Project-led-education experience as a partial strategy in first years of engineering courses

Recently, there has been a growing tendency to substitute or supplement teacher-centered strategies for others student-centered. These include problem-based learning or collaborative learning. In certain areas, such as engineering, project-led learning collects some of the benefits of problem-based learning and integrates others that are of interest to the formation of engineers. More recently, project-led education as an integral strategy has been demonstrated in several European universities with impressive results. Students have a lower dropout rate, a lower period of adaptation to professional practice and better soft skills. While this implementation requires a general model change, at least at the faculty level, partial strategies applied in specific courses could pick up some of the positive aspects of these methodologies. In this paper, obtained results in a second-year Unit Operations course (grade of bioengineering) by applying this type of partial strategies are discussed. The student’s acceptance was good, and both motivation and academic results improved significantly. It was observed a deeper and wider knowledge acquisition in the students. Teacher’s workload increased, although, as there was a maximum of 25 students, it was manageable. It was concluded that transition from traditional to project-led learning strategies can be done within a subject without an educational model change at faculty or university level.     

Assessing the impact of augmented reality application on students’ learning motivation in chemical engineering

Application of augmented reality (AR) in education has recently grown in interest due to distant, online, and self-directed learning. In this study, the impact of implementing an AR application on chemical engineering students’ learning motivation and performance was assessed. Two interactive AR lessons on common industrial equipment (i.e., centrifugal pump and shell-and-tube heat exchanger) were developed on the EON-XR platform. A cohort of 50 undergraduate chemical engineering students participated in the AR lessons and evaluated its impact on students’ learning motivation and usefulness as a learning resource. The level of students’ learning motivation was assessed with a 16-item questionnaire based on the Instructional Materials Motivation Survey (IMMS) from Keller’s ARCS model, and qualitative questions related to the future of AR technology in chemical engineering education. Results show that 82% of respondents found AR lessons helpful compared to conventional lesson delivery modes, while 92% were supportive for AR lessons to be an additional resource to existing learning materials. These findings demonstrated that AR technology impacted students’ learning motivation positively across multiple constructs, namely ‘Attention’, ‘Relevance’, ‘Confidence’ and ‘Satisfaction’ and showed great potential as an innovative pedagogical advancement in chemical engineering education.     

应用型地方高校化工原理实验教学初探

化工原理实验是化工类专业重要的基础实践课程,具有较强的实践性和工程性,对于应用型本科院校培养应用型化工专业人才具有重要的作用。结合化工原理实验课程教学实际,针对实验课程中出现的问题,从课程的教学模式、学生工程概念与实践能力的培养以及分析与解决问题的能力等方面进行初探,以求提高实验课程的教学质量。     

Mobile learning in chemical engineering: An outlook based on case studies

In the context of the electronic learning (E-learning) methodology, mobile learning (M-learning) focuses on the use of portable technology (such as mobiles or tablets) and the mobility of students. E-learning, and particularly M-learning, can be implemented in combination with other pedagogical methodologies for chemical engineering teaching and learning. We can consider that the vast majority of undergraduates own personal mobile devices nowadays. Moreover, many case studies have shown that M-learning is an effective methodology to capture students’ attention and to actively engage them in the learning process. In most cases, lecturers have reported an improvement in both academic performance and qualifications and have expressed a favourable opinion towards this type of initiative in surveys. In line with the increasing interest in the incorporation of E-learning, this review discusses cases studies based on M-learning within the field of chemical engineering teaching through different technological platforms and apps which can be installed or directly used on mobile devices. All the platforms described in this work offer a free version, emphasizing the possibility of extending this methodology within the university with no need for additional economic resources.     

国际化工高等教育见闻——加拿大访问侧记

加拿大的多伦多大学（University of Toronto）、滑铁卢大学（University of Waterloo）、西安大略大学（University of Western Ontario）、麦克马斯特大学（McMaster University）是4所世界著名大学,他们的化工学科在国际上享有较高的声誉。本文介绍了这4所大学的化工系在教学相关方面的一些经验和做法,同时介绍了国际化工前沿研讨会上关于化工高等教育的讨论和思考,希望为我国的化工高等教育的发展提供有益的借鉴和参考。     

Reflections on inherently embedding safety teaching within a chemical engineering programme

The importance and the challenges of teaching safety are widely recognised amongst educators and industry. There are different approaches to teaching safety, from incorporation of safety into every aspect of a degree programme, to focusing all the safety teaching within stand-alone courses, to an integrated approach which simultaneously combines both approaches to varying extents. Effective safety teaching is also dependent on the experience and knowledge of the teaching staff involved and the locational context of the institution. Here, the novel and comprehensive approaches taken to inherently embed safety teaching within a chemical engineering programme, which is part of the wider Integrated Engineering Programme (IEP) teaching framework at UCL’s Faculty of Engineering Sciences, are examined and its success is measured against student perceptions. Students following the IEP chemical engineering degree programme widely recognise that safety teaching is immediately embedded into the curriculum from the first year and they are given increasing opportunities to apply safety learnings throughout their degree. This leads to a feeling of preparedness for their capstone design projects and future industrial roles, ultimately achieving the aim of developing well-rounded, responsible graduate engineers with a strong safety culture embedded in the way they will approach their future work.     

