Problem-based learning as an effective tool for teaching computer network design

This paper addresses the challenge of developing techniques for the effective teaching of computer network design. It reports on the experience of using the technique of problem-based learning as a key pedagogical method for teaching practical network design within the context of a Master's program module in data telecommunications and networks at the University of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester, U.K. A two-threaded approach was adopted that comprised a problem-based learning thread and a conventional lecture thread. The problem-based learning thread within the module comprised sessions designed to place the students in the position of network design consultants who are introduced to scenarios that have a high degree of realism in which a client has specific business requirements that can be met through the adoption of a network solution. In this way, the problem-based learning thread allows the students to develop their design skills, while the lecture thread uses traditional teaching methods to allow students to develop their understanding of key network components and architectures. A formal evaluation of this approach has been carried out and demonstrated a very effective and realistic learning experience for the students. Therefore, the authors propose that problem-based learning is an ideal pedagogical tool for the teaching of computer network design.     

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.      

A Blended Learning Approach to Course Design and Implementation

Blended learning has become an increasingly popular form of e-learning, and is particularly suitable to the process of transitioning towards e-learning from traditional forms of learning and teaching. This paper describes the use of the blended e-learning model, which is based on a mixture of collaborative learning, problem-based learning (PBL) and independent learning, in a course “Teaching Methods in Information Science,” given at the University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia. This model is realized as a combination of a face-to-face environment and online learning, using a proprietary learning management system (LMS) named adaptive hypermedia courseware (AHyCo). AHyCo is based on adaptive hypermedia and in addition to supporting learning and testing, introduces completely new constructivist and cognitivist elements to education. By supporting collaborative and project-oriented activities AHyCo promotes students' motivation for learning and establishes learning as an active and interactive process. This paper describes both the technology for, and the methodological approach to, course design and development which is aimed at supporting the evolution from traditional teaching to active learning, and raising interest in the topics of e-learning and Web courseware development among IT students. A survey conducted in the end of the course showed that students were satisfied with the pedagogical approach, and their academic achievements were also better than expected. Particularly important is that the dropout rate was greatly diminished, which could be related to students' satisfaction with the support they received from the instructor and the system.      

Knowledge-based web-enabled agents and intelligent tutoring systems

Intelligent tutoring systems have been in existence for decades, and their characteristics can be beneficially applied in environments utilizing information and communication technology (ICT). The "intelligence" in these systems is seen through the way these systems adapt themselves to the characteristics of the students, such as speed of learning, specific areas in which the student excels as well as falls behind, and rate of learning as more knowledge is learned. In such intelligent learning environments, the agent or set of agents can be modeled to perform pedagogical tasks. This paper considers the necessary characteristics that constitute a good intelligent tutoring system. This paper introduces a framework incorporating an incremental machine-learning approach to capture 1) the dynamics of knowledge creation in the domain of interest and 2) the learned-knowledge content of the student over time. Some of the components of the proposed system are illustrated using examples from an introductory course on database design.     

Design, development, and assessment of mobile applications: the case for problem-based learning

This paper describes efforts to develop a pedagogical environment that seeks to influence the learning experiences of students as mobile applications end users, developers, and decision makers. Specifically, via a collaborative effort involving industry sponsors, university technology services, and multiple academic units engaged in information technology education, a graduate-level course called Mobile Applications Development (MAD) was created. The core innovativeness of MAD lies in its delivery structure as a problem-based learning course-centered on emerging technologies like mobile technology-that brings together students with diverse backgrounds from different academic units across the campus. MAD culminates in an industry-sponsored competition, where student teams present their mobile solution to a panel of expert judges from industry and higher education. Via MAD and the associated competitions, students, faculty, and institutional partners can explore the opportunities and challenges associated with mobile technologies. This paper discusses how problem-based learning principles guided the design and implementation of MAD. A multiperspective assessment of the success of MAD is offered. Finally, key lessons learned and guidance to assist other educators are also offered.     

