scholarly journals Adding a Continuous Improvement Design Element to a Sophomore-Level Thermodynamics Course: Using the Drinking Bird as a Heat Engine

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 366-372
Author(s):  
Amy Warncke Lang ◽  
Paulius V. Puzinauskas
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Heat Engine ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Design Element ◽  
University Of Alabama ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Course Material ◽  
Design Skills ◽  
Time Required ◽  
The University

To increase the design experience gained by undergraduate engineering students and to enhance their iterative thinking skills needed in the engineering profession, a new project was developed and assigned in the sophomore-level thermodynamics class taught at the University of Alabama. Students designed a mechanism using a toy drinking bird as a heat engine with the goal of minimizing the time required to raise a small weight a given distance. Besides building teamwork and design skills, several key thermodynamic concepts were also visualized for the students, thus increasing their overall comprehension of the course material.

scholarly journals Developing students’ aptitudes through University-Industry collaboration

2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 121-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Aizpun ◽  
Diego Sandino ◽  
Inaki Merideno
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Technical Knowledge ◽  
Collaborative Approach ◽  
Engineering Knowledge ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Student Community ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Industry Collaboration ◽  
The University ◽  
University Industry

<p>In addition to the engineering knowledge base that has been traditionally taught, today’s undergraduate engineering students need to be given the opportunity to practice a set of skills that will be demanded to them by future employers, namely: creativity, teamwork, problem solving, leadership and the ability to generate innovative ideas. In order to achieve this and educate engineers with both in-depth technical knowledge and professional skills, universities must carry out their own innovating and find suitable approaches that serve their students. This article presents a novel approach that involves university-industry collaboration. It is based on creating a student community for a particular company, allowing students to deal with real industry projects and apply what they are learning in the classroom. A sample project for the German sports brand adidas is presented, along with the project results and evaluation by students and teachers. The university-industry collaborative approach is shown to be beneficial for both students and industry.</p>

Senior Designs to Aid the Disabled: The UAB Experience

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan W. Eberhardt ◽  
Laura K. Vogtle ◽  
Gary Edwards
Keyword(s):  
National Science Foundation ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
University Of Alabama ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Senior Design ◽  
National Science ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
The University

Abstract This paper presents a review of two years experience regarding senior design projects to aid persons with disabilities, for mechanical engineering students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The efforts are funded by the National Science Foundation and are aimed at developing alternative, low cost, custom devices to aid specific disabled individuals or targeted groups. A collaboration has been established with UAB Occupational Therapy and United Cerebral Palsy of Birmingham (UCP), who have provided projects which combine depth in both engineering and life sciences. The “UAB experience” described in the following includes project selection, development, student advising and overall significance. Completed designs are listed, along with efforts to bring the products to a marketable level.

Integrated Product Teams at The University of Alabama in Huntsville

2011 ◽  
pp. 68-76
Author(s):  
Matthew W. Turner ◽  
Michael P.J. Benfield ◽  
Dawn R. Utley ◽  
Cynthia A. McPherson
Keyword(s):  
Text Messaging ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Aerospace Engineering ◽  
University Of Alabama ◽  
Senior Design ◽  
Phone Calls ◽  
The University ◽  
E Mail ◽  
Product Team

The capstone senior design class in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is taught as a distributed Integrated Product Team (IPT) experience. Engineering students are teamed with students of different disciplines within UAH and with students at universities in other states and Europe. Because of the distributed nature of these teams, the IPT students must use a variety of technologies to communicate. The authors of this chapter found that the students prefer familiar, informal, contemporary forms of communication, including Google Groups/Sites, Skype, instant messaging, e-mail, phone calls, and text messaging for team communication and project management, and reject more formalized forms of communication, even if advanced features are offered. Most importantly, the authors found that the effectiveness of all forms of technology based communication tools is greatly enhanced when the students have the opportunity to personally meet prior to the design semester.

Study On Implementation Of Tablet Computers In Engineering Design Courses

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-140
Author(s):  
Daniela Pusca ◽  
Hoda Eiliat
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Tablet Computers ◽  
Student Surveys ◽  
Learning Capacity ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Technological Tools ◽  
Course Material ◽  
Pencil And Paper ◽  
Modern Technologies

AbstractRapid development and employment of modern technologies has changed humankind life style drastically. Education has always been an essential human virtue and a necessity for society. The question of how to engage technological tools in order to expand teaching benefits and increase learning capacity is on the rise. This paper is intended to contribute in assessing usage of stylus and tablet in place of traditional pencil and paper in design oriented engineering courses offered to undergraduate engineering students. The paper presents suggestions for how to use the tablet computers to deliver course material along with results of student surveys on how tablets are being used in class, their usefulness and effectiveness.

scholarly journals The Use of an Open-Ended Project to Improve the Student Experience in First Year Programming

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Hulls ◽  
Chris Rennick ◽  
Sanjeev Bedi ◽  
Mary Robinson ◽  
William Melek
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Student Experience ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
First Year ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Introductory Programming ◽  
The University

Prior to 2010, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering students at the University of Waterloo were taught an introductory programming course using C++ in first year. Historically, the emphasis was on learning syntax; practising problem-solving was a distant second priority. In addition, many students were noticeably disengaged in lectures, and the assessments used were not authentic.Starting in 2010, a course project was implemented to address these concerns. The project was immediately well received by students, as evidenced by a noticeable number of students going well beyond the minimum project requirements and the variety of projects implemented. Since the project was introduced, the students have been able to successfully answer less structured final exam questions. The increase in problem-solving and thinking skills more than offsets the reduction in language-specific facts. The logistics, challenges and resources required to implement a project of this scope will be described

scholarly journals INTRODUCTING A NEW ENGINEERING COURSE: A LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR STUDENTS AND FACULTY