Making programme learning outcomes explicit for students of process and chemical engineering

There is a global shift in education from solely content-driven teaching to teaching that takes learning outcomes into account. This movement underpins much of the educational reform in the area of engineering education. Programme learning outcomes for degrees in engineering education are more commonplace as more and more professional accrediting bodies require fulfillment or compliance with prescribed learning outcomes. However, the students may not be presented with these learning outcomes as they are often “hidden” in documentation submitted by institutions for accreditation purposes and hence may not be divulged to students. Undergraduate students (2006–2008) taking the BE degree programme in Process & Chemical Engineering at UCC were first surveyed to assess their level of knowledge of the learning outcomes concept and of the degree programme learning outcomes. The contents of two documents used in applications for accreditation by professional accreditation bodies as well as professional Institution guidelines were reviewed to formulate the degree programme learning outcomes which were presented to the students. These students were then surveyed after the presentation. The results of the questionnaire completed by students demonstrated a major improvement in their knowledge of both the concept of learning outcomes and also of the degree programme learning outcomes. It also showed that the students found the session to be of overall beneficial value.     

化学工程教学团队的构成与运行模式

国家级教学团队建设是高校质量工程的重要组成部分,其宗旨在于探索培养创新型人才的现代教育模式。教学团队的作用、团队构成的基本要求、团队凝聚力的产生以及团队有效运行机制的建立等等,关乎团队生存和发展的重要问题,应该受到教育管理者和教师们的广泛关注。     

继往开来传承创新全面提高化工高等教育质量

在2018-2022年化工类专业教学指导委员会成立之际,本文在分析国内外高等教育发展现状的基础上,回顾了化工高等教育发展历程,梳理了中国化工高等教育面临的挑战与机遇,介绍了本届化工类专业教学指导委员会的组成和特点,并在此基础上提出了本届教指委的十大发展任务。     

Challenges,benefits & drawbacks of chemical engineering on-line teaching during Covid-19 pandemic

Distance learning demand has increased and turned into an obligatory educational system during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Within this period, students need exceptional support and assistance to be adjusted to the Online framework environment. The current study investigates distance learning on chemical engineering students' educational performance during this pandemic period. This study addresses many issues related to distance learning, such as the household setting suitability with the internet connections, Online lecture activities, Online classroom experience and assessment tools, and student's perception of the Online graduation projects. A comprehensive survey was organized and structured to observe and evaluate these associated issues to distance learning. The study targeted the third, fourth, and fifth-year students. The responses of the students revealed positive and negative assessments of the Online teaching during this Pandemic. Generally, the participated students did not experience significant technical obstacles to acquiring all the Online activities. Most of the contributed students expressed some difficulties concentrating during the Online sessions with limited student-instructor interactions. Graduation Project students encountered problems in performing technical discussions with their academic advisors, coordinators, and teammates compared to the face-to-face approach.     

地方高校化工专业人才培养模式的改革和实践

我们从地方高等学校化学工程与工艺专业的人才培养目标出发,结合地方化工产业发展对高素质化学工程与工艺专业创新型应用人才的需求趋势,对化学工程与工艺专业人才培养的目标定位、理论课程体系的构建、实践教学环节的构建,以及师资队伍的打造和相应的教学管理机制的建立等方面进行了系统研究,并在此基础上提出重新构建人才培养模式。     

A real time approach to process control education with an open-ended simulation tool

Process simulators are widely used in industrial process designs and academic research. These simulation tools are also perfectly suitable for the process dynamics and control education of junior chemical engineers and students, as these tools mimetically help them with comprehending the basic theories of process control, such as process capacity, dead time, control loops, controllers and multi-unit processes such as distillation columns. At the University of Auckland, New Zealand, final year Chemical and Materials Engineering students who participate in the process dynamics and control paper are required to complete a series of simulation workshops in auxiliary sessions to help them in their understanding of process dynamics and control. This paper introduces the content of the workshops as well as reviews the student feedback on the introduction of the simulator and their perceptions of their learning of process dynamics and control as assisted by the software and instruction. Three case studies are provided in this paper to illustrate the benefits of running workshops. The motivation of this paper is to share our workshop design with other universities.     

