Teaching power engineering basics using advanced web technologies and problem-based learning environment

This paper describes the experience of teaching power systems basics to undergraduate engineering students using a pedagogical approach that is based upon computer-mediated and problem-based learning in an integrated way. In this approach, an interactive learning environment based on web technologies replaces the traditional lectures. The pedagogical project behind this approach is focused on the problem-based learning paradigm, where the students are instigated to construct the knowledge required to solve the problem (constructivist learning). The paper addresses the technological aspects, such as how to create simulators using Java applets and animation, as well as the pedagogical aspects, such as student performance and knowledge acquisition. The experience of using this approach at the State University of Campinas, Brazil, during the years 2001/2002 is described in detail. Advantages and disadvantages of this approach are also addressed and finally the students point of view are presented based on surveys.     

A computer-aided, total quality approach to manufacturing educationin engineering

This paper describes an ongoing study in improving entry-level engineering education through the deployment of new teaching and learning tools. We introduce a computer-aided interactive multimedia manufacturing courseware. To improve manufacturing education we need to change not only the process of teaching and learning, but also provide new tools and technology that promote efficient learning and make it widely available and continuously improving. To address this manufacturing education challenge, we are presently designing a program based on a new computer-aided education paradigm that embodies total quality management (TQM) and critical thinking (CT) concepts. An interactive multimedia manufacturing courseware lies at the heart of this new computer-aided education paradigm. The manufacturing engineering multimedia courseware (MEMC) includes: on-line lectures, audiovideo education tools, interactive computer software, on-line assignment and exams, information about faculty, and on-line evaluation tools to obtain users' feedback to enhance teaching. It also makes access available to related academia, industry, and government research and education information through the World Wide Web. In this paper, we briefly review the status of engineering education in the United States and describe the appropriateness of unifying the concepts of TQM and CT. Additionally, we provide details of how these concepts can be used in an educational model     

A knowledge based tutoring system for teaching fault analysis

A knowledge based tutoring system is used to support the education of power engineering students. The aim of this project is to make teaching and learning more productive and efficient by employing modern technologies. It seeks to find new methods to teach large numbers of students with no increase in staff. The tutoring system is based on an expert system shell. It provides a functionally interacting set of theory and problems, and supports student progress through monitoring and assessment. This paper describes the development of the tutoring system for teaching electrical engineering subjects, and in particular, fault analysis in power systems. The expert system based software has been successfully used by power engineering students. They found this software easy to use and understand, and it has become an extra teaching tool     

An Internet-based graphical programming tool for teaching power system harmonic measurement

Traditional methods to measure power system harmonics employ the power harmonic analyzer or a software package, such as Matlab or others, but they do have certain limitations in the graphical programming environment, applications for remote monitoring and control performance. This paper presents a virtual instrument (VI) that can carry out power system harmonic measurement based on fast Fourier transform (FFT) in remote surveillance capability via the Internet. The strategies and guidelines are also developed to enhance teaching and/or learning the basics of operating Internet-based systems. Critical issues pertaining to engineering education, such as design of course, expected learning outcomes, assessment of student performance, and course evaluation are discussed in detail.     

Development of an interactive CDROM-based tutorial for teachingMATLAB

This paper describes the development of an interactive computer-based tutorial for MATLAB. This tutorial has been developed for undergraduate or graduate students who have had little or no exposure to MATLAB. Students are guided through new concepts and syntax with useful aids such as audio, video and interactive exercises. The exercises, implemented in a specially designed exercise window, give the students an opportunity to use MATLAB to solve problems immediately after covering new concepts. The exercise window has a background interface to MATLAB and thus all commands entered in the window are executed by MATLAB. Hints, example solutions, multiple choice quizzes and test problems, requiring the use of proper MATLAB structure and syntax, add to the learning experience. This project was initially undertaken to investigate student response to alternate computer-based teaching methods. Thus student input has played an important part in the development of this tutorial. Subjective feedback from students, which is presented in the paper, indicate great promise for this alternate approach to teaching MATLAB     

Interactive online undergraduate laboratories using J-DSP

An interactive Web-based simulation tool called Java-DSP (J-DSP) for use in digital signal processing (DSP)-related electrical engineering courses is described. J-DSP is an object-oriented simulation environment that enables students and distance learners to perform online signal processing simulations, visualize Web-based interactive demos, and perform computer laboratories from remote locations. J-DSP is accompanied by a series of hands-on laboratory exercises that complement classroom and textbook content. The laboratories cover several fundamental concepts, including z transforms, digital filter design, spectral analysis, multirate signal processing, and statistical signal processing. Online assessment instruments for the evaluation of the J-DSP software and the associated laboratory exercises have been developed. Pre/postassessment data have been collected and analyzed for each laboratory in an effort to assess the impact of the tool on student learning.     

