Motivational Tools for Engineering Students in Privileged Developing Countries: Examples From UAE

The topic of this paper could be irrelevant to well-developed and developing countries, however, it is quite challenging to educate students in privileged income developing countries in which all primary needs of education, health, shelter and basic needs (the base for Maslow’s hierarchy of needs) are taken care of by the government. This leaves little room for the young generation to aspire to. Insufficient internal drive to work hard or to prove oneself since all basic needs are taken care of and most of these students are coming from well-off families. This created a real dilemma for educators in how to motivate and encourage this generation to take education seriously and work hard towards their degree and appreciate this educational journey. This paper would discuss some of these motivational tools and a set of recommendations for the government on this issue.

Experience of Multiple Instructors About Student Presentation Based Teaching (SPET) Approach

Many college instructors are hesitant to adopt student active teaching approaches. Student activity-based classroom teaching may require a lot of time investment in designing and conducting student activities. Also, student activities during the class period may lead to inadequate coverage of the course content mentioned in the syllabus. Incomplete course coverage and the amount of effort required on the part of an instructor for designing active teaching strategies are cited as the common hindrances in adopting active student teaching. To address these widely recognized inhibiting factors, we recently implemented a new student-active teaching approach. This approach is based on the students’ presentation and hence termed as student presentation based effective teaching (SPET). The SPET approach is designed to address the key components of effective teaching. However, to understand the efficacy of SPET for different instructors we implemented it in five courses offered during the same semester. The Learning Resource Division faculty analyzed the data and interviewed the instructors that implemented SPET. Here we present the response and insights garnered from different instructors. Participating instructors reflected their views about the advantages and challenges associated with the adaptation of SPET.

Effective Approach to Teaching Stress and Deformation Analysis in Mechanical Engineering Design

The undergraduate course, Design of Machine Elements has been offered by the University of Connecticut’s Mechanical Engineering Department for many years. It has been one of the most difficult courses for students to follow and understand, and also for the faculty to teach. A strong basic knowledge of mathematics, theoretical mechanics and the mechanics of materials is required for students to take this mandatory course and to fully follow its contents. To understand entirely the concepts of Design of Machine Elements, students should be acquainted with the history of the strength of materials. Being aware of the importance of such a course the ME faculty has worked to establish outstanding structural engineering teaching and research methods, and to create a departmental nucleus of intensive development of engineering mechanics research and development. The efforts described in this paper have facilitated the teaching and learning of the mechanics of materials and consequently the Design of Machine Elements as well. To accomplish these in both teaching and practical problem solving the instructor must use the unconventional approaches and students must put a great deal of effort into learning the material. It is important for students to have a general knowledge of mathematics and theoretical mechanics, but as this is a foundation of the course, the instructor should review and clarify the specific assumptions of engineering mechanics and strength of materials. One of the pedagogical challenges to be overcome, which is faced by both instructors and students, has always been to connecting the basic theorems and application procedures of engineering mechanics to their practical use in designing machine elements and in calculating static and dynamic stresses and deformations. The concept of avoiding stress concentrations by properly designing the shapes of machine frames and parts should also be emphasized. Transforming plane stresses and deformations into three-dimensional representations and calculations should also be considered. Since machine elements are usually in motion, a dynamic approach to stress and deflection analysis is important as well. After introducing the analysis of dynamic stresses and deformations, the instructor should cover the concept of fatigue, which is the next crucial step. The instructors’ approaches and the unconventional methods they use to familiarize students with such complicated concepts are discussed in this paper. An analysis of representations of stresses and deformations and fatigue analyses of different machine elements are also considered. This paper connects to some approaches previously presented in earlier papers as well as in courses, books and discussions by outstanding engineering mechanics theoreticians, including UConn faculty, especially Dr. Roman Solecki. The paper concludes by recommending effective teaching approaches to complicated machine design concepts and summarizing the lessons learned. This paper is a companion piece to the IMECE 2015 50776 [1].

