Effectiveness of an Internet‐Based Graduate Engineering Management Course

This research provides engineering educators analytical evidence as to the effectiveness of Internet‐based course instruction. The research examined the University of Missouri‐Rolla's Internet‐based Advanced Production and Operations Management course, with a focus on determining the effectiveness of the Internet‐based education tools used. Over 100 students in five Internet‐based classes and one traditional, in‐class control group were given three sets of surveys, learning style assessments, a course pre‐test, and a course final examination. Multiple conclusions were drawn from this study based on analyses of the data collected. First, the Internet‐based students performed equally as well as the control group as measured by the difference between pre‐test and post‐test scores. Second, the Internet‐based students were found to have had exaggerated time requirement expectations for taking a course in the Internet environment. Third, the students rated the effectiveness and satisfaction positively for the Internet classroom format. Initially, the Internet‐based students were skeptical of electronic lectures but their experiences were positive.     

Retention 101: Where Robots Go … Students Follow

At Indiana University—Purdue University Fort Wayne we have developed ETCS 101—Introduction to Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science, a freshman success course for students in the School of Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science. The main objective of this course is to increase retention. The course aims to provide students with sufficient computer and personal development skills and to help them develop the right mental attitude conducive for academic success. Features of the course include projects of software and hardware nature, extensive use of the Internet and Web software tools, and a team‐teaching format. As the main project of this course, small teams of students design, build, program, and test an autonomous mobile robot using LEGO® parts, sensors, and the Robotic Command eXplorer (RCX) controller. This is a multidisciplinary, project‐driven learning process that encourages students to develop problem solving and teamwork skills and fosters their creativity and logic.     

The Effects of Personality Type on Engineering Student Performance and Attitudes

The Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI) was administered to a group of 116 students taking the introductory chemical engineering course at North Carolina State University. That course and four subsequent chemical engineering courses were taught in a manner that emphasized active and cooperative learning and inductive presentation of course material. Type differences in various academic performance measures and attitudes were noted as the students progressed through the curriculum. The observations were generally consistent with the predictions of type theory, and the experimental instructional approach appeared to improve the performance of MBTI types (extraverts, sensors, and feelers) found in previous studies to be disadvantaged in the engineering curriculum. The conclusion is that the MBTI is a useful tool for helping engineering instructors and advisors to understand their students and to design instruction that can benefit all of them.     

Efficacy of Interactive Internet‐Based Education in Structural Timber Design

While traditional teaching methods (e.g., real‐time, synchronous lectures) have proven effective for training future engineers, the Internet provides an avenue to reinforce the material and augment student learning, comprehension, and retention of material. This paper presents the integration and assessment of a library of interactive instructional modules specifically for a senior‐level undergraduate elective course in civil engineering. An ongoing, comprehensive assessment process was implemented in the fall 1999 semester. The results of this quantitative assessment indicate that the use of well designed and pedagogically sound Internet‐based supplemental modules provide students with a better understanding of course material. However, when Internet‐based content does not promote critical thinking, little increase in the student performance and understanding of the material is realized. Interactive Web‐based instruction should not be viewed as a “replacement” to traditional instruction, but rather a tool that provides a broader and more dynamic environment for students with a variety of learning styles.     

Amoco Computer Simulation in Chemical Engineering Education

Computer simulation of a chemical plant can provide students with a different learning environment, where they can investigate and understand the plant by changing the values of variables and observing responses. The Amoco Computer Simulation Model is a computer‐based simulation of the Amoco Resid Hydrotreater that has been used as the final assignment for the chemical engineering design course taken by third year students at the University of Canterbury. This project allowed students to further develop their problem solving skills, implementing some of the techniques taught earlier in the course. Students investigated the chemical process by gathering data, performing data analysis and validating their results on the pilot plant. A control strategy was developed and tested to simulate the start up of a single reactor, controlling the operating conditions manually to reach steady state, and then ceasing control of the system, noting time elapsed before automatic shut down after 40 hours. Another important aspect of the project was that students worked together in groups of three, which the majority of students enjoyed. A questionnaire administered at the end of the course measured student responses to this learning experience. Tests, before and after using the simulation, assessed the learning outcome, and showed a significant improvement.     

