Integrated Design Project Research Articles

STUDENT PERSPECTIVE IN ExCoS APPROACH IN ELECTRONIC COURSE IN UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA (UTeM)

For students studying electronic engineering, having a firm grasp of the foundations of electronic circuits is essential. This prowess includes both academic and practical components, preparing students for more challenging courses by helping them become resilient. Additionally, having a solid understanding of the fundamentals of electronic circuits equips students to apply their learning in courses that include design components, such as Integrated Design Projects (IDP) and Final Year Projects (PSM). Based on these issues, the Experiential with Cooperative and Service Learning (ExCoS) approach has been designed and implemented in Fundamental Electronic courses in semester 1 2023/2024 at Fakulti Kejuruteraan Elektronik & Kejuruteraan Komputer (FKEKK), UTeM. The ExCoS approach integrates experiential, cooperative, and service-learning theory in this course. As a result of this approach, the achievement percentage of Learning Outcome 1 (LO1) in Fundamental Electronics increased from 83% to 93%. Moreover, this method has nurtured students who are more confident, skilled, and critical thikers attributes that contribute to their future success in the professional realm. According to students’s feedback the ExCoS approach enhances student understanding of basic electronic circuit and boost their communication confidence. Besides, participant from SMK Durian Tunggal have benefited from the service-learning program embedded in this approach. Through this program, students have improved their understanding of fundamental circuit concepts and have been successful in rekindling the students' enthusiasm in the science and technology sector, which has recently received less attention.

Fostering integration of current industry application practices in the final year integrated design project

Fostering integration of current industry application practices in the final year integrated design project

Effective Implementation of Complex Engineering Problems and Complex Engineering Activities in Malaysian Engineering Curricular

Abstract: The Engineering Accreditation Council Standard 2020 requires the stipulated 12 programme outcomes that address complex engineering problems (CEP) and complex engineering activities (CEA) to be incorporated in the engineering programmes. However, the implementation of outcome-based education with regards to CEP and CEA is still in the infancy stage. This study was carried out to give an overview of the implementation of complex engineering problems and activities in Malaysian engineering programmes in relation to the types of assessment used to address CEP and CEA, and the typical weightage and taxonomy level of CEP and CEA employed in these assessments. A survey questionnaire was administered to 256 engineering educators from 25 universities to enquire about the implementation of CEP and CEA in their engineering programmes, particularly in the online teaching and learning during the Covid19 pandemic. The findings showed that most of the programmes addressed complex engineering problems in assignments or projects as compared to final examinations or mid-term tests. Complex engineering activities were found to be addressed in Final Year Project, Industrial Training and Integrated Design Project and laboratory courses. The findings in this study could act as a guideline for educators to enhance the teaching and learning activities incorporating CEP and CEA elements, and hence facilitating the continual quality improvement for an engineering programme.
 
 Keywords: Complex Engineering Problems, Complex Engineering Activity, Engineering Accreditation Council, Outcome-Based Education

CURRICULUM RENEWAL FOR BETTER DESIGN-RELATED STUDENT OUTCOMES IN SECOND-YEAR CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING

The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at UBC is currently undergoing a majorcurriculum renewal with the aim of modernizing the two undergraduate programs it offers to better prepare students for increasingly diverse industries. Part of this initiative aims to introduce design earlier and integrate it throughout the programs. At the core of the new 2nd year curriculum are two new cornerstone courses: CHBE 220 and 221 – Fundamentals of Chemical and Biological Engineering I/II. CHBE 220 is taken in term 1 and replaces a previous classicallystructuredphysical chemistry course and an introductory seminar on process technology. It focuses on basicchemical process design and analysis, drawing from thermodynamics and kinetics as needed to support design topics. CHBE 221, offered in term 2, replaces a previous introductory cell biology course, and focuses on industrial microbiology and bioprocess design, drawing from cell and molecular biology and physical chemistry as needed to support design tasks. Both courses include substantial term-spanning design projects. This paper outlines the content and structure of bothcourses and their place in the updated curriculum. It describes the integrated design projects and other course deliverables. Recommendations for future iterations of the courses are also presented.

