Master's theses

Learning for teachers too!
– a Master’s thesis supervised by CEE

Jesper Samuelsson, juni 2025

What does course development within engineering education really look like? In his Master’s thesis, Jesper Samuelsson investigates the relationship between organisational learning and teachers’ decisions regarding course development in engineering education, as well as the barriers and enabling factors that shape these processes. The study is based on 15 in-depth interviews with teachers at three Swedish technical universities and is analysed through a theoretical framework for organisational learning.

Key findings from the report:

• Course development is often individual and informal
• The conversational climate matters – the perceived usefulness of discussions, collegial relationships, disciplinary belonging, and boundaries of responsibility all influence what is shared and carried forward in the organisation.
• Supportive structures for organisational learning are often missing – despite engagement, incentives for shared learning and collective understanding remain limited.

Why is this important?

This becomes especially important at a time when Swedish engineering education faces major challenges: increasing demands from society and authorities (such as legally fair examination, broader participation, and sustainable development), declining resources relative to costs, and recurring quality concerns such as low graduation rates, recruitment imbalances, and students’ mental health issues. At the same time, the demand for more engineers in Sweden are huge.

The report shows that course development often occurs despite, rather than because of, organisational learning. This means that universities risk losing valuable experience. Teaching teams may therefore need to work in new ways to address these challenges more effectively.

Ways forward

To make better use of teachers’ engagement, the report suggest several actions: encouraging collegial ownership of learning and development, building small supportive and long-term development teams, and creating regular arenas for pedagogical reflection.

This report addresses everyone interested in higher education pedagogy, development, and improvement in academia – whether you are a teacher, student, educational developer, or part of university leadership.