Engineering Online: Assessing Innovative Education

This paper presents research on student performance outcomes, satisfaction, and retention rates in a fiber optics course at Arizona State University. Although the course typically has been taught by conventional methods for over 20 years, the instructor offered alternative delivery methods, such as the Web, during the Fall 2000 semester. This course was also unique in that it was comprised of diverse groups such as undergraduates and graduates and on‐ and off‐campus students. Although online students were significantly more satisfied with the course, performance outcomes and retention rates were favorable overall. It is likely that course options and convenience aided in student outcomes and course retention.     

Dynamics of Peer Education in Cooperative Learning Workgroups

Many recent studies demonstrate that cooperative learning provides a variety of educational advantages over more traditional instructional models, both in general and specifically in engineering education. Little is known, however, about the interactional dynamics among students in engineering work groups. To explore these dynamics and their implications for engineering education, we analyzed work sessions of student groups in a sophomore‐level chemical engineering course at North Carolina State University. Using conversation analysis as a methodology for understanding how students taught and learned from one another, we found that group members generally engaged in two types of teaching‐learning interactions. In the first type, transfer‐of‐knowledge (TK) sequences, they took on distinct teacher and pupil roles, and in the second, collaborative sequences (CS), they worked together with no clear role differentiation. The interactional problems that occurred during the work sessions were associated primarily with TK sequences, and had to do with students who either habitually assumed the pupil's role (constant pupils) or habitually discouraged others' contributions (blockers). Our findings suggest that professors can facilitate student group interactions by introducing students to the two modes of teaching interaction so group members can effectively manage exchanges of knowledge, and also by helping students distribute tasks in a way that minimizes role imbalances.     

Use of Student Management Teams (SMTs) as a Course Evaluation Tool

The purpose of a management team is to provide continuous feedback to the instructor on two major issues: instructor performance and course structure and content. Successful student management team projects at the University of Wisconsin, University of Colorado and University of Minnesota have demonstrated that team members working together for the good of the class can accomplish a great deal. In the Michigan State University pilot project, the student management teams operated during a 15‐week course on construction materials. This is a 4‐credit required junior level course for all Civil Engineering majors and has both a classroom and a laboratory component. The average class size is thirty‐five students. The team met every week for about thirty to forty‐five minutes over the course of the semester. Their principal assignment was to improve the quality of the course by collecting data through classroom assessment techniques and regular group discussions with the instructor. It was clear from the formative surveys that 85% and 88% of the students were comfortable (level of understanding between 4–5) with the material “uncovered” in the Portland cement concrete (PCC) and hot mix asphalt concrete (HMAC) modules respectively. This paper discusses the concept of management teams along with other details in developing the management teams and results from the pilot study.     

A Collaborative Learning Methodology for Enhanced Comprehension using TEAMThink®

This paper discusses a teaching methodology to improve the retention of lecture material through peer collaboration among students. The methods introduced also help measure a student's comprehension of class material. In addition, the techniques allow the instructor to obtain continuous feedback on areas that students have difficulty grasping. The instructor can also observe students interpretation of concepts and their written communication skills. The entire process was conducted through the Internet using Athenium's TEAMThink® software. The TEAMThink® software is a professional product developed by Athenium and was developed primarily as a training tool for corporations. This is the first time an educational institution has used it as part of the curriculum. The experiences presented here were conducted on an Operating Systems course at Tufts University's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science consisting of 36 seniors and 4 graduate students and a second year Introduction to Digital Logic Circuits course consisting of 100 undergraduate students. The TEAMThink® learning process features a quiz making and quiz taking game, where students collaborate in teams to create multiple‐choice quiz questions which challenge the learning of other students. The experiences reported in this paper discuss the benefits of this approach from the student and the instructor perspectives. The unexpected outcomes such as the feedback provided to the developers of the TEAMThink® software are also discussed .     

e‐Lab: An Electronic Classroom for Real‐Time Distance Delivery of a Laboratory Course

The Internet continues to demonstrate its versatility as a learning tool in the realm of higher education. As courses in everything from art history to engineering are offered on the Internet, we are experiencing a transition from traditional textbook and lecture teaching method to the virtual classroom. Yet, effective distance delivery of engineering laboratory courses remains a challenging problem. This paper introduces a new approach to deliver a senior‐level laboratory course at a distance in real‐time. The enabling technology is the combination of an interactive TV system and the Internet. The paper presents details of the laboratory setup and five sessions. Data collected for the past two years are analyzed statistically to assess student learning and achievement of learning objectives of each laboratory. Results of the analysis as well as surveys indicate that the e‐Lab created an effective learning environment.     

