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Project-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered form of instruction which focuses on students' investigation. participation, collaboration and solving problems in real world practices. It has been identified to be a multitude of strategies critical for success in the 21 st century. This paper examines the evolution of PBL research in and outside mainland China by using visualization analysis with CiteSpace. First, we retrieve 2624 English language articles from Web of Science (WoS), and 521 Chinese language articles from CNKI respectively during the period from 2000 to 2021. By analyzing publication trends, core countries/regions, core institutions. core journals, this paper identifies the development trajectories and topical trends of PBL research in mainland Chinese and international journals. Second, according to the timeline of visualization of the majorclusters in international journals, as well as time zone view of keywords and citation with strongest bursts in mainland Chinese journals, this paper expounds upon the intellectual base and evolution process of each stage in each field. The researchers focus on different research issues with different perspectives in and outside mainland China, while few cross-border research collaborations are observed among them. Finally, this paper puts forward some suggestions for researchers and educators, including in-depth study of PBL hot topics, introduction of international projects, encouragement of academic exchanges, etc., in order to better establish international contacts. create opportunities for cross-border cooperation and promote the development of PBL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The academic accreditation for an engineering program in higher education institution is helpful to enhance comprehensive qualities of graduates. Taking the Electrical Engineering and Automation (EEA) Program as an example, a framework is constructed based on the concept of Outcome Based Education (OBE) for a high quality measurement, which ensures the program to satisfy the requirement of engineering education accreditation. Particular steps are designed by taking into account the evaluation methods for educational objectives and students' outcomes. Then, a closed-loop continuous improvement process is applied to develop the program based on the assessment result of students' performances in collage and society. The achievement level of the program outcomes is evaluated by efficient methods periodically, and the assessment results are presented in the paper. The situation of graduates' competencies developed by the program is indicated, and improvements of the program are implemented based on shortcomings. In this research, work experiences for the engineering education accreditation are shown, which can be studied by institutions and universities offering corresponding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design of transport infrastructures must be developed for social sustainability. Collective transport, interfaces and pedestrian infrastructures must guarantee a combination of quality characteristics, where accessibility according to the universal design approach is prominent. Universal and inclusive design must be consistent with user expectations and needs, and so, the associated process must involve people with disabilities and elderly citizens to understand their difficulties in using the built environment. This is the context of the research project Accessibility for All in T ourism (2017-2019), that focuses on the development of a pilot study of an accessible, smart and sustainable bus stop to be located at a tourist transportation hub. The research was developed considering the perspective of multiple users, professionals in the disability field, and experts who applied technical standards. This co-design process attended to different users' needs. It was a process that required a transdisciplinary approach by the team, integrating students and people with disabilities, walking and observing them and taking into account senior tourists' perceptions through an inquiry survey. This paper describes the collaborative approach that was developed with Civil Engineering students at the Institute of Engineering at the University of Algarve, influencing their work and knowledge. The results indicate that students perceived the concepts of universal design and inclusive design and designed the bus stop for social sustainability. An inclusive society requires input from different users of the built environment and knowledge of their specific needs by engineering designers. Pedestrian infrastructure and interface design demand user-centred approaches and so, processes of co-creation with communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering designers use computer-aided design (CAD) tools to generate complex digital representations of product concepts, an increasingly important step in the product development process. With the advent of cloud computing, CAD has seen a recent transformation towards increased collaboration capabilities. Cloud-CAD enables high levels of collaboration, version management, and the potential for easier iteration. This technological capability opens new ways of working with CAD, and engineering design research has made initial progress in understanding how designer behaviour and design output may be affected by the change. The existing experimental studies lay the groundwork for what we might expect to discover when we observe the use of cloud-CAD in a natural industrial setting. However, the educational implications of this new tool have not been fully explored. In particular, cloud-CAD is conducive to collaboration, an increasingly important yet challenging skill for students to develop. This paper presents the results of a series of exploratory interviews with engineering designers who have experience using modern cloud-CAD for their work. Using grounded theory, we identify consistent themes related to the way designers use these tools. From these findings, we generate both recommendations for the engineering education community and areas of future work. We argue that to maximize engineering trainees' potential. we must update our teaching to reflect the full affordances of the latest technologies. like CAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Game-based learning has become a popular topic in all levels of education. A number of computer games have beer, developed to teach different subjects such as mathematics, English language, medicine, and music. This paper presents the first study that proposes the development of edutainment games to teach data mining techniques with the scope of gamebased learning. The aim of this study is to provide an environment that is both fun and enables the achievement of learning goals in data mining training in computer engineering. An escape game called Mine4Escape, which consists of differen rooms to teach different data mining techniques (classification and association rule mining), has been developed for individuals at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. The advantages of the proposed approach are discussed in comparison with traditional data mining training. In addition, this paper describes a dynamic scoring system designed for game-based learning. Finally, an experimental study was carried out to evaluate the performance of our learning environment by analyzing feedback received from a test group consisting of 39 undergraduate and graduate students in computer engineering. The findings from the questionnaire show that it is possible to enhance knowledge acquisition abou; data mining via the game-based approach. However, the degree of learning interest and information acceptance changes according to students' age, gender, educational level, and game habits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A