Application of Systems Engineering to Machine Design for Technology Students

This paper discusses the results of a literature search on implementing novel approaches to teaching engineering design as well as the need for teaching Systems Engineering (SE) at an undergraduate level. In addition, the paper presents the results and lessons learned by assigning a capstone project requiring students to develop a conveyor system using the 8-phase SE process and a project based collaborative design methodology. The instructor teaches the fundamentals of systems engineering, the concept of synthesis, and the basics of trade-off studies. Students learn how to use functional modeling and the proper use of a functional flow block diagram to transform design requirements into failure modes. Students perform traditional failure mode calculations, using a strength-resistance approach, on machine components such as shafts, bearings, gears, belts, chains, keyways, splines, clutches, springs, brakes, and bolts for the conveyor system’s transmission. The instructor assigns a conveyor system and its systems requirements and students must demonstrate their understanding of the SE process as well as being able to perform design calculations on various machine components. The students demonstrate their understanding of SE and failure modes by taking part in design reviews throughout the semester and a final engineering report.

Blended Learning by Gamification in a Second-Year Introductory Engineering Design Course

With the rapid development of engineering and new demands of contemporary employers, post-secondary institutions have to adapt, improve and enhance engineering curricula to ensure that recent graduates possess appropriate levels of technical and professional skills and multilateral abilities for a successful start in industry. As industrial technologies, tools, and processes evolve, so must teaching methodologies and approaches, which significantly changes the structure of engineering courses. To ensure that students not only master technical knowledge but also develop their professional, interpersonal, cognitive and computer skills, engineering curricula have begun to shift from a classic instruction format to a blended learning format. Blended learning, the strategy of combining regular face-to-face instruction with online learning and/or other out-of-class-activities, is increasingly used in post-secondary education and disciplines and can take different forms depending on the course needs and desired learning outcomes. This paper reviews the recent implementation of blended learning in the form of gamification of a second-year introductory engineering design course using a commercial online learning platform. The reasoning, methodology, process and the results of student surveys before and after the online game are discussed along with suggested improvements.

Devices to Aid Mobility: Biomedical Engineering-Focused Undergraduate Senior Capstone Design Projects

In order to meet the increasing societal and market demand for a diverse and well-trained Biomedical Engineering (BME) workforce, the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), the nation’s only urban land-grant institution, the District of Columbia’s only public institution of higher education, and a historically black college and university (HBCU), nurtures BME activities focused on exposure, training and cultivation through research and experiential learning. Undergraduate design projects and research-based learning opportunities in BME are key program ingredients. This paper presents the former (i.e., three, BME-related undergraduate senior Capstone Design projects that target devices to aid patient immobility) namely, the design of: 1) an ankle foot orthosis, 2) an upperlimb robotic hand prosthetic, and 3) a chairless chair lower limb exoskeleton. A current focus of the UDC BME program is Rehabilitation Engineering (i.e., interventions and devices aimed at aiding those with mobility impairments). We briefly discuss the necessity for rehabilitation-focused, biomedical-related undergraduate experiences and training for underrepresented minority students at UDC, in particular, undergraduate engineering education through multidisciplinary BME projects that foster hands-on creativity towards innovative designs. In addition to critical design experiences and undergraduate training in BME, devices may have the potential to develop into new commercial technologies and/or research projects that will aid and enhance the quality life of individuals suffering from a wide-range of mobility-related issues.

Study on Functionally Gradient Materials Under International Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program: US - South Africa Collaboration