Cooperative and progressive design experience for embedded systems

This paper describes a cooperative experiential learning activity to develop embedded systems design skills. Student teams design, build, and troubleshoot a microcontroller-based project composed of common embedded systems peripherals, including input/output and electromechanical devices, industry standard communication networks, and complex digital integrated circuits. The design experience is progressive, requiring each successive subsystem to be incorporated without disturbing previously completed subsystems. Furthermore, the design experience is based on a problem-based learning approach that motivates student learning and develops skills required by the student in a future professional capacity. These skills include designing to specification, use of third-party intellectual property, teamwork, communication, and lifelong learning skills. The design experience was offered to a cohort in conjunction with lectures using active learning techniques. Course evaluations were obtained from students and external reviewers, and the results show that the course was well received and achieved its educational objectives.     

Software Optimization for Improving Student Motivation in a Computer Architecture Course

This paper presents a learning activity designed to improve student motivation towards learning certain topics in computer architecture, particularly assembly-level machine organization. This activity applies a pedagogical method suitable for computer architecture courses. The method improves motivation by allowing students to verify by themselves, on real platforms, that they can apply their architecture knowledge to improve software performance and also by showing them the improvements achieved in complete applications. The activity is compared to other such activities based on different motivation and learning techniques.     

Development of a Self-Balancing Human Transportation Vehicle for the Teaching of Feedback Control

Control systems education often needs to design interesting hands-on exercises that keep students interested in the control theory presented in lectures. These exercises include system modeling, system analyses, controller syntheses, implementation, experimentation, and performance evaluation of a control system. This paper presents an interesting pedagogical tool, a self-balancing human transportation vehicle (HTV), for the teaching of feedback control concepts in undergraduate electrical, mechatronic, and mechanical engineering environments. Such a pedagogical tool can be easily and inexpensively constructed using low-tech commercial components and feedback control approaches. The effectiveness and performance of the proposed HTV system are examined by conducting several experiments on three different terrains. An education process, together with a pedagogical method, is presented to show how the developed HTV can be incorporated into the laboratory course. To increase students' hands-on experience and keep them interested in learning feedback control, this study also investigated how the enrolled students responded to this new pedagogical tool. This education method along with the HTV system is shown to be significantly effective in helping students to understand feedback control theory and practices, and also to result in more motivated and active learning.      

Information technology enhanced learning in distance andconventional education

The rapid growth of the Internet and the media-rich extensions of the World Wide Web allow new developments in the way instructors transfer knowledge to their students. There is no doubt that nothing will replace synchronous learning through face to face interaction but it is sometimes not feasible for students to attend conventional classes due to distance or time constraints. This paper presents a model for using information technology to enhance the learning experience for conventional on-campus students, as well as for those students whose circumstances require that they be asynchronous in time or space. The approach described emphasizes a solution which allows students to attend the class in real time via the Internet, or to access asynchronously digitally stored video material with hyperlinks to online training resources at any time. The proposed solution permits interaction in real-time and asynchronously among students and between students and instructor, which is a key for effective learning. In addition, the instructor maintains a significant level of spontaneity in using multimedia material prepared in advance or using conventional chalkboard or hand written materials via traditional overhead projection. The paper describes the technical issues involved and the chosen solutions to provide enhanced live and archived classes. This paper provides some comments on the evaluation of the learning experience using this method of delivery for on-campus and distance education students. Finally the authors share their vision on future trends to improve the proposed learning environment and the need for an optimal balance between expositive teaching and active learning for both synchronous and asynchronous activities     

