Balancing e-lectures with podcasts: a case study of an undergraduate engineering module

The work described in this paper is based on an engineering module that has run for six years (each academic year since 2004). The module is run online although the learners are campus-based students. This has provided an unusual opportunity to compare the same students’ experiences of on-campus and online courses. The course comprises a rich online environment including e-lectures, podcasts, video clips, website links, animations, background reading, formative quizzes, summative assignments and discussion boards. The e-lectures comprise a PowerPoint-like screen with a spoken audio track and other facilities, including a rolling transcript, video controls (for stopping, pausing and rewinding) and a search facility. Each e‑lecture is short (a maximum of ten minutes) and links to some of the learning materials (e.g. video clips and formative quizzes). The podcasts are mp3 audio files, each lasting approximately ten minutes, and are produced weekly and published through the virtual learning environment. This paper presents a pedagogical model that has been designed to develop a structure for combining these virtual learning elements and considers some of the opportunities provided by such innovative approaches for the enhancement of engineering teaching at undergraduate level. It presents research findings on student learning outcomes and provides suggestions for adopting the design for learning model presented in the paper

Online Teaching and Assessment Practices using Project Based Approach (Effective Learning with Peers)

Literate population is an important asset for any nation & plays a crucial role while representing the country at internationals. Education makes the backbone of the society, which reveals the skills, knowledge and behaviour transferred from one generation to the next generation. During COVID 19 pandemic, major changes can be seen in the education system. Class room teaching is replaced by an online teaching model to facilitate the students to continue their education. Online teaching methods were adopted by the teachers to maintain the students\u27 learning at all levels. The pandemic has resulted in a change of teaching patterns from traditional classrooms to digital pedagogies. The teaching has become more student oriented rather than on-way teaching methods. These new innovative and active learning practices for teaching pedagogy have enabled the smart teachings for the Education era. The main actor for the Project-based learning is a student, where he/she explores the real-world difficulties for a problem and thus acquires a deeper knowledge by having active learning. The lockdown has actually unlocked multiple prospects to study various online tools for the ultimate stakeholders and facilitators. The purpose of this paper is to present the Online Teaching Learning Model considering Project Based Learning (PrjBL)/ Problem-Based Learning (PBL) for the course “Business Intelligence” as an example to discuss the design of teaching process and problems with engineering students. The proposed teaching pedagogy has evolved with experimental, flexible, peer-learning, learner-centred, discussion-based, knowledge sharing with fun. Thus, the Outcome Based Education (OBE) has effectively improved the teaching and learning skills of students as well as facilitators in this advanced Education Era

Engineering fundamentals in a new undergraduate curriculum

CONTEXT In recent years there has been a push in Engineering education to change the basic model fromstudents learning discrete subjects, followed by design projects in third and fourth year, to learningand practicing the design process from the first year. At the same time, there has also been a pushtowards “active learning” (Prince, 2004) as opposed to the more traditional lecture/tutorial/practicalapproach. This year, Deakin University has launched a new design-centred curriculum inundergraduate engineering. Named “Project-Oriented Design-Based Learning” (PODBL), the newcourse structure is running in first and second years. In semester one of first year in the new course,students enrol in one double-unit of design, one unit of maths, and one unit of fundamental science.PURPOSE This work seeks to determine whether a new fundamental-science unit called “EngineeringFundamentals” fulfils the educational needs of first-year students in the PODBL curriculum. It alsoseeks to determine student perceptions of the new unit.APPROACH The unit was first offered in semester-one, 2016 to two separate on-campus cohorts and an offcampuscohort. Innovations in this unit include using the CADET model for teaching combinedpractical-tutorial seminars, a shift in lectures from delivering conceptual content to teaching problemsolving and applications (flipping the classroom), and extensive use of online videos and study guidesfor delivering primary content (Cloud Learning). Student learning was assessed by means of problembasedonline quizzes, practical reports, and a final exam. Student perceptions were queried by astandard unit-evaluation system and by a more focussed set of surveys given to students in threeseparate cohorts.RESULTS The academic results in this unit were compared with those in the previous unit. No substantialdifferences were observed in the marks of this unit in 2016 compared with the 2015 marks of thecorresponding previous physics unit. On-campus students showed more general satisfaction with theunit than did off-campus students. However, not all on-campus students were happy with the flippedclassroommodel.CONCLUSIONS As the course changes from a traditional approach to a design and project-based approach, it is best ifall units in the course adapt in some way to the new teaching style. Not all units need be completelyproject or design based. In the case of “Engineering Fundamentals,” we believe that due to the widevariety of topics covered, making the entire unit design-based is inappropriate. However, some designand project components can be built into the unit via the practicals. Semester one 2016 was asuccessful first offering of the unit. We recommend that in future years a design/project component beconsidered for the unit’s practicals

