scholarly journals Incorporating Real-Life Open-Ended Design Projects In A First Year Design Course

Author(s):  
Leonard Lye

At Memorial University, for the last several years, instructors of the first-year engineering design course have worked closely with the local chapter of the Tetra Society of North America to provide meaningful open-ended doable design projects that are needed by actual clients. Founded in 1987, The Tetra Society of North America is an independent non-profit charitable organization that recruits skilled technical volunteers to design and fabricate custom assistive devices for people with disabilities. In this paper, several projects that have been assigned to students in the past will be described and example solutions provided by students will also be shown. From the feedback of students, instructors, and clients, this collaboration with the Tetra Society has been very successful in providing real, needed, doable projects, with real clients for first year engineering students.

2021 ◽  
pp. 251512742110290
Author(s):  
Smitesh Bakrania

Most engineering design projects focus primarily on the engineering fundamentals. Studying the business case or manufacturability of a design is often left for other courses, if at all. To address this gap, an existing mechanical engineering course project was modified by embedding the interdependent entrepreneurial dimensions. In the past, junior engineering students developed a reciprocating air engines over two semesters. The modified project extended the engineering fundamentals into an entrepreneurial venture. To accomplish this, students were asked to propose an air engine toy for middle schoolers. The proposed toy had to be assembled, provide a learning opportunity, and demonstrate utility. The students had to ensure the product appealed to those interested in the STEM fields. The students, working in groups, created renders of the final product, assembly instructions, and a guided worksheet for the kids to explore the underlying engineering concept. The groups produced a website with a video pitching their toy concepts. This case study exemplifies how any engineering endeavor can be modified to capture a more holistic simulation of the profession.


Author(s):  
Gabrielle Lam

A new first-year biomedical engineering laboratory course was created using a problem-based learning approach. Centered on four semi-structured design projects and experiments, the laboratory course was designed to facilitate meaningful experiential learning. Preliminary analyses of survey results suggest that the semi-structured nature of lab activities is viewed both positively and negatively by students, depending on their perception of preparedness for the project. Its correlation with student performance will be better understood with thorough study of other components of survey results.


Author(s):  
Jason Grove ◽  
Eline Boghaer

Chemistry for Engineers is an introductory chemistry course taken by most engineering students at Waterloo during their first term. Over the past two years online content was developed to facilitate the implementation of blended learning. The motivation for this was: i) to create time for more valuable instructor–student interactions, allowing the instructor to reinforce challenging concepts, focus on problem-solving strategies and lead experiential learning activities, and, ii) to allow students to explore content at their own pace, thereby accommodating the diversity of students’ high-school chemistry preparation. Our study aims to compare and contrast student experience, satisfaction and performance between a blended learning and traditional lecture model of instruction through data from surveys and grades


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Evans ◽  
H. Michael Cheung ◽  
Rex Ramsier ◽  
Francis Broadway ◽  
Sandra Spickard Prettyman ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 14-15
Author(s):  
Thomas Burkey ◽  
Merlin D Lindemann

Abstract Digestive Physiology of Pigs (DPP) was organized in 1979 to promote exchange of information among scientists working in swine digestive physiology and nutrition. The objective of this presentation is to provide an overview of the past, present, and future of the most important global scientific event in the fields of pig gut physiology and nutrition. To date, fourteen symposia have been conducted including the 12th International Symposium, which was held in Keystone, Colorado (DPP-2012). In order to facilitate the activities of DPP-2012, DPP-North America was established as a non-profit entity with a mission to collaborate internationally to “establish triennial venues that present the most current research and discovery information relative to digestive physiology of pigs.” Regarding DPP-2012, 403 attendees from 28 countries were in attendance, and 250 abstracts were accepted for presentation. The attendees represented academia, industry, and major swine production entities. Today, in addition to digestive physiology and nutrition, the global DPP community has evolved to include topics such as immunology, microbiology, and the use of pigs as a model for human health. As part of the global DPP community, DPP-North America continues to work with the global DPP community to establish global networks, to learn about the latest scientific discoveries, to promote academia-industry partnerships, to involve and train the next generation of scientists, and to contribute to sustainable pork systems. Since its establishment, DPP-North America has sponsored digestive physiology lectures at the annual ASAS Midwest meetings and has provided travel scholarships for North American graduate students to attend and present research at international DPP meetings.


Author(s):  
Jillian Seniuk Cicek ◽  
Paul Labossiere ◽  
Sandra Ingram

As the Engineering Faculty at the Universityof Manitoba shifts its curriculum from an input-based toan outcomes-based pedagogy, data from diverse sourcesare being collected. Among them, indirect data are beinggathered from students using a student exit survey. Thesurvey has been developed over the past three years toexplore graduating students’ perceptions of theiraptitudes and their engineering program’s strengths andweaknesses in regards to the 12 CEAB graduateattributes. It is comprised of the 12 attributes, with eachattribute further defined by six indicators. Theseindicators reflect the levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy ofEducational Objectives in the Cognitive Domain:knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis,synthesis and evaluation. The student exit survey was firstadministered to graduating mechanical engineeringstudents at the end of Fall semester 2012 and then at theend of Fall semester 2013. This paper describes thesecond year of the study, and discusses the datacomparatively with the findings from the first year. Thisstudy offers the Engineering Faculty an understanding oftheir Mechanical Engineering students’ experiences withand perceptions of the CEAB graduate attributes. It willbe used to provide feedback at instructor, program andfaculty levels as the University of Manitoba’s Faculty ofEngineering continues to implement its cycle of programdevelopment and improvement.


Author(s):  
Carolyn MacGregor ◽  
Linda Carson

The authors identify the main challenges facing engineering students and instructors during hands-on design projects and give an overview of the mentor-managed approach they take in a first year design course. Key features of the course include mentor management, choosing a design challenge of a suitable scope, providing an appropriate systematic design methodology, and structuring the design project around staged deliverables. They describe, in more detail, two distinctive components of the course: usability testing with modified design walkthroughs, and an introduction to creative practice and design through a Scrapheap Challenge.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Ng ◽  
Seedahmed S. Mahmoud ◽  
Eric S. Hald ◽  
Qiang Fang

Abstract Purpose:This tutorial provides two specific examples to demonstrate how we tackled challenges in teaching Calculus remotely to first year undergraduate biomedical engineering students of XYZ University during a pandemic.Methods: Lessons and education materials were delivered remotely using XYZ University’s version of open-source Moodle learning management system and Tencent’s WeChat social media platform. We implemented transformative learning theory and active learning principles in our initiatives.Results: Students motivation and engagement improved through appropriate challenges and application of timely real-life examples in Calculus based-on positive feedback received anonymously from students via end-of-course surveys.Conclusion: Remote learning is an evolving paradigm which challenges instructors to use novel and creative ways to engage with students.


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