Team learning for engineering students

One of the top concerns on any recruiter's list is the amount of experience, if any, the new graduates being hired have had in working as part of a team. Aside from those students who have been involved in athletics, the concept of working as part of a team for a common goal is completely foreign to nearly all of our students. As an attempt to better prepare students for entry into a very team-oriented workplace after graduation and with the belief that cooperative team learning, in itself, has the potential for an enhanced learning experience, the format of a second semester junior electronics course was modified to accommodate pedagogical concepts more in line with team learning. This paper reports on the concepts implemented in this course and the results experienced to date (after three semesters of implementation)     

Multiple Case Studies to Enhance Project-Based Learning in a Computer Architecture Course

The IEEE/Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Computing Curricula and the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) Evaluation Criteria 2000 emphasize the use of recurrent concepts and system design/evaluation through projects and case studies in the curriculum of Computer and Electrical Engineering. In addition, efficient teamwork, autonomy, and initiative are commonly required qualifications for a professional in this field. Project-based learning approaches that require the students to handle realistic case studies are adequate to pursue these objectives. However, these pedagogical approaches tend to be rejected because they promote deep learning but focus on a restricted set of concepts, whereas many engineering curricula require a broad range of concepts to be covered in each course. The introduction of multiple case studies carried out simultaneously in the same course by different teams of students can broaden the set of concepts studied, but collaboration at different levels must be strongly enforced to achieve effective learning. This paper describes a multiple-case-study project design that has been applied to a computer architecture course for four years. After systematically evaluating the experience, the authors conclude that students achieve a deep learning of the concepts required in their own case study, while they are able to generalize their knowledge to case studies of different characteristics from those considered during the course. Furthermore, a number of collaborative skills and attitudes are developed as a consequence of the proposed environment based on multiple levels of collaboration.     

A web-based remote interactive laboratory for Internetworking education

A Web-based remote interactive laboratory (RIL) developed to deliver Internetworking laboratory experience to geographically remote graduate students is presented in this paper. The onsite Internetworking program employs hands-on laboratories in a group setting that correlates with the constructivist and collaborative pedagogical approach. This paper discusses the pedagogical and technical considerations that influence the design and implementation of the remote laboratory environment given the constraints of the special hardware and learning outcomes of the program. For wide-ranging usability, the remote Internetworking (INWK) laboratory uses de facto networking standards and commercial and broad-band Internet connectivity to ensure real-time secure interaction with equipment. A four-tier role architecture consisting of faculty, local facilitators, remote facilitators, and students has been determined appropriate to maintain academic integrity and ensure good quality of interaction with the remote laboratory. A survey employing a five-point scale has been devised to measure the usability of the remote access INWK laboratory.     

RACFP: a training tool to work with floating-point representation, algorithms, and circuits in undergraduate courses

The design of pedagogical tools to train students is an interesting challenge for academic instructors in any educational area. Some approaches have appeared focusing on computer arithmetic, both integer and floating point. Floating-point arithmetic involves much more complexity; nevertheless, little time is usually devoted to this topic in computer engineering undergraduate courses. In this paper, RACFP is proposed as a pedagogical tool to work with floating-point in undergraduate courses. The tool has been designed with three abstraction levels according to the following learning outcomes: representation, arithmetic operation algorithms, and manufactured hardware circuits. The abstraction levels work independently, allowing for the use of RAC/sub FP/ in other courses, such as discrete mathematics or numerical methods, in which floating representation and related issues are also learning topics. RACFP design pursues two main goals: to minimize the complexity of the learning process and to encourage students when working with floating point. The first goal is achieved as a result of the multilevel design of the tool, while the second goal is achieved as RAC/sub FP/ shows how manufactured hardware implements generic algorithms.     

Theory and practice behind the course designing enterprisewide IT systems

As a consequence of the co-evolution of business and information technology (IT), the responsibilities of software engineers are expanding. They are becoming much more involved in business-related issues. When defining computing curriculums, this trend needs to be taken into consideration, for example, by proposing courses on business and IT integration. This paper presents a transdisciplinary, problem-based learning course that addresses business and IT. The target audience is computer science and software engineering students. The course has three modules: a competitive game to illustrate business thinking, role-playing to practice IT requirement analysis, and an IT integration project to present how modern off-the-shelf technologies contribute to IT system realization. Each module has several sections comprising experiential learning and traditional ex cathedra lectures. The originality of the course lies in the combination of breadth of the subject and depth on what is taught. The goals of the course and its detailed contents are presented: the emphasis is on the process-related/technical and emotional learning experience by the students and on the author's experiences gained from teaching that course.     

