Design and development of practical instruction for freshmen engineering students in a renewable energy course

Conference ProceedingsTechnical competence and problem solving skills are key graduate attributes that engineering students must develop, especially within a practical laboratory. A new specialized course in renewable energy was introduced at the beginning of 2014 at the Central University of Technology, with the main purpose of addressing this goal. The purpose of this research is to describe the design and development of relevant practical instruction which was introduced into one of the solar energy modules, termed Solar Energy Systems II. This module forms part of the curriculum of the new renewable energy course. The backward curriculum design method was applied in developing the practical instruction. Five learning outcomes were specified while three assessment strategies were selected, including oral presentations, written laboratory reports (headings include the experimental question, hypothesis, materials, procedure, observations, data, conclusion and reflections) and a final written class test. Two main pedagogical methods were used involving authentic learning and computer-based learning, while lectures, group work, videos and a learning management system were also used. A questionnaire was finally used to obtain student feedback on the practical instruction. Students indicated that the practical work was enjoyable (92%), relevant to the theory (83%), and a valuable learning experience (97%). This practical instruction has given freshmen engineering students the opportunity to demonstrate their acquisition of important graduate attributes that may help them to contribute to the socio-economic development of South Africa

Student Voices regarding Practical Instruction in a Solar Energy Course indicates Student Satisfaction

Published Conference ProceedingsWithin higher education, student voices or perceptions are useful in measuring effective instruction and are important to evaluate the nature and quality of educational interventions. Student voices are often considered in determining whether student academic satisfaction exists with regard to the quality of engineering education being offered. The question thus arises “What does student voices say regarding practical instruction offered in a Solar Energy course at the Central University of Technology in South Africa”. Research has shown that voices of undergraduate engineering students indicated that they really enjoy practical work scheduled in a laboratory, thereby indicating a measure of student satisfaction. However, this was reported on only for students in an electronic communications course, with fewer results published for undergraduate engineering students in other disciplines at a university of technology. The purpose of this paper is to consider student voices regarding practical instruction offered in a Solar Energy course at a university of technology. An exploratory case study is employed along with descriptive statistics for the quantitative data relating to the student voices. An electronic response system was used in a classroom environment to listen to student voices relating to the practical work done in the laboratory. These student voices did confirm that many of the students felt that the practical work was beneficial, relevant and practical in helping them apply new knowledge in solving engineering problems, resulting in a measure of student satisfaction. This has the potential to result in the retention of the best and brightest students from among these participants for future postgraduate studies which will most likely involve more intensive laboratory work

Digital assessment of individual engineering assignments in mass courses

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Undergraduate Student Perceptions Regarding the Use of Educational Technology – A Case Study in a Statistics Service Course

Published ArticleIntegrating theory with practice has become a mandatory requirement for universities of technology. Using educational technology to supplement traditional pedagogical approaches has contributed significantly to achieving this mandate. However, which educational technologies could help improve the educational experience of students in a statistical service course? This research uses an exploratory design, where one large group of undergraduate students were polled using a questionnaire as the main data collection tool. Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint presentations were viewed as a very good supplemental educational tool, while YouTube clips, myVUT (institutional learning management system using Sakai) and the business/financial calculator were not fully utilised by the students. However, the majority of students selected the prescribed textbook as the most useful educational tool in understanding first year statistics, as it was a locally published textbook with many native examples. A blend of all these educational technologies helped to enrich student understanding and satisfaction in learning statistical concepts

Freshman African engineering student perceptions on academic feedback – A case study from Digital Systems 1

Conference ProceedingsProviding effective and quality feedback to students in higher education has been identified as an integral part of quality teaching by many researchers in the field of education. However, student perceptions vary drastically as to what they perceive academic feedback to really be. Therefore, this paper aims to present freshman engineering student perceptions of academic feedback from an African perspective. The reason for targeting this group is due to their high dropout rate in higher education in South Africa (around 60%). Quantitative data was collected from freshman engineering students enrolled for a module termed Digital Systems 1 at the Central University of Technology in South Africa. A questionnaire was used as the main data collection instrument featuring 21 close ended questions. The results presented in this paper indicate that almost two-thirds (65%) of the respondents believe that a “grade” written on a test script does not constitute academic feedback. The majority of the respondents (76%) expect some kind of academic feedback regarding their work, either in writing or orally from their lecturer. A good majority (86%) of students perceived that getting written comments on their assessments would encourage them to approach the lecturer to seek further clarification. A key recommendation of this study is to find a mechanism or technique of providing constructive feedback to all enrolled students, even in large classes. This needs to be done from the outset of the module in order to reduce the current high dropout rates among freshman engineering students

Freshman African engineering student perceptions on academic feedback – A case study from Digital Systems 1

