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

Author(s):  
Nurzal Effiyana Ghazali ◽  
Khairiyah Mohd. Yusof ◽  
Fatin Aliah Phang ◽  
Rashidah Arsat ◽  
Nur Azliza Ahmad ◽  
...  

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.

Author(s):  
Fionnuala Farrell ◽  
Michael Carr

Abstract Over the last number of years we have gradually been introducing a project based learning approach to the teaching of engineering mathematics in Dublin Institute of Technology. Several projects are now in existence for the teaching of both second-order differential equations and first order differential equations. We intend to incrementally extend this approach across more of the engineering mathematics curriculum. As part of this ongoing process, practical real-world projects in statistics were incorporated into a second year ordinary degree mathematics module. This paper provides an overview of these projects and their implementation. As a means to measure the success of this initiative, we used the SALG instrument to gain feedback from the students. The SALG online tool - Student Assessment of their Learning Gains - https://salgsite.net/; is a free course-evaluation tool that enables third-level educators to gather feedback specifically focused on what the students gained through the learning exercise they experience. It can be used to measure students’ learning gains. Pre-developed surveys are available which can be modified and are stored in a repository for ease of access. Results are anonymous and there is the ability to download comments and basic statistical analysis of responses. Feedback from the survey points to a large increase in understanding of the material coupled with an increase in confidence. In addition we outline some of the limitations of our initial implementation of this approach and what we hope to improve on for the next academic year.


Author(s):  
Pramod Rajan ◽  
P. K. Raju ◽  
Chetan S. Sankar

Understanding the real-world issues in the global industry is one of the ways of enhancing the learning experience of engineering students. This paper describes such an experience. This was a collaborative weld design project between Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, India and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Tiruchirappalli, India. The main problems BHEL faced were (1) Inspection time of the welds, (2) Inaccessibility of the welds, and (3) Detection of kissing bond or pasty weld. Three possible solutions to these problems were identified by the practitioners. In order to bring this real-world issue into engineering classrooms, the authors developed a case study. The authors also developed a multimedia CD-ROM which brings the problem live into class rooms using video, audio and pictures. This case study has been tested with mechanical engineering students. The majority of the students found the use of case studies to be beneficial, particularly because of the group work and applicability to real life situations. The details of the case study and its implementation in an engineering class room at Auburn University are discussed in the paper.


Author(s):  
Nazmul Islam

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.


Author(s):  
Maryam Miriestahbanat ◽  
Sareh Majidi Ivari ◽  
Yousef R. Shayan

• The student-center method is designed to address the noticeable learning demands, interests, desires, or cultural backgrounds of individual students and groups of students.• This method includes a wide variety of educational programs, learning experience, educational techniques, and academic support procedures.• In this method, teachers, schools, guidance counselors, and other educational specialists apply different educational techniques such as modifying the educational strategies in the classroom and assignments.• One example of the educational strategy in the classroom is redesigning the way in which students are grouped and taught in a class.• The student-centered method can improve independent problem-solving skills.• In this method, which is based on the constructivist learning theory, the students are participated in choosing what they will learn and how their learning will be evaluated.• Applying this technique, especially in classes with a low number of students, provides an opportunity for the students to deeply analyze the conceptual and mathematical problems through mutual communications.


Author(s):  
Liang-Wu Cai

Symbolic analysis is one of the most feared tasks for many undergraduate students in engineering disciplines. Students argue that, without numerical values, it is difficult to make a sense out of a long expression. Instructors have experienced that students are diffident in such analyses; and they quickly lose interest in the topic. This trend has been enhanced with more prevalent use of computers in engineering curricula in recent years. In the senior level Mechanical Vibrations course, this author has experimented with an innovative procedure of using mathematical software such as MATLAB to enhance the students’ learning experience with extensive symbolic calculations. In this experiment, MATLAB is used as a rudimentary plotting device that allows students to plot curves. The procedure provides students a systematical approach to produce parametric plots from an analytical expression, and to validate the expression on physical grounds. This innovative procedure has changed students’ perception about long expressions, decreased their fear, and boosted their confidence in their analytical skills. All these help student to develop a more positive altitude towards symbolic analyses.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Jorge Rodriguez ◽  
Ivan E. Esparragoza

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.


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 ◽  
...  

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-138
Author(s):  
Nur Azizah Putri Hasibuan ◽  
Maria Paristiowati ◽  
Erdawati Erdawati

This research aims to integrate agroindustry and sustainability development into chemistry learning through the Project-Based Learning model (PjBL) to improve the competence of preservice chemistry teachers. This research employed the qualitative method. The Summer Course program was held collaboratively by Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Institut Pertanian Bogor, and Villanova University. The program was implemented online within six weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants consisted of 25 students. The data had been collected through interviews, questionnaires, observations, student portfolios, and reflection journals. Based on the analysis, several projects developed by preservice chemistry teachers increased the application to solve sustainability problems in the agroindustry field. Furthermore, the project was expected to be developed into a natural product that can increase the agroindustry value for coffee farmers. The findings also foster the preservice chemistry teachers to improve their creative thinking, collaboration, higher-order thinking skills, and problem-solving skills. Besides, they developed their communication and collaboration after participating in the program. The paper outline is a project development learning experience in a sustainable field and would be a good resource for student-teacher involvement in teacher education.


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