A project-oriented power engineering laboratory

This paper presents a power engineering educational laboratory suitable for undergraduate and graduate students. The laboratory development is based on the new academic system, called “Institut Universitaire Professionnalise (IUP)”, initiated in France. The pedagogical approach taken is one where the students revisit previously studied material placed in a practical context. This approach supports the prerequisite lecture material and allows study of some practical issues which are best handled in a laboratory setting. The experimental format gradually puts the students in touch with industrial realities. The laboratory experience culminates in a project, based on a computer aided design (CAD) technique, where the student analyzes, designs, simulates and demonstrates electric machines and power systems related topics     

A multidisciplinary cooperative problem-based learning approach toembedded systems design

A subject introducing embedded systems design to second-gear undergraduate students is described. The subject provides units introducing microprocessors and CAD tools for electronic circuit design and integrates these units into a single cohesive subject by means of a group project. The subject is developed as a multidisciplinary cooperative problem-based learning program with the base groups structured to comprise members from different degree programs offered by the School of Engineering at James Cook University, Australia. Initial results show that cooperative problem-based learning can be used to develop problem-solving, teamwork and lifelong learning skills as well as producing a level of technical knowledge beyond that of individual achievement     

Using contests to teach design to EE juniors

Most electrical engineering programs have a capstone design course, but lack a suitable design experience in the junior year. This makes the capstone course very difficult for students and compromises its pedagogical aims. A good design experience offers opportunities for learning to identify key operational concepts, to identify and remedy procedural and factual knowledge deficits, and to exercise judgment. The design problem should be open-ended, moderately difficult, and common to all groups. We use a design contest as a vehicle for teaching design in the junior-year analog electronics course, in lieu of conventional laboratories. Students design and build analog circuitry to autonomously control a small robotic vehicle. The contest culminates in a competitive tournament. Students' questionnaire responses indicate that the contest is a useful learning tool, increasing interest in electrical engineering and well worth the time spent. They indicate that contests are preferable to conventional labs for learning and understanding course material, for motivating them, and for providing an engineering experience     

Teaching design for assembly using product disassembly

This paper describes an effective pedagogical approach to teaching design for assembly (DFA). DFA is a well-established technique for reducing the difficulty of assembling a product through identifying design changes. DFA has significant direct and indirect benefits to reducing the manufacturing cost of a product, improving its reliability and ease of service and simplifying the entire manufacturing system. The pedagogical approach described emphasizes hands-on learning. The hands-on activities arise through exposing students to the concepts of DFA through disassembling industrial products. The approach includes lectures, a laboratory and an examination. The educational material is appropriate for mechanical, industrial, manufacturing or interdisciplinary engineering education     

Learning Conditions in Engineering and Technology Programs

In an earlier writing [1], Dr. J. D. Forman called for "realistic and honest" efforts to assess the worth of Bachelor of Technology programs. Because of the great variety of these newly developed programs, it appears that such assessment should relate to those aspects of Bachelor of Technology programs which are common to most. It is suggested here that properly designed engineering technology programs will provide a highly credible base for an efficient learning process and that this experience can lead to advanced study. Although subsequent or more comprehensive assessments might well consider anticipated differences in the kinds of students entering the various programs, contemporary retrospect suggests that the engineering technology graduate has an advantage in transferring theoretical content to future tasks. The paper identifies valuable learning attributes of engineering technology programs, in the hope that an apprizal of this approach may eventually benefit B.S. in engineering programs.