CDIO Open day learning activity to inspire the next generation of engineering applicants

Abstract The new engineering provision at Canterbury Christ Church University has adopted the Conceive, Design, Implement and Operate (CDIO) pedagogy approach. In particular the MEng, BEng and BEng with Foundation Year are grounded in the fundamentals of Physics and Engineering Science. To inspire the potential students on the open day we have developed taster sessions to develop their understanding of the important factors in these subjects. The taster sessions comprise a selection of activities in the form of practical sessions related to Engineering Programmes at Canterbury Christ Church University. The activities offer potential applicants a flavour of learning activities and aim to achieve the following learning outcomes: • Working in small groups students: o Complete a preliminary engineering design exercise o Communicate their ideas. o Demonstrate an understanding of the project This practice paper reviews this approach to engineering recruitment practice

Integration of graduate employability skills through industry outsourced CDIO project

Engineering curricula in higher education should be aligned with the current and future requirements of the industry to ensure industry-ready graduates. In the UK GOV HE education and professional accredited bodies, it is required to embed graduate attributes into the engineering curriculum. Although the CDIO-based approach provides a platform where students can develop these skills, there is still a gap between students’ skills and industry compatibility due to a lack of interaction with industry. Our solution is to embed industry outsourced CDIO projects in modules across the engineering course curriculum. These modules provide students not only the opportunity to develop their engineering technical skills but also their employability skills for actual industrial environment. At our university, the academic team have adopted a robust 7-stage approach in consultation and collaboration with industry to identify and implement industry-sourced CDIO projects in the curriculum. Based on the nature and complexity of the project, the CDIO projects can be integrated into relevant modules at appropriate academic levels. For example, a design-related project can be integrated into the first-year module whereas complex projects are allocated to final-year students. The final objectives of the CDIO projects are aligned with the learning outcomes of the corresponding modules and should be reflected in the module assessments. In this paper, the approach and outcome of one of our industrial CDIO projects outsourced by eXroid (a biomedical company in the UK) have been described. During the period, students followed the four stages of CDIO framework. The performance of the students was satisfactory as 81% of the students passed the module on their first attempt and the average mark was 49.9. The feedback received from eXroid personnel and students regarding the project execution and outcome was outstanding. Students have also developed several industry-oriented technical and soft skills while executing the projects

Engineering learning of sustainable product lifecycle through CDIO

Sustainable development is an optional CDIO (Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate) standard in the engineering curriculum, however, due to the impact of climate change on society and the environment, sustainability is now seen as a crucial aspect of learning. Engineering has contributed to climate change through non-sustainable solutions, so it is important to implement a sustainable CDIO standard in the engineering curriculum. In the UK, the Engineering Council already requires engineering-accredited courses to embed sustainability into the engineering curriculum, learning, practice and assessment following the UNESCO sustainability goals. This means that the engineering curriculum is required to provide learning opportunities for students to engineer sustainable solutions that are fit for all of society. This paper illustrates how the optional CDIO standard: sustainable development has been implemented in a second-year capstone project module The module challenges students to research and develop a low-carbon footprint product for World Rugby The module placed learning emphasis on a diamond TQM+ paradigm (Time, Quality, Management, Sustainability, Health & Safety) and challenged students to consider environmental impact and circular economy solutions. The paper reports on student learning, challenges, and successes in satisfying this diamond TQM+ paradigm to engineer sustainable rugby equipment (products, clothing, footwear, PPE) solutions and opportunities for further student learning development

The legacy of Verena Holmes: inspiring next generation of engineers

Verena Holmes was born in 1889 in Ashford, Kent, Verena became a pioneer for women in the industry as arguably the first female in the UK to have a full-time career as a professional mechanical, design and biomedical engineer. Verena was an advocate for widening participation in engineering and dedicated to the development of female engineers, she represented a breakthrough for equal rights in the early 20th century. As a creative and talented mechanical engineer, inventor and entrepreneur with own engineering business in Gillingham, Kent. In 1932, Verena Holmes filed a patent for poppet valve for fluid pressured systems, and in 2021 has provided the inspiration to students to conceive, design, implement and operate their own poppet valve. The poppet valve challenging first year biomedical, mechanical and product design engineering students to consider engineering materials, engineering manufacturing, standard components, fixes and fittings, and tolerances considerations into their poppet valve. This paper will provide qualitative analysis of the level of practical engineering learning, and the depth of student learning. Also, the quantitative analysis of the students’ evaluation of the learning opportunity to inspire, develop and stimulate them to be the next generation of engineers

Providing added value to lecture materials to an iPod generation

Lectures can be complex events that take various forms and serve various purposes (Exley, 2001 and Isaccs, 1992). However, within most academic lectures there will be islands of key concepts and knowledge sharing and development. This seminar will reflect on the experience of one academic and how subject specific concepts were captured simply as 'audio notes', stored and made available for reuse by the student cohort. Others have discussed how audio recordings of entire lectures distributed via University networks have been found to be highly popular and beneficial to students with minimum impact on reducing lecture attendance (Williams and Fardon, 2005). The streaming of 'audio lectures' has been illustrated not to impact on attendance (Russell and Mattick, 2005), but it can be argued that such reassuring findings may be dependent upon specific, local conditions. Edited e-videos lecture resource has been shown to increase student motivation, (Law, 2005), but at the expense of academic time, in terms of development. In this session we argue that the concept of audio notes (selected moments and ideas captured during lectures for reconsideration) potentially offers a highly valuable approach that can be adopted by other academics who retain the lecture as a focal point to their teaching and learning, however with minimum impact on the academic time for development. This session will consider, from various stakeholder perspectives, the value of using multimedia to heighten engagement and participation in lectures and in post-lecture learning. Ideas developed during the session, using interactive role play techniques, will be compared to the actual perspectives and experience of three stakeholders. Exley, K. (2001). "Key aspects of teaching and learning in science and engineering”, in Fry, H., Ketteridge, S. & Marshall, S. (Eds) Handbook for teaching in Higher Education enhancing academic practice. Kogan Page: London, pp 265-288 Issac, G. (1994). Lecturing practices and note-taking purposes. Studies in Higher Education, 19, No 2, pp 203-216 Law, E. (2005). Promoting understanding using a virtual learning environment, International Conference on Engineering Education, Gliwice, Poland, volume 1, pp 806-811, 2005 Russell, P and Mattick, K. (2005). Does streaming of a lecture result in empty seats, in the proceedings of ALT-C 2005: Exploring the frontiers of e-learning - borders, outposts and migration, Manchester, UK, 2005 Williams, J and Fardon, M. (2005) On demand internet transmitted lecture recordings: attempting to enhance and support the lecture experience, in the proceedings of ALT-C 2005: Exploring the frontiers of e-learning - borders, outposts and migration, Manchester, UK, 200

