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Purpose This paper aims to use quick response (QR) code along with online videos to teach one of the college foundation courses in an international institution to enhance the grasp of the students and to boost the students’ learning outcomes. Design/methodology/approach The study discussed and elaborated the findings that mainly focused on the usage of the online resources to teach Engineering Economy course. Besides, the authors analyzed how the gender may have different feedback for the student. Findings The study emphasized on the expectations of the students to use videos in the learning experience that preferred to be developed by course educator and to be published on the university platform, like blackboard or faculty website, that conforms university transformation vision undergoing nowadays. It is recommended to have a successful learning experience; it is the educator's responsibility to improve the personal digitization skills that would be used in the e-learning implementations, that will be used for the educational technology, which requires the use of creative media production mobile applications. Practical implications The education field has witnessed significant development over the past years in terms of using digital technologies as pedagogical tools to enhance the students’ learning experience especially the internet, where the traditional trends become outdated to be used in the classrooms. One of the main players in this field is videos that are considered as the main influencer to this educational change, where it has been demonstrated to and boost the quality of the learning experience. Originality/value In this study, students participated to explore the usefulness of using online learning through using videos blended with QR code to enhance the students’ performance in understanding one of the undergraduate foundation courses in the college of engineering, namely, engineering economy. A survey was distributed to students after the core material of the course was covered. The collected responses were then studied and analyzed.

E-learning offers tremendous benefits to teachers and students as it enhances the teaching and learning experience. Despite the adoption of e-learning in many educational institutions worldwide, de...

This paper presents the use of an interactive learning approach in the Engineering Ethics course. Intuitive learning is being implemented in traditional teaching methods, which will engage students in class activities, improve their self-learning skills, and promote active learning. Integrating interactive learning activities has been noted to improve students' learning, course attainment, and learning outcomes. This study is aimed to demonstrate the use of web-based applications (e.g., Quizlet and Kahoot!) to improve students' academic achievement and enhance their engagement in class.

Conventional methods of teaching structural engineering topics focus on face-to-face delivery of course materials. This study shows that using video-based e-learning in delivering an undergraduate Structural Steel Design course satisfactorily achieved most of the course learning outcomes. Video-based e-learning with animations and simulations gives students a profound understanding of the course intricate design materials. To gauge the effectiveness of video-based e-learning of the course, an online evaluation was conducted by sixty-eight undergraduate students at the United Arab Emirates University using Blackboard. The evaluation consisted of an online survey that was accessible by students who took the structural steel design course in the academic year 2019 using instructional videos provided to them as Quick Response (QR)-codes. The structural steel design course has six learning outcomes (CLOs), and the performance of students in the six CLOs was compared with that of students who took the same course in the academic year 2018 using the traditional face-to-face lecturing method. The survey data was statistically analyzed, and the results revealed that students’ performance improved, and most of the CLOs were attained. Video-based e-learning with animations resulted in better learning outcomes compared to face-to-face lecturing. Accessing the course instruction videos anytime and anywhere is one of the remarkable benefits to the students studying through the e-learning approach.

One of the main challenges that the educator faces in integrating 3D printing technology in a traditional engineering course in the capability of introducing and merging the 3d printing technology at the right educational material. The paper aims to present the challenges and the achievements of integrating 3D printing technology in teaching design and manufacturing courses in the mechanical engineering department to enhance the students’ skills and engagement with the course material. One of the course experiments was nominated to introduce the 3D printing technology, where the students were asked to use the systematic design method as well as design matrix procedure to explore different options to come up with a solution to hold a mechanical component for quality control task. Besides, the students had to design an engineering measurement procedure to achieve the assigned mission of the experiment, where the mechanical part was described to present the main dimensions needed for the measurement sequence. Different groups submitted innovative ideas that were evaluated initially and discussed individually before submitting the final design and the holder prototype. The students presented a functional 3D printed prototype with a full report that clarifies the engineering procedure adopted to achieve the goal of the experiment. The innovation in the addressed solution revealed the importance of 3D printing technology to enhance the students’ skill and engagement with the course material and help them to encounter challenges to come up with creative engineering solutions.

Construction safety education for engineering students may involve two main aspects: construction site safety and design for construction safety (DfCS). Progress has been made in the developed countries to incorporate both aspects in the engineering curriculum. However, the extent to which engineering students in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region receive construction safety education during their undergraduate study is not known. To assess this extent, two survey forms were designed and distributed to engineering practitioners and construction-related engineering programs in the MENA region. The practitioners’ survey was also utilized to assess the need for comprising construction safety education in the engineering curriculum. The study showed that about 70 % of the surveyed practitioner engineers did not receive construction safety knowledge during their university education. Of those who did, almost half received such knowledge during internship. Meanwhile, about 50 % of those who received some construction safety education ranked the received level as being “average.” Results also showed that the majority of the surveyed practitioners believe that there is a need for more construction safety education at the university level. In terms of inclusion in the engineering curriculum, surveyed practitioners ranked 15 suggested safety aspects as important to very important to be included in the undergraduate curriculum. Responses received from contacted engineering programs indicated that assigning an entire course to cover construction safety is not common in the MENA region. While the majority of construction safety coverage was shown to be either as an integral part of a core course or through the internship, only 40 % of the programs indicated inclusion of construction safety topics as integral parts of elective courses that are commonly offered once a year. A major observation was that construction safety is included in less than 15 % of the graduation project courses offered by the responding programs, indicating a possibly high deficiency in comprising DfCS in the curriculum. In addition, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards and in-house developed materials were reported as the most common data sources for teaching construction safety. The study proposes enhancing the current level of construction safety education for engineering students in the MENA region by incorporating a core course in the curriculum and by integrating several suggested topics of DfCS in traditional design courses.

PurposeDespite the popularity of existing course management systems, they do not consider the management of course material changes, particularly courses that require more than one instructor. The main purpose of this study is to instantly communicate course material changes to all instructors teaching the same course and to communicate approved changes to students registered on the course.Design/methodology/approachThe fundamental hypothesis tested was whether the developed system effectively communicates changes in a timely manner. The level of students' acceptance to this new system was also tested. A dynamic course material change‐management system was developed using visual basic programming language and an Access database. The system was applied to a hypothetical case study and to a currently running undergraduate civil engineering course.FindingsResults indicated that changes made to a course material were instantly communicated to all instructors teaching the same course. It also indicated that approved changes were instantly communicated to affected students. As a result, students were satisfied with the instant notifications they receive whenever a change takes place.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed system does not include a methodology for online tests, course grades, and course assessment. The system needs to be integrated with these important features. Developments pertaining to integrating the system with these features will be considered for future investigation.Originality/valueThe novel aspect of the developed system is the effective management of challenges made to course material and communicating these changes to instructors and students in a timely manner. The system can benefit any institution at different educational levels.

With the advances of the technology at the last decade, it becomes an essential for teachers to utilize recent advances in technology to enhance learning. Currently, educators are using different software and blended approaches to facilitate better class environments and make course material available to students anytime anywhere. This paper presents the diverse learning technologies used by the Faculty of Engineering at the United Arab Emirates University for teaching pre-engineering freshman students using Blackboard and classroom new technologies. Multiple approaches are adopted and presented in this paper to boost studentsâ?? learning and make course material readily available for all students. These e-learning techniques were used to enhance the teaching of different courses at the foundation level of the faculty of engineering, basically Engineering Materials, Differential Equations and Engineering Applications and eventually Engineering Thermodynamic. Feedback acquired through the students, the result of utilizing the e-learning techniques showed interesting experience and improved students learning abilities.