CURRICULUM RENEWAL FOR BETTER DESIGN-RELATED STUDENT OUTCOMES IN SECOND-YEAR CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING

The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at UBC is currently undergoing a major curriculum renewal with the aim of modernizing the two undergraduate programs it offers to better prepare students for increasingly diverse industries. Part of this initiative aims to introduce design earlier and integrate it throughout the programs. At the core of the new 2nd year curriculum are two new courses: CHBE 220 and 221 – Fundamentals of Chemical and Biological Engineering I/II. CHBE 220 is taken in term 1 and replaces a previous classically-structured physical chemistry course and an introductory seminar on process technology. It focuses on basic chemical process design and analysis, drawing from thermodynamics and kinetics as needed to support design topics. CHBE 221, offered in term 2, replaces the previous introductory cell biology course, and focuses on industrial microbiology and bioprocess design, drawing from cell and molecular biology and physical chemistry as needed to support design tasks. Both courses include substantial term-spanning design projects. This paper outlines the content and structure of both courses and their place in the updated curriculum. It describes the integrated design projects and other course deliverables. Recommendations for future iterations of the courses are also presented.

Assessment of outcome-based integrated design project

Outcome-Based Education (OBE) implementation is one of the qualifying requirements for engineering programme accreditation in Malaysia. Implementation of the OBE in Integrated Design Project (IDP) is essential in producing high quality engineering graduates that are able to meet the challenges especially in the era of Industry 4.0 in Malaysia. IDP is the course offered to the final year students of undergraduate programme in Faculty of Civil Engineering, University Teknologi MARA. This paper presents the mapping of the addressing Course Outcomes (CO) and Programme Outcomes (PO) to the scopes of assessment in a capstone project (CP) for IDP. The explicitness in the measurement of CO and PO in the course is demonstrated. The rubrics for the assessment of CP are also presented. Finally, evaluation of student performance in IDP particularly CP is discussed through a sample analysis of the CO and PO attainments.

Evaluation of Embedded System Component Utilized in Delivery Integrated Design Project Course

This paper reports the evaluation of the embedded system component utilized in delivering the integrated electronic engineering design project course. The evaluation is conducted based on the report project submitted as to fulfil the assessment criteria for the integrated electronic engineering design project course named; engineering system design. Six projects were assessed in this evaluation. The evaluation covers the type of controller, programming language and the number of embedded component utilization as well. From the evaluation, the C-programming based language is the best solution preferred by the students which provide them flexibility in the programming. Moreover, the Analog to Digital converter is intensively used in the projects which include sensors in their proposed design. As a conclusion, in delivering the integrated design project course, the knowledge over the embedded system solution is very important since the high density of the knowledge acquired in accomplishing the project assigned.

Case Study of a Nearly Zero Energy Building in Italian Climatic Conditions

The building sector is an important stakeholder in the energy and environmental scenario of any country. It continues to grow across the world due to factors such as population growth, and economic and infrastructure development. Within the European Union, buildings account for 40% of the total energy requirements and 30% of carbon dioxide emissions. The building sector is keen to improve its sustainability standards and also to help achieve the 20-20-20 targets set by the European Union. The present work aims to design a nearly zero energy sports gymnasium building in Calolziocorte, Italy. Various sustainability techniques are applied in an integrated design project approach using ECOTECT software to undertake the energy modelling exercise. Firstly, the base-case is modelled with conventional building materials and the total energy demand is calculated. Duly considering the local climatic conditions, sustainable materials are chosen for walls, the floor, the roof, and windows and a 38% reduction is noted in the total energy demand of the building compared to the base-case. The impact of louvers as a passive design technique has also been examined on the total energy demand of the building. The monthly load/discomfort analysis is undertaken for various individual functions inside the building to identify the critical areas that consume more energy. The monthly load/discomfort analysis is performed with the proposed materials and the air infiltration rate is improved through the building envelope and 63% reduction is noted in the total energy demand of the building compared to the base-case. A solar access analysis is conducted to understand the on-site energy production and then the building net energy demand is calculated, which is reduced to 90% compared to the base-case.

Redeveloping Nicosia International Airport: an extroverting Y2 group design project

ABSTRACTThis article follows the timeline of the ‘Nicosia International Airport: The Return’ Integrated Design Project which was undertaken by Year 2 students of Civil Engineering and Geomatics at the Cyprus University of Technology in Cyprus. The Nicosia International Airport was the first and main airport of the Republic of Cyprus since its independence from the British Empire in 1960. The airport remains closed since the Turkish invasion of 1974 and is located in the buffer zone administered by the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus. In this work, the innovative aspects of a project to inspire and train engineering students are highlighted, while special attention is given to the dissemination and outreach of the project through the social media. The attracted attention of national media and the project's impact on the local society had a cyclical effect, further inspiring students to work hard and act as responsible professional engineers. ‘Nicosia International Airport: The Return’ is a case study of how an academic engineering project can have societal impact, by inspiring students, engaging practitioners from a wide spectrum of disciplines, captivating the general public and raising the profile of Civil Engineering in the society.

