Learning through practice via role-playing: Lessons learnt

Software engineering is the establishment and use of sound engineering principles in order to obtain economically software that is reliable and works efficiently on real machine. Sound software engineering closely related with socio-technical activity that depends on several human issues which are communication, collaboration, motivation, work environment, team harmony, engagement, training and education. These issues affect everything for students to fully understand software engineering and be prepared for software development careers. Therefore courses offered in the university must also consider the sociological and communication aspects, often called the socio-technical aspects. One popular method is to use role-playing exercises. Role-playing is a less technologically elaborate form of simulation for learning interpersonal skills and is analogous to rehearsal. It is particularly helpful when students are having difficulties to relate lessons learnt in the university to the applicability of the knowledge in the real implementation. This is because many students view software engineering as meaningless bureaucracy and have little interest in the knowledge delivered in the lecture hall. This scenario impedes the expansion of current knowledge and inhibits the possibility of knowledge exploration to solve range of industry problems. Simply lecturing about software engineering will never engage students or convince them that software engineering has value. Given this student bias, the goal of teaching software engineering often becomes convincing students that it has value. To achieve this, students need to experience firsthand the sociological and communication difficulties associated with developing software systems. In this paper, we argue that in teaching software engineering we must cover two essential things; delivery of knowledge and skills required in the software engineering domain in a form of lecture and hands-on practice to experience the value of the knowledge and skills learnt. We report on our experiences gained in deploying role-playing in master degree program. Role-playing is used as pedagogical tool to give students a greater appreciation of the range of issues and problems associated with software engineering in real settings. We believe that the lessons learnt from this exercise will be valuable for those interested in advancing software engineering education and training

Treatment of wastewater by moringa oleifera and maize seeds as plant-based coagulant

Coagulants are essential in purifying raw water for drinking water safety for consumers. Commonly, aluminium sulphate, a chemical coagulant, is used for water treatment. However, for long-term usage, chemical coagulants can be considered toxic and harmful to the environment due to the accumulation of this substance in the pipeline system, which can create severe health issues if consumed. The natural plant-based coagulant can be a substitute for a sustainable solution in the water treatment coagulation process. This research aimed to determine the efficiency of plant-based materials as coagulants in surface water treatment. Moringa oleifera and maize seeds were chosen as natural coagulants in this investigation since they are both locally available plant-based materials. Here, this research aims to study the ability of moringa oleifera seed and maize seed as plant-based coagulants in enhancing the effluent quality of the wastewater treatment plant of UiTM Dengkil Selangor. A jar test experiment was used to assess the capacity of moringa oleifera and maize as natural coagulants. The results comprise turbidity removal by 92% (mixed of moringa oleifera seed and maize seed), the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 95% reduction rate using moringa oleifera seed. The biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) for 88% removal by moringa oleifera seed, ammonia-nitrogen removal of 12% (moringa oleifera seed) and total suspended solids (TSS) of 100% reduction rate using mixed moringa oleifera seed and maize seed for the effluent sample. Thus, it can be recognized that moringa oleifera and maize seeds can be an alternative solution to replace the chemical coagulants in the treatment systems

Treatment of wastewater by moringa oleifera and maize seeds as plant-based coagulant

Coagulants are essential in purifying raw water for drinking water safety for consumers. Commonly, aluminium sulphate, a chemical coagulant, is used for water treatment. However, for long-term usage, chemical coagulants can be considered toxic and harmful to the environment due to the accumulation of this substance in the pipeline system, which can create severe health issues if consumed. The natural plant-based coagulant can be a substitute for a sustainable solution in the water treatment coagulation process. This research aimed to determine the efficiency of plant-based materials as coagulants in surface water treatment. Moringa oleifera and maize seeds were chosen as natural coagulants in this investigation since they are both locally available plant-based materials. Here, this research aims to study the ability of moringa oleifera seed and maize seed as plant-based coagulants in enhancing the effluent quality of the wastewater treatment plant of UiTM Dengkil Selangor. A jar test experiment was used to assess the capacity of moringa oleifera and maize as natural coagulants. The results comprise turbidity removal by 92% (mixed of moringa oleifera seed and maize seed), the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 95% reduction rate using moringa oleifera seed. The biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) for 88% removal by moringa oleifera seed, ammonia-nitrogen removal of 12% (moringa oleifera seed) and total suspended solids (TSS) of 100% reduction rate using mixed moringa oleifera seed and maize seed for the effluent sample. Thus, it can be recognized that moringa oleifera and maize seeds can be an alternative solution to replace the chemical coagulants in the treatment systems