Technology-based Courses Research Articles

Exploration of Ideological and Political Teaching of Soil Mechanics and Basic Engineering Course

Exploration of Ideological and Political Teaching of Soil Mechanics and Basic Engineering Course

Implementing Innovative Approaches and Learning Methods in Maritime Education

The maritime education is generally developed in two directions: training of seafarers and port specialists. Nowadays, the shipping business is changing rapidly and in the era of digitalization the working staff should be able to use computerized information systems and to understand the capabilities of automated programs in order to respond to existing and future requirements in this area. The main goal is to prepare highly skilled personnel trained to work in continuous change in the digital era. The current state of the job market for maritime personnel requires the introduction of new approaches and more practically directed learning methods. The acquisition of the basic science and fundamental engineering courses required for seafarers or port specialists are not sufficient. They need to achieve more practical and cognitive skills throughout their education and training courses. This paper discusses some innovative methods and approaches used for learning and training considering important changes and ongoing digitalization in the maritime industry combined with necessary soft skills management. The proposed adaptive self-correcting model of training course is developed based on the authors’ experience in maritime education with students and on empirical method of research and system analyses performed with seafarers and port specialists with long practical experience.

Theory of Adaptation of Educators Teaching Technology-Based Courses

The need for resilience among educators has become a critical demand during the COVID-19 pandemic when in-person classes were restricted and were converted into distance learning and eventually shifted to blended learning as governments opened borders and health safety protocols eased down. Hence, this study focuses on understanding how educators of technology-based courses in public higher education across academic landscapes have navigated for continuous instructional delivery. This study utilizes the Straussian approach of Grounded Theory. This design uses a three-stage coding methodology: open, axial, and selective coding. The study generates the Theory of Educators Teaching Technology-Based Courses across academic landscapes, which postulates that educators in technology-based courses undergo phases of metamorphosis that include visioning, learning, rationalizing and doing, and modernizing, ultimately allowing them to become resilient and adaptive to the shifting landscapes of the academe caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Influence of Gender on Career Choice and Academic Performance

The study aims to examine how gender affect students' academic achievement and career targets or choices in Nigerian colleges. The sample of this study consisted of 261 final year students in various universities across Nigeria. Data was collected using questionnaires featuring questions on academic accomplishments and other pertinent information. The results of the study indicated that male students had a slightly higher overall CGPA score compare to the female students; and as regards career aspirations, more female students were inclined to study art and management related courses while more males were found in engineering and technology-based courses. The research found that gender difference does not significantly affect students' academic success in Nigerian colleges. Instead, the research discovered that students' perceptions of gender had a substantial influence on their career aspirations. The study recommends that promoting freedom in choosing careers is likely to steer students toward other professions that are completely at odds with their gender preferences

Penerapan Aplikasi Simulasi Liveware 2.3 pada Mata Kuliah Dasar Teknik Tenaga Listrik

This study aims to determine the effect of using the Liveware 2.3 simulation application on student learning outcomes in the Basic Electrical Engineering Course in the Department of Electrical Engineering Education, Manado State University. This research is a pre-experimental study with a one-group pretest-posttest design. The population of this study were students in semester 1 class of 2022 majoring in Electrical Engineering Education. The sample taken consisted of one class, namely Class A1 2022, which consisted of 18 people. The data analysis technique used to analyze the research data is by testing through statistical calculations. Student learning outcomes after being given treatment show better results, this can be seen in the average pre-test score of 51.23 and post-test of 72.50. The increase difference is 21.27. The results of the t-test show an increase in learning outcomes with a Tcount of 2.23 which is consulted on Ttable 1.64. Thus, student learning outcomes after being treated with the Liveware 2.3 simulation application show good results. Student learning outcomes after being given treatment (post-test) are better than before being given treatment (pre-test). With an average learning result of 72.50 and obtained Tcount = 2.23>Ttable = 1.64.

“三全育人”体系下《基础工程》课程思政元素探索与实施

“三全育人”体系下《基础工程》课程思政元素探索与实施

Examination of Pre-service Teachers' Opinions on Designing Technology-Based Courses Activities

Examination of Pre-service Teachers' Opinions on Designing Technology-Based Courses Activities

Quality Assessments on Different Mode of Teaching and Learning Delivery: Analysis of the Outcome-Based Education Activities in Communication Engineering Course

The Outcome-based Education (OBE) implementations in the higher learning institution have been significantly affected by the Covid-19 outbreak, but its progression from pandemic to endemic signals better health regulations and controls. This paper aims to examine the relationship between course Program Outcome (PO) attainment and students' perception of the basic communication engineering (ECM241) course. The utilized methods are PO measurement through assessments and final examination as well as a student’s satisfaction survey. The analysis is done for three different delivery modes: face-to-face, hybrid, and online delivery. Through the PO measurement, the results show that students mostly preferred the hybrid delivery mode due to the flexibility in its assessment and activities conducted, reduced facility usage, and time constraints for the course completion. The survey method also showed that most of the students are satisfied with the course content and all factors contributing to the course delivery. In conclusion, this subject is suitable to be conducted using the hybrid mode as compared to the conventional method. In the future, this research could be expanded by considering all subjects in the semester to access overall OBE achievement and students' satisfaction with the Electrical Engineering program.