Mathematical Modeling of Lithium-ion Batteries and Improving Mathematics Learning Experience for Engineering Students

Increase in the world’s energy consumption along with the environmental impacts of conventional sources of energy (gas, petroleum, and coal) makes the shift to clean energy sources unavoidable. To address the energy needs of the world, using clean energy sources would not provide the sufficient answer to the world’s energy issues if it is not accompanied by developing energy storage systems that are capable of storing energy efficiently. Lithium-ion batteries are the main energy storage devices that are developed to satisfy the ever-growing energy needs of the modern world. However, there are still important features of Li-ion battery systems (such as the battery microstructural effects) that need to be studied to a broader extent. In this regard, some of the battery microstructural phenomena, such as the formation of solid electrolyte interface, is believed to be the main reason behind battery degradation and drop in performance. Previous studies have focused on the experimental and computational investigation of micro- and macro- structural features of the Li-ion battery; however, further study is needed to focus on incorporating the effects of microscale features of the Li-ion batteries into the total response of the battery system. In the present work, the details of developing a multiscale mathematical model for a Li-ion battery system is explained, and a multiscale model for the battery system is developed by employing variational multiscale modeling method. The developed model is capable of considering the effects of the battery microstructural features (e.g., the random shape of the active material particles) on the total battery performance. In the developed multiscale framework, the microstructural effects are accounted for in the governing equations of the battery macroscale with the help of Green’s function and variational formulation. This part of the present work provides a clear framework for understanding the details and process of developing a multiscale mathematical model for a Li-ion battery system. Learning mathematics is essential in engineering education and practice. With increasing number of students and emergence of online/distance learning programs, it is critical to look for new approaches in teaching mathematics that different in content development and design. Special consideration should be in place in designing an online program for teaching mathematics to ensure students’ success and satisfaction in the engineering curriculum. Previous investigations studied the effects of enrolling in online programs on students’ achievement. However, more implementations of such educational frameworks are needed to recognize their shortcomings and enhance the quality of online learning programs. In addition, the idea of the blended classroom should be put into practice to a further extent to ensure the high-quality development of online instructional content. In this work, an online learning program was provided for engineering students enrolled in an introductory engineering mechanics course. Online interactive instructional modules were developed and implemented in the targeted engineering course to cover prerequisite mathematical concepts of the course. Students with access to the developed online learning modules demonstrated improvement in their learning and recommended employing such modules to teach fundamental concepts in other courses. This part of the work improves the understanding of the development process of the online learning modules and their implementation in lecture-based classrooms

An information literacy integration model and its application in higher education