networking laboratory is an essential tool for teaching communications engineering. However, the effort and cost invested in creating a networking laboratory with physical equipment are significantly high, especially if the students are to work on realistic scenarios. By substituting physical networking devices by virtualized ones, virtualization technologies may contribute to simplify the laboratory management tasks and allow the creation of affordable and more complex network scenarios. In this way, students can work and experiment on realistic network scenarios, so that their learning experience is greatly improved. In this paper a detailed description of a virtualization-based networking laboratory model, evolved over the last 10 years of authors' experience in teaching computer networking, is provided. This laboratory model is implemented using Virtual Networks over linuX (VNX), an open source tool specifically designed and developed to define, build, deploy and manage networking scenarios taking full advantage of virtualization, and supporting hybrid virtual/physical scenarios and heterogeneous operating systems. The features of the VNX tool, illustrated with an example of a complex network scenario used by more than 300 students, are described. A survey-based assessment of the usage experience of VNX is included in the paper, showing the validity and efficacy of the proposed laboratory model and of the VNX tool for teaching computer networking in laboratory assignments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our research investigates the developing academic identity of engineering academics within the Australasian Association for Engineering Education (AAEE) community. This paper draws on data from interviews with nine 'emerging' authors with a first degree in engineering, from three types of Australian universities where they discuss their 2012 AAEE conference paper and the peer reviews of their paper. Identity-trajectory was used to analyse interview transcripts by focussing on the various elements of this framework of academic identity development. The findings and discussion focus on those aspects of the reviews and the authors' circumstances that appear to either enable or constrain their development as engineering education researchers. The study finds that authors belonging to a discipline-based educational research group made substantial changes to their papers before final submission and we argue that these research groups support these authors in developing their academic identity as an engineering education researcher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the application value and range of the traditional marine engine room simulator, a marine engineering virtual training and evaluation system is developed in this paper. Through comparing with the similar applications in the market, advantages of the one developed in this paper are showed. In addition, automatic evaluation function based on fuzzy evaluation method is developed and integrated in the training system, which is able to realize the fixed evaluation items regulated in the seafarers examination outline and the user-defined situation evaluation items by using XML to establish the evaluation question base. To improve the automatic evaluation accuracy, "Least Square Method" is used to fit the fuzzy membership function. At last, to verify the practicability and application value of the learning tool developed in this paper, 60 juniors majored in marine engineering, 10 experienced chief engineers are selected to carry out an experiment. By analyzing the experiment result, it is found that the virtual training system is accepted as a learning tool by the participants and the evaluation score generated by the automatic evaluation module is reasonable and real. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the important elements of compiling a student portfolio. In the field of engineering, there is often a wide gap between students’ technical knowledge and their ability to communicate concepts to a broad audience. As a result, many new engineers enter careers without the necessary skills to clearly discuss their work with colleagues from different departments, peers from different organizations, and the wider public. Some engineering education programs are attempting to incorporate more emphasis on writing and communication into their course curricula, but there are still few opportunities for building and testing students’ skills in this area. This paper presents the purpose of a powerful portfolio in terms of what it can offer students, their educators, and their future employers. It also makes an argument for strong communication as a necessary skill in the engineering classroom, in R&D settings within a company, and across different departments and industries. It also offers some suggested guidelines for the process of compiling a portfolio, based on data and documents compiled from both educational institutes and engineering organizations. The intent of this work is to offer students and educators a brief overview of the portfolio process, with emphasis on organizing the components of such a collection so that a potential employer or peer would find them intuitive and easy to understand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the paper is to present application of some artificial intelligence (AI) principles and techniques for design of a simulation system for teaching concepts in transportation engineering. The AI techniques can support development of key features of the simulation system, such as a road system, a vehicle, rectilinear and curvilinear motion, braking patterns, etc. By adopting a simulation system for learning, students, as users of the system, can actively participate in constructing graphic scenarios that illustrate different concepts in transportation engineering. The simulation system can support visualizations of various scenarios, which illustrate concepts often presented as simple equations in a traditional lecture hall setting. In addition to discussing application of the AI techniques for designing the simulation system, the paper also presents an overview of research studies related to gamification of educational software systems and its application in transportation engineering education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the mechanical engineering undergraduate program at the University of Alberta, this study attempts to quantify biases in student evaluation of teaching (SET) results that could be attributed to SET protocol, course content, and course delivery mode. SET results were compiled for five academic years of paper based SET evaluation and one semester of online SET evaluation. 20 core undergraduate courses were included; class size from 70-130; 35 professors. Statistical analysis included compilation of frequency histograms, determination of means and standard deviations, and rank-sum tests for significant differences based on aggregated data for several stratifications. Results showed significantly reduced response rate for online SET when compared to paper; ratings of professor evaluation were not different. No significant differences were found when results were compared on the basis of course content or delivery mode. Our aggregated data showed SET protocol lead to lower response rate, but not significant differences in instructor evaluation. Course content and delivery mode did not manifest in significant changes in SET results. Typical variability in instructor rating was 0.4/5.0 considering all data. Administrators and senior faculty should be aware of these results when ascertaining instructor performance. Although focused on one department, the study is a first step in a larger evaluation of SET in engineering. The study identified key variables that must be further evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the procedure followed by Computer