Self- Regulated Learning (SRL) Strategies on Engineering Faculty Members, Executives, And Students

The Indian engineering faculty members need to be exposed to self-regulated learning strategies and adult learning methods to plan effective competency development programs for the engineering graduates. The engineering students need to be informed on the industry needs and the performance desired in the workplaces. Without a focus on improving skills analysis, planning, design concepts, and high-order cognitive skills, problemsolving abilities and critical thinking skills, many engineering students performed poorly in the basic and core engineering courses. Some of the students displayed a negative response for a few applied science courses. These are due to their self-regulated learning system. In this research, six batches of engineering faculties have been trained to focus on the students' self-regulated thinking, acting, behaving, and engaging in purposeful activities. The impact is that the engineering students actively manage their metacognition, motivation, and behavior after passing through the self-regulatory process. The trained faculties prepared their instructional design on the needs of the contextual knowledge and their utility onprofessional development. The increase in pass percentage after redesign improved to 16.17% in the basic courses, 17.37% in the core courses, and 5.99% in the advanced courses. When the faculty members are trained in the appropriate instructional design to meet the demands of the fast-growing and knowledgebased economy, this resulted in unprecedented students' success not only in their examinations but also in their performances in the workplace. Further, the executive and employee development programs are to be carefully planned and implemented to get maximum return on the investment (ROI) in the fastchanging manufacturing technology. Keywords: Self-Regulated Learners (SRL), Performance Management, Faculty Development Programs (FDP), Planning Executive Development Programs (EDP), Metacognition, & Intrinsic Motivation.

Sustained Use of Virtual Meeting Platforms for Classes in the Post-Coronavirus Era: The Mediating Effects of Technology Readiness and Social Presence

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions were forced to turn to online classes that are either recorded or taught live on virtual meeting platforms. Students could, therefore, attend classes from virtually any location using their mobile devices and Internet access. Despite the prolonged pandemic, little attention has been paid to whether offering courses on a virtual meeting platform is sustainable. This study, therefore, explores the antecedents of students’ intentions regarding the sustained use of virtual meeting platforms for academic courses. We investigated the relationship between technology readiness (TR) and perceived social presence (SP) within a virtual communication setting with course satisfaction and sustained use intention. Data were collected via a survey from 525 college students in South Korea who had attended classes using a virtual meeting platform. Serial mediation analysis revealed a pathway in which SP and course satisfaction in series fully mediate the positive relationship between technology readiness and sustainability. This study discusses the implications in relation to the sustainability of virtual technology-based courses as a replacement of live classroom-based courses from a user perspective. Further research is needed to understand users’ negative experiences of attending courses on virtual meeting platforms.

Improving student’s learning with efficient learning techniques: A case study of first year basic electrical engineering course

Currently there are rapid changes in the engineering education system in different parts of the world. This incorporates and uses different new approaches. This also makes the teaching as more effective and learning is extremely necessary. Now under the new learning paradigm a student's role has shifted from passive to active learner. In this review, the first-year course called Basic Electrical Engineering (BEE) in Bachelor of Technology stream, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (JNTUH), Hyderabad, Telangana, India is considered as an example for this case study. Students are engaged in various activities such as Mind diagram, Think Pair Sharing, one-minute paper, application-based learning, flipped classroom learning, virtual lab, and group discussion. These types of learning methods embolden the students to take accountability for their own learning experience and improve their creativity, thinking skills and developing the skill of teamwork. The importance of improving the attainment of course results is discussed in this article. The obtained performance indicated that the attainment of course outcomes has been increased by 7% and the pass percentage has been increased from 85% to 94% with the adoption of effective learning methods.

