**7. Conclusions**

In this chapter, we have explained how a *programme integrating course* can strengthen the six different relations involved in the programme triangle (**Figure 1**), between the students, the instructors and the programme director, in short improve the *programme coherence*.

In Section 3, we presented 10 important functions of the course, for example, academic introduction, increased understanding of the programme, connections between teachers and students, exchange of experiences between students from different years of the programme, education of the instructors involved and qualityenhancing evaluation of the programme.

We have seen that the students in general understand the aims and activities of the course, appreciate meeting and learning from students from other years at the seminars and overall think that the course is fruitful. As the course advances for three academic years, the students increase their knowledge about their education, improve their ability to reflect and improve their study skills. Their appreciation of the course grows for each year. We can see that the students develop in each of the three dimensions of self-regulated learning: metacognition, motivation and good habits. We have also seen that a topic at a single seminar can have a clear effect, since the number of students studying abroad almost doubled after the introduction of a seminar on studying and working abroad.

Finally, in Section 5 we showed that the course can also be used as a vehicle for student-based programme development and studies of different student related variables, such as language skills, learning strategies and stress.

A programme integrating course could be a valuable addition to any engineering education programme. The course takes very little space in the curriculum (the reflection seminar part of the course can fit in as little as 1 ECTS credit per year) and the gains from introducing the course can be substantial, especially for programmes where the programme coherence is weak or where the academic introduction is unsatisfactory. The topics of the seminars should be chosen to fit the current needs of the specific programme.

We suggest that every programme director of an engineering educational programme should seriously consider starting a programme integrating course, based on the general model described in this chapter and adapted to the local situation at the university and of the specific programme.

## **Acknowledgements**

I am very thankful to the coauthors of the papers related to the programme integrating course, which I have cited in this chapter. They are Aseel Berglund, Olle Bälter, Massimiliano Colareti Tosti, Björn Hedin, Fredrik Heintz, Anna-Karin Högfeldt, Marie Magnell, Emma Riese, Maria Svedin, Åsa Cajander, Mats Daniels, Stephen Frezza, Amanpreet Kapoor, Roger McDermott, Arnold Pears, Anne-Kathrin Peters, Mihaela Sabin and Charles Wallace.

The research has been funded by the KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

**217**

**Author details**

KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

\*Address all correspondence to: viggo@kth.se

provided the original work is properly cited.

Viggo Kann

*Programme Integrating Courses Making Engineering Students Reflect*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88253*

*Programme Integrating Courses Making Engineering Students Reflect DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88253*

*Theorizing STEM Education in the 21st Century*

enhancing evaluation of the programme.

tion of a seminar on studying and working abroad.

the university and of the specific programme.

Kathrin Peters, Mihaela Sabin and Charles Wallace.

of the specific programme.

**Acknowledgements**

variables, such as language skills, learning strategies and stress.

In Section 3, we presented 10 important functions of the course, for example, academic introduction, increased understanding of the programme, connections between teachers and students, exchange of experiences between students from different years of the programme, education of the instructors involved and quality-

We have seen that the students in general understand the aims and activities of the course, appreciate meeting and learning from students from other years at the seminars and overall think that the course is fruitful. As the course advances for three academic years, the students increase their knowledge about their education, improve their ability to reflect and improve their study skills. Their appreciation of the course grows for each year. We can see that the students develop in each of the three dimensions of self-regulated learning: metacognition, motivation and good habits. We have also seen that a topic at a single seminar can have a clear effect, since the number of students studying abroad almost doubled after the introduc-

Finally, in Section 5 we showed that the course can also be used as a vehicle for student-based programme development and studies of different student related

A programme integrating course could be a valuable addition to any engineering education programme. The course takes very little space in the curriculum (the reflection seminar part of the course can fit in as little as 1 ECTS credit per year) and the gains from introducing the course can be substantial, especially for programmes where the programme coherence is weak or where the academic introduction is unsatisfactory. The topics of the seminars should be chosen to fit the current needs

We suggest that every programme director of an engineering educational programme should seriously consider starting a programme integrating course, based on the general model described in this chapter and adapted to the local situation at

I am very thankful to the coauthors of the papers related to the programme integrating course, which I have cited in this chapter. They are Aseel Berglund, Olle Bälter, Massimiliano Colareti Tosti, Björn Hedin, Fredrik Heintz, Anna-Karin Högfeldt, Marie Magnell, Emma Riese, Maria Svedin, Åsa Cajander, Mats Daniels, Stephen Frezza, Amanpreet Kapoor, Roger McDermott, Arnold Pears, Anne-

The research has been funded by the KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

**216**
