Innovative Teaching Practice and Assessment with Technology Applications in International Biomedical Engineering Education

The advantages of the Internet in education are widely acknowledged by students and teachers all over the world. The authors have developed EVICAB as a free-access portal for e-learning with a full curriculum in biomedical engineering. It may be used as a virtual campus to support classroom lecturing or for distant learning. EVICAB provides educational material in various formats: video lectures to be viewed on a PC, an iPod or a media phone, lecture slides, textbook, exercises. It also offers a system for an Internet examination, which makes it possible for the students to take the examination anywhere in the world, where an educational institution provides proper environment. In this chapter, the authors briefly introduce the technology of the EVICAB portal and discuss in more detail the application of the Internet examination system. Educational technologies for developing teaching and learning via the Internet are widely available and user friendly.

Blending Conventional Methods with Emerging Flight Simulation Technology as Tools for Effective Teaching and Learning Experiences in Aerospace Engineering

Engineering is about wealth creation for the comfort and well-being of human beings. In this context, the process and experiences associated with teaching and learning of engineering concepts are pivotal in sustaining and advancing the progress of modern day civilization. However, the teaching of aerospace engineering is not easy and fraught with difficulties, as the students have to be provided with the opportunity to develop their creative skills while retaining a professional and practical base. It is also important to proactively harness the available and emerging technologies to greater effect in the learning process. At the University of New South Wales in Australia, the authors have approached the teaching and learning in undergraduate aerospace engineering from a non-conventional perspective to prepare students to be creative and become practically oriented for productive employment in the very competitive world of today. They have been experimenting and refining what is generally known as the “advanced project design study concept” used in some aerospace industries and incorporated it as an integral component in aerospace engineering studies. In the process, the authors have blended conventional methods with flight simulation as methods of enquiry and investigation. The feedback, support, and encouragement that they have received from industries, the potential employers of students, have been very positive. This chapter outlines the basic philosophies behind the authors’ approach and the methodologies and technologies used in achieving the desired outcomes.

Teaching of Fluid Mechanics in Engineering Course

In undergraduate engineering courses, fluid mechanics is regarded as a challenging subject. This is particularly the case for students who do not possess a strong mathematical background. This chapter reviews the issues related to the teaching of fluid mechanics with an emphasis on how e-technology can enhance student learning. It uses the data of 462 students studying the second year engineering course at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) in Australia. The UWS fluid mechanics course, in its past ten years, has undergone significant changes in its content and delivery. It has been found that teaching based on a “student-centered approach” is more effective in teaching fluid mechanics than a “lecturer-centered approach.” Further enhancements are proposed in UWS through a blended learning approach involving both e-technology and traditional teaching methods to teach fluid mechanics. The method can also be adapted to other universities.

eLearning

eLearning will revolutionise higher education in the next decade. Although this has likely been said regularly over the last 20 years, the widespread availability of mobile devices, ubiquitous wifi connections, and the globalisation of industry, driven by global networking infrastructure, will finally deliver the promises of learning anytime anywhere. This chapter reviews the most common forms of eLearning, both synchronous and asynchronous: recorded lectures, learning management systems, online assessment, blogs, and wikis are slowly transforming education towards a student-centred model of learning. The question remains: what is the university’s business model when students can collect their learning resources for free from iTunesU?

The BIM Concept

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is changing the way projects are constructed. This emerging practice requires new mind-sets and technological know-how in order to achieve significant improvements in building efficiency. Universities must focus on the strategy of using BIM as an innovative technology to allow the acquisition of new skills by students and prepare them for their future activity in a more competitive world. Based on this perspective, this chapter presents some educational measures on offer at the Technical University of Lisbon. It focuses on the importance of teaching BIM: the involvement of students in research projects, PhD theses, and MSc dissertations, and the dissemination of BIM through professional short courses and workshops addressed to the AEC community outside the school. Some of these have already been carried out in the school; others are presently being proposed or currently in progress. It is clear from this that school is an important driver for the growth of BIM knowledge and practice through the preparation of new and existing professionals.

Use of the Finite Element Method and Computational Fluid Dynamics in Motion Analysis of Complex Shapes, With Examples from Sports

In the research and development of sports, Finite Element Methods (FEMs) and Computer Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are frequently used as tools to examine the transformation of a solid and the flow of a fluid, respectively. This chapter presents a simplified approach to understanding the FEM and CFD and their basic equations, providing the foundation for a theoretical understanding of the two methods. To facilitate an understanding of the application of the FEM to sports research, an analysis of the impact of landing on the human body is presented. Similarly, the application of CFD to sports research is illustrated through a flow analysis around spiked shoes. This chapter will not only enable students to study CFD but also introduce them to literature on the FEM and CFD with regard to other sports to encourage them to study further.

Online Postgraduate Program Development

Due to changes in business requirements, a defence consortium has the desire to develop the Master of Systems Support Engineering program for professional development of their future leaders. The challenge in this industry-sponsored program development is the need to fully integrate expert knowledge in the field to the fundamental theories in the subject matter and to deliver this body of knowledge to working professionals online. The initial online course design was delivered to the first cohort. The students were surveyed, and the results were reviewed by the industry steering committee. After re-design of the online course delivery, the survey outcome showed marked improvement. In this chapter, the author describes the systems approach that was adopted and outline the steps taken to develop a Master program for online delivery.

Control Systems

The field of engineering is undergoing rapid advances in knowledge application. Present drivers for the advances in engineering are clearly electronics, materials engineering, and information technology. As innovation applications abound, employers expect educators to produce students having the latest knowledge of advances in their native discipline. This aim needs to be achieved in the same four-year time-frame and yet the degree needs to contain increasing research-orientated content to comply with Australian Quality Framework requirements. How these ends can be achieved within the context of a high-quality engineering degree becomes a challenging task. The author suggests that a solution can arise by utilising a systems approach from the very first year of an engineering degree across several electro-mechanical disciplines.

Using Real World Applications as Technological Tools in Engineering Education

“Scientia” is the investigation of something to acquire knowledge. This chapter is based on a number of engineering courses taught by the author in recent years. During the author’s delivery of lectures and tutorials, he took the opportunity to use real world applications and situations to arouse interest and enabled students to understand basic underlying principles before progressing to theoretical treatment and mathematical modeling. The abstract nature of the latter is often a hurdle in technical education. The author observes that students are most attuned to matters already in existence – things of common interest that exist in society at large and/or matters that can be found in nature. As soon as each principle is mastered, the author gradually adds more building blocks. The methodology and pace allow the confidence of his students to improve which leads to better motivation. This also provides students with the ability to look deeper into concepts and creates a virtuous environment for both teaching and learning.

Enhancement of Student Learning for Effective Capstone Project Outcomes

It is commonly accepted that today’s engineers are required to deal with a whole range of matters involving scientific, technological, and importantly communication issues, and so need to be educated with these aspect in mind. The pedagogy of engineering requires a better understanding of students’ abilities to guide their approach to learning the necessary skills of working in the engineering community. Consequently, there is an ever-increasing need for engineering graduates who are able to communicate effectively. In many engineering courses around the world, one of the key aspects required of the students is that they complete an independent project in their final year of studies. This chapter examines student abilities and skills required to successfully develop capstone projects which involve research skills, communication skills, and information-retrieval abilities. Findings from the work show that, although local and international students benefited from the intensive tutorial activities, it was the NESBC students who found the active learning events to be the most beneficial. The implementation of the active tutorial sessions resulted in increased grades for the majority of students. The procedures followed to achieve these findings highlight the importance of intensive active learning events for final year capstone engineering students.