Engineering and Software Engineering programs at Atilim University, Ankara, Turkey, which led to the granting of five years of accreditation by MUDEK, the local accreditation body authorized by The European Network for Accreditation of Engineering Education (ENAEE) to award the EUR-ACE label, and a full member signatory of Washington Accord of International Engineering Alliance (IEA). It explains the organizational structure established for preparation, determination and measurement of the educational objectives, program outcomes, course outcomes, and the continuous improvement cycle carried out during the preparation period. The aim of the paper is to share methods and experiences which may be beneficial for the other programs that are intended for accreditation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternate reality games (ARG) are games that deliver an interactive narrative to the players using different types of media. ARGs often blur the boundaries of reality and fiction and entice players to collaborative puzzle solving in order to solve a mystery or quest included in the game. In this paper, we describe an alternate reality game that was organized to study the potential of using ARGs in education and especially in computer science education. The game was evaluated in terms of how authenticity, intrinsic motivation, and replayability were taken into account in the game design. Furthermore, the learning effects of the game were evaluated by analyzing the feedback collected after the game as well as the spontaneous player discussions during the game. The results show that the players were able to learn various computer science concepts because of the game. Furthermore, the discussions during the game showed how the players were solving the puzzles collaboratively. Main themes that emerged from the feedback about positive aspects of using ARGs in educational settings as well as possible issues are also discussed in the paper. The educational potential of alternate reality games is not limited to a certain discipline and the results reported in this paper can also be applied to topics other than computer science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to address the methodological process of promoting professional project management skills in Engineering Higher Education, evolving from Graduate to Postgraduate Programs. The strategy was born from a cooperative model of Project Based Learning (PBL) created with the experience of the GIE-Project, Educational Innovation Group (EIG) of the Technical University of Madrid (UPM), in collaboration with other EIG and industry stakeholders external to the university. The model has evolved and undergone various phases until being inserted in the European Space of Higher Education with the International Project Management Association (IPMA) competences. Over time GIE-Project strategy has developed into a process, an approach to designing, developing, implementing, evaluating and promoting professional Project Management skills in first (Graduate), second (Postgraduate) and third (PhD) cycle degree programmes. The results show how phasing in teaching aimed across different educational levels facilitates a gradual training in the 46 elements of professional competences required to obtain the IPMA's certification on Project Management. The educational strategy is conceived as a new teaching dimension within the framework of the EHEA, taking the course projects--Preliminary course, Final Degree Course Project and Final Master's Course Project--as an educational component suited for generating a "pre-work experience" to link teaching activity to the business and industrial environment. This paper shows the main success factors in the process that was carried out: the links between teaching-professional certification, the evaluation of professional competences, Project Based Learning, teaching subjects in connection with real-world problems, cooperative learning, mobility activities and integration and applied teaching-research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results from a preliminary study of the effectiveness of using inquiry-guided learning instructional strategies both in chemical engineering classrooms and laboratories. For readers unfamiliar with the instructional strategy, the paper describes the general approach and then reports on results of its application for the fluid mechanics course taken by undergraduate students in the Chemical Engineering Department at Qatar University. Inquiry-guided activities were developed after a series of interviews with recent chemical engineering graduates and employers to gather data on difficulties of chemical engineering graduates during the transition period from the university to industry. Some common daily problems were gathered, discussed, listed and used to formulate in an inquiry guided activity structure. Students were asked to participate in a role-play approach in which client-contractor relationship and rules of engagements were simulated. Both laboratory projects and in-class inquiry guided approach were conducted. Student performance and ability to approach conceptual problems and design-related issues were monitored and graded. Assessments were done after initial coverage of fundamentals of fluid mechanics (8 weeks into the course). Activities promoted in-class engagement and student performance was observed to enhance student performance and engagement to subject when compared to years at which the inquiry teaching methods were not used. This observation is observed to be valid for both with respect to conceptual approaches as well as design-related issues in the early stages of chemical engineering education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of active learning methodologies is an issue of great concern for improving education quality. In this paper, the authors provide an innovative point of view for an Intellectual Property (IP) course. This course is designed by engineers for engineers. The course has been designed so that the students have to complete three different projects. The first project is centred on trademarks, the second one on patents and the third one is the extension of one patent to others countries, that is, the national stage of the patent. According to the results of the evaluation of the projects, most of the learning objectives have been achieved and the students have improved their skills, such as self-learning, creative thinking and troubleshooting. This paper describes the implementation of these different projects. These experiences can be easily replicated in other universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In previous research we proposed a new type of learning object named Collaborative Complex Learning Object (CC-LO) in support for teaching and learning engineering education by the virtualization of live collaborative sessions, with the aim to leverage the knowledge elicited during the collaboration and produce interactive and attractive resources to be played by learners. We claim this type of pedagogically and technologically augmented learning resources is able to overcome endemic problems found in collaborative learning of on-line engineering courses, such as lack of authentic interactivity, user empowerment, social identity and challenge, thus having a positive effect in learner engagement. In this paper we report on the experiences gained in the production, deployment, experimentation and validation of the CC-LO approach from the live collaborative sessions occurring in real on-line engineering courses of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). The ultimate goal is to evaluate and validate how our approach can support engineering education at the UOC, and in particular observe the impact on the collaborative learning performance during the on-line discussions. The novelty of this paper is the integration of our approach