A novel social constructivist pedagogy to teach basic electrical engineering course to undergraduate students in online mode

The way the teachers deliver the content of any course curriculum is always important. It must create enough interest in the students, especially, when it is in the online mode. In this paper, a novel pedagogy has been proposed, which can work for both online and offline classes based on the social constructivist methods. The methods followed in the proposed pedagogy are classified into two types, viz. social examples and technical drama. One of the courses of first-year engineering undergraduates, Basic Electrical Engineering (BEE), has been taken into consideration for the practical implementation of this pedagogy. A detailed explanation of the above mentioned two methods has been presented in this paper as teaching experiments (TE), with the support of different topics of the course considered. The teachers of the courses such as BEE can follow the methods described in this paper to facilitate active learning, leading to a good understanding of the concepts. The methods have been designed such as to make both teachers and students active participants in the process of teaching and learning in both online and offline classrooms. Students are well satisfied with this novel pedagogy and it is reflected in their feedback on teacher practices as well as in their performance in the semester examinations.

Exploring Architecture Students' Acceptance of Online Learning of Technology Courses Through TAM during COVID-19

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, online learning has become the only method of higher education learning worldwide. Online learning is efficiently performed when there is a perception of the end-user acceptance process. The part played by online learning in higher education globally has been examined in several research studies; however, the literature did not sufficiently consider the attitudes of architecture students toward technology-based courses (software teaching), especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, this study focuses on accepting online learning of technology-based courses among architecture students at the University of Bahrain. This research's objective was to offer a group of factors, based on popular theories, that should be considered when planning online learning for technology-based architectural courses. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is used to study the acceptance of online learning of technology courses among architecture students, suitable for achieving the research aims. A total of 121 students participated in the study. The results indicated that students' perceived ease of use and usefulness of online learning for technical courses leads to a higher attitude towards using, which leads to higher behavioural intention, significantly impacting online learning technology courses' actual usage. The outcomes will enhance the understanding of architecture students' acceptance of online learning during Covid -19 and help in its continuing implementation after Covid -19 pandemic.

Developments in Technology-Based Courses Contents of Interior Architecture Departments in Turkey

The introduction of information technologies in space design disciplines begins with the use of the Computer Aided Design concept in those disciplines. Since the first example of CAD tool which was launched in 1963, the ability to design using computers has been a method adopted by architecture and space design disciplines and transferred to the educational context. There were changes and transformations in this method due to the needs created by the developing building technologies. The CAD technology, has been adopted to the space design education in order to support the courses. The CAD which was created for challenging the difficulties in the practicing area and speeding up the process, also takes place among the traditional methods of space design in the Interior Architecture discipline. The possibilities provided by those digitally created spatial mediums, have led to a rotational improvement in both education and practice. In addition, the reflections of technological developments in the social context in last decade on many areas of life have led to the necessity of reorganizing the educational contents. Academic studies conducted in recent years, are designed to include the last technological developments in today’s educational contents and to reflect students’ interests and commitment to these technologies in direct proportion. Bearing this in mind, the objective of this study is to read out the reflection of the developments mentioned above on the Interior Architecture discipline in Turkey by monitoring the developments in the context of the need of updating the educational contents. In order to meet the social developments and today’s skills, space design education must follow the technological context in parallel. Based on these considerations, the studies of Turkey which were examined in this research have been conducted before could be explained as inadequate. In this context, to examine the curriculum of the Interior Architecture departments of Turkey and to monitor the updates mentioned before constitute the main focus of the study. CAD-based courses in the curriculum of the Interior Architecture departments were determined and the contents were examined. These analyses were achieved in the context of the methods, techniques and tools used in the courses, and after, the situation of the information-based courses were determined. It was concluded that these courses were transformed in direct proportion in line with the increasing needs in the educational context with the developing technology and updates should continue in the context of meeting today’s skills.

The Need to Implement Modelling and Simulation as Part of the Curriculum in Basic Engineering Courses

In this paper a proposal for implementing modelling and simulation techniques into the curriculum of basic engineering courses is introduced. Justifications and case studies from some engineering courses are discussed. Examples from particle and rigid body motions in engineering mechanics course and other related courses are emphasized. In this proposal we introduce a method of simplification of basic concepts in applied engineering sciences. The concept of course project can be utilized to encourage students to apply their basic knowledge on modelling and simulation of some basic topics such as projectile and constrained motions. This proposal has the advantages of communicating concepts in science through the daily use of communication technology among students and instructors. Simulation can attract other students, who find difficulty understanding engineering problems, to the engineering profession. In addition, the new proposal can be applied with no additional cost on the institution, no extra credit hours for students, and a minimum additional load on the instructor.

