From STEM to STEAM: strategies for enhancing engineering & technology education

This paper sets out to challenge the common pedagogies found in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education with a particular focus on engineering. The dominant engineering pedagogy remains “chalk and talk”; despite research evidence that demonstrates its ineffectiveness. Such pedagogical approaches do not embrace the possibilities provided by more student-centric approaches and more active learning. The paper argues that there is a potential confusion in engineering education around the role of active learning approaches, and that the adoption of these approaches may be limited as a result of this confusion, combined with a degree of disciplinary egocentrism. The paper presents examples of design, engineering and technology projects that demonstrate the effectiveness of adopting pedagogies and delivery methods more usually attributed to the liberal arts such as studio based learning. The paper concludes with some suggestions about how best to create a fertile environment from which inquiry based learning can emerge as well as a reflection on whether the only real limitation on cultivating such approaches is the disciplinary egocentrism of traditional engineering educators

Full STEAM ahead: a manifesto for integrating arts pedagogics in to STEM education

This paper sets out to challenge the common pedagogies found in STEM education with a particular focus on engineering. The dominant engineering pedagogy remains “chalk and talk”; despite research evidence that demonstrates its ineffectiveness. The paper argues that there is a potential confusion in engineering education around the role of active learning approaches, and that the adoption of these approaches may be limited as a result of this confusion, combined with a degree of disciplinary egocentrism. The paper presents examples of engineering and “engineering like” projects that demonstrate the effectiveness of adopting pedagogies and delivery methods more usually attributed to the liberal arts such as studio based learning. The paper concludes with some suggestions about how best to create a fertile environment from which inquiry based learning can emerge as well as a reflection on whether the only real limitation on cultivating such approaches is the disciplinary egocentrism of traditional engineering educators

Prediction of hexaconazole concentration in top most layer of oil palm plantation soil using Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)

Ganoderma boninense is a fungus that can affect oil palm trees and cause a serious disease called the basal stem root (BSR). This disease causes the death of more than 80% of oil palm trees midway through their economic life and hexaconazole is one of the particular fungicides that can control this fungus. Hexaconazole can be applied by the soil drenching method and it will be of interest to know the concentration of the residue in the soil after treatment with respect to time. Hence, a field study was conducted in order to determine the actual concentration of hexaconazole in soil. In the present paper, a new approach that can be used to predict the concentration of pesticides in the soil is proposed. The statistical analysis revealed that the Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) techniques would be appropriate in this study. The EDA techniques were used to fit a robust resistant model and predict the concentration of the residue in the topmost layer of the soil

Adaptive access and rate control of CSMA for energy, rate and delay optimization

In this article, we present a cross-layer adaptive algorithm that dynamically maximizes the average utility function. A per stage utility function is defined for each link of a carrier sense multiple access-based wireless network as a weighted concave function of energy consumption, smoothed rate, and smoothed queue size. Hence, by selecting weights we can control the trade-off among them. Using dynamic programming, the utility function is maximized by dynamically adapting channel access, modulation, and coding according to the queue size and quality of the time-varying channel. We show that the optimal transmission policy has a threshold structure versus the channel state where the optimal decision is to transmit when the wireless channel state is better than a threshold. We also provide a queue management scheme where arrival rate is controlled based on the link state. Numerical results show characteristics of the proposed adaptation scheme and highlight the trade-off among energy consumption, smoothed data rate, and link delay.This study was supported in part by the Spanish Government, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN), under projects COMONSENS (CSD2008-00010, CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 program) and COSIMA (TEC2010-19545-C04-03), in part by Iran Telecommunication Research Center under contract 6947/500, and in part by Iran National Science Foundation under grant number 87041174. This study was completed while M. Khodaian was at CEIT and TECNUN (University of Navarra)

Community Capacity Building: The Role of Design in Entrepreneurship

Academic entrepreneurship refers to efforts undertaken by universities to promote commercialization, start-ups, technology transfer and university spin offs. A growing trend among tertiary students is to consider not only traditional ventures and new product initiatives but also expand to include social ventures that serve social needs. This paper builds upon the emerging interest and explores ways to connect academic entrepreneurship to external communities through design methods. We use design as a core component of all activities and observe how these activities foster ethnic entrepreneurship. The knowledge and application of design methods is transferred from product development to entrepreneurial capacity-building in the ethnic community. Ethnic entrepreneurship is a challenging process of identifying opportunities in a new market, and undertaking innovative projects. Small communities and minority groups often feel left out either because they come from a different background and culture, or because they are unfamiliar with approaches, and lack the necessary networks that are required to become entrepreneurs. This paper presents a pilot study in which we have addressed key entrepreneurial needs of a selected community, through a series of capacity-building workshops based on design methods

Transformative Technologies and Social Change: An Introduction

Rapid transformation in the technology is accelerating has create exponential growth in many areas. New innovation in product and services are seen in all sectors such as agriculture, medical diagnosis and treatment, societal changes, manufacturing and business. It has captured the imagination and provided diverse sectors of business and society with new opportunities for strategic and social changes. These changes are coming fast and we need to be creative and collaborative to navigate positively to these changes. Transformative technologies have the potential to contribute to both personal and societal transformation. Transformative technologies can enrich our life and bring social awareness and changes in the society. In this conceptual paper, we explore transformative technology and its capability to drive social change. We present some examples where transformative technologies have played a significant role in social awareness and change

Re-engineering design through multiple disciplinary lenses

Models of design tend to contain activities that relate to multiple disciplinary and professional fields. The rapid advancement of technology and the increasing social, economic, and environmental challenges demand more sophisticated models of the design process. The term “design process” captures a wide variety of views and practices in different disciplines such as engineering, business and product design. This paper starts by examining the interdependencies and relationships between design activities across disciplines. The aim is to formulate an inter-disciplinary approach that informs and guides flexible design approaches. The resulting approach is subsequently compared to conventional educational approach in engineering, business, and product design. The paper closes with a categorised overview of the academic literature on design process from various disciplinary lenses. This work gives researchers and educators an understanding of the breadth and depth of design process, and the connectivity across disciplines during the development of new products and services

Design Thinking Methods and Creative Technologies in Virtual Worlds

Globalization and the virtualization of business has highlighted the challenges of managing a dispersed team and have encouraged further research into the benefits of face-to-face communications and how that might be simulated in a virtual world. It is anticipated that high profile research and development projects, such as Oculus Rift, and High Fidelity, could see a revived interest in virtual reality and virtual worlds and how these could augment design thinking for online collaboration. The research project was informed by a review of the literature with relevance to design thinking, the virtual, co-design, human centered design, and tacit knowledge sharing. This research project examined how virtual teams could use prototype tools and modes of design thinking by geographically dispersed groups within a shared virtual space. More specifically, it examined how teams of creative technologies students both apply and learn design thinking, by creating and using collaborative tools, designed in a virtual world, to be used in a virtual learning environment. The undergraduate students studying a design major in business will be asked to engage in a transdisciplinary dialogue with students from another school of creative technologies using the context of a virtual world. The research follows a constructivist approach to teaching the business students design collaboration to review the benefits of face-to-face collaboration, and how that might be simulated online in a virtual world using those tools and methods. The study demonstrates innovation in a number of ways through virtual collaboration between diverse students of business and creative technologies using design thinking methods and methodology. The paper will also present how business students understand design thinking and illustrate the barriers to innovation in a virtual simulation through iterative prototyping virtual tools that encourage co-design and human centered design. The paper concludes with some findings from the data collected during the research project, with some early commentary and discussion of those findings