into the actual phpBB-based Web forums that support specific engineering courses at the UOC and in particular their in-class discussion processes and collaborative activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching and learning programming are the fun and also pain part for instructors and students in academic institutions, from the famous "Hello World" simple codes to advanced feature application software, there is a long and tough way to go for most of the students. Within limited teaching hours, instructor's presentation and explanation of the computer language are not attractive enough to raise and improve students' interest for learning proactively as students have different learning styles [1]. From the observation and the query, most students are more comfortable with learning by visual presentation--diagrams, video, animation, verbal explanation and trying things from their own interesting story. This paper describes a teaching approach for Java programming by using Alice--an innovative 3D programming environment that make it easy to help students learn fundamental programming concept in the context of creating animated movies and simple video games [2]. Evidence of students performance in learning Object-Oriented programming as a result of this approach are shown in this paper by statistical data that gathered, summarized and observed from fall semester of 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Practical work is an important part of the educational process. In this paper the requirements, hardware and software architecture development and the implementation of an aquaponics embedded device (laboratory model Smart VegeTech) are presented. This system has the possibilities of remote control, rich user interface and other features. The SmartVegeTech system could be used in education in different engineering fields such as control engineering, process engineering, software engineering, as well as agricultural engineering. The educational tasks in control engineering as well as initial feed back from students will be presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a radar laboratory course and an educational radar kit developed for the course. This course aims to provide hands-on experience on pulse-Doppler radar (PDR) signal processing algorithms using modern methods and tools. Experiments and project-based learning (PBL) is introduced to the pedagogical methodology of this course. The course is constructed by considering various backgrounds and levels of the students. The student learning consists of three elements: theoretical knowledge, experiments, and proposal writing on their own research topic. The objective of convergence education is reflected on how the students are provided the opportunity to apply their knowledge and expertise in radar system obtained through this course to their own research areas. For an efficient application of the PBL, a suitable educational kit is designed and implemented. The kit is developed as an open software and hardware platform for facilitating the experimental studies of modern radar technologies for students. The kit, a low-cost multifunctional shortrange PDR, is a relatively simple platform for beginners. The suggested hardware design is based on a single-chip softwaredefined radio (SDR) with an inexpensive system-on-chip (SoC). As the experimental prototype is based on commercially available evaluation modules, it is easy to assemble and use, and no special skills or equipment are required. The proposed system enables students to study modern signal processing techniques. The applied pedagogical methodology, course description, experimental kit, projects descriptions, and assessments are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explains the evaluation method applied to a specific capstone course, called "Ubiquitous computing", taught in different Computer Science Degrees of the University of Alcala (Spain). Along the previous editions of the course several issues have been discovered, which are intended to be solved with the proposed method that was used as evaluation system of the subject in year 2016-2017. The issues are related to the number of students of each degree that compose the group each year, the contents' deviation, the low marks obtained in previous years, the methodological mismatch in relation with other subjects and the bad alignment of the evaluation method used before. With the idea of obtaining better marks, a closer experience to the real situation in software companies and higher satisfaction level of the students, the learning experience proposed implies teamwork, a project-based learning perspective and a balanced use of the technologies. Taking the results obtained through its implantation along the last academic year, it can be concluded that the evaluation method shown in this document enhances the learning process and the contents are closer to the course initial conception, and students got more involved and obtained better results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the new context of the European Higher Education Framework (Bologna Process), the lecturers must cope with the educational achievement assessment and with an appropriate control of the educational process. In this paper, we present the methodology used in the U niversity of Extremadura to evaluate the educational competences in the real time by means of Socrative (by Mastery Connect) launched in smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc. This study has been carried out with the students of two Faculties: the School of Industrial Engineering and the University Centre of Merida, in the framework of an educational innovation project focused on several technical subjects for the mechanical engineering and industrial design degrees. The result shows that the students have improved their competences and their skills, and also the interest in the core syllabus contents, and a great satisfaction with the introduction of this type of activities as a complement to the lectures. Finally, they value this educational experience by means of a surveying, obtaining marks between 83%-85%of the students that consider it as a "positive" or "very positive" experience. The conclusions of this study show that with the use of this tool (Socrative), the students are more motivated and interested in the content of the subjects, with an improvement of their collaborative attitude in the class. 11 leads to obtain an outstanding performance, with a failure rate that in our case, has been reduced by a 20% from "classical" methodology. In contrast, the implementation of this new technological tool demands a notable effort from lecturers' coordination, besides a supplementary work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A course focused on the acquisition of integration competencies in ship production engineering, organized in collaboration with selected industry partners, is presented in this paper. The first part of the course is dedicated to Project Management: the students acquire skills in defining, using MS-PROJECT, the work breakdown structure (WBS), and the organization breakdown structure (OBS) in Engineering projects, through a series of examples of increasing complexity with the final one being the construction planning of a vessel. The second part of the course is dedicated to the use of a database manager, MS-ACCESS, in managing production related information. A series of increasing complexity examples is treated, the final one being the management of the piping database of a real vessel. This database consists of several thousand pipes, for which a production timing frame is defined connecting this part of the course with the first one. Finally, the third part of the course is devoted to working with FORAN, an Engineering Production application developed by SENER and widely used in the shipbuilding industry. With this application, the