scholarly journals The Advanced Turbogenerator Project — A Total Technology Education Experience for Engineering Undergraduate Students

Author(s):  
K. R. Pullen ◽  
A. W. Court ◽  
C. B. Besant

The preparation of engineering students for industrial careers after graduating is a vital part of the education process at university. It is the responsibility of the university to teach sound foundations of engineering science but this on its own is not sufficient preparation. The subject of design has been identified as a valuable means by which engineering science can be applied at advanced levels but at the same time teach students skills which are necessary for successful careers in industry. Three years ago, five senior engineers from UK industry were appointed as Visiting Professors in Engineering Design with the support of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In was decided after discussions with academics at the college to undertake a project entitled the Advanced Turbogenerator project (ATG). The project was to be conducted by a large team of undergraduates with the aim of producing a design and finally an actual small gas turbine of 50 kW output. Applications for the small gas turbine include the highly topical hybrid vehicle propulsion powertrain and compact low emissions generator sets. The paper describes the progress made in the project in two years which has involved over 30 final year engineering students in the Mechanical, Electrical, Aeronautical and Materials Science Departments. The students have found the project very challenging but have experienced an unusually high level of motivation and commitment to the work. They have been provided with state of the art software and have demonstrated that realistic designs can be produced with the guidance of experienced gas turbine engineers. The project has been reviewed by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and both have expressed the highest support for the programme. It is intended to continue the project next year with the intention of turning the design into prototype hardware.

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Mohammed Hamid Al-Ta’ani

This paper attempted to investigate the Emirati EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners’ integrative and instrumental learning motivation at Al-Jazeera University, Dubai, UAE. The data were collected through a modified (20-item) motivational questionnaire adapted from Gardner’s (1985). (50) students; from which (36) students were males (72%) and the remaining (14) ones were females (28%) participated in answering a questionnaire which reflected their motivation towards learning English as a mandatory university requirement. The findings revealed that the students had high level of motivation-both integrative and instrumental for learning English, but their instrumental motivation was slightly surpassed their integrative one in this study. The data analysis concerning the open-ended question showed that writing skill was the most problematic area for the students. Based on the findings, some suggestions, guidelines and recommendations for future research, English teachers, teaching process and policy makers were highlighted.


Author(s):  
Saga Pohjola-Ahlin

In May 2016, 48 third semester undergraduate students enrolled in the physiotherapy program at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden were given three sets of questionnaires; before the information literacy instruction (ILI) started, at the end of the first session, and a week after, at the end of the second and last session.The aim of this small-scale pilot study was to shed some light on students’ motivation to attend ILI, how they value the sessions afterwards and how they assess their learning outcome. Furthermore, it was an attempt to do a "students’ user experience study” in a pedagogical setting, with the intention to evaluate and improve teaching in ILI to meet student expectations.The average response rate for the three questionnaires was 92%. The results show that students’ expectations were similar to the actual content of ILI, and that the students were satisfied with their own learning outcome. Both motivation and the sense of relevance got higher scores after students attended ILI. Motivation rose from 7,4 to 8,12 out of 10. This is positive because a high level of motivation often improves the learning outcome (Schunk, 2012). When asked which areas most needed improvement in order to further enhance their learning outcome, the most common responses were “the pedagogy” and “my own achievement”. It would be interesting to start collaborating with a group of students in order to explore new methods and learning activities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. p1
Author(s):  
Mehdi Vojdani

The present study aims to determine the extent to which online learning (or e-learning) motivation during COVID-19 Pandemic for undergraduate students at Shiraz University in Shiraz, Iran. It also plans to compare students’ level of motivation for online learning, based on their gender and field of study. For these purposes, the researcher adopted a quantitative comparative research design, using a questionnaire which was developed and checked for internal consistency. The questionnaire was administered on 200 undergraduate students of civil engineering and psychology at Shiraz University. After the collected data were split by gender and field of study two independent samples t-tests were conducted to assess the significance of the results and to determine if there was a significant difference in their online learning motivation among the resulting groups for each independent variable. The research findings showed that undergraduate students are rather highly motivated to online learning regardless of their gender or field of study. No significant difference in online learning motivation between male and female university students was derived from the data analysis. However, in relation to field of study, it was found that the overall online learning motivation for civil engineering students was significantly higher than psychology students.


