Blue Engineering
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== Introduction ==
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= Blue Science =
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The Blue Engineering-Project was created by a group of students during the winter-semester of 2008/2009, in order to encourage social and environmental responsibility of engineering. They developed a whole course-design and successfully tested the course twice without direct involvement by academic staff. Since summer-semester 2012/2013 two lecturers and three tutors continue to offer the course and develop it further.
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==Open for Every Student from Anywhere in the World - Blue Science – a transdisciplinary course discussing social and ecological responsbilities - Thursday - 12.00 > 16.00 CEST - Starting on 18 April 2024  ==
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[[Datei:TU Logo lang RGB rot.png|250px|mini|rechts]]
  
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The aim of the Blue Engineering is to provide an appropriate framework to reflect on technical achievements in general and one's own personal responsibility. However, Blue Engineering is not intended as a mere theoretical discussion, but is about discovering one's liberties in university and at work so that (prospective) engineers may act more according to their social and ecological responsibilities.
 
  
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As a common basis, the founders of Blue Engineering have formulated a set of central, but not final concepts aimed at providing a common understanding of ecological and social responsibility. The ecological development and use of technology comprise the gentle and sustainable use of earth's finite resources, e.g. the reduction and prevention of toxic substances and transportation. Technologies should be developed according to the specific needs of their users and be adapted to environment and society. They need to be durable, repairable and recyclable. Socially responsible engineering means that the same rights and opportunities of all people are being respected. At work this includes good working conditions, reflecting and acting in teams, and fair and comparable wages. Accordingly, the resources of the planet we all share together must be distributed evenly.
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Blue Science is an online course designed to reflect our personal and disciplinary approaches to science and transformation - what are our tools - by choice and by habit -  for finding meaningful knowledge about the world? What do different approaches look like? And could they be combined for the better?
  
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== The Blue Engineering-Building-Blocks ==
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Blue Science  is a seminar-style course where frontal teaching hardly ever occurs. Through highly interactive didactic methods, students engage in dialogue with each other. Once a week, all students take part in the video conference and prepare assignments via a digital learning platform. In the second half of the semester, students work in small groups to develop a research design for a transdisciplinary project.
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To raise awareness of and to facilitate discussion on the different aspects of social and ecological responsibility, the Blue Engineering-Group developed the idea of teaching units. These units - named building-blocks - are typically designed for one lesson of 60 or 90 minutes and address a complex issue, e.g. whistle-blowing, ethical codes, technology as problem-solver, social businesses and cooperatives. Through the use of a wide variety of teaching methods the learning outcome depends more on the students as individuals and as a group than on the teachers. Consequently, the people responsible for the course don't function as experts who lecture but rather as moderators of group- and learning-processes. In fact, students may even be included in teaching by letting them prepare and conduct a building-block for the rest of the class. In addition, building-blocks may easily be used by a group of engineers working together in a company for their own continued education. An initiative has been taken to make all thirty existing building-blocks available in an [[Baukasten:Startseite|open access database]].
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What to expect:
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Weekly synchronous online course meetings using Zoom online video software (Thursdays, 10am - 2pm Berlin Summer Time / GMT+2, 12 meetings in total).
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- Highly interactive course design with almost no lecture-style teaching - you will be interacting with other participants most of the time. Be prepared to speak in English and activate your camera.
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- Reading assignments between sessions
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- Several small individual writing assignments throughout the semester
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- One or two larger group assignments
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6 ECTS graded course for TU Berlin students
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If you are interested, please send an email to Anton Schaefer (he/his) a.schaefer@tu-berlin.de.
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== Blue Science - Course Description ==
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=== Learning Outcomes ===
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Knowledge of:
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* social and ecological crises
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* internationally agreed sustainability goals and their metrics
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* approaches to the socio-ecological transformation of society
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* discourses on transformative science
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* concepts of inter- and transdisciplinarity
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* toolboxes for transdisciplinary research
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Skills:
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* in leading discussions in groups
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* in working together in small, interdisciplinary and international groups
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* in choosing good research questions
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* in communicating possible research projects
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Competencies:
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* to reflect on personal perspectives on social and environmental responsibility
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* to reflect on specific perspectives and methods of one's own discipline
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* to collectively reflect on the heterogeneity of perceptions and knowledge related to social and ecological crises
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* to reflect the roles science could, should and does play in processes of transformation
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* to identify possible contributions of the individual sciences to the development and achievement of global sustainability goals
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* to collaboratively design transdisciplinary research projects
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* to cooperate with others for a just, social and ecological transition
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* to cope with the dilemma arising from the ideals of transformative science and the strive for scientific neutrality
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* to cope with the decision-making dilemma arising from personal, disciplinary and societal responsibility
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=== Contents ===
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# learning and values in interactive courses.
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# social and environmental crises
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# the scientific method – background and disciplinary differences
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# classification systems for academic disciplines
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# transformative science – idea and critique
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# personal and disciplinary *lenses*
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# multi-, inter- and transdisciplinarity
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# diversity of perspectives in the course
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# possible contributions of one's own discipline
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# possible contributions of the other disciplines represented
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# development of a transdisciplinary research question
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= Blue Engineering in short =
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The interdisciplinary Blue Engineering Course offers prospective engineers a look beyond their horizons and an (inter-)active approach to their social and ecological responsibility. This gives them the opportunity to become aware of their own values and reflect them with others. In addition, the teaching/learning process is essentially shifted to the students, so that they assume responsibility co-conducting own course and at the same time co-develop the whole course for the future semesters. All in all, the students complement their specialist knowledge from their regular study programs with orientation skills and competences that help them to know their role in terms of technology and society and to shape it together with others.
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== [[Baukasten:EN:Digital-Starter-Kit|Building Blocks - Online Starter Kit]] ==
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To raise awareness of and to facilitate discussion on the different aspects of social and ecological responsibility, the Blue Engineering-Group developed the idea of teaching units. These units - named building-blocks - are typically designed for one lesson of 60 or 90 minutes and address a complex issue, e.g. whistle-blowing, ethical codes, technology as problem-solver, social businesses and cooperatives. Through the use of a wide variety of teaching methods the learning outcome depends more on the students as individuals and as a group than on the teachers. Consequently, the people responsible for the course don't function as experts who lecture but rather as moderators of group- and learning-processes. In fact, students may even be included in teaching by letting them prepare and conduct a building-block for the rest of the class. In addition, building-blocks may easily be used by a group of engineers working together in a company for their own continued education.
  
