25 IN FOCUS 25 IN F A Creative Place to Call Home In a landmark move for the School of Engineering, the Engineering Commons was inaugurated in April, creating a new identity for the School and a central hub for students to engage in ideas sharing, collaborative learning, and mentoring. Located at the entrance to the School, the Commons comprises three main areas and forms the backbone of a multi-dimensional learning community, a key objective of the School’s revamped education approach. The Commons is intended for all engineering students, but it is expected that first-year undergraduate students will find the areas particularly useful, ahead of their selection of a major and a department. One area features the School’s pioneering Center for Engineering Education Innovation (E²I), set up to enhance teaching and learning of students and faculty by drawing on and contributing to the latest findings in engineering education research. The School’s student advisory services are located at the Center, with a team of professional advisors based there full-time. Next to the advising office is an academic interaction zone. Flexible furniture arrangements enable the area to serve as a gathering place for students for project planning, group meetings, peer mentoring, tutoring and assisted learning, or simply a quiet space to work individually. The zone has already become a popular meeting place. In the central foyer area, multi-purpose 360-degree projection displays function as state-of-the-art communicators, demonstrating the integration of the virtual and physical worlds that is expected to play an increasingly large part in the future. The platform provides up-to-date information to members of the School as well as real-time applications such as e-polling with instant display of poll results. The eMessage Board allows greetings to be sent via the “SENGer” app developed by School of Engineering students. The third area comprises a showcase of the inventions and achievements of the School’s six departments to highlight the cutting-edge nature of research and development by faculty members. This section incorporates a quiet area for meetings, with flexible partitions fitted with glass panels that can be used like a notepad for writing down ideas sparked by discussions that take place there. Speaking at the grand opening ceremony, President Prof Tony F Chan said that the Engineering Commons reflected the quality and innovation in education and research for which the School of Engineering was renowned. Dean of Engineering Prof Khaled Ben Letaief said that the cool Commons area provided superb physical support for the School’s “total learning experience”. He expected the Commons would give inspiration to students and a greater sense of belonging by providing a location where different members of the School community can gather together.
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