Integrating Aalto’s Cross-Cutting Themes into Leading Tech Programmes

Professor Ville Viikari and his department of Electronics and Nanoengineering are forward-thinking educators who’ve approached the integration of the cross-cutting themes into their programmes with curiosity and open minds.  

After a year of ongoing collaboration with the ACE team, we spoke with Viikari to gain insight into his perspective on the process. A proud graduate of Aalto University, Viikari briefly considered entering the world of high-tech startup companies. However, he ultimately chose the path of education and became a professor at Aalto University. Currently, he’s the Head of the Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, but it’s safe to say that his entrepreneurial spirit remains.

How did the process of working with the cross-cutting themes begin in your department? 

‘The cross-cutting themes raised a lot of interest among our teachers. They’re not easy themes though and teachers think very differently about their definitions. It was obvious we needed some workshops. We asked for some help and facilitation from the ACE team and pedagogical expert, Kirsti Keltikangas because we needed to find ways to discuss solutions for sustainability and how it could be part of our teaching.  

The workshops began with small group discussions to understand what others think about these topics and to share our own visions of learning related to the topics. We’ve also had exercises such as asking teachers to share practical examples of how they integrate sustainability into their teaching. This helped us to reflect on the role of our own field in a greater setting. 
 
We haven’t yet arrived at a common understanding, but we do have a better understanding.’

When you were at university, beyond the technical aspects of your chosen field, what preparation or training (if any) were you given in the cross-cutting themes? 

‘None whatsoever! Topics such as sustainability, radical creativity, and an entrepreneurial mindset were not included in course curriculums. Courses were primarily focused on technical aspects, emphasizing narrow technical fields. We didn’t look at big picture challenges.’ 

How do teachers develop their competencies further when teaching new topics such as sustainability? 
 
‘Teachers need to find an angle where sustainability is user-integrated into the technical topics. It’s surprisingly difficult in many fields… As an example, cellular networks were designed for maximal coverage and data throughput. However, recently all the major companies have started to emphasize energy efficiency as one of the main design goals for their systems.’ 

What were the easy and challenging aspects of integrating solutions for sustainability into your programmes?  

‘Gathering teachers together is the easy part. We have a majority of very active teachers who always join and like to develop their pedagogical skills. Our teachers take their jobs seriously and maintain a good atmosphere and quality of teaching. The culture is good. 

Everybody agrees that sustainability is an important topic and it’s important to show students that we care about it and that engineering sciences can make a big impact. The most challenging part is that although we’re all specialists in our technical fields, no one is a specialist in sustainability per se. Therefore, teachers may feel a little uncomfortable about teaching about sustainability. 

The most important part is balance. We can develop things, but resources are also limited. I try to balance how often and how much we can renew things. We can’t make too big changes at a time. This needs to be thought through very carefully.’ 

What takeaways have emerged in the process of collaborating with the ACE team? 

‘The integration of the cross-cutting themes demonstrates a recognition of the significance of the students’ future roles as decision makers. For this, teacher development and creating a mutual understanding is crucial.’ 

After interviewing Ville Viikari, we also contacted pedagogical expert, Kirsti Keltikangas who also participated in the entire process. We asked for her perspective on the process. She candidly shared: “The collaboration with the Aalto Co-Educator team was fruitful and inspiring in ELEC’s EleNano master’s programme curriculum renewal process. Our Aalto Co-Educator colleagues Elina and Riikka got extremely well acquainted with backgrounds, people, and materials. They had excellent facilitation skills, and listened carefully to the needs of academics and teachers in the process.” 

As Aalto University continues its journey towards shaping a sustainable future, the role of our educational leaders is key. However, no one needs to go it alone- the Aalto Co-Educator team is here to help you integrate the three cross-cutting themes into your programmes and curriculums via workshops, dialogues, and curriculum mapping to name a few examples. 

We have eight enthusiastic experts in the cross-cutting themes, pedagogy, training, and teamwork waiting to work with you. Please don't hesitate to contact project lead, [email protected] to start the conversation.