scholarly journals DESIGN OF AN INTRODUCTORY ENGINEERING DESIGN AND COMMUNICATION COURSE WHICH INTEGRATES FIRST SEMESTER COURSES

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanjeev Bedi ◽  
Carol Hulls ◽  
Chris Rennick ◽  
Mary Robinson ◽  
William Melek
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
The Other ◽  
Communication Course ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Hands On

  Abstract - In their first semester at UWaterloo, Mechatronics Engineering students take a course which introduces them to their chosen discipline, and which has a focus on communication skills (MTE 100 – Mechatronics Engineering). In 2010, a multi-year refresh of MTE 100 was initiated to address shortcomings in both the course, and the semester as a whole.  The first semester instructors have now completed the refresh of MTE 100. Multiple hands-on, integrative activities that connect the other first semester courses to MTE 100 were added throughout the first semester.  The introduction of these integrative activities has improved the first semester of the Mechatronics program. Survey data and feedback from end of term course critiques show an increased appreciation of foundational courses like Chemistry. From focus groups conducted with upper year students, there is a strong desire for similar experiences in upper years.  

i9MASKS Project

2022 ◽  
pp. 271-289
Author(s):  
Violeta Meneses Carvalho ◽  
Cristina S. Rodrigues ◽  
Rui A. Lima ◽  
Graça Minas ◽  
Senhorinha F. C. F. Teixeira
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Educational Experiences ◽  
Learning By Doing ◽  
The Other ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Summer Program ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Virus Spreading ◽  
The Impact

Engineering education is a challenging topic that has been deeply explored in order to provide better educational experiences to engineering students, and the learning by doing approach has been appraised. Amidst a global pandemic, an engineering summer program denominated i9Masks emerged and aimed to create transparent facial masks for preventing the virus spreading. This project had the participation of 21 students from different engineering areas, as well as professors and monitors whose guidance and commitment were of great importance for its success. Aiming to understand the importance of this engineering hands-on project for students' training, two inquiries were applied, being one for students and the other for professors and monitors/researchers. Students described this initiative as an amazing and innovative experience that they would like to repeat and considered useful for their careers. Regarding the impact perceived by the teaching staff, the results proved that they enjoyed participating in the i9MASKS project and sharing knowledge with students in a practical way.

Enhancing Engineering Learning Experience at UTB by Freshmen iHOP

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazmul Islam
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Real World ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Senior Design ◽  
Team Selection ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Lower Division

Most of the engineering courses focus more on theory and very little on hands-on, project-based learning in the classroom. Integration of real-world engineering problems and applications in lower division engineering courses will produce engineering students, who will be technically sound and be able to execute and manage real-world projects, when they will do senior design projects in their final year of engineering study. To overcome the engineering design challenges we have developed iHOP (Ingenieŕia Hands on Project) and integrate it with our lower division engineering courses. iHOP has been developed to emphasis the design component at the University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) Engineering Physics curriculum and the project is now an integral part of Introduction to Engineering class. The iHOP project is one that is challenging, fun, requires teamwork, associated with the engineering material being studied, low cost, and doable in a limited amount of time. The experience from iHOP project motivates our freshman students to choose a better senior design project in senior year of their college career. The objectives of the iHOP projects are — to have students develop teamwork skills, and to teach students basic engineering design concepts in a complementary format to the traditional lecture. Various techniques related to team selection, encouraging teamwork, incorporation of engineering topics, keeping costs down, project results presentations, and gathering feedback from students will also be presented in this paper. Integrating iHOP Project with Introduction to Engineering class helped us to improve our retention effort in the engineering department.

scholarly journals AN OPEN-ENDED DESIGN-BASED LAB EXERCISE FOR A FIRST THERMOFLUIDS COURSE

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Hastie ◽  
Jan Haelssig
Keyword(s):  
Creative Thinking ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Team Work ◽  
Work Skills ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Design Project ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Hands On Learning ◽  
The Many

