Team project work for distance learners in engineering � challenges and benefits

Team Engineering (first presented in autumn 2006) was the first course (module) at the Open University (OU) to use wikis and video-conferencing in combination to support the work of project teams. Teams of five students, working remotely from one another, tackle an engineering project over 32 weeks. The teams schedule regular meetings throughout the project and these are conducted using FlashMeeting, a lightweight video-conferencing system being developed by the OU�s Knowledge Media Institute, KMi (http://flashmeeting.open.ac.uk). Unlike other systems, FlashMeeting requires no software installation. In addition, it not only archives the meetings but also provides detailed analysis of the proceedings. The teams are encouraged to use the wiki facility in the OU�s virtual learning environment (VLE) for their collaborative report-writing. The collective work of the team is assessed through these reports. The performance of the individual is assessed through their reflective account of the project. The archiving facility in FlashMeeting has been of huge help in developing this. For the next presentation of the course a learning journal is to be added to the existing means of support. Feedback from tutors and students alike has been extremely positive, whilst recognising the limitations of the technologies in their current implementations. This paper gives an account of the students� achievements and offers an assessment of the pedagogic potential of using these media together

Team project work for distance learners in engineering – challenges and benefits

Team Engineering (first presented in autumn 2006) was the first course (module) at the Open University (OU) to use wikis and video-conferencing in combination to support the work of project teams. Teams of five students, working remotely from one another, tackle an engineering project over 32 weeks. The teams schedule regular meetings throughout the project and these are conducted using FlashMeeting, a lightweight video-conferencing system being developed by the OU's Knowledge Media Institute, KMi (http://flashmeeting.open.ac.uk). Unlike other systems, FlashMeeting requires no software installation. In addition, it not only archives the meetings but also provides detailed analysis of the proceedings. The teams are encouraged to use the wiki facility in the OU's virtual learning environment (VLE) for their collaborative report-writing. The collective work of the team is assessed through these reports. The performance of the individual is assessed through their reflective account of the project. The archiving facility in FlashMeeting has been of huge help in developing this. For the next presentation of the course a learning journal is to be added to the existing means of support. Feedback from tutors and students alike has been extremely positive, whilst recognising the limitations of the technologies in their current implementations. This paper gives an account of the students' achievements and offers an assessment of the pedagogic potential of using these media together

Competence Monitoring in Project Teams by using Web based portfolio management systems

This paper reports a learning experience related to the acquisition of project management competences. Students from three different universities and backgrounds, cooperate in a common project that drives the learning-teaching process. Previous related works on this initiative have already evaluated the goodness of this multidisciplinary, project-based learning approach in the context of a new educative paradigm. Yet the innovative experience has allowed the authors to define a rubric in order to measure specific competences in project management. The study shows the rubric’s main aspects as well as competence acquisition evaluation alternatives, based in the metrics defined. Key indicators and specific reports obtained from data base fields in the web tool will support this work. As a result, new competences can be assessed, such ones like teamwork, problem solving, communication and leadership. Final goal is to provide an overall competence map to the students at the same time they improve their skills

Activities Based on Wiki Platform for Engineering Higher Education: Students' Point of View

The fast evolution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) introduced a new generation of learners that have been adopted mobile devices and Web 2.0 technologies to get information and communicate. The Web 2.0-based tools, such as blogs, wikis, Facebook, Instagram, etc, offer huge possibilities for collaboration. In this way, the main purpose of this research was plan an activity on wiki platform for Reinforced Concrete discipline in Civil Engineering course and answer the questions: (1) How should collaboration be effectively measured on wiki platform? (2) What is the students' point of view about using wiki platform for a collaboration activity? Wikispaces Classroom platform was chosen for the project because it is a free social writing platform, suitable for collaborative learning. Furthermore it works on modern browsers, tablets, and smart phone. A total of 167 students of Civil Engineering course were monitored on Wikispaces® platform. All students’ actions were analyzed and classified as low, medium or high level of collaboration. At the end of the project 111 students answered a questionnaire and 10 students participated of an informal interview where they expressed their opinion about the platform, the activities and the relationship with online peers. A descriptive statistical analysis of the data collected from the platform and the questionnaires answered by the students was performed. The results indicated that wiki platform is an important way to develop innovative activities and tasks for the purpose of to improve skills of engineering students such as: writing communication, organization, collaboration and critical thinking

Exploiting connectedness in the informatics curriculum

The power of modern communication technology gives us an opportunity, as Informatics educators, to enhance our ability to develop our students' skills in virtual teamworking. We discuss why virtual teamworking is as relevant for students in traditional campus-based universities as it is in a distance learning context. We highlight some of the questions to be answered, and some of the problems to be overcome, in the context of our experiences in designing and delivering a virtual teamworking course at the UK Open University

Using a Cloud Based Collaboration Technology in a Systems Analysis and Design Course

In order to effectively prepare the next generation of IT professionals and systems analysts, it is important to incorporate cloud based online collaboration tools into the coursework for developing the students' cooperative skills as well as for storing and sharing content. For these pedagogical and practical reasons, Google Drive has been used at a medium-sized institution of higher education in New Zealand during the Systems Analysis and Design course. Ongoing and successful use of any learning technology requires gathering meaningful feedback from students, and acting as a mentor during their learning journey. This study has been developed and implemented to help students enjoy the collaborative technology and to help increase their satisfaction and commitment. In order to overcome the obstacles that may prevent students from using Google Drive optimally, an initial survey has been conducted to better understand the influential factors and issues. Furthermore, this study aims at promoting various types of collaboration and sharing: seeing and learning from other students' work, receiving direct suggestions from others, and allowing others to edit documents that belong to them. Following the results of the first quantitative survey, numerous teaching strategies were formulated and implemented. A final qualitative survey was done at the end of the course for students to evaluate their project work. The results of this study also provide original practical and theoretical implications that may be of interest to other researchers, course designers, and teachers

Accelerating the adoption of Industry 4.0 supporting technologies in manufacturing engineering courses

[EN] Universities are one of the fundamental actors to guarantee the dissemination of knowledge and the development of competences related to the Industry of the Future (IoF) or Industry 4.0. Computer Aided (CAX) and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) technologies are key part in the IoF. With this aim, it was launch a project focused on Manufacturing and partially funded by La Fondation Dassault Systèmes. This communication presents a review on CAX-PLM training, four initiatives already in place in universities participating in the project, the project scope, the approach to integrate with the industrial context, the working method to consider different competence profiles and the development framework.The authors express their gratitude to the other project colleagues and to La Fondation Dassault Systèmes for its funding support.Ríos, J.; Mas, F.; Marcos, M.; Vila, C.; Ugarte, D.; Chevrot, T. (2017). Accelerating the adoption of Industry 4.0 supporting technologies in manufacturing engineering courses. MATERIALS SCIENCE FORUM. 903:100-111. https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.903.100S10011190