Freshman African engineering student perceptions on academic feedback – A case study from Digital Systems 1

Conference ProceedingsProviding effective and quality feedback to students in higher education has been identified as an integral part of quality teaching by many researchers in the field of education. However, student perceptions vary drastically as to what they perceive academic feedback to really be. Therefore, this paper aims to present freshman engineering student perceptions of academic feedback from an African perspective. The reason for targeting this group is due to their high dropout rate in higher education in South Africa (around 60%). Quantitative data was collected from freshman engineering students enrolled for a module termed Digital Systems 1 at the Central University of Technology in South Africa. A questionnaire was used as the main data collection instrument featuring 21 close ended questions. The results presented in this paper indicate that almost two-thirds (65%) of the respondents believe that a “grade” written on a test script does not constitute academic feedback. The majority of the respondents (76%) expect some kind of academic feedback regarding their work, either in writing or orally from their lecturer. A good majority (86%) of students perceived that getting written comments on their assessments would encourage them to approach the lecturer to seek further clarification. A key recommendation of this study is to find a mechanism or technique of providing constructive feedback to all enrolled students, even in large classes. This needs to be done from the outset of the module in order to reduce the current high dropout rates among freshman engineering students

Optimization of A Real Time Multi Mixed Make-To-Order Assembly Line to Reduce Positive Drift

ThesisAssembly lines are critical for the realization of product manufacture. In recent times, there has been a shift from the make-to-stock (mass production) approach to a make-to-order (mass customization) approach and this has brought on a strong emphasis on product variety. Although variety can be included to a product at various phases of production, literature shows that by providing each functional module of the product with several variants, assembly lines provide the most cost-effective approach to achieve high product variety. However, there are certain challenges associated with using assembly lines to achieve product variety. One of these challenges is assembly line balancing. Assembly line balancing is the search for an optimum assignment of tasks, such that given precedence constraints according to pre-defined single or multi objective goal are met. These objectives include reducing the number of stations for a given cycle time or minimizing the cycle time for a given number of stations. Cycle time refers to the amount of time allotted to accomplish a certain process in an assembly process. This deviation from the optimal cycle time is technically referred to as drift. Drift can be negative or positive. Negative drift represents the time span during which an assembly line is idle, due to work being finished ahead of prescribed cycle time. Positive drift, meanwhile, represents time span in which an assembly line exceeds the prescribed cycle time. The problems caused by drift, especially positive drift, is so vast that there is a research niche are dedicated to this study called Assembly Line Balancing Problems. Various authors have proposed numerous solutions for solving assembly line balancing problems created by positive drift. However, there is very little information on optimizing multi model make-to order systems with real time inputs so as to reduce the effects of positive drift. This study looks at how such a system can be optimized by using the case study of a water bottling plant. This is done by initially looking at the literature in the field of assembly line balancing to isolate the research gap this study aims to fill. Secondly, the water bottling plant, described as the case study, is modelled using MATLAB/Simulink. Thirdly, the different optimization methodologies are discussed and applied to the created model. Finally, the optimized model is tested and the results are analysed. The results of this study show that positive drift, which can be a major challenge in a real time multi mixed assembly line, can be reduced by the optimization of assembly lines. The results of this study can also be seen as an addition to the knowledge base of the broader research on mixed model assembly line balancing

Student Perceptions to the Use of Paperless Technology in Assessments–A Case Study Using Clickers

Published Conference ProceedingsModern classrooms see many innovative practices in facilitation. Most facilitators prefer using presentations animated videos and multimedia to better explain their content. Campuses are Wi-Fi enabled and students use tablets, laptops and smartphones to capture the essence of a lecture. However the one area where technological innovation is still lagging behind, in an academic setup, is in assessment. This paper looks at the perception of students to the use of clicker technology as a form of paperless assessment. Clicker technology was introduced as a tool for conducting formative and summative assessments to a first year electrical engineering subject, Digital Systems 1. The paper first elaborates on the significance, types and the methods of academic assessments. It then discusses the pros and cons of assessments using clicker technology. Thirdly it sheds light on the research methodology used in acquiring data for this research. Finally the results are analyzed which among others show that that 71% students enjoyed using clickers in class for formative assessments while only 52% appreciated its use in summative assessments. One of the reasons touted for this decrease is student anxiety. The key recommendation from this research is to increase the use of these assessment techniques within a formative assessment environment so as to familiarize students to eventually use it with confidence in summative assessments

Optimization of a Real Time Web Enabled Mixed Model Stochastic Assembly Line to Reduce Production Time

Published ArticleThe role of assembly lines has never been more critical as it is now with the world entering the 4th Industrial Revolution, commonly referred to as Industry 4.0. If the focus of the previous industrial revolution was on mass production, the focus of Industry 4.0 is on mass customization. One of the major changes mass customization brings about to an assembly line is the need for them to be autonomous. An autonomous assembly line needs to have the following key features; ability to provide a ubiquitous input, the ability to optimize the model in real time and achieve product variety. Product variety, in this context, refers to different variants of the same product as determined by the user. Assembly lines that make provision for introducing product variety are termed as mixed-model assembly lines. Mixed-model assembly lines become stochastic in nature when the inputs are customized as time cannot be predetermined in a stochastic process. The challenge, as it stands, is that there are limited discussions on real-time optimization of mixed model stochastic assembly lines. This paper aims to highlight this challenge by considering the case study of optimizing a mixed model assembly line in the form of a water bottling plant. The water bottling plant, which needs to produce two variants of the bottled water, 500 ml, and 750 ml, takes customer inputs through a web interface linked to the model, thereby making it stochastic in nature. The paper initially details how the model replicating the functioning of the water bottling plant was developed in MATLAB. Then, it proceeds to show how the model was optimized in real time with respect to certain constraints. The key results of the study, among others, showcase how the optimization of the model is able to significantly reduce production time