Effect of Problem-Based Learning on Students’ Academic Achievement in Digital Electronics in Ken Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, Rivers State, South-South, Nigeria

The study investigated the effect of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) on Students’ Academic Achievement in Digital Electronics in Ken Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, Rivers State, South-South, Nigeria. Quasi-experimental pre-test post-test control design was used in the study. The sample of the study comprised 84 Higher National Diploma (HND) final year students of electrical and electronic engineering (Telecommunications and electronics option). Three research questions and one hypothesis were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. The instrument used for data collection was a 20-item Digital Electronics Achievement Test Questionnaire (DEATQ) designed by the researcher and validated by two experts in electrical and electronic engineering from Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Owerri, Imo State. Kuder-Richardson formula was used to obtain the instrument’s reliability coefficient as 0.87. Mean and t-test were used to answer the research questions and test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed among others that problem-based learning enhances students’ academic achievement in Digital Electronics. Consequently, it was recommended among others that engineering technology lecturers in Nigerian polytechnics and universities should use more of PBL and other student-centred teaching strategies in instructional delivery in order to boost students’ achievement in technology-based courses.

Design, implementation, and outcomes of an elective course on preliminary structural biology for undergraduate students majoring in biotechnology.

Biotechnological pharmaceuticals is a key course offered to third-year undergraduates majoring in biotechnology in our university. However, students often experience difficulties in understanding the principles of related technologies. In this study, we developed and implemented an elective course on preliminary structural biology for biotechnology undergraduates, aiming at reinforcing the principles of these technologies by experimental practice. The course was composed of three phases and lasted for 15 weeks, 18 students were randomly divided into six teams and were encouraged to design, prepare, carry out, and conclude a project on their own. The main contents of their project were cloning, expression, purification, and crystal screening of HpaA, a lipoprotein from the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori. Examination scores of biotechnology pharmaceuticals were used to assess learning outcomes. The results showed that students who participated in this course gained higher scores in the final examination, and they performed better on the questions specifically related to the elective course. These results demonstrated that the course enhanced students' understanding of the technologies involved in this course by practical applications. Thus, this elective course was effective in helping biotechnology undergraduates to learn the theory and application of biological technologies, and the experience gained in this course may be useful for other technology-based courses.

Solving Practical Engineering Mechanics Problems: Advanced Kinetics

Abstract Engineering Mechanics is one of the fundamental branches of science which is important for the education of professional engineers regardless of major. Most of the basic engineering course...

Reshaping engineering learning to promote innovative entrepreneurial behavior

Goal: To foster innovative and creative thinking in the curricula of Engineering schools, as well as other technology-based courses, contributing to the innovation ecosystems’ growth and sustainability.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: The research was structured as an exploratory research and was conducted by means of a focus group comprised of representatives from Porto Alegre (RS) working directly with higher education and/or playing key roles within the city’s innovation ecosystem. The group’s discussion was analyzed along with current literature on the topic.
 Results: The paper provides insightful perceptions of the obstacles faced by faculty members when attempting to develop innovative methodologies within classes so that potential partnerships are fostered by agents of the innovation ecosystem in order to better prepare professionals that will later be inserted in this new innovative scenario.
 Limitations of the investigation: The present study is structured as an exploratory research based on a focus group discussion and analysis. Thus, as any qualitative approach, it might lack generalizability, once its purpose is to investigate a specific phenomenon and promote further investigation on the issue. However, all discussion from the focus group was analyzed and supported by extant literature on the topic, in order to mitigate such limitation and strengthen the research relevance.
 Practical implications: The analysis and discussion obtained from both the focus group and literature are imperative on the need of critical changes on universities’ organizational culture to support entrepreneurial activities, as well as fostering partnerships with key agents within innovation ecosystems to better prepare professionals to the new market setting.
 Originality/value: Although some studies investigate the relationship involving universities and Science and Technology Parks, few studies explore how engineering schools’ curricula can benefit from such alliances. Additionally, the present study lists a few hurdles faced by professors during the development of active-based practices, as well as alternative possibilities to overcome resistance in traditional courses.

Development of an innovative technique for teaching and learning of laboratory experiments for engineering courses

The teaching and learning of engineering courses are always challenging due to its complex and abstract nature, and the mathematics involved. With diminishing resources (e.g., continuous funding cut, frequent professional/academic staff career movement, lack of competent professional staff, inadequate laboratory infrastructures), teaching and learning of engineering courses become harder and it is progressively becoming difficult to teach basic engineering courses effectively. As a result, students cannot achieve effective learning outcomes. To overcome these challenges, a three-step teaching approach has been developed to enhance students’ learning outcomes. This approach is cost effective, user-friendly and attractive. The method comprises a real laboratory demonstration video clip, conduction of a real laboratory experiment and a computer simulation/modelling. The developed three-step teaching and learning approach can be applied to any engineering courses.