Gathering Together: Engaging Students with Remote Access to Live Lectures

In Summer 2014, Dr. Vale ran a pilot summer session of a second year engineering course at the University of Guelph. To provide accessibility for students who were away from campus (for example, due to co-op), the lectures were live streamed using Adobe Connect (audio and screen capture, but no room video). A live chat was also implemented, enabling active class participation for those students accessing the course remotely. Approximately 20 students attended live and 40 attended remotely. An REB was obtained, and the class was surveyed to assess the effectiveness of the remote access to the lectures, the influence of employment on taking the course, efficacy of holding courses during the summer semester, and the impact of this method of delivery on their learning. From this investigation, increased attendance to lectures showed improved student performance, regardless of the method of attendance. Overall, the students appreciated the remote access and the online in-class chat forum and found that this method of delivery was complimentary to the traditional in-class lecture format. Some tips and tricks to implementing and using the technology and some of the challenges of engaging students both remotely and in class will also be discussed. Attendants are encouraged to bring their laptops for participation in a live online chat

The Processing and Characterization of Porous Ni/YSZ and NiO/YSZ Composites used in Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Applications

A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is an energy conversion device that has the potential to efficiently generate electricity in an environmentally-friendly manner. In general, a SOFC operates between 750°C and 1000°C utilizing hydrogen or hydrocarbons as fuel and air as an oxidant. The three major components comprising a fuel cell are the electrolyte, the cathode, and the anode. At present, the state-of-the-art SOFC is made from a dense yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte, a porous lanthanum manganite cathode, and a porous nickel/YSZ composite anode. With the advent of the anode-supported SOFC and the increased interest in using a wider range of fuels, such as those containing sulphur, knowledge of the anode properties is becoming more important. The properties of the current anodes are limited due to the narrow range of nickel loadings imposed by the minimum nickel content for electrical conductivity and the maximum allowable nickel loading to avoid thermal mismatch with the YSZ electrolyte. In addition, there is little research presented in the literature regarding the use of nickel metal as a starting anode material, rather than the traditional nickel oxide powder, and how porosity may affect the anode properties. The purpose of this investigation is to determine the influence nickel morphology and porosity distribution have on the processing and properties of tape cast Ni/YSZ composites. Specifically, the sintering characteristics, electrical conductivity, and thermal expansion behaviour of tape cast composites created from YSZ, nickel, nickel oxide (NiO), nickel coated graphite (NiGr), and/or graphite (Gr) powders are investigated. In addition to samples made from 100% YSZ, 100% Ni, and 100% NiO powders, five composite types were created for this investigation: NiO/YSZ, NiO&Gr/YSZ, Ni/YSZ, NiGr/YSZ, and Ni&Gr/YSZ each with nickel loadings varying between 4 vol% Ni of total solids and 77 vol% Ni of total solids. Another set of composites with a fixed nickel loading of 27 vol% Ni and 47 vol% Ni of total solids and varying graphite loadings were also created. During the burnout stage, the composites made from nickel oxide powder shrink slightly while the composites made from nickel metal expand due to nickel oxidation. Graphite additions below 20 vol% of the green volume do not alter the dimensional changes of the composites during burnout, but graphite loadings greater than 25 vol% of the green volume cause significant expansion in the thickness of the composites. After sintering, the amount of volumetric sintering shrinkage decreases with higher nickel loadings and is greater for the composites made with nickel oxide compared to the composites made from nickel metal. The porosity generated in the composites containing graphite is slightly higher than the volume of graphite added to the composite and is much greater than the porosity contained in the graphite-free composites. Dimensional changes of the porous Ni/YSZ and NiO/YSZ composites during both burnout and sintering were analysed based on concepts of constrained sintering of composite powder mixtures. In some cases constrained sintering was evident, while in others, a more simple rule of mixtures behaviour for shrinkage as a function of YSZ content was observed. When nickel oxide is reduced to nickel metal during the reduction stage there is essentially no change in the composite volume for the composites containing YSZ because the YSZ prevents the composites from shrinking. After reduction the additional porosity generated in the composites is equivalent to the change in volume due to the reduction of nickel oxide to nickel metal. When measuring the electrical conductivity, each composite type demonstrated classic percolation behaviour. The NiGr/YSZ composites had the lowest percolation threshold, followed by the Ni/YSZ and NiO/YSZ composites. When graphite was added with a nickel coating, the added porosity did not disrupt the nickel percolation network and allowed the nickel to occupy a larger effective volume compared to a composite made with similar sized solid nickel particles. When graphite was added to the composites, the electrical conductivity was reduced and the percolation threshold increased. Generally, the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) for Ni/YSZ composites are expected to follow the rule of mixtures prediction since the elastic properties for nickel and YSZ are similar. However when porosity is distributed unevenly between the YSZ and nickel phases, the CTE prediction will deviate from the rule of mixtures. When cornstarch was added to the NiGr/YSZ composites, the CTE increased as the amount of porosity in the YSZ phase increased. The CTE of the NiGr/YSZ composites followed the rule of mixtures indicating that the porosity was evenly distributed between the nickel and YSZ phases. For the other composite types, the measured CTE was higher than the rule of mixtures prediction suggesting that more porosity was contained within the YSZ phase

