.
In the very beginning, we noticed that the world of studifying is a complex and wide matter. There are many other things related and a variety of other things to take into consideration. We listed some questions that need answering before going any further:
- What is studifying about?
- Why is it needed? For what purposes it is useful?
- To whom is it for?
- How to work with the curriculum? How to gain the competences described in the curriculum?
Our aim in the pilot was to explore studifying practices through a couple of pilot cases and to create more fluent practices based on experiences from pilot cases. We also came up with the list of things to be done, but at the same time, we realized that we could not do everything during this period of time and this project. Therefore, we decided to start from the beginning and accept that we have to leave some things to be done in the future. This is our “to do” list:
- Describe the activities for the students and for the companies
- Create guidelines for staff members
- Describe the curriculum work in studifying project
- Create online material and framework for each study module in the curriculum
Luckily, most of these things are the same in all the degree programmes, so we do not have to work alone in this pilot, but together with other degree programmes of HAMK as well as with other partners in the project. The project team is excited to start working!