scholarly journals An Evidence-Based Study on Teaching Computer Aided Design in Higher Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Andreas Dagman ◽  
Kristina Wärmefjord

The pandemic has had a major effect on engineering education, transforming both current and future teaching practice. The physical meetings between student and teacher have during the pandemic been replaced by online contact and recordings of lectures and demonstrations. In this paper, the focus is on computer aided design (CAD) teaching for first-year engineering students. CAD is a topic usually characterized by a close contact by student and teacher, with hands-on instruction at the computer using the CAD software. In the paper, the experiences and learnings from the rapid shift to on-line teaching in CAD are summarized and discussed, and learnings and takeaways for a redesign of future CAD teaching are discussed. Both the students’ learning and their mental wellbeing are evaluated. It is found that on a general level, the students were satisfied with the online teaching and rated it as better or equal to traditional teaching. However, there is still room for improvement, since some students found the situation stressful and pointed out the difficulty to ask questions online. The findings are based on a student survey, existing literature, and the authors own teaching practices during the pandemic.

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 2157-2166
Author(s):  
John Clay ◽  
Xingang Li ◽  
Molla Hafizur Rahman ◽  
Darya Zabelina ◽  
Charles Xie ◽  
...  

AbstractThere are three approaches to studying designers – through their cognitive profile, design behaviors, and design artifacts (e.g., quality). However, past work has rarely considered all three data domains together. Here we introduce and describe a framework for a comprehensive approach to engineering design, and discuss how the insights may benefit engineering design research and education. To demonstrate the proposed framework, we conducted an empirical study with a solar energy system design problem. Forty-six engineering students engaged in a week-long computer-aided design challenge that assessed their design behavior and artifacts, and completed a set of psychological tests to measure cognitive competencies. Using a machine learning approach consisting of k-means, hierarchical, and spectral clustering, designers were grouped by similarities on the psychological tests. Significant differences were revealed between designer groups in their sequential design behavior, suggesting that a designer's cognitive profile is related to how they engage in the design process.


2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vojin Nikolic

Since 1998 the author has been developing and teaching computer aided design and computer aided engineering courses intended for mechanical engineering students using the Pro/ENGINEER and I-DEAS software systems. An outline of one of these courses is given and the experience related to another such course is discussed in detail. Students find these courses challenging and enjoyable. The success rate has regularly been very high. By taking such CAD/CAE courses and learning these widely used industry-standard, high-end software systems the students gain valuable experience directly applicable as they join the workforce. The participating students have regularly rated these courses among the most popular ones. The paper discusses the author’s experiences in developing and teaching courses in CAD and CAE, which utilize high-end software. It is intended to provide two examples of successful blends of theoretical and practical topics that have worked very well.


2009 ◽  
Vol 419-420 ◽  
pp. 777-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erhan Ilhan Konukseven (1)

Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools are essential in modern industry. The students can actually use the skills and knowledge learned in “Computer Aided Engineering Graphics” course through their education and professional life. This paper describes and demonstrates how “ME-105 Computer Aided Engineering Graphics” course was offered to non-mechanical engineering students at Middle East Technical University (METU) using Web-based materials. Using the offered Web-based course model it is possible to give the course to 900 non-mechanical engineering students (450 students and 9 sections each semester) by teaching assistants. The model provides the same quality of teaching that we have in the engineering drawing course offered to 210 mechanical engineering students using the traditional classroom methods with full-time instructors.


2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (06) ◽  
pp. 24-26
Author(s):  
Jean Thilmany

This article focuses on the fact that when the time comes for mechanical engineering students to look for their first professional jobs, how much does it count which computer-aided design system they learned in college. In the 1980s, when most engineering organizations were newly acquainted with CAD and computer-aided manufacturing technologies, employers emphasized their need for engineers with very specific knowledge of a particular computer-aided engineering system. Mechanical engineering majors should understand the methods behind solid modeling, such as the principle of orthographic projection. The method of representing objects does not include the viewer’s perspective and can take a bit of practice to pick up. Eifel maintains the CAD programs UGS and I-deas from EDS, and Catia from Dassault Systemes of Paris. Engineers use ICEM Surf from ICEM Ltd. of Southampton, England, for surface design, and Power mill from Delcam Plc of Birmingham, England, for CAM.


Author(s):  
Mohd Hairi Mohd Zaman ◽  
Mohd Hadri Hafiz Mokhtar ◽  
Mohd Faisal Ibrahim ◽  
Aqilah Baseri Huddin ◽  
Gan Kok Beng

Engineering students at an undergraduate level typically learn the design aspect and concept through lectures and practical sessions using computeraided software. However, the current computer-aided design and engineering (CAD/CAE) course did not expose the students to apply and relate the latest advanced technologies to solve global issues, for instance as listed in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG). Therefore, an improved CAD/CAE course taken by the students of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Programme in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia integrates 3D printing and conduct their project based on UN SDG themes. A total of 22 projects was produced, which involves both mechanical and electrical design with some of the physical models were 3D printed. Thus, students able to strengthen their understanding of the design concept through the integration of 3D printing and simultaneously aware of the current global issues.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1795-1804
Author(s):  
S. Plappert ◽  
L. Hoppe ◽  
P. C. Gembarski ◽  
R. Lachmayer

AbstractFor an optimal preparation of mechanical engineering students for their future work life, the use of problem-based methods in design teaching is investigated. Therefore an intelligent tutoring system for computer aided design education will be developed, which can automatically evaluate computer aided design models of design students. A knowledge-based engineering system will be used to assistance the design students in the execution of design tasks. Using a practice-oriented example, the application and the advantages for teaching will be verified and discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 114
Author(s):  
Fábio A. O. Fernandes ◽  
Clauber Marques ◽  
Jovani Castelan ◽  
Daniel Fritzen ◽  
Ricardo J. Alves de Sousa

This paper reports pedagogical experiences and educational techniques in the field of Mechanics of Structures (Mechanical Engineering degree), resorting to computational tools. Several aspects are addressed, covering CAD (Computer-Aided Design) modelling systems to CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering) solutions, in terms of analysis and validation of mechanical resistance calculations. Therefore, structural mechanics fundamental concepts and mechanics of materials are also addressed. Particular focus is given on the development of curricula components related to Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing. Doing so, three-dimensional structural modelling is applied to study the behaviour in selected simple case-studies where an external load is applied and the corresponding deflections are evaluated. Then, analytical and numerical analyses are performed and compared. During classes, patent aversion to solve analytical problems was clearly observed on the part of the students once calculus knowledge was required. The typical trend in engineering students, skipping the manual analytical methodology to solve a problem in order to go straight to numerical simulations via commercial Finite Element (FE) codes, was observed. The main focus of this work is, therefore, to determine the pedagogical effects of allying the analytical procedures and virtual simulators. It was possible to confirm the beneficial aspects of such methodology, considering that the regular engineering student has already a scientific basis on calculus and analytical process. Such knowledge will support mechanical project decisions, from model development to the analysis, and a sounding background to perform criticism of the results provided by the software.


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