ABSTRACT Students are essential stakeholders in the education system. However, there needs to be more focus on how their perceptions can be understood to improve or redesign the curriculum. Thus, this paper attempts to develop a comprehensive scale to measure the perception of engineering students of their curriculum specifically for marine engineering education. The study identified a 12-dimensional construct that covers aspects of a quality curriculum. The data collected using cross-sectional sampling supports this dimensional structure of the attributes of quality curriculum and the internal consistency and validity of the scale. The outcome of this paper will add to the existing knowledge pool by understanding students’ viewpoints about curriculum quality and further help accommodate these in designing curricula. Though this scale focuses on marine engineering education, owing to its proximity to other domains of technical education and the global nature of the primary construct, the same may be administered and tested for the quality of the curriculum of technical education in general.

ABSTRACT The mainstream adoption of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) poses a risk to academic integrity, questioning the ability to assess students’ learning. Quality assurance agencies recommend considering securing assessment throughout educational programs. These places renewed interest in program-level assessment, a holistic approach where assessment items are strategically set across the program to progressively support and evaluate learners’ development of knowledge and skills. In practice, though, the implementation has proven complex, and the assessment points remain vulnerable to students’ use of emerging technologies like GAI unless assessment is secured. This study aims to bridge the gap between the theoretical conceptualisation of program-level assessment and its practical implementation to better prepare students for professional practice and to address the challenges posed by emerging technologies. The research is based on the analysis of an instrumental case study, a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) program at an Australian university. The findings provide a guide to rationalise assessment in engineering programs and facilitate a stepped transition to program-level assessment. The paper also discusses policy and structural changes to support the implementation.

ABSTRACT The education system benefits from the interaction between students and educators, which is widely associated with effective human-centred learning. In the specific case of engineering education, practical activities in collaborative work environments greatly support the acquisition of the technical and social skills necessary for engineers’ professional practice, where oral communication serves as a driving force that connects all these abilities. This study analyzes the communication practices outlined in the syllabi of undergraduate engineering programmes to improve the efficiency of the educational system. A comprehensive analysis, based on a case study, examines the discursive strategies applied to educational policies through first-year subjects and their relationship with the curriculum, with a focus on didactics and evaluation. The analysis indicates that the discursive practices recommended in the examined higher education system include both written and oral discourse, even though writing and reading have traditionally been the primary approaches to teaching and learning. Academic orality has been deprioritized in the higher education system, as evidenced by its absence in assessment. In first-year courses, such as Algebra, Calculus, and Physics, written discourse is strongly emphasised as essential for teaching complex mathematical concepts, whereas programming courses, such as Programming Workshop, emphasise a dual use of written and oral discourse in learning strategies and evaluation. The findings indicate consistent discursive patterns in syllabi of first-year engineering courses, suggesting implications for teaching and assessment design. However, as a syllabus-based study, no inferences can be made about student engagement or performance.

ABSTRACT Edward Beatty and Israel Solares have compiled a fascinating set of studies revealing the roles played by individual engineers and their influence on firms and nation-states between the late 19th century and the 1950s. There are close-up accounts of individuals and more distant views encompassing collectives – firms and communities of practice – mostly through American and European viewpoints.

ABSTRACT Graduate employability is a critical issue in Australian engineering education, where high competition for entry-level roles persists despite industry skill shortages. While Engineers Australia’s Stage 1 Competency Standard provides a benchmark, there is limited empirical evidence defining the specific skill sets required for graduate mechanical engineers. This study addresses this gap by analysing a national dataset of job advertisements to identify and map priority skills. Unlike automated studies producing broad skill inventories, this research delivers high-resolution, discipline-specific mapping of skill interdependencies. By analysing a manually verified dataset through Louvain community detection and Apriori association rule mining, the research reveals the structural architecture of employability in mechanical engineering. Findings indicate that employers seek integrated skill sets rather than isolated technical abilities. Proficiency in CAD and computational software is fundamental but consistently demanded alongside professional skills like communication, teamwork, and project management. Clustering analysis identified distinct role archetypes combining technical, professional, and contextual attributes. Rule mining uncovered strong associations between software expertise, stakeholder communication, and understanding ethical and sustainable practices. This research demonstrates that employability is constructed through holistic integration. Consequently, engineering curricula must evolve to embed these integrated skills, ensuring educational outcomes align directly with contemporary industry expectations.

ABSTRACT The use of technology in the classroom has intensified, expanding the teaching-learning possibilities. This study aims to develop and validate an instrument to measure the perceptions of undergraduate Production Engineering students on the use of software in the Quality Engineering course. The specific data underlying this instrument corresponds to the application in RStudio. The sample consisted of 61 students from a public university. The items were analysed using Content Validity and Item Response Theory through Samejima’s Graded Response Model. Full-information factor analysis was used to assess dimensionality. The theoretical analysis discarded four items from the initial questionnaire, and three items were eliminated after the statistical analysis, resulting in a final questionnaire with 14 items. The results indicate that the validation process provided evidence of the quality of the questions, unidimensionality, and reliability. The application of the questionnaire showed that the students acknowledged the potential of using RStudio in the learning process, but reported problems related to its user interface. The developed questionnaire enables the identification of students’ perceptions and, thereby, drives reflections on the teaching and learning process. This paper can also guide the development of instruments on the perceptions of the use of software for engineering students in general.

ABSTRACT Spatial skills are correlated with successful degree completion in engineering. One early required subject is Engineering Mechanics. Traditionally, this is a ‘gate keeping’ course with higher-than-average failure rates. It is hypothesised that underdeveloped 3-D spatial skills are one reason for failure in this course. In this study, 128 students were recruited from two large research-intensive universities in the U.S. Participants were asked to provide GPA scores, complete three spatial tests and a verbal analogy task and to solve six problems from engineering mechanics. The average of the three spatial ability z-scores was calculated to create a composite spatial ability score for each participant. Solutions to each of the six mechanics problems were then analysed using the Mayer framework for problem-solving by closely examining the representation and solution phases. Results from this mixed-methods study illustrate the variation of approaches in representing and solving problems and how relates to differences in spatial skill. Statistically significant correlations were found between problem-solving accuracy and spatial scores but not between problem-solving and verbal ability. These correlations are explained by the spatial ability’s unique role in forming correct mental representations of key aspects of each problem. These findings inform future research about spatial skills and problem-solving in engineering.

ABSTRACT Engineering practice research provides trustworthy images of practice that identify critical knowledge, skill, context, and cultural gaps between education and practice contexts. These images can inform curriculum design and improve the professional development and productivity of students, educators, and practitioners. However, existing studies of engineering practice focusing on the early career experiences and transitions of practicing engineers are rare and mostly informed by interviews. This study presents a multiple case study analysis of detailed narratives constructed from observations of three Australian early career engineer’s practice in their work context to explore the research question: ‘How does culture influence the sociotechnical practices of early career engineers?’ Drawing upon epistemic cultures we illustrate how knowledge has been produced and validated in observed practice and analyse the influence technological relations and social arrangements can have on early career engineers. Doing so can provide resources that allow educators and students with limited familiarity of practice contexts to visualise and comprehend the meaning of accreditation competency standards. This study highlights the need for engineers to do more than simply apply a combination of competencies to succeed in practice as they overcome challenges arising from unexpected, unfamiliar, and socially complex situations that foster learning and growth.