structural elements where all the outfittings will be located are defined through cooperative work by the students, working simultaneously in the same 3D model. In this paper, specific details about the learning process are given. Surveys have been posed to the students in order to get feedback from their experience as well as to assess their satisfaction with the learning process, compared to more traditional ones. Results from these surveys are discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accreditation systems of engineering education programs governed by the Washington Accord have evolved in order to respond to modern technological and scientific development. The principal purpose of the paper is to indicate that the process re-engineering model commonly employed in business environments can also be used in an educational system. In particular, the paper describes the process of re-engineering used for the transformation of the BEng (Mech) program in order to align it with the accreditation requirements. The study adopts a Business Re-engineering Process (BRP) in which engineering education is considered as a process. A modified McKinsey's re-engineering model was chosen as a tool to re-engineer the educational system. The model involves five broad phases, namely, identification, review & analysis, re-design, test & implementation and continuous improvement. The paper concentrates on the first two phases. The existing curriculum is mapped according to the graduate attributes, competency profiles and the Exit Level Outcomes of the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA). From the list of identified deficiencies it can be concluded that the major shortcoming of the program is not its content but its delivery. It is recommended that innovative flexible delivery methods should be used as teaching styles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive literature review shows that no intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) were developed for engineering dynamics, a second-year core course that nearly all undergraduates majoring in mechanical, aerospace, civil, environmental, or biomedical engineering are required to take. This paper describes two innovative, web-based, interactive ITS modules that we developed for and implemented in an engineering dynamics course to help students learn how to apply the Principle of Work and Energy, one of the most important dynamics principles, to solve particle and rigid-body dynamics problems. This paper describes in detail how the two ITS modules were designed, and specifically such aspects as the determination of learning objectives, the design of corresponding dynamics problems that the ITS modules address, the selection of ITS authoring software, and the design of the layout of the interactive computer graphical user interfaces of the ITS modules. Two cohorts of engineering undergraduates during a control semester and a treatment semester participated in the present study. The results of pretests and posttests in the control and treatment semesters show that the two ITS modules increased class-average student learning gains by 36.8% and 43.0%, respectively. In an anonymous questionnaire survey that was administered at the end of the treatment semester, many students used the words "hints" and "step-by-step process" to describe how the ITS modules enhanced their learning. It is suggested that given their level of flexibility, intelligent tutoring systems should be used as a supplemental tool to enhance learning, rather than a tool to completely replace students' experiences with human instructors and human tutors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is worldwide concern about the presence of factors that affect the performance of students in the computer science/engineering (CS) education process. Gender, socioeconomic and institutional factors may create gaps that affect not only the quality of education but also the entire society. This paper examines the influence of these factors on the performance of two tests used in Colombia for assessing the quality of education: The SABER-11, applied to senior high-school students, and SABER-PRO, applied to senior CS students (N = 2,964). We used effect size to compare mean difference by gender, and correlation and multiple regression analysis to examine the influence of socioeconomic and institutional factors, and the results of the SABER-11 on SABER-PRO. The results suggest the existence of moderate gender differences, favouring men. at the high-school level; however, when compared to the undergraduate level, we found evidence of significant gaps in all evaluated topics and of men performing better than women do. Results also suggest the existence of gaps associated with income, parental education, and the nature and quality of the university and the academic program where the student studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalisation has created demands for engineers with competencies enabling their proactive engagement in a global industry. This demand has created pressure on institutions to design engineering programs that can produce internationalised engineers with globally mobile competencies. This paper presents a review of current research in internationalisation of engineering education, with particular focus on issues of international accreditation and global applicability. With justification of the need for an international collaboration in transforming engineering education, this review highlights concerns about the applicability of a Western accreditation discourse to African countries and the efficacy of global and regional efforts towards accreditation and globalisation. The existing systems of international accreditation and reciprocity agreements are critically reviewed and concerns for internationalisation are discussed. Published issues of accreditation in higher education in Africa are assessed and opportunities for enhancement are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Not all students are able to use didactic manufacturing cells in order to experience real-life project development, owing to their cost and availability. Given the advances in communication media, such as the Internet2 network, which is designed for education purposes, it is easier for universities that have such manufacturing cells to share their resources. Under this premise, this paper presents the development and results of a case study involving a didactic teleoperated cell and the interaction between the ITESM in Mexico and the ESPE (Escuela Politécnica del Ejercito) in Ecuador, through the Internet2 network. The universities have similar graduate programs for automated systems but only the ITESM (Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey) has a full didactic manufacturing cell: a CNC, a transportation band and an automated storage system. For the aforementioned cell, the software that integrates all the control systems was developed by students of both universities and operated as a server for client software given to the students of the ESPE. Practices and surveys for the students were developed and applied in order to compare the knowledge acquired between the students using the cell directly and the students using the cell via the teleoperated cell. This kind of system helps universities to provide more advanced courses and the subject treated in this paper seeks to support the feasibility of telepresence systems as a mean of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting excellence in manufacturing emerges as a strategic goal for the years to come, both for industry and society; manufacturing education has been identified as a major driver to achieving this goal. However, the pace of economic, social and technological change has increased the gap between the competences needed by industry and those provided by the universities' curricula. This requires