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Dare ◽  
Brian Cooke
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
Design Element ◽  
Design Project ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Second Year ◽  
The University ◽  
First Time

A Task Force was created by the Faculty of Engineering at the University of New Brunswick in September 2004 charged with creating a new course for all first year engineering students to be delivered for the first time in September 2005. The course, to be taken by approximately 270 students, was to integrate material from other first year courses, introduce the students to working in teams, contain a substantial design element through a design project, and introduce communication skills. Nine professors from throughout engineering “volunteered” to help develop and deliver the course. In this paper we own up to what we did wrong during the first two years of delivery of this course, and (naturally!) counter this by celebrating our successes. Students are assessed based on a combination of individual and team submissions, with some submissions being oral and others written. This paper will outline the complex assessment scheme we initially used, and how we later simplified it. Rubrics were used to evaluate many of the course assignments. For most of the instructors, this was the first time they had used rubrics and so it was a learning experience to both develop and apply them. We show how we adapted their use in the second year of delivery after the experiences of the first year. We were pleased with the way that the assessments were mostly built around the design project – this helped the students grasp why clear communication is vital and enabled them to obtain continual feedback on the project. We were also delighted that an element of social responsibility was introduced into the course by making the project an international “Engineers Without Borders” project based in Africa. We believe this added an additional dimension to the course and especially the project. The professor-delivered skits were especially popular! Delivered by two wannabe actors, they introduced the students in a humorous manner to the different types of engineering that are taught at UNB. Engineering students at UNB have to commit to their specific engineering field from their first day at UNB, so these skits were included to ensure the students were exposed to all the UNB engineering disciplines. We conclude the paper with our plans for delivery of the course in September 2007 and beyond.

Systems thinking skills of undergraduate engineering students

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaobo Huang ◽  
Karim Heinz Muci-Kuchler ◽  
Mark D. Bedillion ◽  
Marius D. Ellingsen ◽  
Cassandra M. Degen
Keyword(s):  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering

scholarly journals EXPERIENCES WITH INTER-YEAR CAPSTONE DESIGN TEAMS

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. D. Mann ◽  
D. S. Petkau ◽  
K. J. Dick ◽  
S. Ingram
Keyword(s):  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Team Leaders ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Engineering Degree ◽  
Diverse Backgrounds ◽  
The University ◽  
University Setting ◽  
Capstone Design

Design teams in industry are composed of individuals with diverse backgrounds at various stages of their careers. A unique set of group dynamics will be created with one member, likely someone with sufficient experience, assuming the responsibility of being the team leader. Design teams formed in engineering classes within the university setting typically consist of individuals at the same stage of their academic training, thus students do not experience the same group dynamics as they will find in industry. In an attempt to give undergraduate engineering students this experience, inter-year design teams were formed from engineering students registered in courses representing different stages of completion of the engineering degree. Students registered in the final-year design course were expected to assume the roles of team leaders or coleaders. This paper will discuss a number of issues that were observed with inter-year capstone design teams. It has been concluded that the disadvantages of inter-year design teams outweigh the advantages.

scholarly journals DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND TEAM WORK ATTRIBUTE AMONG UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING STUDENTS: TRENDS ACROSS 4 YEARS OF ASSESSMENT

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Grocutt ◽  
A. Barron ◽  
M. Khakhar ◽  
T.A. O'Neill ◽  
W.D. Rosehart ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Team Work ◽  
Program Accreditation ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
University Of Calgary ◽  
Teamwork Skills ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The University

The Engineers Canada Accreditation Board outlines 12 Canadian Engineering Graduate Attributes required for program accreditation. One of these attributes is Individual and Team Work. Since 2016, at the University of Calgary, there has been a voluntary, undergraduate-wide survey administered to the Schulich School of Engineering students every spring via an online platform. The purpose of the survey is to assess students’ perceived development of teamwork skills during their program, and identify avenues to improve program offerings. After four consecutive years of this survey, with sample sizes ranging from 683-973 students, there are three main trends that can be identified: students perceive teamwork skills as highly important for their future careers, there are noticeable differences between male and female students regarding teamwork experiences, and students value teamwork skills training and opportunities for peer feedback. Implications of these findings are that there are gendered teamwork experiences among undergraduate engineering students and more research is needed to understand interventions that can mitigate this.

scholarly journals STUDENT-INDUSTRY PROJECT IDENTIFICATION OF FAVOURABLE CONDITIONS THROUGH A SUCCESS STORY

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Brousseau ◽  
Simon Bélanger ◽  
Abderrazak El Ouafi ◽  
Jean Rioux ◽  
Michael Landry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Success Story ◽  
Joint Project ◽  
Engineering Program ◽  
Industry Partner ◽  
Design Skills ◽  
Training Team ◽  
Industry Success ◽  
The University ◽  
University Training

Design is one of the key elements of any engineering program. According to the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB), design is a creative, interactive and often open-ended process subject to constraints, which may be governed to varying degrees by standards or legislations depending upon the discipline. Industry-based projects are excellent opportunities to help engineering students develop design skills. The benefits of such projects can be very valuable for both the students and the industry partner. However, they do not always lead to success. Through the presentation and analysis of a student-industry success story, the favourable conditions of a joint project are presented in this document. As expected, the most significant success conditions are the students' determination and the partner's commitment, both being correlated. In order to work towards a project's success, the university training team has to ensure that the win-win conditions remain present for the duration of the project.

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