More Disciplines With Less Course Offerings

Teaching large size classes is becoming the norm in many engineering schools. With these increasing numbers come the traditional challenges such as meeting the educational needs of the students who have various learning styles. At Guelph, we are in the unique position of not only needing to meet the needs of a large number of students, but also to meet the needs of students focusing on different fields of study: being non-departmentalized, students in engineering at Guelph are grouped in common courses regardless of focus of study. This results in, for example, Computer Engineering Students taking the same electric circuits course as those in Environmental Engineering; we therefore find ourselves in the unique position of needing to not only adjust for diversity of learning styles and background knowledge, but also to ensure that each student has the required depth of knowledge to succeed in their future program specific courses. We attempt to address these challenges in a number of ways. To leverage the fact that we have many disciplines in the same room, we use think pair share (via clicker quizzes and problem based lectures) to encourage interaction. In an attempt to draw some of the more reluctant students into the course material, we introduce analogies from other disciplines to make the topic more comfortable (e.g., water analogies to teach circuits) and introduce applications that answer the question “why is this topic relevant to me?” Finally, to address the varying background and future depth requirements, we use simple introductory open labs and tutorials to bring every student up to the same level and provide scaffolded assignment problems to challenge those who will need more depth in later courses while providing more straightforward problems for those who do not

Backchannel chatter or spatter? A comparison of online synchronous chatroom use during STEM and Social Sciences lectures.

Student engagement in large lectures is challenging, and one of our strategies has been to introduce online chatting and polling during lectures. Although our initial experiences with a backchannel chat were positive across smaller STEM and larger Social Sciences courses, it became apparent that student usage might differ across disciplines. As such, this study aimed to directly compared the use of backchannel chat in second year Engineering (ENGG*2400; N=418) and Human Sexuality (FRHD*2100; N=263) courses at the University of Guelph. Kountu, a web-based online chat and polling application, was utilized during each Fall 2016 lecture for both courses. The majority of students (72% of FRHD*2100 and 64% of ENGG*2400) tried the chatroom at least once, with an ANOVA demonstrating that the FRHD*2100 students logged in significantly more often (p \u3c .001; m = 9.53 lectures) than ENGG*2400 students (m = 6.55 lectures). ENGG*2400 students, however, posted (m = 14.34) and ‘liked’ (m = 15.25) significantly more messages per person during each lecture than FRHD*2100 students (posts m = 4.38; likes m = 5.64). Interestingly, an online survey of 79 participants indicated that ENGG*2400 students engaged in significantly more off-topic conversations and found their chatroom to be significantly more distracting during lecture than FRHD*2100 students. Additionally, FRHD*2100 students felt significantly more comfortable participating in their chatroom as compared to ENGG*2400. Using live examples and audience participation in Kountu, we will demonstrate the potential reasons for these differences as well as highlight discipline-specific advantages and limitations of using backchannel chat during lecture

Adjustable Prone Trolley Design for People Suffering from Spinal Cords Injuries in Nepal

For people who suffer from spinal cord injuries in Nepal, rehabilitation and care are often difficult to receive, especially for those for whom fewer resources are available. Thankfully, International Nepal Fellowship (INF), a non-profit serving Nepal for nearly 70 years, aids patients with spinal cord injuries at Green Pastures Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre in Pokhara, Nepal. A crucial part of any rehabilitation is adequate exercise to improve circulation and prevent sores and muscular atrophy. Yet, due to the nature of the injury, using a traditional wheelchair is not an option to fulfill this need for those with spinal cord injuries. Therefore, Green Pastures uses prone trolleys so that these patients can exercise. A prone trolley is a horizontal cushioned board where the patient lies flat on their stomach and is able to move themselves using the wheels attached to the cushioned board. Despite the importance of the prone trolley, the trolleys at Green Pastures Hospital have a few critical issues. The major issue is that the prone trolleys are internationally imported, which not only means that delivery can take months, but also that the trolleys are also difficult to repair when damaged. Both these factors severely hamper Green Pastures Hospital’s ability to provide spinal cord injured patients with the care they need. The Nepal Prone Trolley team, a part of Messiah University Collaboratory, seeks to develop and design a fundamentally better prone trolley for INF. The goal of our project is to design a prone trolley that can be fabricated by the INF staff with locally sourced materials. The advantage of this new design is that it will be easier to obtain and can easily be repaired when needed. After creating a design that satisfies our goal and fulfills the criteria of a functional prone trolley as defined by INF, we were able to fabricate a prototype of the prone trolley using resources and techniques available in Pokhara. Moving forward, we will conduct testing and redesign the trolley so that our finalized prone trolley design will be able to transform how Green Pastures Hospital aids their spinal cord injury patients. Funding for this work provided by The Collaboratory for Strategic Partnerships and Applied Research.https://mosaic.messiah.edu/engr2022/1011/thumbnail.jp