Teamwork in Integrated Design Projects: Understanding the Effects of Trust, Conflict, and Collaboration on Performance

Teamwork during integrated design projects is complex. We address this by investigating how trust, collaboration, and conflict evolve over time to affect performance. Our results stem from data gathered using validated self-report questionnaires with 38 participants in 5 multidisciplinary teams at three points in time during a 6-week integrated design competition. Results show that without collaboration, trust and conflict have no bearing on performance. In addition to an unambiguous practical outcome—fostering collaboration helps build trust and manage conflict—our study points to theoretical developments: as trust- and conflict-performance relations grow over time, so does collaboration's mediating effect.

THIRD YEAR INTEGRATED DESIGN PROJECT FOR THIRD YEAR CIVIL ENGINEERING STUDENTS

There is a lack of courses for design education in civil engineering curriculum except in fourth year at many Canadian Universities. An innovative approach introduced and implemented by the author to promote design education at the third year using a design competition at the University of Calgary was very successful. Student learned design concepts, applied them in the third year using a real project, integrated several civil engineering deliverables in one project without doing them in a separate course, and gained experience to get ready for their final year design course through this design competition. The eight courses included in the competition comprise all civil engineering aspects including structural, geotechnical, transportation, environmental, construction, material, and project management. The lessons learned by implementing the competition for 2 years, the author suggests a new idea to introduce a third year design project for civil engineering students. The paper discusses the purpose, structure, student participation, deliverables of the new idea.

The use of design practice to teach mathematics and science

Relatively low participation in the hard sciences (mathematics, science, engineering and technology) has become a concern with respect to the capacity of Australia to meet critical infrastructure projects. This problem has its roots in poor student attitudes towards and perceptions about the study of prerequisite subjects including mathematics and science. Perception formation commences early in students’ education where students have claimed that mathematics was not intrinsically useful and was difficult to understand. With this mind, an intervention was planned and implemented in which technology and design practice was used to integrate the study of mathematics so students could produce and explain a useful artefact. The integrated design project included a focus upon instructional and regulatory discourse. Useful integration tools were developed that facilitated positive cognitive discourses such that students demonstrated a functional understanding of mathematical concepts, reported a broader and more applied understanding of the nature of mathematics and a belief that integration had helped them to make more sense of mathematics.

Inspection reliability and periodicity for rail axle inspection

Periodic inspection of railway axles is carried out to avoid axle failures. Analytical methods for determining the periodicity of inspection require knowledge of load conditions, materials properties and inspection reliability. The Wheelset Integrated Design and Maintenance (WIDEM) Project is being carried out to acquire some of this data and to develop methodologies for axle design. An example is given in this paper of the measurement of inspection reliability from a set of 11 cracked axles. The method estimates the POD of the in-situ inspection technique from the response versus size method, the size in this case being measured with Alternating Current Potential Drop (ACPD), phased array ultrasonics and time-offlight diffraction. The results show that useful information is generated by such methods and a further experiment is planned on a different range of axles to obtain wider applicability of the data obtained.

Two Way Integration of Engineering Education through a Design Project

AbstractHorizontal and vertical integration of engineering education is achieved through an early‐design project where students get acquainted with Total Quality Management (TQM) principles and design processes from year‐one of their University education. The project is embedded in the undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum as an activity that involves horizontally several first‐year subjects and vertically a fourth‐year Project Management Practice course and a related Project Management subject. An assessment of the integrated design project indicates that effective teaching and learning spreads through the curriculum, with fourth‐year students acting as project managers and experiencing engineering practice. These management and leadership training processes include a shared responsibility in the organization and in the development of the project, which are key factors for the success of the integrated activity. They are also a first step towards the ETSEQ goal of becoming a sustainable student‐centered educational system.

DEVELOPING INNOVATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS IN UNDERGRADUATES.

Keywords GLASGOW UNIVERSITY DESIGN, INNOVATIVE, SKILLS, PROBLEMS, SOLVING, UNDERGRADUATES, INNOVATION, STUDENTS, EDUCATION, INTEGRATED, PROJECTS, COURSES, CIVIL ENGINEERING, HYDRAULICS, GEOTECHNICS, STRUCTURAL, ANALYSIS, COMMUNICATION, TIME, MANAGEMENT, INFORMATION, TECHNOLOGY, METHODS, POWER STATIONS, HYDROELECTRICITY DRUMJOHN, GALLOWAY, SCOTLAND UK... Show All