scholarly journals Motivation of Engineering Students Participating in Multinational Design Projects – Comparison Based on Gender and Class Status

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Jorge Rodriguez ◽  
Ivan E. Esparragoza
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Educational Activity ◽  
Time Zone ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
Global Skills

There have been different active-learning initiatives introduced in academia to provide engineering students with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitude to be competitive in the global market. These initiatives have been in response to the need in the corporate world for engineers with exposure to global collaborative environments. Consequently, multinational collaborative design projects have been used by the authors as means of introducing professional global skills to engineering students while exposing them to a project-based learning experience. This educational activity is expected to motivate students so that they can start developing the professional skills that will help them to overcome difficulties and to carry out the project successfully. However, this activity faces many challenges including, among others, cultural and academic background differences, language and time zone barriers, and issues with communication tools. Therefore, this work compares the motivation of students before and after their participation in a multinational design project, using gender and class standing as differentiating parameters. To accomplish this objective, the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) was adapted to the implemented multinational collaborative experience and administered to the participating students. For this study, three motivation constructs are taken into consideration: (a) interest/enjoyment, (b) perception of choice, and (c) perceived competence. Results are discussed based on the research questions posed for this comparative work, and result reflections are presented.

Cross-Cultural Virtual Team Projects

2021 ◽  
pp. 86-107
Author(s):  
Anuli Ndubuisi ◽  
Elham Marzi ◽  
James Slotta
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Virtual Collaboration ◽  
Team Projects ◽  
Intercultural Competencies ◽  
Before And After

Future engineers require global and intercultural competencies to prepare them to work in an increasingly multicultural, digitized, and interdependent global economy. To enhance engineering students' international exposure, awareness, and cultural experiences, the authors developed a unique international virtual team program that engaged students in collaborative project-based learning with peers around the world. Each virtual team consisted of multidisciplinary students from various countries and institutions. The students' knowledge and understanding of intercultural competence were evaluated before and after the program to ascertain its impact on their understanding of intercultural sensitivities and collaboration in virtual teams. Recommendations for learning enhancements were proposed. The authors found the integration of intercultural content with the global virtual team projects to be a successful strategy for helping engineering students build intercultural competencies and virtual collaboration skills, in addition to technical engineering knowledge and experience.

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 The Impact of Makerspaces on Engineering Education

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Galaleldin ◽  
Francois Bouchard ◽  
Hanan Anis ◽  
Claude Lague
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Problem Analysis ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
American University ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Design Skills ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Engineering Schools

Makerspaces are gaining more ground in universities and other educational institutions as a novel approach to boost creativity, innovation, and provide more opportunities for experiential and hands-on learning experience. Albeit being multidisciplinary, and open spaces in nature,Makerspaces still lack integration to the curricula of engineering schools. With increasingly competitive markets, there is a need to educate future engineers with necessary skills to be more creative and to be able to compete in today’s global market. A twophase study was developed to study the integration of the Makerspace concept in engineering schools. The first phase was based on interviews with five North American University Makerspaces that vary in size, objective, business model, and management structure to identify best Makerspace practices in preparationof the establishment of the University of Ottawa’s Richard L’Abbé Makerspace. The second phase was a survey administered to engineering students who have used the Richard L’Abbé Makerspace since its opening in the fall of 2014 to assess its impact on their engineering competencies, in particular design skills, problem analysis, communication and teamwork skills, investigation skills, and entrepreneurial skills. This paper aims at studying best practices of Makerspaces on campus and their impacts onengineering education and on the development ofdesired skills and competencies for engineering students.

scholarly journals Physical therapy using robotics: A project-based learning experience for undergraduate students

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 32-42
Author(s):  
Edgar Lopez-Caudana ◽  
Christian Fernando López-Orozco ◽  
César Mendoza Bárbara ◽  
Germán Eduardo Baltazar Reyes ◽  
Pedro Ponce ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Physical Therapy ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Young Patients ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Innovative Therapy ◽  
Wide Range

The dynamic society we live in requires constant adaptation and innovation on every aspect of our daily lives, allowing us to improve the necessities of different people by doing it. For this study, we used a new approach with project-based learning to go beyond the typical environment in higher education and bring solutions to real-life scenarios. The project was developed with undergraduate engineering students in collaboration with a rehabilitation institute in Mexico City to design a physical therapy routine using the NAO robot. It allowed interaction between young patients in real time and fostered empathy while developing a final usable product. The study measured the usability of the robotic platform during the rehabilitation sessions and the reproducibility of the project through Cronbach's alpha evaluation. The usability results show a higher interest in the project from both the patients and the medical staff involved while constructing the material needed to develop a product that matches the standards given by the rehabilitation institute. Implications for practice or policy: Therapists could change traditional approaches to caregiving while adopting new technological methodologies using robots. Higher education students could supplement their school curricula with real-case scenarios such as creating innovative therapy sessions for people with physical disabilities. Schools might need to collaborate with a wide range of institutions to provide technological solutions to real problems.

