scholarly journals Design of a Completely New First Year Engineering Program at the University of Saskatchewan – Part II

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel B. Frey ◽  
Sean Maw ◽  
Susan Bens ◽  
Jim Bugg ◽  
Bruce Sparling
Keyword(s):  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Current Status ◽  
First Year ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Course Scheduling ◽  
Summative Assessments ◽  
Blank Slate ◽  
College Of Engineering ◽  
The University ◽  
Academic Year

Over the last three years, the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Engineering has embarked upon a complete redesign of its first year common program. This project started from a blank slate and posed the question, "If we could design any first year program that we wanted, what would we create?" The goal is to offer a first year program that excites, engages, inspires, and holistically prepares students for learning in subsequent years. At CEEA 2018, Phase I of this project was reviewed with a focus on the content of the new first year. This year, the focus is on the structure of the proposed program and how it aims to satisfy programmatic design objectives. The proposed first year program is highly modular, allowing for more intentional uses of time during the academic year. Course duration and intensity vary and are selected to best serve student learning, rather than conform to the traditional academic schedule. To provide more timely and targeted feedback, summative assessments occur throughout each term allowing course scheduling to extend into the traditional end-of-term final exam period. This paper presents the current structural design of the new first year and the rationale for its significant features. Some of the program design objectives that have been facilitated by this structure include: • strategic sequencing of learning with opportunities to integrate and reinforce essential skills, • multiple, individualized opportunities for students to stumble and recover, • holistic balancing of content and pacing for better student wellbeing, and • comprehensive, well-timed exposure to wide-ranging programmatic choices for students. Throughout this project, the program structure has evolved continuously. This paper will describe the development process, the challenges faced in that process, and the lessons learned. The paper will conclude by describing the current status of the project, and the focus of work currently being undertaken to prepare for implementation.  

scholarly journals Lessons Learned from Using Competency Based Assessment (CBA) in a First Year Engineering Statics Course

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Maw ◽  
Shaobo Huang ◽  
Duncan Cree ◽  
Glyn Kennell ◽  
Wendy James
Keyword(s):  
Type A ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Assessment System ◽  
First Year ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Module Test ◽  
Competency Based ◽  
College Of Engineering ◽  
Competency Based Assessment

During the Fall term of 2020, the first year Statics course in the College of Engineering at theUniversity of Saskatchewan was taught remotely, and synchronously, using a competency-based assessment (CBA) implementation. CBA is commonly used in other professions, especially medical education and teacher education, but it has yet to see widespread use in engineering education.CBA can involve a number of key differences from conventional assessment practices. In this pilot, it involved the following key differences. Whereas previous versions of the course had involved assignments, labs, a midterm, and a final exam, each worth a certain weight in the overallcourse grade, the 2020 CBA version was broken into three modules, each with a “module test”. The module tests were superficially similar to a midterm, and there was no cumulative final exam. Open book assignments, quizzes, labs, and module tests consisted of questions and exercises that addressed a variety of learning outcomes (LOs) within the modules. The LOs were assigned weights in the overall course grade, as opposed to assigning weights to assessments themselves as in a conventional assessment system. Students could therefore overcome poor performances in early assessments of LOs, as better later results on the same LOs would replace the earlier results.A key feature of this approach was that students had at least two and typically three or more opportunities to exhibit competence with respect to the course’s LOs. Another key aspect of this CBA implementation was the division of course material into three levels or “types”. Type A materials were the most basic building blocks of the course i.e. basic definitions, calculations, and concepts. Type B materials were basic integrative problems e.g. solving a basic 2D or 3D particle or rigid body equilibrium question, or solving a basic truss. Type C materials were advanced or “tricky” integrative problems that probed deeper understanding and required more adaptive problem solving. Students were required to meet competency thresholds for Type A and B materials i.e. theyneeded to exhibit a minimal level of competency in the LOs in order to pass the course.Overall, the class excelled in this assessment format and anecdotal evidence suggests that the students enjoyed it. A summary description of the complete system will be presented in this paper, including how grades were determined, how assessments were conducted and evaluated, how LOs were determined, and how the three levels of material were arranged. As well, basic statisticalresults from the class’ performance will be presented, along with a number of observations made by the instructors and some anecdotal impressions conveyed to them by students. The observed outcomes will be compared with the CBA literature for related STEM contexts, although the remote learning/COVID context did obscure the causes and origins of some of the observed outcomes. Changes that will be made in next year’s implementation of the course will also be discussed.