 
A short description of two building-blocks may help to better grasp the whole idea:
 
A short description of two building-blocks may help to better grasp the whole idea:
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In the first phase of the block "Greenwashing or Decision Aids - Labels, Certificates and the like", the participants get to know the "seven sins" of greenwashing. Based on this, they develop in small groups creative advertisement for a fictional product by excessively using methods of greenwashing. The advertisement is presented to the entire group and rounded up with a brief discussion. In the second phase of the block the small groups work through brochures of widely known labels and certificates and discuss if they are reliable.
 
In the first phase of the block "Greenwashing or Decision Aids - Labels, Certificates and the like", the participants get to know the "seven sins" of greenwashing. Based on this, they develop in small groups creative advertisement for a fictional product by excessively using methods of greenwashing. The advertisement is presented to the entire group and rounded up with a brief discussion. In the second phase of the block the small groups work through brochures of widely known labels and certificates and discuss if they are reliable.
  
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The participants of the block "Technology as a Drama - Technology in Drama" read passages of "The Physicists" by Friedrich Dürrenmatt and "Life of Galilee" by Bertolt Brecht. In small groups they rephrase the key messages in their own words and use them to improvise small scenes. The small groups present their best scenes to the whole group and lead a discussion on their interpretation.
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The participants of the block "Technology as a Drama - Technology in Drama" read passages of "The Physicists" by Friedrich Dürrenmatt and "Life of Galilee" by Bertolt Brecht. In small groups they rephrase the key messages in their own words and use them to improvise small scenes. The small groups present their best scenes to the whole group and lead a discussion on their interpretation.
  
