The Estonian Center for Engineering Pedagogy

Estonian Centre for Engineering Pedagogy (ECEP) was founded in 2001 according to the Protocol of Good Will, signed by Estonian Minister of Education and Research, Rector of University of Tartu, Rector of University of Tallinn, and Rector of Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech). The Protocol of Good Will is stating that ECEP at TalTech coordinates research and development in the field of engineering and technology education in TalTech and implements the research results into the education of technical teachers in Estonia.

ECEP is the only representative office of International Society for Engineering Education (IGIP) in Estonia and in the Baltic region, being accredited by IGIP as Engineering Education Training Centre for International Educators (for the periods of 2003-2007; 2008-2012; 2013-2017), being one of 45 accredited centres from 75 countries of the world, represented in IGIP. According to IGIP requirements the accredited international centre for engineering education should appertain to a technical university, a unique didactical environment for teaching engineering.

Advisory Board of Education of Teachers and Professors at Tallinn University of Technology has been founded at TalTech in 2010 (order of the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs 22.12.2010, No 403), including representatives from TalTech (specialists of teacher education and teaching engineering), wide range of representatives out of the university - representatives from the Estonian Ministry of Education, University of Tartu, University of Tallinn, representatives of Estonian Qualification Authority, employers and leaders of centres of vocational education of Estonia. The mission of Advisory Board is to develop engineering education, teacher education in the field of engineering, and new measures for the further development of engineering education and its quality.

The fundamental principles of Engineering Pedagogy have been elaborated, and formulated in general sense by Prof Dr Adolf Melezinek (Klagenfurt University, Austria). Accordingly Engineering Pedagogy is an interdisciplinary essential element of the sience-based system of engineering education.

The aim of Engineering Pedagogy (Engineering Education Science) is to implement integral thinking in terms of Science as Art, combining the science of teaching with the art of the teacher, i.e. with the teacher's personality. The teaching process should be inspired in a scientific manner applying as many calculation methods as possible and making teaching activities meaningfully algorithmic. However, human beings and art, which inspires teaching and adds creativity, should maintain their roles in the instruction process. The teacher's art should be applied in accordance with the science, exploring the effectiveness of teaching processes.

The methodology of Engineering Pedagogy as the science of the most common laws, principles and methods of scientific and technical knowledge, search for new ideas and theories and their realisation, the contents and structure of engineering activities has been considered. The object of Engineering Pedagogy is the pedagogical system of training engineers, the subject is described as designing and realising of professional training contents, organisation forms, methods, the process of specialist’s personality formation. The basic notions and categories are the same as in general pedagogy: aims, principles, organisation form, etc, enriched with new contents taking into account the objectives of engineering education. The categories specific for Engineering Pedagogy are scientific and technical knowledge, engineering activity, specialist’s personality and communication in the process of professional activity.