Undergraduate Engineering Courses Research Articles

A Practical Approach to Incorporating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Practices into Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Courses

A Practical Approach to Incorporating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Practices into Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Courses

Integrating Usability into Software Engineering Course Projects

This study presents a case study of the integration of usability evaluation into the development of task based information system prototypes in undergraduate software engineering course projects within a problem-based learning (PBL) approach. As part of the course, usability evaluation was integrated into the software development process, and the usability evaluation performance (UEP) of the projects was assessed in terms of the following criteria: effectiveness, efficiency and problem validity. It also analyzed the problem solution rate of the projects and their correlation between UEP criteria. Additionally, the study in-depth analyzed the students' final conclusions regarding the design process. The relationship between UEP criteria and the problem solving rate was examined using Spearman correlation analysis. In addition, final conclusions and problem solving behaviors were analyzed through document and thematic analysis techniques. The results supported that there is a significant correlation between usability evaluation criteria and problem solving rate. The main themes that emerged regarding usability problem solving behaviors were navigation design, error handling, database connection, algorithm design, search matching, system-user communication design and others. Final conclusions showed that project teams gained valuable insights into user-centered design, solved critical usability problems and improved their prototype design. It can be concluded that the integration of usability into software engineering education using the above approach contributes to students' understanding of user-centered interaction design.

Mixing fluid mechanics with circus: how the performing arts can enhance learning in an undergraduate engineering course

ABSTRACT Our multifaceted society calls for engineers that are not only experts in their domain, but possess the flexibility to understand adjacent disciplines. The inclusion of the performing arts in engineering curricula has shown potential for cultivating creativity and equipping STEM students with problem-solving abilities. However, the literature offers limited examples of such integration in engineering courses. We present a unique learning experience involving engineering students from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and circus students from Bachelor’s programme in Circus at Stockholm School of the Arts (SKH). Grounded in the concepts of docendo discimus, presentational dimension of circus and reflective thinking, our study aimed to: (1) explore engineering students’ acceptance of an unconventional collaboration with circus peers; and (2) assess the pedagogical value of this collaboration for the engineering students. We highlight challenges and potentialities of this collaboration, to inform educators interested in creative teaching approaches.

Building soft skills through a role-play based approach for Requirements Engineering remote education

Teaching Requirements Engineering requires adopting pedagogical techniques to develop students' technical skills for identifying users' needs and designing software solutions. Additionally, since requirements engineering involves group work, students must cultivate social skills such as communication, empathy, and conflict resolution. In remote learning scenarios, developing these skills becomes more challenging due to limited interaction. To address these needs, this paper proposes adapting a project-based collaborative learning approach for remote education that combines Role-Play and Send-a-Problem learning techniques. In this approach, students collaborate on software projects in teams, assuming two roles: customers and software developers. We evaluated this approach during two cycles of Action Research, conducted remotely in two disciplines of a Software Engineering undergraduate course involving advanced and beginner students, respectively. In the advanced students' class, we observed that the methodology enhanced communication skills, analytical reasoning, conflict resolution, and empathy. To validate these results, we conducted a new study with beginning students, achieving positive outcomes despite the need for more support in team communication. As our primary contribution, we provide guidelines for implementing this collaborative learning approach online.

Students’ perception of the impact of a Geotechnical Engineering field activity on their competences development

The need to develop several students’ competencies is one of the leading challenges for Engineering instructors in undergraduate courses. It has been quite exhausting in many cases, mainly due to the lack of professors’ expertise in engineering education. Case studies may provide examples and help develop professors’ ability to design effective learning experiences. In this context, this paper presents a case study of implementing an in-class/ ex-class activity conducted in the Soil Mechanics-I course at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. Additionally, it aims to discuss students’ perception regarding development of the proposed activity and competences. The activity comprised three phases: selection of Geotechnical Engineering problems on university campus, documentation and analysis of each situation, and presentation of solutions considering technical, environmental, and social aspects. Students’ perceptions were assessed using an anonymous online survey (18 Likert and open-ended questions), divided into three categories: general impressions, competencies development, and open statements. General impressions and competencies development were mostly positive, with deadlines reported as the most challenging aspect. Open questions responses provided positive feedback, emphasizing the main developed competencies, according to students’ perspective (e.g. leadership, interpersonal relationship, and analytical view of the problem). The need of dealing with real problems and work in groups appears to be a successful approach for teaching Geotechnical Engineering courses and developing competences in Engineering undergraduate courses. This case study can support innovation in teaching any engineering course and help students face future professional challenges.