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== The Blue Engineering-Course ==
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[[Baukasten:Startseite|There are now more than 140 such modules, which are regularly used in the Blue Engineering Seminar and outside. They will are freely accessible on the homepage since June 2017.]]
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Based on these building-blocks a course-design was developed that should provide a substantive insight into a broad range of topics and that actively engages students over the 15 weeks of a semester. Additionally, they work on different projects to influence the further development of the course.
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[[Baukasten:EN:Digital-Starter-Kit|Building Blocks - Online Starter Kit - English]]
  
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The Blue Engineering-Course takes three hours per week. Each session usually starts with a 90-minute building-block. Next, students work on developing their own building-blocks or do similar projects. Their work is supported for instance by giving them a variety of teaching methods at hand and holding several sessions of peer-to-peer feedback. Around the 12th Week, a whole study day is used to test all created building-blocks. The students are encouraged to invite family and friends. Academic staff and other interested persons are also present. This increases notably the motivation of the students. In the remaining three weeks the students are assisted and given peer-to-peer feedback to write down the manuals of these newly created building-blocks. Consequently, the following semester has several newly finished and tested building-blocks to choose from. The fact that the students’ building-blocks may be used in the following semester provides additional motivation to create meaningful building-blocks and to provide an easy to follow manual.
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== Structure of the Blue Engineering Seminar ==
  
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== Conclusion ==
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The Blue Engineering Course at the TU Berlin has a total capacity of 100 participants per semester. The seminar is designed in such a way that the participants sometimes meet and work together in one room and at other times they are split up into several rooms. This is done to allow for intensive group work and discussions as well as to present external speakers to all of the participants. The course takes four hours per week and covers the whole semester of 15 weeks. It consists essentially of three phases:
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The course at the TUB originates entirely from students who got active themselves. This had signifcant influence on the design of the actual course as it is at no point teacher-centered. Participants of the Blue Engineering-Course regularly choose the existing building-blocks, prepare them and moderate them for the whole group. In addition they develop new building-blocks in a peer-to-peer-process for further classes.
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However, the basic idea of Blue Engineering involves more than merely raising the awareness of (prospective) engineers. Participants are encouraged to stay in touch and to network within companies and universities. They may even found their own Blue Engineering-Groups as it already happened at Technische Universität Hamburg.
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In the first phase, tutors carry out six core modules, so that the participants get to know the general character of the Blue Engineering Course as well as well as its content and didactic approach. The topics here include technology assessment, ethical codes, technology as a problem solver and the productive world view.
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In the second phase, the participants organise in small groups to conduct an existing building block for their fellow students. By doing this, they learn how to actively organise a demanding and meaningful teaching/learning unit that does not follow conventional teaching approaches. The topics here include:"Gender, Diversity & Technology", Stromopoly, Nuclear-Power-Anno Domini, Peak Everything,"Work, Society and Trade Unions", Automation vs. Good Workplaces, Virtual Water and Land Grabbing. These building blocks are taken from the list of over 150 existing building blocks.
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In the third phase, the small groups present a building block that they have newly developed over the entire semester.
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The topic and methods are usually set by the participants themselves. For quality assurance they receive feedback from fellow students and student tutors several times over the course of the whole semester. These building blocks are than added to the growing list of existing building blocks.
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== Assessment Criteria ==
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The 6 ECTS Credit Module is completed by three exam-equivalent study achievements
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* the weekly learning journal serves for student’s own reflection and where the different topics over the course are connected and linked to. newspaper articles, conversation with friends or family etc.
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* the conduction and documentation of a newly developed building block
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== Evaluation ==
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Approximately 90% of the participants state that they will recommend the course to others in a final survey. Therefore about 50% of the participants enroll on the basis of a recommendation.
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The proportion of female students is approximately 25%. Particularly noteworthy in this context, however, is the fact that the proportion of female students of mechanical engineering, information technology in mechanical engineering and physical engineering is 50% higher than the respective cohort. This suggests that the emphasis on ecological and social relevance can increase the attractiveness of engineering sciences.
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The teaching units developed by students are generally of a very high quality. They can be used outside of class without any hesitation. Many building blocks even testify to an intensive study of topics that are often (still) barely noticed by the general public. At the same time, there are seemingly no limits to the creative implementation through games, role plays, videos and the like.
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The learning objectives are also examined by a quantitative evaluation at the end of the semester. For this purpose, the students are asked  to assess their competences at the beginning and end of each semester. In almost all  12 key competences for sustainable development, the participants note an increase of about 1 point on a 6-point-scale.
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==History and Implementation at other Universities==
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In the seminar “Soziologie im Ingenieursberuf“ at the Technical University of Berlin a few students noted in 2009:  "We need more social and ecological responsibility in engineering education and profession. This is our idea..."
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Therefore they developed a seminar concept in a project workshop within two years. The first Seminar took place in 2011/2012 with 25 participants. From then on the course was offered every semester. In the past digital semester of 2020 there were 120 participants guided by three tutors.
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In the meantime Blue Engineering has been established at further universities  (HAW Hamburg, HTW Berlin, TU Hamburg, HS Düsseldorf, TU Dresden, HS Ruhr West, Uni Stuttgart, TH Köln). This Semester an international Blue Engineering course is launched in English.
  
