ENGINEERING EDUCATION: DENSE TEACHING FOR LIFE-LONG LEARNING

The paper starts from the conclusions of a paper on innovating engineering education, but it is only partially its extension, since moving from targets ("what needs innovating") to methods ("how should be innovated") entails a triple shift of focus. the perspective is rather academic than managerial, the echelon is rather tactical than strategic, the granularity is rather fine than coarse (however, specific - mainly debatable but crucial - Information Technology issues are dealt with in line with new paradigms in a paper to be presented in a section). After reviewing contextually the chief (but well-known) challenges (e g., risk taking vs. continuity, technological innovation vs. academic inertia, exploration vs. exploitation) the paper investigates a less studied paradox of andragogy: how organise institutional teaching, clearly limited in both time (in line with the Bologna framework) and objectives (in line with the curricula) to meet expectations in a free, dynamic, and indistinct environment, as involved by life-long learning. The proposed solution is based on the concept of "e-maieutics". Among the conclusions a) Teaching focus must move from knowledge to skills. b) Educator profiles must move from teacher, to trainer, to tutor, to moderator, to catalyst.