an increasingly integrated approach by academia and industry in order to afford the problem of engineering competences' obsolescence. Framed in the above premises, the aim of this paper is to present the results of a two year postgraduate training program aimed at developing a new archetype of human capital to face the requirements of Intelligent and Sustainable Manufacturing. The case study presented in the paper addresses the needs for providing manufacturing education to meet the challenges in terms of "who"--the profile for the next generation of manufacturing engineer; "what'--the new system for education and its contents, and "bow'--innovative learning approaches and strategy to incentive the development of competence. The findings demonstrate the radical innovation in developing the next generation of engineers for Intelligent and Sustainable Manufacturing and the importance of a learning environment that is strictly based on virtuous industry-university partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On-line collaborative learning is a mature research field that benefits from collaborative activities, which can increase learning efficacy. However, collaborative learning approaches are still not beneficial in every e-learning experience because they require people's presence and collaboration is frequently difficult to achieve. It is remarkable that collaborative learning resources still suffer from endemic problems, such as the lack of authentic interactivity, user empowerment, social identity and challenge, thus having a negative effect in learner motivation and engagement. To overcome these and other limitations and deficiencies, in previous research, a new type of learning object named Collaborative Complex Learning Object (CC-LO) was proposed to support the virtualization of collaborative learning with the aim to leverage the knowledge elicited during live sessions. During the CC-LO execution, the collaborative sessions are animated so learners can observe how avatars discuss and collaborate, how discussion threads grow and how knowledge is been constructed, refined and consolidated. The system produced from this research was naively tested to validate the notion and nature of the CC-LO. In this paper we proceed with an exhaustive empirical study of the system in a real context of learning in order to validate the impact of CC-LOs on complex dimensions of the collaborative learning process. The research reported in this paper is currently undertaken within a FP7 European project called 'Adaptive Learning via Intuitive/Interactive, Collaborative and Emotional systems' (ALICE). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we discuss the nature of five university professors' use of wikis in education and their personal epistemologies pertaining to wikis. A group of students collaboratively authoring a wiki article is an epistemologically different practice from students writing individual papers. A wiki-supported learning environment cultivates more student-centered pedagogies by distributing the power of knowing towards the students, which in turn may lead to a formation of a community of practice. How and why professors use wikis in teaching are critical to explore for the efforts to cultivate more student-centered teaching practices in higher education. Study data are collected through individual interviews. Analyses revealed that participants used wikis to improve student collaboration, to reach an optimal solution to a given problem, to form an asynchronous and egalitarian learning medium, to have students negotiate and construct knowledge, and to have students work collectively. According to our participants, wikis provided a medium for communities of practice to begin emerging. However the communities did not fully develop because of the limited time within the course of a semester. We recommend any future studies investigate the ways to cultivate more sustainable wiki-supported learning communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes and highlights the presentations and discussions that took place during Mudd Design Workshop VIII, 'Design Education: Innovation and Entrepreneurship,' at Harvey Mudd College. This paper also describes both the key ideas that emerged from the presentations and discussions of the participating engineering design educators, practitioners and researchers, and the methodology used to capture and retain those ideas. Additionally, this paper proposes a framework of design competencies that were created and evolved by the workshop's participants as a response to a question posed at one of the workshop sessions: 'What are the minimum design competencies students should learn from our programs?' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite decades of research on and efforts to increase the low numbers of women in engineering in many parts of the world, underrepresentation persists. This paper analyzes recent engineering education scholarship to determine what reasons are given to explain why underrepresentation is a problem, in other words, how underrepresentation is problematized. Using discourse analysis as the theoretical lens, and drawing on prior research that employed similar methods and theoretical perspectives, this paper examines an international dataset of engineering education journal articles and conference proceedings from 1995-2008. Four categories of problematizations are identified and discussed in order to advance critical reflection that could be beneficial in moving forward discussions about underrepresentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the obligatory but often contentious relationship that exists between contemporary second level education and the choice of undergraduate course by students within an Irish context. A survey of 1723 students from across four second level schools and all year groups was conducted asking students to elect a career that they would most like to pursue in the future. The results of this survey served to highlight the declining allure of engineering as a future career for students as they progress through second level. Focus groups were held in all four schools in order to identify the current motivations behind students' course choice, as well as students' perceptions regarding the decline in undergraduate engineering numbers. Students frequently highlighted future career prospects, as well as current matriculation requirements as factors to be taken account of in the uptake of undergraduate engineering degree programmes. Finally this paper also compares and contrasts the perceptions and motivations of current second level students with those of existing undergraduate engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes Hands-On sessions as a didactic strategy for lectures in theoretical courses, where students can construct and understand control concepts when they play a game designed by the teacher. The teacher uses a game to introduce the topic in order to motivate the students to learn in a fun way and improve their knowledge retention. Students develop activities in groups of three to five members; they follow instructions from a guideline describing the game. Hands- On sessions offer an alternative to learning control theory from concrete experiences so students can grasp knowledge and relate the concepts to simple events. The game can be seen as a road to achieving concepts; it has key issues that allow students to construct knowledge. This approach proposes employing Hands-On sessions using simple materials instead of high-technology complex elements, software, or a specialized space. This work describes a model to design and develop Hands-On sessions. It also introduces activities designed for students to learn topics such as: describing a typical control loop, analysis in the time domain, stability, root locus analysis, and frequency analysis, for control courses in an engineering