工业4.0背景下国际国内化工高等教育对比研究

工业4.0背景下,全球化工行业正经历着前所未有的互联网、大数据和智能化变革,化工高等教育也面临着培养新型化工人才的巨大挑战。文章研究了国内外化工行业发展情况,并从学习产出角度对国内外化工高等教育现状进行了对比分析。研究表明,我国化工高等教育虽建立了系统的化工基础理论知识体系,但在学生的学科兴趣和专业方向引导、学术启蒙、创新创业能力培养和职业素养提升方面有待加强;应保持教学内容的前沿性和先进性,采用更加开放和多样化的教学方法及考核方式;强化多种形式的多方合作交流,增强学生的国际化视野,推进新工科建设,培养适应新工业时代的创新型化工人才。     

有效能概念在化工设计中的阐释

随着能源问题的日益突出,合理地开发能源和利用知识成为高等工程教育中重要的内容。化工设计是化工项目产业化的必要环节,在化工设计课程中引入和加强有效能概念,可以培养学生树立起正确的能源开发和利用理念,了解和掌握设计工作中科学的节能途径和方法。     

工程认证导向下化工原理实验课程改革与探索

基于工程认证,结合化工原理实验课程的特点,相应改革措施相继实施,包括创新教学模式和方法、工程观点强化、综合实验技能强化、实验安全知识强化及考核方式改革等。化工原理实验与科学研究相结合,有助于培养学生发现问题、以工程理念解决问题的能力,提高学生对实验技术的创新和应用能力。     

基于应用型化工专业化工原理的教与学

从化工原理教与学的角度出发,探究应用型化工专业人才培养过程中专业教师应有的授课思想、方法、手段,以及学生的任务、目的和态度问题。     

Student perceptions and instructor experiences in implementing an online homework system in a large second-year engineering course

In a large course, grading assignments is a time-consuming process requiring considerable resources. Online homework software systems are therefore increasingly being utilized. In this article, we will detail our experiences implementing online homework assignments in our course CH E 243: Engineering Thermodynamics; a large, multi-section course with more than 600 students/year in 4 sections. In Year 1 we employed commercial software, and in Year 2 we developed our own online assignments. In both years, assignments had both online and written components. After each year we conducted a survey of the students to gage their perception regarding the implementation and benefits of the online and written assignments, and the contribution of these tools to the students’ ability to master the material. We found that most students were satisfied with the online system, and recommended using it again the following year. Students generally perceived written assignments to be more helpful in achieving mastery of the course material than the online ones. Students perceived our in-house developed system much more positively than the commercial software (as did we). Overall, we perceived that the class performance was better when our own online assignments were used, and the number of students who failed the course was reduced.     

Reprint of: Education of chemical engineering in Spain: A global picture

The general framework of the Chemical Engineering studies in Spain includes the Bachelor's Degree (4 years), Master's Degree (the most common duration is 1.5 years) and Doctorate (3-4 years). In 2008, the Conference of Directors and Deans of Chemical Engineering (CODDIQ) was constituted with the main objective of promoting and improving the quality of Chemical Engineering studies in Spain. Currently, Faculties and Schools of 29 Spanish universities are members of CODDIQ. An analysis of the most characteristic indicators provides a representative radiography of the Chemical Engineering Studies in Spain, whose most outstanding data are: (i) 7,396 undergraduate students, 1,014 Master students and 556 PhD students, (ii) according to the gender profile of undergraduates and graduates, the percentage of women is similar to that of men, while for faculty staff, the percentage of women is 43% and 46% for Associate and Assistant Professor (respectively) and 23% for the category of Full Professor category; (iii) after completing the Bachelor studies, most of them continue their training in the MSc in Chemical Engineering, (iv) the employability after obtaining the Master's degree is very high (>75%), which in the case of PhDs is close to 100%. The studies of Chemical Engineering in Spain have a very direct relationship with society, especially in the chemical, environmental, biotechnological and energy fields. The companies that collaborate in the training of future professionals are distributed throughout the national territory, which allows a strong connection with the socioeconomic environment.     

美国一流大学化工专业课程设置研究

我国化学工业正在从传统的原料工业向知识技术密集型工业转变。面对这样的变革,如何兼顾化学工程师专业与通识能力融合培养的问题,不容回避。本文采用文本分析法,对美国一流高校的化工专业本科生培养方案开展一手资料的编码,发现其课程设置具有以下特点：培养目标强调“通专融合”与终身学习意识;通识课程与专业课程融合分布;通识课程顶层设计多元化;专业课程设置采用双柱分层递进模式。最后,本文对我国卓越化学工程师培养政策提出了建议。     

Implementing humanistic view via pass-through game style in teaching: A case study in teaching chemical engineering principles for undergraduates

The humanistic view has a far-reaching influence on education. This work presents an innovative pass-through game style teaching approach to improve the quality of classroom teaching in the rapid development of higher education in China, and creating a model for classroom teaching with a humanistic view. A case study in teaching “Chemical Engineering Principles 2” for undergraduate students in Quzhou University is presented, and great improvement in students’ tests and national competition results, and their satisfaction have been demonstrated. Through the pass-through game style teaching, individual attention for students in big class can be realized.