Engineering education

About: Engineering education is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 24293 publications have been published within this topic receiving 234621 citations.

Experiencing CORAL: design and implementation of distant cooperative learning

Abstract: This paper describes application of information technologies to education, outlines the educational foundations and design strategies of the applications, and addresses related research issues. In this paper, the authors introduce the CORAL (COoperative Remotely Accessible Learning) system, currently under development at National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan, as an example of how information technologies are being used in science and engineering education.

Engineering Education 4.0: — proposal for a new Curricula

Abstract: The paper describes a new curriculum for Engineering Education 4.0 based on the analysis of different references and essential relevant documents that explain the necessity to well-formed a new generation of professionals. Considering the technological change that world is going through, our current social environments and generational differences in a society focus on the extraneous and declares itself as the savior of the world. The university rises as a relevant and essential agent to ensure knowledge and development of competencies in this fourth industrial revolution, which has been called Industry 4.0 (I4.0). A series of digital technologies converge in applications transform the industrial processes so that they become more connected, reliable, predictable, resilient, and a high degree of certainty. All of this is due to the articulation of several capabilities of information technologies. Several efforts have been detonated in the world trying to better understand this evolution and in particular for Engineering Education towards the I4.0.

Preliminary Results From The Development Of A Concept Inventory In Thermal And Transport Science

Abstract: This paper reports on the progress made in the creation of a concept inventory in thermal and transport science. We discuss the steps taken to create questions for the concept inventory and the results of the alpha testing of our inventory. Next steps in the process – particularly establishing validity and reliability of the instrument – are also discussed. Introduction Engineering faculty members often comment that even students who can correctly solve problems in fluid dynamics, heat transfer, or thermodynamics still mistakenly believe that, for example, heat flows like a substance or that processes stop when they reach equilibrium. These observations are supported by evidence in the literature that suggests that engineering and science students often have fundamental misconceptions about the way that molecular-scale processes differ from observable, macroscopic causal behavior we experience in our daily lives. To help faculty identify the concepts that their students do not understand and decide which misconceptions are most prevalent, a number of instruments, called concept inventories or CI’s, have been developed in selected fields, most notably the Force Concept Inventory in physics. With NSF support, we are developing a concept inventory for thermal and transport sciences encompassing introductory thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer. At ASEE 2003 we reported on the results of a Delphi study we conducted with approximately 30 engineering faculty experts to reach consensus about the difficulty and importance of fundamental concepts in the thermal and transport sciences. Based on the results of that study, we have identified key concepts and developed the alpha version of our concept inventory. In this paper we will describe the development and testing of the alpha version concept inventory, present our preliminary analysis of the results from the alpha test, and discuss our plans for assuring the validity and reliability of our finished CI. 1 Contact author: Barbara M. Olds, Professor of Liberal Arts and International Studies, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, bolds@mines.edu, (703) 292-4429. Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ©2004, American Society for Engineering Education

Engineering Students' Epistemological Views on Mathematical Methods in Engineering.

Abstract: Background This study was motivated by the ubiquity and apparent usefulness of general epistemological development schemes, notably that of William J. Perry, Jr., in engineering education, but also by limitations that derive from their generality. Purpose/Hypothesis Empirical data were used to articulate engineering students' epistemological views on the role of mathematical methods in engineering and to explore the fit of a stage-based developmental model to those data. Design/Method Data included interviews, think-aloud protocols, and classroom observations over a one-year period. Ten undergraduates and four instructors in a civil engineering program participated. A grounded-theory approach was used to identify levels of epistemological views. Perry's scheme provided a starting framework. Skeptical reverence, the view veteran engineers hold regarding mathematics in engineering, which was previously identified by the author, was taken as a normative endpoint. All data were coded by view level and various contexts to detect students' epistemological developmental patterns. Results This article proposes three categories of engineering students' views on the role of mathematical methods in engineering: dualism, integrating, and relativism. Dualism and relativism reflect elements of Perry's general categories, but integrating, a new category, diverges significantly from Perry's middle category of multiplicity. No evidence supported a stage-based developmental model. Conclusions This empirically based scheme, while exploratory, provides further evidence that epistemological development differs across disciplines, and offers four levels of epistemological views held by engineering students on the role of mathematics in engineering. Conjectures about how to promote engineering students' epistemological development, based on classroom observations, are also offered.

Identification of competencies required by engineers graduating in Australia

Abstract: To inform continuous improvement of engineering education, this study asks, "What are the generic engineering competencies that engineers graduating in Australia require?" Competencies that were likely to be important to engineering work were identified from a broad range of literature. These were rated by 300 "established engineers" for importance to doing their jobs well. The study is the first large scale quantitative Australian study, across all engineering disciplines, to focus on established engineers rather than graduates. The engineers perceived technical, non-technical and attitudinal competencies as important. This is consistent with large scale studies in the US and Europe, and small scale studies in Australia. The results support continued expansion of curricula and diversification of pedagogies.