 
== Further Reading ==
 
== Further Reading ==
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* [http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-09474-8_27 Pongratz S. and Baier A. (2015). "Encouraging Engineering Students to Question Technological Solutions for Complex Ecological and Social Problems." Integrating Sustainability Thinking in Science and Engineering Curricula. Springer International Publishing, 2015. 375-386.]
 
* [http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-09474-8_27 Pongratz S. and Baier A. (2015). "Encouraging Engineering Students to Question Technological Solutions for Complex Ecological and Social Problems." Integrating Sustainability Thinking in Science and Engineering Curricula. Springer International Publishing, 2015. 375-386.]
  
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=== Gefördert vom / Sponsored by ===
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=== Reference ===
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[[Datei:Bmbf.png|250px|mini|links]] [[Datei:Daad.png|250px|mini]]
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This text is based heavily on the commentary [http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11948-013-9490-z Student-Driven Courses on the Social and Ecological Responsibilities of Engineers] which was published in Science and Engineering Ethics, Volume 19,4 of December 2013.
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Aktuelle Version vom 8. April 2024, 17:45 Uhr

Blue Science

Open for Every Student from Anywhere in the World - Blue Science – a transdisciplinary course discussing social and ecological responsbilities - Thursday - 12.00 > 16.00 CEST - Starting on 18 April 2024

TU Logo lang RGB rot.png


Blue Science is an online course designed to reflect our personal and disciplinary approaches to science and transformation - what are our tools - by choice and by habit - for finding meaningful knowledge about the world? What do different approaches look like? And could they be combined for the better?

Blue Science is a seminar-style course where frontal teaching hardly ever occurs. Through highly interactive didactic methods, students engage in dialogue with each other. Once a week, all students take part in the video conference and prepare assignments via a digital learning platform. In the second half of the semester, students work in small groups to develop a research design for a transdisciplinary project.

What to expect: Weekly synchronous online course meetings using Zoom online video software (Thursdays, 10am - 2pm Berlin Summer Time / GMT+2, 12 meetings in total). - Highly interactive course design with almost no lecture-style teaching - you will be interacting with other participants most of the time. Be prepared to speak in English and activate your camera. - Reading assignments between sessions - Several small individual writing assignments throughout the semester - One or two larger group assignments

6 ECTS graded course for TU Berlin students


If you are interested, please send an email to Anton Schaefer (he/his) a.schaefer@tu-berlin.de.

Blue Science - Course Description

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge of:

  • social and ecological crises
  • internationally agreed sustainability goals and their metrics
  • approaches to the socio-ecological transformation of society
  • discourses on transformative science
  • concepts of inter- and transdisciplinarity
  • toolboxes for transdisciplinary research

Skills:

  • in leading discussions in groups
  • in working together in small, interdisciplinary and international groups
  • in choosing good research questions
  • in communicating possible research projects

Competencies:

  • to reflect on personal perspectives on social and environmental responsibility
  • to reflect on specific perspectives and methods of one's own discipline
  • to collectively reflect on the heterogeneity of perceptions and knowledge related to social and ecological crises
  • to reflect the roles science could, should and does play in processes of transformation
  • to identify possible contributions of the individual sciences to the development and achievement of global sustainability goals
  • to collaboratively design transdisciplinary research projects
  • to cooperate with others for a just, social and ecological transition
  • to cope with the dilemma arising from the ideals of transformative science and the strive for scientific neutrality
  • to cope with the decision-making dilemma arising from personal, disciplinary and societal responsibility

Contents

  1. learning and values in interactive courses.
  2. social and environmental crises
  3. the scientific method – background and disciplinary differences
  4. classification systems for academic disciplines
  5. transformative science – idea and critique
  6. personal and disciplinary *lenses*
  7. multi-, inter- and transdisciplinarity
  8. diversity of perspectives in the course
  9. possible contributions of one's own discipline
  10. possible contributions of the other disciplines represented
  11. development of a transdisciplinary research question


Von „http://www.blue-engineering.org/index.php?title=English&oldid=15992“