Taking a Byte of Telephony Costs

2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 18-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bogdan Hoanca ◽  
Richard Whitney
Keyword(s):  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Limited Budget ◽  
Telephone System ◽  
University Of Alaska Anchorage ◽  
Private Branch Exchange ◽  
The University

In 2006, the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) upgraded the telephone system at its main campus in Anchorage from a traditional private branch exchange (PBX) architecture to a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system. This case describes the organizational decisions that led to the change; the scope and the process of upgrading; and the current status of the new VoIP system. The actual migration to VoIP was completed less than a year after the start of the project. The transition process went smoothly. User satisfaction with the performance of the VoIP system is very high. Based on extensive interviews with decision makers and the technical personnel involved, this case also describes financial considerations (including “creative” ways to stretch a limited budget), outsourcing considerations, training related issues, as well as lessons learned.

scholarly journals Understanding Barriers to Student Success: What Students Have to Say

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Kuley ◽  
Sean Maw ◽  
Terry Fonstad
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
College Of Engineering ◽  
The University

This paper focuses on feedback received from a set of qualitative questions that were administered to undergraduate students in the College of Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan, as part of a larger mixed methods study. The larger study aims to identify what characteristics, if any, can predict or are related to student success; The “start-stop-continue” method was utilized to assess student perceptions about  their success in the college as a whole. The students were asked: Are there any specific things that you can think of that act/acted as barriers to your success in engineering (stop)? What could the college do/change to make first year more successful for engineering students (start)? Is there anything in your engineering degree so far that you feel is done well and helps students succeed (continue)? Students identified the quality of instruction early in their program as well as adjustment to college workloads and self-directed learning as the most significant barriers tostudent success.

scholarly journals The Use of an Open-Ended Project to Improve the Student Experience in First Year Programming

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Hulls ◽  
Chris Rennick ◽  
Sanjeev Bedi ◽  
Mary Robinson ◽  
William Melek
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Student Experience ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
First Year ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Introductory Programming ◽  
The University

Prior to 2010, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering students at the University of Waterloo were taught an introductory programming course using C++ in first year. Historically, the emphasis was on learning syntax; practising problem-solving was a distant second priority. In addition, many students were noticeably disengaged in lectures, and the assessments used were not authentic.Starting in 2010, a course project was implemented to address these concerns. The project was immediately well received by students, as evidenced by a noticeable number of students going well beyond the minimum project requirements and the variety of projects implemented. Since the project was introduced, the students have been able to successfully answer less structured final exam questions. The increase in problem-solving and thinking skills more than offsets the reduction in language-specific facts. The logistics, challenges and resources required to implement a project of this scope will be described

scholarly journals The development and implementation of a Peer Assisted Learning programme at the University of Liverpool

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gita Sedghi ◽  
Trish Lunt
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Peer Assisted Learning ◽  
The Past ◽  
Programme Design ◽  
Evaluation Feedback ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Student Input ◽  
The University ◽  
Academic Year

A Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) programme was designed and implemented in the Department of Chemistry in the University of Liverpool during the 2012-13 academic year. The PAL programme was initially set up to support first year chemistry undergraduate students with one particular maths module but was extended to offer support to all Year 1 modules. The PAL programme was also designed to meet the needs of a second cohort of students, year 2 direct entry international students, but this paper focuses on the first year student programme.   A key element to the development of the Liverpool PAL programme was the contribution of student input throughout the initial programme design stages and, importantly, the ongoing involvement of students during the operation of the programme over the last three years. They provided evaluation and feedback on the programme’s organisation and effectiveness, and were involved in subsequent discussions to analyse the data from these processes in order to improve and develop the programme. The concept of working with students as partners is not new, but it has risen in profile in recent years as highlighted by Healey et al. (2014) and many others. We believe that the PAL programme would not be as effective as it is without the ongoing involvement of students in all elements of the programme.   The paper will discuss the development and implementation of the PAL programme over the past three years, and highlight the value and importance of the role and contribution of the students in making the programme what it is today, as evidenced by the evaluation feedback from the students.

Family-Based Project Approach to Multidisciplinary Senior Design

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wayne Walter ◽  
Edward Hensel
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Open Architecture ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Senior Design ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Family ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
Academic Year

During academic year 2006–07, a family of four closely related multi-disciplinary senior design projects was initiated. Each project team consisted of eight undergraduate students. The family of projects has continued during the academic year 2007–08, with three additional design projects comprised of 19 students. The intent of the family of design projects is two-fold. The first objective is to introduce students to the concept of designing a product within the context of a family of closely related products, similar to the approach that a corporation may use in its strategic approach to the marketplace. The second objective is to provide an open-source, open-architecture, modular, and scalable robotic vehicle platform usable by a wide range of researchers within the Kate Gleason College of Engineering looking for a vehicle to position cameras, sensors in networks, and for other data-gathering tasks. Students were given the challenge to design and manufacture a platform based on a single design, scalable across four payload orders of magnitude from 1kg to 1,000kg. The 10kg and 100kg variants were studied in AY2006–07, and the 1kg variant was introduced in AY2007–08. The largest, 1,000kg, planned for the future, will be about the size of a Honda Civic, so safety and fail-safe engineering is important. Each project in the family is expected to build on the technology used and lessons learned from prior and concurrent projects, much like the “next model year” in the auto industry, and information sharing requirements among concurrent engineering teams. Hardware, software, and design methods are reused whenever possible, and students are expected to develop their subsystem in the context of an evolutionary platform design. In this manner, the end-product from one design group becomes the starting point for another team. Responsibilities overlap so teams must work cooperatively, which mimics the industrial environment. Starting times on various projects may be staggered, and students must deal with documentation sharing issues, and preservation of design intent across multiple-project teams and academic terms. The paper will discuss the current status of the program, the lessons learned to-date, and future plans for the program.