Practice-based engineering design for next-generation of engineers: A CDIO-based approach

In recent years, practice-based learning has been establishing itself as a new norm in higher education: an enabler to foster knowledge, skills and innovative thinking in young learners. Conceive, design, implement and operate (CDIO), a well-established pedagogical methodology, offers many opportunities for education providers seeking to best achieve this practice-based learning within various educational environments. Case studies of engineering programs that made use of the CDIO model provide illustrations of how the ideas were put into effect in actual projects. This paper draws on a CDIO-based design case study where students were requested to solve a real engineering problem; in order to explore the great potential of such a teaching and learning paradigm in practice settings. Some first-year mechanical, biomedical and product design engineering students studying at the Canterbury Christ Church University were set a design brief by a Ford Motor Company tier supplier, to design a high security lock for commercial vehicles which works on both sliding and rear hinged slam doors. The project had twelve engineering groups, each with three or four students sharing responsibility for separate project design and engineering roles: including design sketches; computer-aided modelling; engineering material investigation; finite element analysis; computer-aided manufacturing; prototyping; project reporting and company presentation. In order to analyse the effect of incentives on the underlying motivation of learners, a cash prize was secured via the Engineers in Business Fellowship (EIBF) organisation, to be shared between the winners selected by the industrial partner after a detailed study of benefits, manufacturability and potential innovation. This paper documents the findings of collected qualitative and quantitative data as part of this project-based case study, and furthermore, reflects on the effectiveness of CDIO implementation on the depth of students’ knowledge and level of practical engineering learning. The objective here is to evaluate the individual and collaborative learning processes that occur among a group of students as they use CDIO active learning tactics. The analysis reported in this paper can serve as a foundation to illustrate how educators may better prepare their students for joining the workforce of the future, by using an active learning approach that provides more weight to practical than theoretical knowledge

Students using digital audio interventions to enhance their learning experience

Previous studies of the impact of audio on student learning have focused on academic generated and centred resources. This approach can significantly impact on academic workloads in both the generation and the distribution of the media, but can also result in narrowly focused learning resources for the students. Students are exposed to many learning opportunities in and outside of the classroom; in order to promote and support learner autonomy, students need to be encouraged to intervene in their own learning experience. Creating audio interventions is an effective way of achieving this. This learner-centred approach enables the students to record, reflect and develop their learning as and when the learning opportunities arise. Student volunteers at both the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University were invited to record their experiences for themselves and were supplied with digital audio recording devices. The University of Sheffield project focus was on supporting HE transition for a cohort of first year engineering students. The Sheffield Hallam University project focus was on supporting learner autonomy amongst groups of disabled and non-disabled students. Volunteers were sought from all levels of study and from across the University. In examining the evidence from both universities the majority of students initially believed the main learning opportunity was in employing the audio devices to record lectures. As the project progressed students did record lectures and this allowed them listen to the lectures again and reflect upon them at their leisure. However, the audio devices have been deployed in a wide variety of ways including the recording of personal notes and group-work discussions with their peers. In this project students typically re-listened to their recordings every few days, when reflecting on their studies or when preparing for or completing an assessment or homework. Students typically recommend carrying the audio device at all times and using the device to record any learning opportunities as and when they arise in the course of the day

Using audio to support student learning

This paper illustrates student and academic approaches to using audio to support the learning of the learner. It illustrates the evolution of the student learner autonomy from the students recording and attending lectures to engaging and recording a wide variety of ephemeral experiences from self-feedback to lab’ sessions. The paper in particular considers and demonstrates the practicalities of students and tutors recording lectures, and finally upon reflection questions as to whether either is a practical solution to capturing learning opportunities in a lecture

Restriction endonuclease TseI cleaves A:A and T:T mismatches in CAG and CTG repeats.

The type II restriction endonuclease TseI recognizes the DNA target sequence 5'-G^CWGC-3' (where W = A or T) and cleaves after the first G to produce fragments with three-base 5'-overhangs. We have determined that it is a dimeric protein capable of cleaving not only its target sequence but also one containing A:A or T:T mismatches at the central base pair in the target sequence. The cleavage of targets containing these mismatches is as efficient as cleavage of the correct target sequence containing a central A:T base pair. The cleavage mechanism does not apparently use a base flipping mechanism as found for some other type II restriction endonuclease recognizing similarly degenerate target sequences. The ability of TseI to cleave targets with mismatches means that it can cleave the unusual DNA hairpin structures containing A:A or T:T mismatches formed by the repetitive DNA sequences associated with Huntington's disease (CAG repeats) and myotonic dystrophy type 1 (CTG repeats)