Unraveling the Early Events of Amyloid-β Protein (Aβ) Aggregation: Techniques for the Determination of Aβ Aggregate Size

The aggregation of proteins into insoluble amyloid fibrils coincides with the onset of numerous diseases. An array of techniques is available to study the different stages of the amyloid aggregation process. Recently, emphasis has been placed upon the analysis of oligomeric amyloid species, which have been hypothesized to play a key role in disease progression. This paper reviews techniques utilized to study aggregation of the amyloid-β protein (Aβ) associated with Alzheimer’s disease. In particular, the review focuses on techniques that provide information about the size or quantity of oligomeric Aβ species formed during the early stages of aggregation, including native-PAGE, SDS-PAGE, Western blotting, capillary electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, light scattering, size exclusion chromatography, centrifugation, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and dot blotting

L’influence de l’assiduité, de la communication et des distractions sur l’apprentissage des étudiants dans le cadre d’une méthode d’apprentissage mixte synchrone

A second-year engineering course at the authors’ institution was offered via a blended synchronous learning (BSL) method of delivery whereby students could choose to attend lectures live (face-to-face) or remotely (via a synchronous, live stream over the internet) during a summer semester. Survey and grade data were collected across two years of this offering. Attendance, interaction, communication with the instructor, and general distractions were main themes affecting the student learning experience both positively and negatively. Specifically, students found the remote access, the ability to ask questions, the teaching style, and having more time during the summer semester as positive aspects to their learning experience. Negative influences on their learning experience related primarily to their busy work schedules, technological issues associated with BSL, and typical summer distractions. Critically, our results indicate that attendance is a key indicator of student grades (after correcting for GPA), regardless of whether students attended lectures remotely or face-to-face: students attending more than 75% of the lectures performed on average 12% better than students who did not (p=0.0093). The consensus in the student comments was that the remote attendance option allowed students to attend in situations where the alternative was no attendance at all, implying that the potential gain in grades due to higher attendance may outweigh any potential impact the mode of attendance may have. Overall, a synchronous, remote attendance option may provide a lifeline to students who would not otherwise be able to attend a course, and (assuming a mode of interaction, such as the synchronous chat, is available) students do not perceive remote attendance as having a negative influence on their learning.Un cours de deuxième année en génie dans l’établissement de l’auteur a été offert par le biais de l’apprentissage mixte synchrone, où les étudiants pouvaient choisir d’assister aux cours magistraux en personne ou à distance (par le biais de diffusions synchrones sur internet) au cours d’un semestre d’été. Des données ont été recueillies (sondages et données sur les notes obtenues) au cours de deux années pendant lesquelles ce cours avait été offert selon cette méthode. L’assiduité, l’interaction et la communication avec l’instructeur, ainsi que les distractions générales, étaient les thèmes principaux qui ont affecté l’apprentissage des étudiants, tant positivement que négativement. Plus précisément, les étudiants ont trouvé que l’accès au cours à distance, la possibilité de poser des questions, le style d’enseignement et le fait d’avoir davantage de temps au cours du semestre d’été avaient été des aspects positifs de leur expérience d’apprentissage. Les aspects négatifs de cette expérience d’apprentissage étaient principalement liés à leur emploi du temps chargé, aux problèmes d’ordre technique liés à cette méthode d’enseignement, ainsi qu’aux distractions typiques de la saison d’été. De façon critique, nos résultats indiquent que l’assiduité est un indicateur clé des notes obtenues par les étudiants (après correction pour la moyenne pondérée cumulative), quelle qu’ait été la manière d’assister au cours de l’étudiant (à distance ou en personne) : les étudiants qui avaient assisté à 75 % des classes avaient en général obtenu de meilleures notes (12 %) que les étudiants qui n’avaient pas été assidus (p=0,0093). Le consensus observé dans les commentaires des étudiants était que la participation au cours à distance avait permis aux étudiants d’assister aux classes dans des situations où l’alternative aurait été de ne pas y assister du tout, ce qui implique que le potentiel d’obtenir de meilleures notes grâce à une meilleure assiduité pourrait peser davantage que n’importe quel impact causé par la manière de participer au cours. Globalement, l’option de participation synchrone à distance pourrait offrir une bouée de sauvetage aux étudiants qui, sans cela, ne seraient pas en mesure de suivre un cours, et (en supposant qu’il existe un mode d’interaction, tel que le clavardage synchrone) que les étudiants ne perçoivent pas que l’assiduité à distance a une influence négative sur leur apprentissage