program. Finally, the paper describes feedback and comments from the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to improve the teaching methodology for self-learning for teachers and students working in the area of power electronics. Three different methods have been proposed, mainly using mathematical equations, MATLAB/ Simulink and MATLAB functions. This paper also proposes an easy way of calculating the exact values of the extinction angle known as 'beta'. This avoids the use of the monogram known as the 'Puchlowsky monogram'. In this paper the exact calculation of the rms load current for a single-phase controlled rectifier with R-L load is given. A three-phase controlled rectifier with a highly inductive load is also discussed in this paper with an interactive variable load resistance and inductance. The simulation results have been presented and extensive simulation and experimental studies have been carried out to analyze different waveforms under varying load conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a promising and student-centered teaching method This paper discusses the methodology and its application to teach Artificial Intelligence (AI) in detail. Also, it aims to construct a web- and problem-based (PBL) system for students at the department of computer science and information engineering. The central bases on the instructional theory, learning theory, and PBL activities are applied to this paper Given this, the authors intend to educate students with team working, data analyzing, and problem-solving capabilities. The learning experiences in the two course forms including the PBL approach and the traditional one are compared by using a questionnaire response and examination scores. Moreover, the ability of technological innovation can enable students to enhance their competencies. The research results obviously show that the PBL approach can help students learn more about Artificial Intelligence (AI). Additionally, in the PBL course with an interaction in small groups, students learn how to present what they thought, how to clarify and define what a problem is, and how to precisely grasp what the relevant information is. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dark side of Moore's Law, is our society's insatiable need to constantly upgrade our computing devices. As a result, the typical processor is only used for a fraction of it's expected lifetime. despite the immense cost to produce a processor. While the rapid advance of technology makes silicon obsolete in a few years, we propose that chips should be reused for less demanding computing tasks. This re-use strategy creates a food chain of computing devices which amortizes the energy required to build processors over several computing generations. This paper is structured into two parts. First, we describe a proposed a processor re-use strategy, showing that processor re-use makes sense for low-power, embedded processors. These re-usable processors occupy a design space that requires us to implement flexible and reliable processors. The second part of this paper describes student efforts centered around re-usable processors at California Polytechnic State University. San Luis Obispo as well as the University of California, Santa Barbara. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the educational experiences of research in Engineering Education in the Escuela Universitaria de Ingenieria Tecnica de Telecomunicacion at the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid are presented. The research attempted to go beyond the experiences in the framework of the European Higher Education Area during the academic years 2005-2007. This paper describes the experience within the first-year course in the Escuela Universitaria de Ingenieria Tecnica de Telecomunicacion. Three years after the beginning of this research some feedback is given and some conclusions are drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the 2006 National Defense Education and Innovation Initiative, NASA and DAVANNE LLC have collaborated to create the NASA Robotics Alliance Cadets Program to develop a highly integrated and interactive STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) undergraduate curriculum. This paper investigates the NASA Cadets' use of Active Learning to not only meet the nationally recognized need for a formal assessment standard, but also to ensure the sustainability of the program. To demonstrate the program's Active Learning tools wide accessibility and their integration with the program's methodologies, this paper examines the NASA Cadets' robotics platform and its use within an educational experiment co-developed by Cornell University. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioengineering/Biomedical engineering education has evolved since the late 1950s and is progressing in leading academic institutions around the world. Today, bioengineering/biomedical engineering is considered to be one of the most reputable fields within the global arena, and will probably be the primer for any future breakthroughs in medicine and biology. This paper is intended to provide a detailed study of career development in Bioengineering/Biomedical Engineering, together with a set of strategies and recommendations to be pursued by individuals and/or entities seeking to plan and design careers and/or curricula in this field. The paper aims to address the international student who is considering bioengineering/biomedical engineering as a career, with an underlying emphasis on students from developing and transitional countries where career guidance is lacking. The paper is also addressed to academic institutions of higher education, ministries of higher education, and other governmental agencies, mainly within such countries, who intend to launch or reform their bioengineering/biomedical engineering curricula. A comprehensive undergraduate curriculum that has been recently implemented at the American University of Science and Technology, Beirut, Lebanon, is presented here as a prototype of a modern well-developed curriculum in Biomedical Engineering. This program is considered to be one of the regional premier curricula in Bioengineering/Biomedical Engineering. The paper also provides a thorough review of the literature followed by a comprehensive definition of the field and its subdivisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an approach to teaching design of non-programmable application-specific architectures using VHDL, logic and physical synthesis tools and FPGAs. The approach relies on mini-projects that resemble typical problems that students may face in real-life concerning the design of application-specific architectures. The teaching approach presented in this paper supports the incremental learning of both VHDL and the tools used, as the projects are being developed, i.e., students are motivated to acquire skills at the pace at which those skills are required to advance project development. The results so far are very encouraging. Even students with little knowledge of hardware design and embedded systems have succeeded in their assignments. Feedback obtained front students reveals the suitability of certain aspects of the approach and the major difficulties they have faced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wide variety of engineering students and professionals are interested in sustainability issues, but do not come from environmental backgrounds. As a result, courses designed for such students must strike a balance between providing useful environmental and sustainability knowledge and yet remain appropriate for those coming from a non-environmental background This paper outlines such a course that has been taught and refined for the last three years in the Faculty of Engineering, University of Windsor, to a mixed class of civil, mechanical, environmental and industrial engineering graduate students. The