2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Collins ◽  
Graham Stone

Abstract Objective – To test whether routinely-generated library usage data could be linked with information about students to understand patterns of library use among students from different disciplines at the University of Huddersfield. This information is important for librarians seeking to demonstrate the value of the library, and to ensure that they are providing services which meet user needs. The study seeks to join two strands of library user research which until now have been kept rather separate – an interest in disciplinary differences in usage, and a methodology which involves large-scale routinely-generated data. Methods – The study uses anonymized data about individual students derived from two sources: routinely-generated data on various dimensions of physical and electronic library resource usage, and information from the student registry on the course studied by each student. Courses were aggregated at a subject and then disciplinary level. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann Whitney tests were used to identify statistically significant differences between the high-level disciplinary groups, and within each disciplinary group at the subject level. Results – The study identifies a number of statistically significant differences on various dimensions of usage between both high-level disciplinary groupings and lower subject-level groupings. In some cases, differences are not the same as those observed in earlier studies, reflecting distinctive usage patterns and differences in the way that disciplines or subjects are defined and organised. While music students at Huddersfield are heavy library users within the arts subject-level grouping arts students use library resources less than those in social science disciplines, contradicting findings from studies at other institutions, Computing and engineering students were relatively similar, although computing students were more likely to download PDFs, and engineering students were more likely to use the physical library. Conclusion – The technique introduced in this study represents an effective way of understanding distinctive usage patterns at an individual institution. There may be potential to aggregate findings across several institutions to help universities benchmark their own performance and usage; this would require a degree of collaboration and standardisation. This study found that students in certain disciplines at Huddersfield use the library in different ways to students in those same disciplines at other institutions. Further investigation is needed to understand exactly why these differences exist, but some hypotheses are offered.


2013 ◽  
Vol 357-360 ◽  
pp. 2634-2639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lau Teck Leong ◽  
Wael Elleithy

In view of the importance of undergraduate students cognitive learning experience in higher education, this study was conducted in order to investigate the effectiveness of the use of past civil engineering projects as case studies. The outcomes indicate that the use of case studies enhances the students educational experiences that conduce to cognitive learning and motivate for future ethical practice. In general, the use of case studies reassures the students aspiration in becoming practicing civil engineers upon graduation.


2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 162-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lixia Cui ◽  
Xiujie Teng ◽  
Xupei Li ◽  
Tian P.S. Oei

The current study examined the factor structure and the psychometric properties of Sandra Prince-Embury’s Resiliency Scale for Adolescents (RESA) in Chinese undergraduates. A total of 726 undergraduate students were randomly divided into two subsamples: Sample A was used for the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Sample B was used for the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The EFA revealed that 56 items and a model of 10 factors with 3 higher order factors (as described by Sandra) were to be retained; CFA with Sample B confirmed this result. The overall scale and the subscales of the Chinese-RESA demonstrated a high level of internal consistency. Furthermore, concurrent validity was demonstrated by the correlation of the scale with other instruments such as the PANAS and the CSS, and the predictive validity was confirmed via three multiple regression analyses using the PANAS as a criterion variable: one for the 10 subscales of the C-RESA, one for the 3 higher order scales, and one for the total C-RESA. We concluded that the C-RESA may be used for research into Chinese undergraduates’ adaptive behaviors.


Author(s):  
I. P. Danilov ◽  
N. I. Vlakh ◽  
V. I. Gugushvili ◽  
N. Ya. Paneva ◽  
T. D. Logunova

Introduction. A healthy lifestyle is one of the most eff ective methods of preserving health and preventing non-infectious diseases. The mechanisms and factors that infl uence the formation of motivation for health and a healthy lifestyle in employees engaged in harmful working conditions have not been suffi ciently studied. The study of these mechanisms will allow us to more eff ectively shape health-saving behavior.The aim of the study is to study negative aff ectivity, social suppression and anxiety in the formation of motivation to maintain health and a healthy lifestyle in coal industry workers.Materials and methods. A survey was conducted of 75 employees of mines and sections in the South of Kuzbass with an established diagnosis of occupational diseases, as well as 54 people who do not work in harmful working conditions (engineering and technical workers). Surveys were conducted using the method “Index of motivation to health and a healthy lifestyle”, the presence of personality type D was conducted using the DS14 questionnaire, the level of personal and situational anxiety was assessed using the Spielberger — Hanin questionnaire.Results. Th e level of motivation for health and a healthy lifestyle among patients with occupational diseases is signifi cantly lower than the level of motivation for the health of engineering and technical workers. Th e infl uence of negative reaction and social suppression on the level of motivation for health and a healthy lifestyle was not found. Th e level of situational anxiety also has no eff ect on health motivation. A higher level of personal anxiety among people with a high level of motivation for a healthy lifestyle was determined.Conclusions. Personal anxiety aff ects the level of motivation for health and a healthy lifestyle in people with occupational diseases. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 68 (suppl 1) ◽  
pp. bjgp18X697229
Author(s):  
Matthew Webb ◽  
Sarah Thirlwall ◽  
Bob McKinley