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a model for curricular integration of information literacy for undergraduate programs in higher education. Design/methodology/approach - Data are drawn from individual interviews at three universities in Australia and curricular integration working experience at a New Zealand university. Sociocultural theories are adopted in the research process and in the development of the model, Findings - Key characteristics of the curriculum integration of information literacy were identified and an information literacy integration model was developed. The S2J2 key behaviours for campus-wide multi-partner collaboration in information literacy integration were also identified. Research limitations/implications - The model was developed without including the employer needs. Through the process of further research, the point of view of the employer on how to provide information literacy education needs to be explored in order to strengthen the model in curricular design. Practical implications - The information literacy integration model was developed based on practical experience in higher education and has been applied in different undergraduate curricular programs. The model could be used or adapted by both librarians and academics when they integrate information literacy into an undergraduate curriculum from a lower level to a higher level. Originality/value - The information literacy integration model was developed based on recent PhD research. The model integrates curriculum, pedagogy and learning theories, information literacy theories, information literacy guidelines, people and collaborative together. The model provides a framework of how information literacy can be integrated into multiple courses across an undergraduate academic degree in higher education

EU–originated MOOCs, with focus on multi- and single-institution platforms

No abstract available

All hands on deck: CREWED for technology-enabled learning

The University of New South Wales’ (UNSW’s) Faculty of Engineering is introducing a new process for designing and developing blended and fully online (distance) courses, as part of action research to support curriculum renewal. The process, referred to as CREWED (Curriculum Renewal and E-learning Workloads: Embedding in Disciplines), is being used to develop key courses that add flexibility to student progression pathways. By integrating the design of learning activities with the planning and organization of teaching and support work, CREWED addresses some of the known barriers to embedding innovative use of learning technologies within disciplines. CREWED incorporates key features of two course development models from the UK, one emphasising team building and the other emphasising pedagogical planning. It has been piloted in priority curriculum development projects, to ensure that the disciplinary organizational context is supportive. One pilot is a fully online distance version of a postgraduate course. The other is a blended version of an undergraduate course. Both are core (required) courses in accredited professional engineering degree programs and were previously available only in face-to-face mode. The UNSW pilots have confirmed the importance of articulating clear pedagogical models, and of planning ahead for the resources required to put these models into practice, as part of departmental capacity building, especially where teaching has primarily been treated as an individual classroom-based activity that competes with disciplinary research for academic staff time and resources

Faculty and student feedback of synchronous distance education in a multi-university learning consortium

The Texas Learning Consortium (TLC) began as a partnership between the foreign language departments at 5 small, private, liberal arts universities, where each specializes in a small number of different world languages to increase the course offerings to their students without the expense of adding additional faculty on every campus. Each university offers their language courses to consortium students in a real-time, interactive, distance education format. In Fall 2017, the consortium expanded beyond foreign languages, and the first engineering course, Statics, was offered in this synchronous, distance format. As background, this paper will provide an overview of the technology used in the classrooms and some of the administrative obstacles that were overcome in scheduling, registration and information technology. The paper will also reflect on the impact of this particular technological implementation on various teaching styles in both foreign language and engineering courses, especially compared to other distance engineering education in the literature, with a purpose of analyzing the model’s suitability for expansion into other engineering courses or a fully accredited consortium based engineering program. Student and faculty satisfaction surveys will additionally provide insight as to whether this distance format is the right fit for campuses used to high-touch learning environments.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Walking Through the Method Zoo: Does Higher Education Really Meet Software Industry Demands?

Software engineering educators are continually challenged by rapidly evolving concepts, technologies, and industry demands. Due to the omnipresence of software in a digitalized society, higher education institutions (HEIs) have to educate the students such that they learn how to learn, and that they are equipped with a profound basic knowledge and with latest knowledge about modern software and system development. Since industry demands change constantly, HEIs are challenged in meeting such current and future demands in a timely manner. This paper analyzes the current state of practice in software engineering education. Specifically, we want to compare contemporary education with industrial practice to understand if frameworks, methods and practices for software and system development taught at HEIs reflect industrial practice. For this, we conducted an online survey and collected information about 67 software engineering courses. Our findings show that development approaches taught at HEIs quite closely reflect industrial practice. We also found that the choice of what process to teach is sometimes driven by the wish to make a course successful. Especially when this happens for project courses, it could be beneficial to put more emphasis on building learning sequences with other courses