paper provides examples and descriptions of what was done in the class and their effectiveness for teaching sustainability, as well as what difficulties were encountered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Translating research results into everyday teaching practice is notoriously difficult.. In this paper, we focus on the growing body of research on design knowing and learning, and examine and make visible opportunities for getting this research to positively impact teaching in engineering design education. Core to the paper is the position that successful efforts to get research to impact teaching will involve an emphasis on educators anti their teaching practice. In this paper, we situate our position in scholarly thinking concerning the research-to-teaching challenge, present results of an empirical analysis of current teaching practice in design education, and describe an on-going approach for supporting research into teaching that follows from the empirical results. We close with the observation that information on the decision making strategies of engineering design educators could be particularly helpful for getting research to affect teaching practice in engineering design education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many engineering courses are characterized by having to produce one-off, technically complex artifacts to demonstrate that learning has been achieved. This paper introduces "Rapid Prototype as Design' as an effective methodology to help students produce effective results in their engineering projects. This paper presents a case study on the GlucoFridge, a pocket-sized, battery powered insulin refrigerator which was a technologically complex project involving a variety of technologies. The product was developed in three months through the tight integrated use of virtual and physical rapid prototyping technologies that allowed for an extremely fast reiterative design approach and a short development time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on four microcontroller-based courses developed at the University of Georgia for a broad multidisciplinary undergraduate and graduate student body. The courses are Introduction to Robotics, Embedded Systems, Introduction to Microcontrollers, and Advanced Microcontrollers. These courses, which are taught in a hands-on manner, equip students with the necessary tools and know-how to make use of the powerful technology of microcontrollers within their own disciplines. This paper addresses some of the challenges encountered due to the diverse student backgrounds and how these challenges are met through various pedagogical methods such as teamwork, achieving the right balance between theory and practice, and giving students from various disciplines an 'industry-like' experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power electronics devices and circuits have revolutionized the concept of power control for power conversion and electrical motor drives. Power Electronics course is essential for electrical engineers and is included in the undergraduate- level syllabus. With various circuit configurations like single-phase/ three-phase circuits with R/RL/RLC/RLE loads and associated voltage and current waveforms to be dealt with, it is a tough subject to teach as well as to understand. This has led to a general disinterest in this field among the students. If all the circuit configurations and associated waveforms can be visualized for different operating conditions, the concepts become clearer and interesting. The objective of this paper is to introduce a MATLAB-based simulation package intended to make the classroom teaching of power electronics more effective and easy. MATLAB has proved itself to be a powerful tool for simulation. It is a software package available in almost all the technical institutions. This paper presents a simple menu-driven program that students can use to explore the behavior of power electronic circuits. The paper also explains how the graphical user interface (GUI) feature of MATLAB can be effectively used for making interactive software packages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a scholar-practitioner synthesis that suggests that, while all engineers are somewhat entrepreneurial, there are academic and professional roadblocks and enabling pathways to entrepreneurial activity. The paper suggests a framework to perceive wider dimensions and systemic relationships that build entrepreneurial wholeness, beginning in the formative education process then throughout an engineering career. The paper's thesis is that a functionally entrepreneurial engineer is not a single tool (EE, ChE, CE, ME, etc.) but is multi-disciplinary, like a Swiss Army knife or Leatherman multi-tool. Some background, a multi-skill framework and some examples are provided. The conclusion calls for correction of technological illiteracy in America, a phenomenon that threatens entrepreneurial engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an emerging new interdisciplinary area, biomedical education has been recently paid a growing attention to its curriculum design. Creativity has been suggested as a key element in its pedagogy development. This paper will focus on a research question: how do the senior teaching and research staff conceptualize 'creativity' in relation to their daily working experience and based on such conceptualizations, what are the implications for pedagogy development in biomedical education? Theoretically, we will take a departure from social-cultural approach to creativity that emphasizes shaping roles of environmental influences on creativity in a specific context of interdisciplinary teaching and learning, such as biomedical education. An empirical study by qualitative interviews (n = 15) with senior research and teaching staff at different Spanish institutions will further help to provide evidence that guides to answer the research question. The data analysis shows that creativity should be an essential element in curriculum and there are needs of creativity training programmes in biomedical education. Meanwhile, pedagogical changes should be towards encouraging collaborative work, critical thinking, problem solving by creative problem-based learning scenarios, promoting autonomy in applicable and useful projects, working with creative articles in their specific field with students, fostering students' skills in experiment design at university, and developing new evaluation systems, which underpins the necessity of providing a systematic educational environment for creativity development in future biomedical education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the use of a targeted event, Material Handling and Logistics Classroom Day, to enhance appreciation, knowledge, and interest in the fields related to material handling and logistics. Classroom Day is designed to provide engineering, technology, and business students with an opportunity to participate in a material handling and logistics tradeshow, network with other students and professionals, learn about the industry, and apply knowledge gained at the tradeshow to a case study design competition. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of Classroom Day, which includes multiple experiential activities. The hypothesis is that Classroom Day will enhance student appreciation, knowledge, and interest in the field of material handling and logistics. A survey instrument is used to assess outcomes from the perspective of the 160 student attendees. Student survey results show that Classroom Day, as a targeted experiential learning event, increased student appreciation, knowledge, and interest in the field of material handling and logistics. A similar approach may be adapted by other engineering education disciplines to engage students and attract talent to related industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]