Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

An electronic engineering curriculum design based on concept-mapping techniques

  • Published:
International Journal of Technology and Design Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Curriculum design is a concern in European Universities as they face the forthcoming European Higher Education Area (EHEA). This process can be eased by the use of scientific tools such as Concept-Mapping Techniques (CMT) that extract and organize the most relevant information from experts’ experience using statistics techniques, and helps a working group to achieve conclusions. This paper presents an empirical exploratory research study related to the application of the CMT to the design of the Electronic Engineering (EE) Degree at the University of Seville, Spain. Considering the Career-space conclusions as the initial point, the main relevant competences were identified in a brainstorming technique. These competences are organized according to their affinity using CMT, establishing and interpreting the main clusters and their relative importance. Finally, a reliability analysis of the concept maps was carried out verifying the correctness of the procedure and validating the results for the curricula adaptation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Career-Space Project. (2001a). Generic ICT skills profiles. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

  • Career-Space Project. (2001b). Directrices para el desarrollo curricular. Nuevos currículos de TIC para el siglo XXI: el diseño de la educación del mañana. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

  • Commission of the European Communities. (2005). Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, Brussels.

  • Communiqué of the Conference of European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education. (2005). The European Higher Education Area -Achieving the Goals’, Bergen.

  • Delbecq, A. L., Van de Ven, A. H., & Gustafson, D. H. (1975). Group techniques for program planning: A guide to nominal group and DELPHI processes. Glenville, IL: Scott Foresman and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, M. J., & Biddle, B.J. (1974). The study of teaching. New York, NY: Holt, Rhinehart and Winston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Everitt, B. S. (1993). Cluster analysis. Halsted Press.

  • Fahrmeir, L., & Hamerle, A. (1984). Multivariate Statistische Verfahren. Berlin: De Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hadjerrouit,An electronic engineering curriculum design S. (2005). Learner-centered web-based instruction in software engineering. IEEE Transactions on Education, 48(1), 99–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joint Declaration on Harmonisation of the European Higher Education Area: May 25th, 1998, by the four Ministers in charge for France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, Paris, the Sorbonne.

  • Joint Declaration of the European Ministers of Education: June 19th, 1999, ‘The European Higher Education Area’, Bologna.

  • Kolb, D. G., & Shepherd, D. M. (1997). Concept mapping organizational cultures. Journal of Management Inquiry, 6(4), 282–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Likert, R. (1932). A technique for the measurement of attitudes. Archives of Psychology, 22(140), 1–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martínez-Torres, M. R., Barrero, F., Toral, S. L., & Gallardo, S. (2005). A digital signal processing teaching methodology using concept-mapping techniques. IEEE Transactions on Education, 48(3), 422–429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rychen, D. S., & Salganik, L. H. (Eds.). (2003). Key competencies for a successful life and a well-functioning society. Göttingen: Hogrefe & Huber Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. (2002). Concept Mapping and curriculum. Grayson H. Walker Teaching Resource Center. Retrieved May 20, 2007 from http://www.utc.edu/Administration/WalkerTeachingResourceCenter/FacultyDevelopment/ConceptMa pping/index.html.

  • Thomson, C. J. (1997). Concept mapping as a means of evaluating primary school technology programmes. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 7, 97–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Toral, S. L., Barrero, F., Martínez-Torres, M. R., Gallardo, S., & Lillo, J. (2005). Implementation of a web-based educational tool for digital signal processing teaching using the technological acceptance model. IEEE Transactions on Education, 48(4), 632–641.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Toral, S. L., Martínez-Torres, M. R., Barrero, F., Gallardo, S., Vargas, E., & Gónzalez, V. (2006). Planning a master’s level curriculum according to career space recommendations using concept mapping techniques. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 16(3), 237–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trochim, W. M. K. (1989). An introduction to concept mapping for planning and evaluation. Evaluation and Program Planning, 12(1), 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trochim, W. M. K. (1993). The reliability of concept mapping. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the American Evaluation Association, Dallas, Texas.

  • University of Deusto and University of Groningen. (2003). Tuning educational structures in Europe, Final Report Phase One. Edited by Julia González Robert Wagenaar.

  • University of Deusto and University of Groningen. (2005). Tuning educational structures in Europe II Universities’ contribution to the Bologna Process. Edited by Julia González Robert Wagenaar.

  • Van Neste-Kenny, J., Cragg, C.E., & Foulds, B. (1998). Using concept maps and visual representations for collaborative curriculum development. Nurse Educator, 23(6), 21–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ward, J. H. (1963). Hierarchical grouping to optimize an objective function. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 58, 236–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Funding for this work was provided by the Spanish PAFPU (“Plan Andaluz de formación del profesorado universitario”), from the Quality Assurance Agency for Andalucía Unversities, (UCUA). We appreciate the continued and enthusiastic support of our project officer, Mª Teresa Padilla.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. L. Toral.

Additional information

This Project has been funded by the Spanish PAFPU (“Plan Andaluz de formación del profesorado universitario”), from the Quality Assurance Agency for Andalucía Unversities, (UCUA).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Toral, S.L., Martínez-Torres, M.R., Barrero, F. et al. An electronic engineering curriculum design based on concept-mapping techniques. Int J Technol Des Educ 17, 341–356 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-007-9042-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-007-9042-4

Keywords

Navigation