Collaborative Learning vs. Lecture/Discussion: Students' Reported Learning Gains*

This study examined the extent to which undergraduate engineering courses taught using active and collaborative learning methods differ from traditional lecture and discussion courses in their ability to promote the development of students' engineering design, problem‐solving, communication, and group participation skills. Evidence for the study comes from 480 students enrolled in 17 active or collaborative learning courses/sections and six traditional courses/sections at six engineering schools. Results indicate that active or collaborative methods produce both statistically significant and substantially greater gains in student learning than those associated with more traditional instructional methods. These learning advantages remained even when differences in a variety of student pre‐course characteristics were controlled.     

New Curriculum Reforms in a Geological Engineering Program

Recent curriculum revisions to the geological engineering program at Queen's University at Kingston in Canada have led to a more streamlined program incorporating modern engineering education practices. Following a carefully designed program philosophy, the emphasis in the core curriculum changes through the entire four‐year program in three progressive stages, from the acquisition of knowledge, to integration and analysis, and finally to synthesis and design. This is reflected in an increased concentration of mathematics and basic science courses in first and second year, engineering science courses in third year, and engineering design courses (capstone courses) in fourth year. Two tools which concisely illustrate the course curriculum and curriculum content are: (1) the flow sheet, which can contain a wealth of information, such as showing linkages between courses (e.g. how upper‐level courses can build on lower‐level courses through course prerequisites), the timing of various courses, courses taught within the home department (vs. other departments), and courses taught by professional engineers; and (2) the ternary phase diagram, which is a quantitative method of displaying engineering content within individual courses or an entire program and can clearly show patterns and trends in curriculum content with time. Such tools are useful for academic engineering programs which may have to undergo an accreditation review and are readily adapted to any other engineering fields of study. Other engineering elements woven throughout the program include strong interactions with professional engineering faculty, the use of student teams, enhanced communication skills, and exposure to important aspects of professional engineering practice such as engineering ethics and law. To ensure that the curriculum is kept current and relevant, formative evaluation instruments such as questionnaires are used in all years of study, and are also sent to recent graduates of the program. External reviews of the revised program have been positive, indicating that the program goals are being achieved.     

Developing On‐Line Homework for Introductory Thermodynamics

Homework in engineering courses is used to develop problem‐solving skills and to provide students with the practice they need in order to achieve mastery of essential concepts and procedures in their disciplines. We describe homework exercises that were developed for introductory thermodynamics and delivered to students via the Internet. Records of student use were created automatically by the computer server. The data revealed students' patterns of software usage in the context of the course; additional data from course instructors revealed the extent to which completing the on‐line homework improved students' in‐class test performance.     

Teaching Multi‐Disciplinary Design: Solar Car Design

Multi‐disciplinary design can be taught in a very general way focusing on methods and procedures that work for any multi‐disciplinary design project or in a very specific way focusing on a specific multi‐disciplinary design project. The general approach teaches students the principles of how to approach any multi‐disciplinary design project but often lacks meaningful examples of how the principles are applied. Focusing on a specific multi‐disciplinary design project gives the students a meaningful example of how to apply design principles but they may have difficulty generalizing what they have learned and how it can be applied to other projects. To get a good background in engineering design, engineering students should have educational experiences that are both general and specific. This paper describes a course developed at the University of Missouri‐Rolla (UMR) to teach multi‐disciplinary design by focusing on the design of a solar racing car. The purpose of the course is to teach the aspects of a multi‐disciplinary design project utilizing a specific example for student comprehension.     