[EN] Providing effective and quality feedback to students in higher education has been identified as an integral part of quality teaching by many researchers in the field of education. However, student perceptions vary drastically as to what they perceive academic feedback to really be. Therefore, this paper aims to present freshman engineering student perceptions of academic feedback from an African perspective. The reason for targeting this group is due to their high dropout rate in higher education in South Africa (around 60%). Quantitative data was collected from freshman engineering students enrolled for a module termed Digital Systems 1 at the Central University of Technology in South Africa. A questionnaire was used as the main data collection instrument featuring 21 close ended questions. The results presented in this paper indicate that almost two-thirds (65%) of the respondents believe that a “grade” written on a test script does not constitute academic feedback. The majority of the respondents (76%) expect some kind of academic feedback regarding their work, either in writing or orally from their lecturer. A good majority (86%) of students perceived that getting written comments on their assessments would encourage them to approach the lecturer to seek further clarification. A key recommendation of this study is to find a mechanism or technique of providing constructive feedback to all enrolled students, even in large classes. This needs to be done from the outset of the module in order to reduce the current high dropout rates among freshman engineering students.Kuriakose, R. (2017). Freshman African engineering student perceptions on academic feedback – A case study from Digital Systems 1. En Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Higher Education Advances. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 42-64. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD17.2017.4823OCS426

Student Voices regarding Practical Work done in a Mechanical Engineering Laboratory reveals Satisfaction!

Published Conference ProceedingsStudents can validly comment on the quality of teaching as they directly experience it and their comments are important to evaluate the nature and quality of educational interventions. The purpose of this paper is to consider student voices regarding practical instruction offered in a Mechanical Engineering laboratory, as this may indicate student satisfaction with the course material. An exploratory study is employed along with descriptive statistics involving quantitative analysis of the collected data. The target population is restricted to undergraduate engineering students enrolled during 2014, who completed a questionnaire survey using an electronic response system. Results indicate that the students perceived the practical experiments conducted in a laboratory to be enjoyable, beneficial, challenging and relevant to the theory covered in a classroom. These results further suggest that students are being exposed to practical work that may contribute to the development of practical skills and graduate attributes required of students to add value to the socio-economic development of South Africa

Using Problem-Based Learning to Stimulate Entrepreneurial Awareness Among Senior African Undergraduate Students

Published ArticleLiterature states that entrepreneurial awareness is required in countries where entrepreneurship is neither publicized nor acclaimed, which is currently the situation in South Africa. Entrepreneurial skills include the ability to market one’s product by means of a sales poster while problem-based learning is viewed as fundamental to entrepreneurial education. The research question arises “How may academics use problem-based learning to stimulate entrepreneurial awareness among senior African undergraduate students?” The purpose of this article is to present a practical assignment which was designed to help students think about entrepreneurship while engaging in problem-based learning. Engineering students were asked to help resolve the problem of poor television reception in the Vaal Triangle community by designing and constructing a specific antenna and then designing a sales poster to market their product. Quantitative and qualitative data reveals that students are able to engage in problem-based learning in engineering, but lack the ability to design an effective sales poster which forms part of entrepreneurial skills. Results further reveal that students were able to meet the learning outcomes for this practical assignment and really enjoyed the problem-based learning approach

The Use of an Innovative Jig to Stimulate Awareness of Sustainable Technologies among Freshman Engineering Students

Published ArticleRenewable energy systems, such as photovoltaic (PV) systems, still require a great deal of research and development in order to improve efficiency, reduce overall manufacturing costs, and to become more sustainable in the future. Solar power production using PV modules has increased and is currently one of the fastest growing energy technologies worldwide, leading to speculation that it will be the main source of electrical power in future. This on-going research and implementation of PV modules and systems necessitates the effective training of technicians, technologists and engineers required to install, maintain or interface with these systems. The Department for Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering at the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) in South Africa has implemented a Higher Certificate in Renewable Energy Technologies (HCRET) in January 2014. The purpose of this article is to outline a practical innovative jig that was used to stimulate awareness and understanding of the fundamental operating principles of one specific sustainable technology, namely PV modules. Electronic measurements from this innovative jig are obtained by using an ARDUINO UNO board which interfaces with LabVIEW. Student perceptions of using this innovative jig are further presented, which indicate that the practical experiments were satisfying, challenging, relevant and applicable to PV module operation

Reflecting on the balance between theory and practical grades of engineering students — A case study

Conference ProceedingsUniversities of Technology must enable students to acquire the necessary knowledge (theory), workplace skills (practice), and graduate attributes (theory and practice) needed to meet the needs of industry, business and community. Reflective practice may involve the thoughtful consideration of an academics own experiences in enhancing the fusion of theory and practice in an engineering curriculum. This fusion is currently an important criterion for Universities of Technology who may face increased pressure to improve their throughput rates. This paper aims to answer the following research question: “What balance currently exists between the practical and theoretical success of undergraduate students in a number of different engineering disciplines at a University of Technology”? Reflecting on the current balance that exists and its implications may assist academics in changing their pedagogy to include more effective ways of fusing theory and practice. A post-facto study is employed along with descriptive statistics involving quantitative analysis of the collected data. Results do indicate that undergraduate engineering students are more adept at completing the practical assessments scheduled in a laboratory, suggesting that more time on practice should be scheduled along with practical experiments that promote critical thinking and problem solving skills