scholarly journals Engineering Students Learning Experience through a Unique Global Project-Based Learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (15) ◽  
pp. 236
Author(s):  
Nurzal Effiyana Ghazali ◽  
Khairiyah Mohd. Yusof ◽  
Fatin Aliah Phang ◽  
Rashidah Arsat ◽  
Nur Azliza Ahmad ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Engineering Industry ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Educational Backgrounds ◽  
Institute Of Technology ◽  
Malaysian Students ◽  
Current Engineering ◽  
Global Project

Current students must prepare themselves with the necessary skills for employment in the engineering industry. In addition, students should prepare themselves to work globally. Along with the needs, Shibaura Institute of Technology introduces a program named global Project-Based Learning (gPBL). Malaysian students from different educational backgrounds joined this pro-gram to experience new skills. The program was participated by 34 students from Malaysia and Japan. Current engineering education is focusing on a course that can foster students’ creativity and critical thinking. Therefore, this study explores students’ experiences in gPBL and what student skills developed throughout the program. Students reported their experiences through the self-reflective journal. Then, thematic analysis was used to analyze the students’ self-reflective journals. The results show gPBL promotes thinking and problem-solving skills, encourages students to work with peers in other fields, and encourages students to adapt to a new culture.

scholarly journals COMM151: A PROJECT-BASED COURSE TO ENHANCE ENGINEERING STUDENTS’ COMMUNICATION SKILLS

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 027
Author(s):  
Tanju Deveci ◽  
Roger Nunn
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Intrapersonal Communication ◽  
The Impact

Engineering is a discipline that requires its practitioners to learn and use a variety of soft-skills, which include academic and non-academic written and spoken communication, inter- and intrapersonal communication skills, critical thinking ability, an ability to work in teams and an ability to analyze, interpret and synthesize interdisciplinary information from a variety of sources. However, students who pursue their engineering education in English as their second language can face formidable challenges acquiring these skills. It is our observation that such students are often only given assistance through English courses designed to improve their individual linguistic abilities. We believe that although this approach may help in the short term, it may not sufficiently cater for students’ overall needs and well-being in the long term. With this in mind, this paper describes our attempt to reduce this problem in our local context of the Petroleum Institute (PI) through a long term innovation effort.A project-based approach has been adopted to provide students with an opportunity to enhance their language skills through meaningful learning experiences that also develop professional, personal and academic skills. This approach has also allowed the university to meet ABET criteria related to communication needs of engineering students. In this paper, we give a detailed rationale for our belief that a holistic approach to developing abilities required by engineering and other students is a better option. This is followed by a description of the different components of our current curriculum that has been developed over 12 years. We describe particular activities, and discuss their merits. We also present students’ perceptions about the impact of their project-based learning experience on their language and skills development. We also outline the way the course is designed to be adaptable for unpredictable future needs in a fast developing professional and academic environment.

scholarly journals A DIVE INTO DESIGN INTEGRATION CHALLENGES FOR 1ST YEAR ENGINEERING STUDENTS

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Polytechnique Montréal
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Engineering Project ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Industry Practice ◽  
Design Integration ◽  
Critical Competencies

Since 2010, Polytechnique Montréal offers the Aerospace Engineering four-year program. The introductory project “AER1110 - projet initial en génie aérospatial” is proposed to first year students who have completed a single semester.  This course applies an innovative approach with better alignment with critical competencies identified by the aerospace industry. Among the course objectives, students learn and apply mechanical design methodology in an authentic design-build-test experience inspired from professional engineering design practice. This paper describes the motivations, framework and the characteristics of this course to achieve an effective project based learning experience inspired from industry practice for students.  An “ask – don’t tell” approach is taken so project activities are built to generate open-ended questions to be answeredinstead of using knowledge learned from other courses to be applied on predefined problems. Multiple iterations of this introduction to engineering project have been tried. Until now, most experiences hadsignificant flaws: authenticity, high student uncertainty, motivation, assessment alignment with professionalpractice objectives, competition versus collaboration, etc. From all these iterations, a robust project framework has evolved.  Teaching staff implication to build authentic projectexperiences is significant and can overwhelm academic systems rapidly. A step by step approach can manage the time issue, but to achieve the integration competency objective a more profound academic systemtransformation is needed that includes: assessment methods review, course load management, course systems and student-mentor interactions.

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