scholarly journals Educating Engineering Students in Egypt: A Stakeholders’ Perspective, Using Narrative Qualitative Approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Ashraf Saeed Elsafty ◽  
Hanaa ElSayad ◽  
Ibrahim Shaaban
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Narrative Approach ◽  
Administrative Staff ◽  
Industrial Training ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
Software Applications ◽  
In Series

This is part of a series of three papers in a research project examining engineering education in Egypt. After concerns from several stakeholders about the graduates’ knowledge and skills, a fresh look at the phenomenon is attempted. In this manuscript the views of stakeholders, using narrative approach and analysis was carried out. The methodology followed a narrative approach, conducting stakeholder’s analysis with relevant and related people to engineering education (Coulter and Smith 2009; Sfard and Prusak, 2005). The sample included students & fresh graduates, engineers with several years of experience, others with long experiences, academics, parents and administrative staff, were elicited. The responses were collected by asking two questions via social media. The aim was to obtain a quick idea on how stakeholders perceive engineering education in Egypt, and the enhancements they would like to see. Importance of the study comes from both linking with three papers in series exploring engineering education in Egypt, and the in-depth narrative reflections and insights of stakeholders’ point of view. Four clear requests became evident from the stakeholders responses: the application of modern innovative teaching methods; soft skills training; modern software applications training; and practical technical or industrial training.

scholarly journals Relatedness of Students’ Work Industrial Experience to the Professional Skills and Competence Development in Engineering Career at Nigerian Universities

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-95
Author(s):  
Adinife Patrick Azodo
Keyword(s):  
Work Experience ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Competence Development ◽  
P Value ◽  
Industrial Training ◽  
Occupational Training ◽  
Professional Skills ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Engineering Career

AbstractQualitative occupational training and assessment through acquaintance with the knowledge and insight for transference of concepts and procedure of the fundamental scientific and mathematical skills obtainable in engineering profession produces effective and efficient engineering graduates. Thus, it is a guarantee of effective technical manpower development for the sake of the nation. This is the conceptual basis for this study as it assesses the relevance of workplace and industrial work experience of engineering students to their professional skills training and competence development in engineering disciplines in Nigeria universities. The survey instrument designed for data collection from the participants in the study was an open and closed-ended format questionnaire. It comprises placement category, job experience category, relatedness of placement to the chosen career, relatedness of knowledge/skills in the deployed station in places of attachment and additional gained experience through hands-on incidents during industrial training period. The questionnaire was hand delivered to the participants. Data analysis has been carried out using SPSS version 16.0. Pearson Moment Correlation Coefficient at 95% confidence intervals were computed to determine the extent of association between the relevance of the knowledge/skills obtained during students’ industrial training and the establishments where they were employed for their SIWES to their course of study. P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The findings has shown that there was positive correlation (‘r’ value of 0.375) between the experiences gained in the establishments where students were attached for their industrial training as well as the knowledge and skills acquired in the places of their industrial training. This implies that skills and competence development in engineering career fundamentally enhances students’ training in engineering field through hands-on experience involved in industrial training.

Practical Background of Engineering Students in Developing Countries

1996 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-108
Author(s):  
J. A. Olorunmaiye
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Third World ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Industrial Training ◽  
Industrial Environment ◽  
Practical Engineering

One of the problems confronting engineering education in developing countries is that of inadequate technological background of students caused by the lack of industrial environment. Efforts made to solve this problem in Nigeria include exposing students to practical engineering through industrial training and running a two-year internship programme for engineering graduates. In addition to these, it is proposed that lecturers in third world countries can study indigenous technologies and use them as illustrative examples that students can identify with, where possible.

The Use of Qualitative Data Analysis for the Evaluation of Design Ethnography Training Among Undergraduate Engineering Students

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather L. Lai ◽  
Tara Eaton
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Qualitative Data Analysis ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering

Abstract While qualitative data analysis (QDA) is an established method in education research, QDA is less common in engineering research and may be a challenge for engineering faculty not formally trained in qualitative methods to apply it in engineering education. The following describes the collaborative effort between an engineering design instructor and an anthropologist who used QDA to evaluate the implementation of design ethnography training in a third-year biomedical engineering design course. In their partnership, the study investigators examined student perspectives regarding design ethnography training and how such training in an engineering curriculum may prepare students for careers in biomedical design. Data for the study consisted of reflective essays (N = 42) that the students completed following two primary exercises dedicated to design ethnography skills training. Investigators input typed and anonymized text files of the student essays into ATLAS.ti X7, a qualitative data analysis software program, for qualitative content analysis. QDA was conducted using the constant comparison method to inductively identify pertinent themes. Throughout the QDA process, the investigators routinely met to discuss, merge and interpret themes as needed. Upon the finalization of themes, researchers re-reviewed the data using the finalized codebook (a list of themes and their definitions) for coding reliability. This regular contact was invaluable for the engineering instructor, providing instruction on the process necessary for proper application of QDA. The unique partnership between investigators offered the engineering design instructor the opportunity to evaluate engineering student perceptions of a new curriculum implementation in an in-depth manner not commonly attempted in engineering education. Results from the QDA showed that the incorporation of design ethnography skills training into an engineering design curriculum increased student awareness of the value of ethnography in understanding user environments while offering engineering students the opportunity to develop better observation skills. This study was successful not only in demonstrating efficacy of design ethnography training among undergraduate engineering students, but it also serves as an example of how QDA may be applied by engineering instructors for the evaluation of student experience and work in engineering education.

Applying sustainability into engineering curriculum under the background of “new engineering education” (NEE)

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 1169-1187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zejing Qu ◽  
Wen Huang ◽  
Zhengjun Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Comprehensive Evaluation ◽  
Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Engineering Curriculum ◽  
Teaching Approaches ◽  
Content Type ◽  
New Curriculum

Purpose The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of applying sustainability to the engineering curriculum at a university in China. Design/methodology/approach A new curriculum, “ethics, involvement and sustainability,” was designed and presented to engineering students from an undergraduate major in quality management engineering. This curriculum incorporated knowledge acquisition and skills training into sustainability via various teaching approaches in a mandatory curriculum at Tongling University, China. Pre- and post-questionnaire surveys, as well as a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model, were adopted to evaluate the changes in knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of respondents before and after curriculum implementation. Findings Significant changes in knowledge and attitudes were observed following the implementation of the curriculum. In terms of the development of new behaviors, the changes tended to be moderate. Generally, respondents were satisfied with the effectiveness of the new interdisciplinary curriculum post-implementation. Practical implications Positive results were observed for the pilot and practice of the new engineering education (NEE) strategy at the cooperating university in China. Specifically, the integration of sustainability into curriculum design, implementation and evaluation inspired greater social responsibility in engineering students’ decision-making processes. Additionally, it shed light on how to integrate the concept of sustainability into curricula. One limitation of this study was the absence of a comparison group that did not experience the new curriculum. Originality/value Scant attention has been paid to local universities in the context of the newly-launched NEE strategy. This study provides new insight regarding the implementation of sustainability into engineering curricula and practice via formal, but diversified, teaching approaches.

scholarly journals Spirals of Sustainable Academic Motivation, Creativity, and Trust of Higher Education Staff

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7057
Author(s):  
Martina Blašková ◽  
Dominika Tumová ◽  
Rudolf Blaško ◽  
Justyna Majchrzak-Lepczyk
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Motivation ◽  
Slovak Republic ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Scientific Management ◽  
Administrative Staff ◽  
Sustainable Systems ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Future Improvement ◽  
The University

Sustainability has to penetrate more and more into higher education. It should not focus only on traditional elements. It should also enter new, but for future improvement, extremely important areas. Based on this premise, creativity and motivation, when additionally interconnected and supported by trust that is provided and achieved, decide on the progress and sustainability of universities. This connection is gaining importance especially from the point of view of building solid foundations and mechanisms that functionally preserve the potential effects of these elements in the future. For this reason and following the nature, importance, and content of sustainable academic motivation (SAM), the paper introduces two new concepts: sustainable academic creativity (SAC) and sustainable academic trust (SAT). For further original contributions, the paper hypothesizes the existence of mutual—spiral—relations of sustainable academic motivation (SAM), sustainable academic creativity (SAC), and sustainable academic trust (SAT). The empirical section tests the validity of this claim in the universities of two countries: the Slovak Republic and Poland. A survey performed on a sample of n=181 pedagogical, scientific, management, and administrative staff in higher education confirms the existence of these spirals. The results indicate the spiral effect of motivation when connected with creativity and trust and show that it is accented by the crucial principles of sustainability (responsibility, novelty, usefulness, progress, etc.). Therefore, the paper’s conclusion contains the explanations for the potential occurrence of three types of sustainably mutual systems and complexes. These are: (a) individual sustainable systems of SAM, SAC, and SAT; (b) group/sectional sustainable systems of SAM, SAC, and SAT; and (c) the global sustainable complex of SAM, SAC, and SAT in the university.

