Industry and engineering education interacting in an interregional project: a Flanders' perspective

The Interreg-IVa 2-Seas project i-MOCCA (“interregional MObility and Competence Centers in Automation”) concentrates on two fast evolving topics in industrial automation: industrial data communication and embedded control [1]. Both require high-end training of practicing engineers in industry and demonstrators illustrating proof-of-principle of emerging technologies. The i-MOCCA project aims to develop competence centers in different universities in the coastal regions of the UK, France and Flanders, Belgium. The project started in July 2011 and ends in September 2014

3D spatio-temporal analysis for compressive sensing in magnetic resonance imaging of the murine cardiac cycle

This thesis consists of two major contributions, each of which has been prepared in a conference paper. These papers will be submitted for publication in the SPIE 2013 Medical Imaging Conference and the ASEE 2013 Annual Conference. The first paper explores a three-dimensional compressive sensing (CS) technique for reducing measurement time in MR imaging of the murine (mouse) cardiac cycle. By randomly undersampling a single 2D slice of a mouse heart at regular time intervals as it expands and contracts through the stages of a heartbeat, a CS reconstruction algorithm can be made to exploit transform sparsity in time as well as space. For the purposes of measuring the left ventricular volume in the mouse heart, this 3D approach offers significant advantages against classical 2D spatial compressive sensing. The second paper describes the modification and testing of a set of laboratory exercises for developing an undergraduate level understanding of Simulink. An existing partial set of lab exercises for Simulink was obtained and improved considerably in pedagogical utility, and then the completed set of pilot exercises was taught as a part of a communications course at the Missouri University of Science and Technology in order to gauge student responses and learning experiences. In this paper, the content of the laboratory exercises with corresponding educational approaches are discussed, along with student feedback and future improvements. --Abstract, page iv

Maintaining a balance at undergraduate degree level in the teaching of automation and classical control systems

Advances in the past decade in the development and application of Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and Automation Systems in both high technology industrial plants and in the more mainstream manufacturing sectors, has heightened the importance of ensuring that undergraduate degree programme syllabi are designed to adequately cater for the teaching and training of students in automation. Prior to this growth in automation, delivered syllabi in Control Systems on most Electrical Engineering programmes had a theoretical rigour, reflecting the mathematical nature of the topic. A major challenge currently facing departmental lecturing staff and programme coordinators is that of the design of balanced programmes in Control and Automation Systems, to adequately reflect the importance of both streams. Owing to the applied nature of automation systems, a move towards a more Problem Based Learning teaching methodology in delivery of modules would seem the preferable way forward. At the same time, design of a balanced programme will require inclusion of sufficiently in-depth modules in classical control and process control, in order that graduates are provided with a good theoretical grounding in the subject, allied to practical hands-on experience in laboratory and project work. In summary, academic staff have the responsibility of providing the educational basis necessary to equip students with the skills required to cater for the needs of industry, while also providing a research arm for students who may wish to advance by way of postgraduate study to higher degrees

Student satisfaction in the context of hybrid learning through sentiment analysis

With the incursion of data science into the academic field and the massification of social networks, it is possible to extract information on student satisfaction that contributes to feedback on teacher teaching strategies and methods. This article aims to determine student satisfaction with teaching performance, through sentiment analysis. Methodologically, the research is of a non-experimental longitudinal design, with a quantitative approach. Data collection was carried out through the social network Twitter, and data analysis was carried out through the sentiment analysis technique. As a result, it was identified that in the first week of class, the highest level of satisfaction was obtained, reaching 96.3% of the total number of students. Meanwhile, in the evaluation weeks, the highest level of dissatisfaction was reaching 29.17%. It is concluded that when going from totally virtual learning to hybrid learning, students express a certain level of dissatisfaction typical of a process of progressive adaptation. Therefore, teachers should take advantage of these findings to redesign assessment rubrics in the context of hybrid teaching. Aspects such as collecting opinions through social networks and extracting a degree of satisfaction through them apply in a crossed way to other professional fields

EduBal: An open balancing robot platform for teaching control and system theory

In this work we present EduBal, an educational open-source hardware and software platform for a balancing robot. The robot is designed to be low-cost, safe and easy to use by students for control education. Along with the robot we present example tasks from system identification as well as SISO and MIMO control. Using Simulink, students can quickly implement their control algorithms on the robot. Individual control parameters can be tuned online while analyzing the resulting behavior in live signal plots. At RWTH Aachen University and ETH Zurich 28 units have so far been built and used in control classes. In first laboratory experiences students show high intrinsic motivation and creativity to apply the studied concepts of control theory to the real system.Comment: Accepted for publication at the 21st IFAC World Congress 202

Improvement of study programs for bachelor’s and master’s studies in Mechatronics in response to the requirements of Industry 4.0

This study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, and these results are parts of the Grant No. 451-03-68/2022-14/200132 with University of Kragujevac - Faculty of Technical Sciences in Čacak.Development in information technology has resulted in revolutionizing all aspects of life and this revolution has been realized as Industry 4.0. A main approach that universities' educational systems may take towards Industry 4.0 is educating students who have the right skill set for reacting to the changes in their working environment, adapting their performance, and learning to cope with technological development. This paper presents the results of the project "Improvement of study programs for bachelor's and master's studies in Mechatronics in response to the requirements of Industry 4.0", which was funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia as a part of program activity "Development of higher education" and performed in the 2020/21 academic year.Publishe

Gamification for Maths and Physics in University Degrees through a Transportation Challenge

Our society is immersed in the Fourth Industrial Revolution due to the fast evolution of the new technologies that are modifying the labor market. In the near future, technologies related to Industry 4.0 will produce totally new goods and services. Therefore, the educational systems should adapt their programs to the future needs of an uncertain labor market. In particular, mathematics will play a key role in future jobs and there is a strong need to connect its teaching methodologies to the new technological scene. This work uses the STEAM approach (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) along with active methodologies and educational robotics with the aim of developing a new strategy for the application of mathematics and physics in an engineering degree. In particular, a transportation challenge is posed to tackle the teaching–learning process of the Bézier curves and their applications in physics. A pilot project is developed using a LEGO EV3 robot and an active methodology, where students become the center of the learning process. The experimental results of the pilot study indicate an increase in the motivation due to the use of robots and the realistic context of the challenge