Transmedia storytelling in materials selection design: an interdisciplinary experience with undergraduate engineering students

ABSTRACT This article aims to present our experience with transmedia storytelling in the design of materials selection, integrating two disciplines within an undergraduate mechanical engineering curriculum in Brazil. The students’ project involved developing a narrative within the fictional universe of superheroes while exploring material properties using Ashby’s methodology. The study aimed at answering two key questions: (1) Can transmedia storytelling contribute to student learning and skills development? and (2) What are the difficulties when using this methodology? Three evaluation approaches were used: test scores, students’ perceptions, and our observations of students’ skills development during this project. It was observed that participating students demonstrated significant test score improvements, indicating enhanced learning, with reported challenges in effort and skill development, particularly in story creation and teamwork. Ultimately, this project allowed students to achieve several cognitive learning objectives, fostering the development of crucial skills like communication and problem-solving. The use of transmedia storytelling in undergraduate engineering courses has the potential to facilitate the cultivation of essential competencies for future engineers across a varied range of cognitive levels, albeit requiring considerable time for planning strategies and creating content.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND INDUSTRY 4.0 INTO INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING COURSES

Objective: This article presents a theoretical study of how the concepts of the Circular Economy (CE) and Industry 4.0 (i4.0) can be incorporated and introduced into industrial engineering courses and how they can help the implementation of circular economy business models. Design/methodology/approach: A theoretical analysis was conducted on a set of articles identified through a search based on the combination of keywords 'circular economy,' 'CE,' 'industrial engineering,' 'industrial engineer,' 'i4.0,' and 'Industry 4.0.' Two databases, Scopus and Web of Science, were consulted initially. A total of 29 articles were selected and utilized for the subsequent analysis. Following a comprehensive review of these 29 articles, we sought to determine how the concepts of the circular economy and i4.0 can be integrated into industrial engineering courses and their potential contributions to the implementation of circular economy business models. Results: The paper provides an overview of how the concepts of the CE and i4.0 can be incorporated into the curriculum of undergraduate industrial engineering courses, utilizing an interdisciplinary and cross-cutting approach. Furthermore, it was possible to verify that there is a strong and feasible relationship between the concepts of the circular economy and Industry 4.0. For the effective implementation of these concepts, there is a necessity to train professionals and the use of digital technologies in favor of the circular economy. Originality/value: The paper brings as contribution, the discussion about the importance of incorporating the concept of circular economy and i4.0 into the courses of future engineers, who work mainly in the management of production processes and management of resources. This is a theoretical study, not an empirical one, and perhaps this is the main limitation of the research. However, despite being theoretical, it brings as a practical contribution an important discussion about the need to train professionals, even in their undergraduate training, and the use of digital technologies in favor of the circular economy.

Utilizing Online Quiz Assessment Tool to Provide Timely, Guided Feedback During COVID-19 Pandemic

The provision of timely feedback with useful guidance towards the correct solution is very important within the learning process of higher education students. This paper describes an implementation of timely feedback in a 3rd year electrical engineering undergraduate course, Communication Principles (SKEE 3533) that was carried out during COVID-19 pandemic. Given the substantial depth of this course syllabus, it is important that students receive sufficient feedback on their understandings on current topic before moving to the next. The implementation of this assessment technique is carried out using online quiz assessment through Google quiz platform. Two types of guided explanation are given in the feedback: text explanation for simple, conceptual based questions, and video explanation for design and calculation-based questions. For the latter, YouTube platform is used to perform the video-based explanation. Study on student feedbacks was carried out using a routine, official university’s survey while the impact on student performances was analysed based on their acquired grades in the SKEE3533 course. Findings demonstrate positive outcomes from the routine university survey and course grades which revealed the method’s potential in improving student satisfactions and performances on the assessment aspect of teaching component.

Chemical residues that originate from a higher education institution in Brazil

In 2018, a research study was conducted at a Public University in Brazil to investigate the quantity of chemical residues produced during laboratory activities in undergraduate engineering courses. Data was collected from control documents maintained by the institution responsible for recording waste quantities. The results showed that 383.2 liters of solutions were generated with varying compositions. Inorganic solutions without heavy metals produced the highest volume of waste, while halogenated organic solutions produced the smallest. The study highlights the need for better waste segregation and disposal methods to reduce laboratory waste. To minimize the environmental impact of laboratory activities, implementing measures such as proper waste storage, waste exchange, recycling, reverse logistics, and life cycle assessment is essential. Educational institutions need to develop better waste management practices to reduce the amount of waste in landfills.

Introducing Indigenous Perspectives on Data Sovereignty in Engineering Education

We live in a data-driven world, and decisions of technology developers impact how the world uses technology. But the education system does not address data sovereignty. This is more relevant in New Zealand, with M?ori data sovereignty being a concern. In engineering education, ethical aspects of technology are taught from a western perspective. This paper describes a different approach used recently in an undergraduate engineering course, where an indigenous perspective was integrated with the predominant western view. Electrical and Digital Systems is a course taken by all engineering students at the University of Auckland. This course teaches the engineering perspective on how data is collected and processed, and hence is the perfect point to introduce the indigenous data sovereignty perspectives. Student feedback received so far supports the success of this introduction. This also prepares our future workforce to be competent to incorporate indigenous world views in engineering decisions.