ULOGA AKORDSKIH DOPUNjALKI U PROCESU ZAPISIVANjA HARMONSKIH VEZA NA NASTAVI SOLFEĐA NA STUDIJAMA MUZIČKE UMETNOSTI

2020 ◽  
pp. 141-153
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Vulovic
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Harmonic Series ◽  
Experimental Program ◽  
First Year ◽  
Program Music ◽  
Study Program ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Pedagogical Research ◽  
The University ◽  
Academic Year

The paper describes the role of chord fill-in exercises in the process of scribing chords in harmonic series of chords which are part of the teaching program of Solfeggio in the basic academic (musical) studies. In a pilot experimental research, exact results have shown the extent to which the experimental factor (chord fill-in exercises) participate in achievement a better students accuracy when listening and scribing chords in harmonic series of chords. Pedagogical research was carried out in the academic year 2017/18 in which the main method was an experiment with one group of respondents consisting of six students of the first year of the study program Music Theory and Pedagogy of the Faculty of Philology and Arts at the University of Kragujevac. The results of the conducted experimental program confirmed the research hypothesis. They proved that chord fillers help students to identify and scribe chords in harmonic series of chords more effectively / accurately, which also indicates the necessity of a more frequent use of chord fill-in exercises in teaching practice, specifically in the work on the writing of chords in harmonic series of chords in teaching Solfeggio

scholarly journals REDESIGNING THE UBC FIRST YEAR INTRODUCTION TO ENGINEERING: SUCCESSES AND CHALLENGES

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Ostafichuk ◽  
Carol P. Jaeger ◽  
Jon Nakane ◽  
Susan Nesbit ◽  
Naoko Ellis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
First Year ◽  
Engineering Profession ◽  
University Of British Columbia ◽  
Practical Engineering ◽  
Assessment Techniques ◽  
High Level ◽  
The University

A new first year introduction to engineering experience was developed at the University of British Columbia. This paper provides an overview of the two new courses and the lessons learned both in developing and delivering the courses. Several key problematic areas in the previous curriculum were addressed, namely, to improve student connection with the engineering profession, increase design and practical engineering experiences, more effectively integrate sustainability into the curriculum, and better emphasize the human and social connection to engineering.The courses operate in a flexible learning framework with a sequence of online, lecture, and studio components arranged in a whole-part-whole format delivered to a class of 850 students. Elements of numerous effective course design, teaching and learning practices, including integrated course design, constructive alignment, components of Team-Based Learning, classroom assessment techniques, peer evaluation, and peer grading were incorporated into these courses. Student feedbackthrough surveys has shown that the new format has been highly successful in addressing most of the key high-level goals, such as establishing a student connection to the engineering profession, helping students understand what engineers do and how they do it, and providing an introduction and appreciation for design, sustainability, decision-making, professionalism, and ethics..

Design, Development and Implantation of Self-Assessment Tools in the Subject of Manufacturing Engineering in Engineering Degrees at the University of Malaga

2016 ◽  
Vol 853 ◽  
pp. 24-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
F.J. Trujillo ◽  
M.J. Martín ◽  
F. Martín ◽  
Lorenzo Sevilla
Keyword(s):  
Evaluation Methods ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
First Year ◽  
Design Development ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Weak Points ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Manufacturing Engineering ◽  
The University

At the presented work, the results obtained by the implementation of self-assessment tools in the subject of Manufacturing Engineering are analyzed. This is the first subject that has been taught by the Department of Manufacturing Engineering Processes at the University of Malaga in all new engineering degrees within the EHEA framework. First, weak points related to the criteria, tools and evaluation methods have been identified, which were detected during the first year teaching the subject. In order to improve the academic outcomes, new evaluation methods and additional assessment tools have been developed. For this purpose, ICT based tools have been used to support teaching. Finally, the academic results after its implantation have been compared with those previously obtained. As a result, an increase in the number of students who passed the exams together with an improvement in the average marks has been observed, as well as a reduction in the number of student skipping the final exam.

A 3D Printing Vending Machine and its Impact on the Democratization of 3D Printing on a College Campus

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanjai Bashyam ◽  
Joshua Kuhn ◽  
Carolyn Conner Seepersad
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
College Campus ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
3D Print ◽  
On Demand ◽  
The University ◽  
First Time ◽  
Academic Year ◽  
Common User

The Innovation Station is a 3D printing vending machine that provides on-demand, internet-enabled 3D printing to all students on The University of Texas at Austin campus. It was designed and built by the authors, who also operate the machine throughout the academic year. This paper introduces the Innovation Station and describes insights and lessons learned from operating the machine for its first academic semester. User statistics and common user mistakes are described, and a designer’s guide is provided to make it easier for first-time users to 3D print successfully.

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