Bridging Psychology and Engineering: Undergraduate Conceptions of Human Systems Engineering

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 510-514
Author(s):  
Rod D. Roscoe ◽  
Samuel T. Arnold ◽  
Ashley T. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Systems Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Introductory Courses ◽  
Knowledge And Beliefs ◽  
The People ◽  
Human Systems

Instruction and coursework that link engineering and psychology may enable future engineers to better understand the people they are engineering for (e.g., users and clients) and themselves as engineers (e.g., teammates). In addition, human-centered engineering education may empower engineering students to better solve problems at the intersection of technology and people. In this study, we surveyed students’ conceptions and attitudes toward human systems engineering. We aggregate responses across three survey iterations to discuss students’ knowledge and beliefs, and to consider instructional opportunities for introductory courses.

scholarly journals Mitigating the seismic pounding of multi-story buildings in series using linear and nonlinear fluid viscous dampers

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hytham Elwardany ◽  
Robert Jankowski ◽  
Ayman Seleemah
Keyword(s):  
Substantial Improvement ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Steel Buildings ◽  
Viscous Dampers ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Fluid Viscous Dampers ◽  
Adjacent Buildings ◽  
In Series ◽  
Linear And Nonlinear ◽  
Nonlinear Fluid

AbstractSeismic-induced pounding between adjacent buildings may have serious consequences, ranging from minor damage up to total collapse. Therefore, researchers try to mitigate the pounding problem using different methods, such as coupling the adjacent buildings with stiff beams, connecting them using viscoelastic links, and installing damping devices in each building individually. In the current paper, the effect of using linear and nonlinear fluid viscous dampers to mitigate the mutual pounding between a series of structures is investigated. Nonlinear finite-element analysis of a series of adjacent steel buildings equipped with damping devices was conducted. Contact surfaces with both contactor and target were used to model the mutual pounding. The results indicate that the use of linear or nonlinear dampers leads to the significant reduction in the response of adjacent buildings in series. Moreover, the substantial improvement of the performance of buildings has been observed for almost all stories. From the design point of view, it is concluded that dampers implemented in adjacent buildings should be designed to resist maximum force of 6.20 or 1.90 times the design independent force in the case of using linear or nonlinear fluid viscous dampers, respectively. Also, designers should pay attention to the design of the structural elements surrounding dampers, because considerable forces due to pounding may occur in the dampers at the maximum displaced position of the structure.

MNC-Sponsored Multidisciplinary Industrial-Strength Capstone Design Projects in China

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (10) ◽  
pp. 54-65
Author(s):  
Vincent Chang
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Biomedical Engineering ◽  
Multinational Corporation ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Internet Technology ◽  
Computer Engineering ◽  
University Of Michigan ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
Industrial Strength ◽  
Capstone Design

With a growing need to reform Chinese higher engineering education, University of Michigan—Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute (JI) initiated multinational corporation-sponsored industrial-strength Capstone Design Projects (CDP) in 2011. Since 2011, JI has developed 96 corporate-sponsored CDPs since its inception, which include multinational corporation sponsors such as Covidien, Dover, GE, HP, Intel, NI, Philips, and Siemens. Of these projects, healthcare accounts for 27%, energy 24%, internet technology (IT) 22%, electronics 16%, and other industries 11%. This portfolio reflects the trends and needs in the industry, which provides opportunities for engineering students to develop their careers. An accumulated 480 JI students have been teamed up based on their individual backgrounds, specifically electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, mechanical engineering, and biomedical engineering. The corporate-sponsored rate grew from 0% in 2010 to 86% in 2014.

scholarly journals Experiencing Your Education: What Engineering Education Can Learn from Dialogue

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janna Rosales ◽  
Gloria Montano
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Social Intelligence ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽  
Team Work ◽  
Participatory Workshop ◽  
Communications Skills ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Professional Degrees ◽  
Memorial University Of Newfoundland

What do engineers need to know beyond the textbook? Success as an engineer today also depends on the ability to hone skills such as team work, social intelligence and interdisciplinary collaboration, qualities that extend far beyond engineering itself. Dialogue education is one effective method being used in higher education to enhance student success, and it offers intriguing possibilities when paired with the curriculum for professional degrees. When students participate in dialogue education they not only sharpen professional communications skills, but also cultivate a richer understanding of the diverse perspectives which they encounter as they learn to engage constructively with the world around them. What can engineering education gain from dialogue education? In March 2011, the MetaKettle Project (Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland), sponsored the "Dialogue Lab", a participatory workshop for graduate and undergraduate engineering students. The purpose of this workshop was to explore the ways that dialogue can be used as a practical and effective tool within the engineering profession in order to construct positive social, political, economic, civic and personal outcomes. This paper will report and reflect upon the results of the Dialogue Lab and examine what role dialogue can play in engineering education. 

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