Network Analytics to Unveil Links of Learning Strategies, Time Management, and Academic Performance in a Flipped Classroom

Preparatory learning tasks are considered critical for student success in flipped classroom courses. However, less is known regarding which learning strategies students use and when they use those strategies in a flipped classroom course. In this study, we aimed to address this research gap. In particular, we investigated mutual connections between learning strategies and time management, and their combined effects on students’ performance in flipped classrooms. To this end, we harnessed a network analytic approach based on epistemic network analysis (ENA) to analyze student trace data collected in an undergraduate engineering course (N = 290) with a flipped classroom design. Our findings suggest that high-performing students effectively used their study time and enacted learning strategies mainly linked to formative and summative assessment tasks. The students in the low-performing group enacted less diverse learning strategies and typically focused on video watching. We discuss several implications for research and instructional practice.

Machine learning in chemical engineering: Hands-on activities

A set of hands-on activities, that were proposed in an introduction course to machine learning in a Chemical Engineering undergraduate course, are presented. The activities aimed to introduce basic concepts of unsupervised learning (e.g., clustering) and supervised learning (e.g., classification and regression). Google Colaboratory, a cloud service provided by Google for free to promote research in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, was used to develop these activities, but the proposed activities can be run similarly in a local Python environment. The datasets used in the activities are publicly available on websites such as Kaggle and University of California (UCI), and a specific example in chemical engineering for the ore grinding process was also used. The student's response to the ML topic within the course was very positive.

MOOC-Based Flipped Classroom for On-Campus Teaching in Undergraduate Engineering Courses

<italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Contribution:</i> This work studies how to integrate massive open online courses (MOOCs) into traditional, face-to-face, Undergraduate Engineering Courses. <p xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <i>Background:</i> MOOCs emerged as an innovative trend in online learning with distinctive and attractive features, such as ease of access and cost effectiveness for large audiences. For this reason, they have attracted a lot of attention for their potential in contributing to global challenges in contemporary Engineering education. However, the integration of MOOCs into traditional, on-campus courses and programs in higher education remains an open problem. <p xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <i>Research Question:</i> What is the most effective MOOC-blending strategy for traditional, on-campus engineering programs? <p xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <i>Methodology:</i> To answer this question, first a literature review was conducted on the utilization of MOOCs within face-to-face Undergraduate Education. Based on this literature review, this work advocates for the MOOC-based flipped (MBF) classroom as the strategy with the highest potential for MOOC-based blending. The main pedagogical and design principles of this methodology are described and a case study is presented on a cohort of students (<i>N</i> <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$~=~$</tex-math> </inline-formula>23) enrolled in a Digital Signal Processing course within an Undergraduate Electronics Engineering Program. This is a position paper based on evidence from the literature, but the case study is used to illustrate how the MBF design principles can be implemented in practice. <p xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <i>Findings:</i> The results suggest that the MBF methodology is a growing trend in Undergraduate Engineering Education with the potential to facilitate student’s active learning in synchronous face-to-face sessions while fostering the adoption and usage of MOOCs.

Instructional model for teaching blended math-science sensemaking in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math courses using computer simulations

Instructional model for teaching blended math-science sensemaking in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math courses using computer simulations

Design and implementation of a portable heat exchanger kit in an undergraduate engineering heat and mass transfer course

A compact and cost-effective heat exchanger kit was successfully designed, built, and implemented in an undergraduate pharmaceutical engineering course on heat and mass transfer. The kit consists of a control box (dimensions: 160 mm x 180 mm x 98 mm) and a plate heat exchanger measuring 120 mm x 180 mm, along with various accessories. By utilizing affordable electronics and mechanical components, we were able to create 25 kits (cost: ∼USD$320/kit) that facilitate immersive hands-on learning experiences. In this study, the heat exchanger kit was incorporated into laboratory sessions. After the end of the sessions, a student survey was administered to gather feedback from all 71 participants. Students’ perceptions towards the kit in aiding their understanding of heat transfer principles was assessed. The survey results clearly indicated that the practical engagement with the heat exchanger kit had a positive influence on the students' comprehension and visualization of how heat exchanger systems work. Students recognized its representation of an industrial heat exchanger operation and its efficacy in enhancing their understanding and visualization of heat exchangers. By considering the encouraging outcomes and the positive feedback obtained from the students, we are motivated to continue utilizing the heat exchanger kit for future cohorts.