The Thermo-Fluid Engineering I course provides all first-semester second-year engineering students at Dalhousie University with a basic introduction to thermodynamics and fluid mechanics. In the past three years, we have used a combination of six traditional laboratory exercises and a short four-week design project to provide students with hands-on learning experiences in this course. In general, these projects have been well-received by students as a welcome break from the many abstract theoretical concepts that are normally associated with introductory thermodynamics. However, two of the continuing challenges with these projects have been the students’ limited engineering design experience and the availability of time to perform a design project. To address these challenges, in the fall 2015 offering of Thermo-Fluid Engineering I, the four-week design project was replaced by an open-ended design-based lab exercise.The open-ended lab exercise required groups of students to develop specific laboratory experiments related to thermodynamics and fluid dynamics, given a limited quantity of resources. While the focus shifted away from a traditional short design project, the open-ended lab exercise continues to allow students to develop their creative thinking, critical analysis, hands-on, communication, and team work skills, which was the primary purpose of the short design projects in the first place.

scholarly journals Attitudes towards Communication Skills among Engineering Students

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirjana M. Kovac ◽  
N. Sirkovic
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Attitude Scale ◽  
Good Communication ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Engineering Studies ◽  
Undergraduate Study ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Study Programme

Good communication skills are of utmost importance in the education of engineering students to promote not only their education, but also to prepare them for the demanding and competitive job market. The purpose of this study was to compare the attitudes towards communication skills after formal instruction between the students of engineering studies in the first and sixth semesters. Data were collected using the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS) which consisted of 14 items. The target population included 31 students of engineering studies who attended the communication skills course in the first semester, and 31 students of engineering studies who attended the same course just before completion of the undergraduate study programme. The results are in accordance with previous studies suggesting that senior and more mature students have higher positive attitudes compared to students at the beginning of their undergraduate studies. Although both groups had noticeable positive attitudes towards learning communication skills, negative attitudes should also be taken into consideration and attempt should be made to decrease or eliminate them.

scholarly journals On the Peculiarities of Design: An Engineering Perspective

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mouhamed Abdulla ◽  
Yousef R. Shayan
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Transfer Of Knowledge ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Hands On Learning ◽  
Analytical Research ◽  
Applied Design

It is a fact of our existence, that no matter where we are, we most often find ourselves either hearing, seeing, talking, or even engaged in design related activities. Despite this reality, the notion of“design”, and in particular “engineering design”, is often ambiguous, and at times obscure. Thus, the transfer of knowledge of this crucial topic to engineering students engaged in practical hands-on learning or analytical research is usually perplexing to accomplish. In light of this, it becomes worthwhile to dissect and reflect on the abstraction of the design process in engineering. In fact,the aim of this article is to investigate the facets of applied design, and elaborate on its diversity, complexity and elements. Eventually, by concretizing this subject matter, we hope to slightly assist engineering students in alleviating some of the vagueness associated with the principle of design, and enhance their technical skillset during innovative conceptions.

scholarly journals AN EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ACTIVITY TO PROMOTE SKILL DEVELOPMENT IN FIRST YEAR ENGINEERING STUDENTS

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Bishop ◽  
A. Hurst ◽  
B. Mantin ◽  
S. Bedi
Keyword(s):  
Remote Control ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Skill Development ◽  
Learning Activity ◽  
First Year ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Clinic Experience

This paper describes an experientiallearning activity to promote skill development infirst year engineering students. The exercise involvesthe assembly of a remote-control car using readilyavailable part kits. Students work in small teamsunder the mentorship of experienced faculty membersfrom a variety of engineering backgrounds. The goalof the exercise is to introduce engineering design intofirst year engineering by providing students with anengaging, hands-on experience. The exercise is oneof several new activities being incorporated into theIdeas Clinic Experience for engineering students atthe University of Waterloo.

scholarly journals THE SELF-REPORTED CONFIDENCE AND PROFICIENCY LEVELS OF UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING STUDENTS IN AN ENGINEERING TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION COURSE