This paper details the ongoing research conducted by Milwaukee School of Engineering senior undergraduate students in South Africa under the third year of the Research Experiences for Undergraduates grant EEC-1460183 sponsored by the National Science Foundation (Principal Investigator Dr. Kumpaty). Andrew Gray and Kevin Sivak conducted research in summer of 2017 under advisement of Dr. Kumpaty and his South African collaborators, Dr. Esther Akinlabi, Dr. Mutiu Erinosho and Dr. Sisa Pityana. They extended the work of Paoli (reported in IMECE2017-71037), with varying percent of Mo (0–15%) in the combination of Ti64-Mo deposited on Ti64 substrate at laser powers of 1500 and 1700 W for a select scan speed. Laser metal deposition was completed at the CSIR – National Laser Center, in Pretoria, South Africa and the material characterization was performed at the University of Johannesburg as in the previous year. Hardness decreased with addition of Mo. Lowest hardness was observed in 10% Mo layers, and greater percent of Mo led some agglomeration issues due to its melting temperature being much higher than that of Ti64. Corrosion tests were also attempted. Etching challenges were present as percent of Mo varied in the same sample. Results are directly applicable to biomedical industry in evaluating functionally graded materials. An alumnus of MSOE, Peter Spyres served as a liaison for our international REU participants as he engaged them during the weekends in a cultural immersion which otherwise would not have been possible. Gray and Sivak were able to spend July 4th at the U.S. Consulate in Pretoria. While the research collaborators have generously provided support, it is the care taken by Peter’s remarkable household, which enhanced the beneficial value of this international research enterprise.

A Gear-Chain Based Transmission for the Machine Elements Design Laboratory

This project describes the collaboration of two instructors, one from the mechanical engineering department and one from the mathematics department with a group of mechanical engineering students to build and analyze a new type of transportation transmission. Current transmissions have torque limitations when working at various vehicle loading conditions. The ideal vehicle transmission is a continuously variable transmission that delivers optimum torque at any loading condition. The motivation for this research project is to design a new transmission that would increase the number of gear ratios using a chain element, and consequentially, increasing the number of available torques to achieve better overall vehicle performance. The new transmission consists of two planetary gears systems linked by a chain. It includes multiple inputs and outputs with the possibility of using one of the outputs to drive other engine components. The system is currently investigated for all possible gear ratios and usable torque configurations. The gear ratios are determined using Willis’s formula for planetary gear systems. All possible gear combinations are investigated and their gear ratios mathematically determined. A prototype was designed and built. It is being automatized, currently.

Assessing the Educational Effectiveness of a System Engineering Software in Capstone Design Projects

The increasing complexity of engineering and technology requires that students master an increasing amount of abstract knowledge to remain competitive in today’s job market. However, today’s students find it difficult to create mental images of abstract concepts, due to lack of real world experience. This problem is more evident in advanced design classes teaching product design concepts and methodologies. In this paper, we introduce a system engineering software package that is used in our capstone design class, with which students are able to create their own framework of product development activities, control information flows, and manage tools and engineering models in each activity. This allows them to plan out and manage their projects using the design methodologies that they learned in class. We assessed student learning in the capstone design class for the last 7 semesters. Independent Samples t-Test and factorial ANOVA are used to analyze the student performance before and after using the software package. We have observed that in the design classes, the system engineering software enables students to practice design methodologies by visualizing and managing product development processes. This helps students not only understand the abstract design methodologies, but also apply the methodologies to their projects and accomplish them more efficiently.

Traditional, Active and Problem-Based Learning Methods Used to Improve an Undergraduate Biomechanics Course

Biomechanics is a core curriculum course taught in many biomedical engineering programs. Biomechanical analysis has become a necessary tool for both industry and research when developing a medical device. Despite its significance both inside and outside of the classroom, most students have demonstrated challenges in effectively mastering biomechanical concepts. Biomechanics requires adaptive skill sets needed to solve a multitude of problems from various disciplines and physiological systems. Many students taking biomechanics have not taken foundational courses that are necessary for in-depth learning and mastery of biomechanics. Consequently, limiting their ability to solve complex problems requiring strong foundations in statics, dynamics, fluid mechanics, and physiology. Active (AL) and problem-based learning (PBL) are techniques that has been widely used in medical education and allow faculty to implement engineering concepts into the context of disease solving real-world medical problems. This study investigates using both traditional and problem-based learning teaching pedagogy to enhance student learning in a senior level undergraduate biomechanics course. Results of this technique have shown an increase in student performance and self-assessments.