Implementing CS1 with embedded instructional research design in laboratories

Closed laboratories are becoming an increasingly popular approach to teaching introductory computer science courses. Unlike open laboratories that tend to be an informal environment provided for students to practice their skills with attendance optional, closed laboratories are structured meeting times that support the lecture component of the course, and attendance is required. This paper reports on an integrated approach to designing, implementing, and assessing laboratories with an embedded instructional research design. The activities reported here are parts of a departmentwide effort not only to improve student learning in computer science and computer engineering (CE) but also to improve the agility of the Computer Science and Engineering Department in adapting the curriculum to changing technologies, incorporate research, and validate the instructional strategies used. This paper presents the design and implementation of the laboratories and the results and analysis of student performance. Also described in this paper is cooperative learning in the laboratories and its impact on student learning.     

Student Engagement in a Structured Problem-Based Approach to Learning: A First-Year Electronic Engineering Study Module on Heat Transfer

Problem-based learning has been at the core of significant developments in engineering education in recent years. This term refers to any learning environment in which the problem drives the learning, because it is posed in such a way that students realize they need to acquire new knowledge before the problem can be solved. This paper presents the experience of a structured problem-based learning approach to the teaching of an introductory study module on heat transfer in the first year of an Electronic Engineering graduate program. A heat sink design problem was posed to students at the beginning of the module. Small groups of students worked on a cooperative learning project for eight weeks, while the teacher acted as the coach and the facilitator of knowledge acquisition. Partial, though not extensive, written reports were collected each week and the student assessments of the learning environment were measured. The paper closes with a list of recommendations intended to assist academics interested in adopting a similar approach.      

Power engineering education and the Internet: motivation andinstructional tools

Alternatives in the application of the Internet are applied to power engineering education. Because the student perception of power engineering is often that this is an old technology, new ways to effectively present the challenges, and the opportunities as well, are needed. The Internet and innovative graphic and textural materials are suggested to effectively present the case for power engineering as a valuable career. This is suggested to build on student interest in these computer technologies. The contents of web sites for this purpose are described, and the educational pedagogy of the method is discussed     

Fuzzy set approach to the assessment of student-centered learning

Assessment of student learning is an important task in a teaching and learning process. It has a strong influence on students' approaches to learning and their outcomes. Development in tertiary education has shifted its emphasis from teacher-centered learning to student-centered learning. In a student-centered learning environment, criterion-referenced assessment techniques are often used in current education research and practice. However, it sometimes happens that the assessment criteria and their corresponding weights are solely determined by the lecturers in charge. This may reduce the interest of students' participation and lower the quality of their learning. This paper presents an integrated fuzzy set approach to assess the outcomes of student-centered learning. It uses fuzzy set principles to represent the imprecise concepts for subjective judgment and applies a fuzzy set method to determine the assessment criteria and their corresponding weights. Based on the commonly agreed assessment criteria, students' learning outcomes are evaluated on a fuzzy grade scale. The proposed fuzzy set approach incorporates students' opinions into assessment and allows them to have a better understanding on the assessment criteria. It aims at encouraging students to participate in the whole learning process and providing an open and fair environment for assessment     

Continuing education in power electronics

Continuing education has become an increasingly important part of the mission of higher education in the United States and around the world. The objective of engineering continuing education is to help practicing engineers stay current with technological advances relevant to their current or future job assignments. This work presents the strategies and guidelines for continuing education in power electronics. Critical issues pertaining to engineering education, such as how to identify learning needs, define learning outcomes, design course contents, select instructional methods, assess student performance, and conduct course evaluation, are discussed in detail.     