Development of 3D models with augmented reality for steel and reinforced concrete structure subjects

In the academic sphere of undergraduate Civil Engineering courses, students find it difficult to abstract three-dimensional visualisations from two-dimensional images presented in project documentation. The aim of this article is therefore to present an alternative to assist in the teaching and learning process of steel and reinforced concrete structural design content. Three-dimensional models of steel connections and reinforced concrete structural elements were developed with functionality for the application of Augmented Reality (AR). The models were developed in Revit software and exported to the Sketchfab platform, where it is possible to use the AR feature via an application. Additional information, such as texts, can be added to the models, which expands the possibilities for developing didactic activities. Both tools used proved to be very suitable for the purpose of developing digital objects for teaching engineering.

An Example of Using Collaborative Online International Learning for Petroleum and Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Courses

This work describes an international collaboration experience carried out between our process design and petroleum property evaluation courses. This collaboration was developed as part of a partnership between the American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK) in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, and Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, United States of America, using a program called Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) from the State University of New York (SUNY) system. The COIL program provides training to faculty on engaging students in international and cross-disciplinary projects to promote skills needed in the current work force. The COIL training meetings facilitated pairing faculty of different disciplines in different parts of the world and provided a structure for developing a collaborative project. The collaborative project that we undertook in fall 2021, and which we detail throughout this article, was titled Upstream and Downstream of Petroleum Economics.

Knowledge about foodborne pathogens and PCR‐based microbial detection methods among Brazilian students and professionals: A survey

AbstractPolymerase chain reaction (PCR) is widely used in several research areas and routine laboratory analyses, including foodborne pathogens detection. We aimed to investigate the knowledge about PCR‐based methods and foodborne pathogens among undergraduate and graduate Brazilian students and professionals. A cross‐sectional survey was carried out using an online questionnaire as data collection method. The questionnaire was validated and distributed through email and social networks. Data from 1246 respondents was collected. The knowledge scores were verified by correspondence analysis and discussed, 75.8% of the participants answered that they knew a foodborne pathogen and 71.4% of the participants answered that they did not study molecular biology techniques during undergraduate course. The highest level of knowledge was found among professionals with Masters' and PhD degrees. In conclusion, participants are not knowledgeable about PCR‐based methods and the level of academic training influences the knowledge of analytical foundations. Most participants did not study PCR and its application in detecting foodborne pathogens during undergraduate course. We suggested that undergraduate courses in Food Engineering and in Food Science and Technology include mandatory molecular biology classes in academic programs.

Breaking the mold: Study strategies of students who improve their achievement on introductory biology exams.

Students' use of learning strategies (i.e., what students do when studying) is linked to their achievement in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses, and several study strategies have been individually associated with course and exam grades in multiple contexts. In this study, we surveyed students in a learner-centered, large-enrollment introductory biology course about their study strategies. We aimed to identify groups of strategies that students often reported together, possibly reflecting broader approaches to studying. Exploratory factor analysis revealed three groups of study strategies frequently co-reported (which we named housekeeping strategies, use of course materials, and metacognitive strategies). These strategy groups map onto a model of learning that associates specific suites of strategies to phases of learning, which correspond to different levels of cognitive and metacognitive engagement. Consistent with previous work, only some study strategies were significantly associated with exam scores: students reporting higher use of course materials and of metacognitive strategies earned higher scores on the first course exam. Students who improved on the subsequent course exam reported increasing their use of housekeeping strategies and of course materials. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of students' approaches to studying in introductory college biology and of the relationships between study strategies and achievement. This work may support instructors in adopting intentional classroom practices to foster students' development as self-regulated learners, able to identify expectations and criteria for success and to implement appropriate and effective study strategies.

Development of an Educational Fuel Cell System for Mechanical Engineering Course

Although there is growth in electrochemical system applications such as batteries and fuel cells to power land and air transportation and the current push for hydrogen technology, modeling and control design of thermal and power aspects of such systems is not commonly taught. To incorporate such content, an educational learning hardware system with software interface had been constructed to teach process dynamics and control in selected undergraduate mechanical engineering courses. Given a fuel cell is an energy conversion unit that uses chemical fuel to produce electricity without combustion, a set of student groups developed an educational laboratory system that ensured reliable and consistent power delivery from fuel cell as well as stable hydrogen production using cost-effective and off-the-shelf resources. A 100W Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) system was constructed through integration of hardware components, and user software interface like MATLAB for accessibility and ease of use in a laboratory course setting. The interface accessed remotely or face-to-face allowed for flow rate, pressure, and temperature measurements to be recorded for student analysis related to understanding of thermal and power performance and management of fuel cell and/or electrolyzer at different operating conditions. The system performed well based on initial testing by a pilot group of other students. It will be implemented in an upcoming course offering related to energy conversion and/or thermal fluid laboratory.