Construction of Course Content Integrating Ideas of Engineering Education Accreditation for Higher Education in China: An Example of Geochemistry Course

Abstract

Engineering education accreditation is a developing trend in undergraduate education, which requires students to be aware not only of basic knowledge and techniques, but also of patriotism, global insight, law, ecology and environmental protection. Traditional course content fails to meet these demands. Thus, it is necessary to create new course content with the guidance of engineering education accreditation. The inherent requirements for instructional objectives, course content and teaching models of engineering education accreditation have been analyzed. Additionally, the elements of engineering education accreditation are often welded onto essential knowledge. In this study, mind mapping, which establishes logic through divergent thinking, was proposed to help construct course content integrating ideas of engineering education accreditation. The detailed process and constructed course content were shown, taking a Geochemistry course as an example. The constructed course content has logic and integrity, and also motivates students’ imagination and creativity and improves teaching effectiveness. Meanwhile, some effects observed during the implementation were summarized, including the limited class hours, lack of familiarity with the extracurricular knowledge points, a higher level of independent thinking in students and a higher number of requests made to teachers. Corresponding reformation strategies were proposed, such as exploring the teaching model of “student-oriented, teacher-assistance”, developing case-based and heuristic teaching models and strengthening the building of dual-talented teachers and teaching groups.