Practicing engineering in a freshman introductory course

This paper discusses a teaching experience obtained in the undergraduate course of Control Engineering at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil. The course endeavors to introduce the students to the university and to the real world of engineering and to develop an understanding of basic engineering concepts and foster professional skills. By introducing practicing engineering to the course from day one, student motivation is increased, and the relationship between theoretical and practical aspects of engineering is demonstrated more clearly. This "hands-on approach" allows the student a greater insight into the life of an engineer. It strengthens a weakness found in established teaching methods, allowing the individual to embark on his or her engineering education with greater confidence in his or her ability as an engineer.     

Use of Student Experiments for Teaching Embedded Software Development Including HW/SW Co-Design

Embedded systems have been applied widely, not only to consumer products and industrial machines, but also to new applications such as ubiquitous or sensor networking. The increasing role of software (SW) in embedded system development has caused a great demand for embedded SW engineers, and university education for embedded SW engineering has become important. The embedded software engineers should learn system architecture design and hardware (HW) technologies as well as SW technologies. However, only a few universities offer education courses for embedded software engineering that include system architecture design and HW technologies. This paper proposes a student experiment method that is designed to nurture embedded SW engineers by teaching these technologies. The proposed method includes an experiment for embedded SW development, an experiment for embedded HW development and a HW/SW co-design experiment, which help students learn system architecture design skills such as system modeling, HW/SW tradeoff design, and SW and HW module design. A model of each experiment was developed and evaluated.      

A comparative study of PC based software packages for power engineering education and research

This paper describes the main features of 13 of the most widely used PC based interactive software packages in the field of power engineering that are used for industrial applications, education and research.

A comparative study for these software packages is presented with respect to their major modules, modeling, capabilities, software and hardware requirements, and their use in teaching, design, analysis, operation and research on power systems.     

A virtual classroom approach to teaching circuit analysis

We have implemented several innovative uses of computers and computer networks to develop a new pedagogy for the delivery of university engineering courses. These uses of computers and networks are creating efficiencies in the learning process, and students have found this interactive learning environment to be a significant improvement upon a traditional engineering course. Student performance and retention, as well as faculty productivity, are increased in this innovative teaching and learning environment     

An online portal for collaborative learning and teaching for power engineering education

This paper describes a web-based portal of peer-ranked sites on power engineering for educational purposes. It is a free and open resource consortium for faculty and students in power engineering. As the Internet is developing into a main educational tool, this multimedia-based application offers the educator and the student access to numerous power engineering resources. While it is possible to obtain information using one of the many popular Internet search engines, the results may not be relevant to the desired search topic. The portal described in this paper has individual hyperlinks to various web sites on power engineering that have previously been reviewed and ranked by both established faculty and students according to the versatility of each site. Peer-ranking influences the users' choice for extracting relevant information. Qualitative and quantitative statistical indexes are utilized to rank the web sites. Educators may use the resources available on the portal for educational purposes in a classroom setting. An analysis of the effectiveness of this portal on power engineering education is also offered in the paper.     

Increasing Engineering Teaching Effectiveness

Graduate teaching assistants and young university faculty because of their lack of teaching experience, often have difficulty in providing a good classroom experience for their students. This paper discusses several characteristics of the engineering learning environment, and attempts to clarify their relationships to effective teaching, which has been defined as scoring well on student evaluaiions. The development is cursory, but indicates several more detailed discussions for the interested reader.     

Engaging High School and Engineering Students: A Multifaceted Outreach Program Based on a Mechatronics Platform

If we aim to enhance the interest of students in engineering and therefore produce the best engineers, it is essential to strengthen the pipeline to high school education. This paper discusses several outreach activities undertaken by the Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa (UO), Ottawa, ON, Canada, to help the transition between high school and engineering education and to make students aware of the engineering profession. At the heart of these activities is mechatronics education, which demands an interdisciplinary approach, connects to fundamental math and science concepts, and promotes collaborative project-based learning (PBL). Connected to this focus, a multifaceted program of outreach activities has been initiated. The program includes creation of design-simulate-and-build projects by engineering and high school students, as well as an interactive presentation program whereby engineering students connect with high school students through the sharing of projects that they create in their engineering courses. The survey results indicate that for the high school students, these programs promote students' awareness of engineering and how the mathematics and science they take in school connects to engineering concepts. For the engineering students, they are provided with a meaningful context within which to share their projects and explain their own understanding of engineering principles.