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Parker ◽  
Kathryn Marcynuk
Keyword(s):  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Technical Communication ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Communication Course ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Personal Strengths ◽  
Personal Skills ◽  
Initial Survey

We have conducted surveys at thebeginning and the end of semesters in an EngineeringTechnical Communication course, surveys that aredesigned to determine how confident our students feelabout “Communication Skills” and personal skillsdevelopment, or “Lifelong Learning” (defined here asthe ability to devise ways to develop broader knowledgeand to identify personal strengths and weaknesses). Ourobjective is to see whether students’ confidence levelsincrease and then compare these levels with wherestudents believe they should be once they graduate. Inthis paper, we report on the data obtained from thesetwo surveys conducted from Winter 2013 until Winter2015. Normally, one section of the class completed thesurveys, although two sections (A01 and A02) completedthe surveys in both the Winter 2013 semester and in theWinter 2015 semester, for a total of 9 classes thatparticipated.. So far, we have found that students doindeed feel more confident in all the surveyed areas atthe end of the semester.Yet, regardless of their growing confidence,many students also feel they have not yet achieved thelevel of proficiency expected of them once they graduate.For example, for “personal skills” (such as applyingcritical inquiry and analysis to engineering problemsand doing the communications that support theengineering work), 5 represents an ability to lead orinnovate in a particular area, and 3 indicates an abilityto understand and explain. In our surveys the aggregatewas 3.4 for the initial survey (n=450 students) and 3.5for the end-of-term survey (n=378). Most telling,however, is the level students feel they must achieve bythe time they graduate (4.5). In other words, byacknowledging that lifelong learning is an importantattribute, one that they will have to continue to developif they are ever to achieve the level expected of them,students demonstrate a remarkable level of selfawareness.

scholarly journals Monitoring Student Engagement in First Year Engineering

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geraldine Van Gyn ◽  
Peter Wild
Keyword(s):  
Student Engagement ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
The Impact

In a 2006 study to assess student engagement in the first year, engineering students were the least likely to express positive views about that experience and reported low levels of academic engagement. Initiatives to address this situation in engineering were in progress, including the development of two first year courses integrated engineering design with required writing courses. To monitor engagement and satisfaction, and assess the impact of the course interventions, the same research methodology as the 2006 study was used in 2010, 2011, and 2012 following the implementation of these courses. Participants in focus groups discussed questions related to engagement and identified factors that had led to their satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Themes identified for the three different time periods were compared to each other and to those that emerged in the original 2006 study. Significant among the themes was the experience in the design/communications courses. Themes of dissatisfaction and alienation were highly consistent with the 2006 study but became moderated. This process reinforced the need for authentic engineering course experiences in the first year and is consistent with previous research.

Exploring the Impact of Virtual and Physical Dissection Activities on Students’ Understanding of Engineering Design Principles

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann F. McKenna ◽  
Wei Chen ◽  
Timothy W. Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Maximum Level ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Design Principles ◽  
Production Method ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Virtual Dissection ◽  
The Impact ◽  
And Storage

Product dissection has become a popular pedagogy for actively engaging engineering students in the classroom through practical hands-on experiences. Despite its numerous advantages, dissection of physical products has many drawbacks, including not only the costs required to start-up and maintain such activities but also the workspace and storage space needed for the products and tools used to dissect them. This paper presents results from on-going research that is investigating the extent to which dissection of virtual representations of products — what we refer to as virtual dissection — can be used in lieu of physical product dissection in the classroom. In particular, we found positive learning gains in students’ ability to identify and describe the function and production method of components contained in a hand-held power drill, for both physical and virtual dissection groups. However, the data also reveal differences in the overall maximum level attained as well as differences in the range and types of components identified between the groups. While we recognize that virtual dissection will never provide the same hands-on experiences as physical dissection, we contend that virtual dissection can be used effectively in the classroom to increase students’ understanding of engineering design principles. By substantiating this impact, we can help establish cost-effective sets of computer-based dissection activities that do not require extensive workspace and storage spaces and can be easily scaled to any size classroom.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document