University degree courses: producing the kind of engineer thatindustry needs

University education in the UK is to undergo considerable changes, due mainly to the present Government's desire to expand the proportion of young people in higher education from its present value of one in five to one in three by the year 2000. The effect of these changes on education must be considered if the standard of engineering graduates is to be maintained. This paper identifies approaches to engineering education which will achieve this aim and help to produce graduates who are better equipped for a career in industry. It is proposed that, whilst restructuring courses to fit a modular scheme, universities should examine what is taught to engineering students and the methods which are used. The significance of improving student commitment and performance as well as increasing their professional profile is discussed and the importance of ensuring that the teaching philosophy complements this is highlighted     

Perspectives on an Internet‐Based Synchronous Distance Learning Experience

This paper examines the distance learning process by providing an informed student's perspective as well as the instructor's perspective on an Internet‐based synchronous distance learning experience. Throughout the semester, the student maintained a class‐by‐class journal on his experiences and reactions to the Internet‐based course. This journal served as a crucial resource in the subsequent evaluation of the virtual classroom experience. The analysis provided in this paper, informed by current research on traditional and distance education, suggests that community, interaction, pedagogy, attention, and feedback play important roles in the success of an Internet‐based learning experience. Specific comments by the course instructor, as well as survey results from both students and other instructors for a number of synchronous Internet‐based courses, are also presented. This data further illuminates the student synchronous distance education experience and contributes additional insight into the delivery method and its ongoing evolution. The unique observations and conclusions provided here are useful for both instructors and students interested in participating in synchronous as well as asynchronous computermediated education.     

Designing a Senior Capstone Course to Satisfy Industrial Customers

It is sometimes forgotten that industry is an important customer of engineering education. Ignoring this relationship has produced graduates that often fail to meet the changing needs of industry in today's competitive environment. On the basis of feedback from our industrial customers, faculty from Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering at Brigham Young University have jointly developed a new senior capstone design course entitled “Integrated Product and Process Design.” This new capstone course is centered on industrial design and manufacturing projects. These projects involve both product and process design activities. Multidisciplinary teams of students are taught a structured development approach to produce typical industrial deliverables. These deliverables include a functional specification, product and process design, prototype, and first production sample. This paper identifies changing industrial needs, describes how the course was designed to meet these needs, and presents results from the initial offerings of the course.     

On singularities in the solution of three‐dimensional Stokes flow and incompressible elasticity problems with corners

In this paper, a numerical procedure is presented for the computation of corner singularities in the solution of three‐dimensional Stokes flow and incompressible elasticity problems near corners of various shape. For obtaining the order and mode of singularity, a neighbourhood of the singular point is considered with only local boundary conditions. The weak formulation of this problem is approximated using a mixed u , p Galerkin–Petrov finite element method. Additionally, a separation of variables is used to reduce the dimension of the original problem. As a result, the quadratic eigenvalue problem ( P +λ Q +λ² R ) d = 0 is obtained, where the saddle‐point‐type matrices P , Q , R are defined explicitly. For a numerical solution of the algebraic eigenvalue problem an iterative technique based on the Arnoldi method in combination with an Uzawa‐like scheme is used. This technique needs only one direct matrix factorization as well as few matrix–vector products for finding all eigenvalues in the interval ??(λ) ∈ (?0.5, 1.0), as well as the corresponding eigenvectors. Some benchmark tests show that this technique is robust and very accurate. Problems from practical importance are also analysed, for instance the surface‐breaking crack in an incompressible elastic material and the three‐dimensional viscous flow of a Newtonian fluid past a trihedral corner. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lessons Learned: Implementing the Case Teaching Method in a Mechanical Engineering Course

Background Case studies have been found to increase students' critical thinking and problem‐solving skills, higher‐order thinking skills, conceptual change, and their motivation to learn. Despite the popularity of the case study approach within engineering, the empirical research on the effectiveness of case studies is limited and the research that does exist has primarily focused on student perceptions of their learning rather than actual learning outcomes. Purpose (Hypothesis ) This paper describes an investigation of the impact of case‐based instruction on undergraduate mechanical engineering students' conceptual understanding and their attitudes towards the use of case studies. Design /Method Seventy‐three students from two sections of the same mechanical engineering course participated in this study. The two sections were both taught using traditional lecture and case teaching methods. Participants completed pre‐tests, post‐tests, and a survey to assess their conceptual understanding and engagement. Results Results suggested that the majority of participants felt the use of case studies was engaging and added a lot of realism to the class. There were no significant differences between traditional lecture and case teaching method on students' conceptual understanding. However, the use of case studies did no harm to students' understanding while making the content more relevant to students. Conclusions Case‐based instruction can be beneficial for students in terms of actively engaging them and allowing them to see the application and/or relevance of engineering to the real world.