BackgroundInformed consent is required for active participation of patients in medical education. At Keele Medical School, we require practices to advertise that they teach undergraduate students and to obtain appropriate patient consent at various stages of the patient journey.AimThe study aimed to explore patients’ experience of consent to involvement in undergraduate medical education in general practice.MethodDuring the final year at Keele University Medical School, students undertake a patient satisfaction survey. A questionnaire was attached to the reverse of this survey during the academic year 2016–2017. The questionnaire explored the stage of the patient journey consent was obtained, whether they were offered an alternative appointment and how comfortable they were with medical students being involved in their care.ResultsA total of 489 questionnaires were completed covering 62 GP practices. 97% of patients reported that consent was obtained at least once during their encounter and the majority reported that this occurred at booking. 98% of patients were comfortable or very comfortable with a medical student leading their consultation. However, 28% of those surveyed stated that they were either not given the option of not seeing the student or there was no other alternative appointment available.ConclusionThe results indicate that in the vast majority of cases patient consent is obtained at least once during their attendance. Patients expressed a high level of satisfaction with medical students’ involvement in their care. Further work is required to evaluate the role of the data as a marker of individual practice teaching quality.


2021 ◽  
pp. bmjstel-2020-000797
Author(s):  
Fabrizio Consorti ◽  
Gianmarco Panzera

BackgroundMany studies explored the use of simulation in basic surgical education, with a variety of devices, contexts and outcomes, with sometimes contradictory results.ObjectivesThe objectives of this meta-analysis were to focus the effect that the level of physical resemblance in a simulation has on the development of basic surgical skill in undergraduate medical students and to provide a foundation for the design and implementation of a simulation, with respect to its effectiveness and alignment with the learning outcomes.Study selectionWe searched PubMed and Scopus database for comparative randomised studies between simulations with a different level of resemblance. The result was synthesised as the standardised mean difference, under a random effect model.FindingsWe selected 12 out of 2091 retrieved studies, reporting on 373 undergraduate students (mean of subjects 15.54±6.89). The outcomes were the performance of simple skills and the time to complete a task. Two studies reported a scoring system; seven studies reported time for a task; and three studies reported both. The total number of measures included in the meta-analysis was 456 for score and 504 for time. The pooled effect size did not show any significant advantage in a simulation of a high level of physical resemblance over a lower level, both for the scoring system (−0.19, 95% CI −0.44 to 0.06) and for time (−0.14, 95% CI −0.54 to 0.27).ConclusionSimulations with a low level of physical resemblance showed the same effect as the simulation using a higher level of resemblance on the development of basic surgical skills in undergraduate students.


MRS Advances ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (31-32) ◽  
pp. 1673-1679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moraima De Hoyos-Ruperto ◽  
Cristina Pomales-García ◽  
Agnes Padovani ◽  
O. Marcelo Suárez

ABSTRACTThere is a need to expand the fundamental skills in science and engineering to include innovation & entrepreneurship (I&E) skills as core competencies. To better prepare the future Nanotechnology workforce, the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez Nanotechnology Center, broadened the educational content beyond traditional skills in science and engineering. The Center, offers a rich educational program for materials and nano scientists that aims to create the next generation of knowledgeable, experienced professionals, and successful entrepreneurs, who can develop value-added innovations that can spur economic growth and continue to impact the quality of life for society. Within the educational program an Entrepreneurship Education Co-Curricular Program (EEP) incorporates I&E training into the Materials Science, Nanotechnology, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) faculty and student experiences. The EEP consists of a two-year series of workshops that seek to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, including five key topics: 1) Generation of Ideas, 2) Entrepreneurial Vision, 3) Early Assessment of Ideas, 4) Identification of Opportunities, and 5) Strategic Thinking. The EEP goals, target audience, and implementation strategy, is described with an evaluation tool to assess the program’s success in developing an entrepreneurial mindset.


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