scholarly journals STUDENT AND FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF CAPSTONE PURPOSES: WHAT CAN ENGINEERING LEARN FROM OTHER DISCIPLINES?

Author(s):  
Julie Vale ◽  
Karen Gordon ◽  
Russell Kirkscey ◽  
Jennifer Hill

Capstone Experiences (CE) are meant to integrate and culminate the student experience. The most common CE in the Canadian and American engineering curriculums is the final year design course, but other disciplines also have capstone experiences.  This paper presents initial results from a multi-institutional, multi-national survey of faculty and student perceptions of capstone experiences.  Here, we investigate three criteria (Values, Skills/competencies, Attitudes) and discuss differences and similarities among the disciplines and between engineering students and faculty.   There is good alignment between engineering faculty and students, but values such as openness and compassion are selected at (comparatively) lower rates by engineering faculty and students than by other disciplines. These findings provide an opportunity for engineering educators to reflect on the intentions of their CE; e.g., are these results an intentional outcome of engineering capstones, or an oversight on the part of engineering educators?

Author(s):  
Jillian Seniuk Cicek ◽  
Paul Labossiere ◽  
Sandra Ingram

As the Engineering Faculty at the Universityof Manitoba shifts its curriculum from an input-based toan outcomes-based pedagogy, data from diverse sourcesare being collected. Among them, indirect data are beinggathered from students using a student exit survey. Thesurvey has been developed over the past three years toexplore graduating students’ perceptions of theiraptitudes and their engineering program’s strengths andweaknesses in regards to the 12 CEAB graduateattributes. It is comprised of the 12 attributes, with eachattribute further defined by six indicators. Theseindicators reflect the levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy ofEducational Objectives in the Cognitive Domain:knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis,synthesis and evaluation. The student exit survey was firstadministered to graduating mechanical engineeringstudents at the end of Fall semester 2012 and then at theend of Fall semester 2013. This paper describes thesecond year of the study, and discusses the datacomparatively with the findings from the first year. Thisstudy offers the Engineering Faculty an understanding oftheir Mechanical Engineering students’ experiences withand perceptions of the CEAB graduate attributes. It willbe used to provide feedback at instructor, program andfaculty levels as the University of Manitoba’s Faculty ofEngineering continues to implement its cycle of programdevelopment and improvement.


Author(s):  
Essam Namouz ◽  
Joshua D. Summers ◽  
Gregory M. Mocko

This paper evaluates the effect of making a subjective decision in a design for assembly time analysis. An example is found in the first set of questions for estimating handling time of a part the user chose “parts are easy to grasp and manipulate” as opposed to “parts present handling difficulties”. The subjectivity is explored through a study of assembly time estimates generated by a class of mechanical engineering students in the time analysis of a clicker pen based on the Boothroyd and Dewhurst estimation method. The assembly times calculated by the class ranged from a minimum of 23.64 seconds to a maximum of 44.89 seconds (range of 21.25 seconds). This large range in results serves as motivation in determining the effect that answering a subjective decision has on the resulting assembly time estimate. Initial results indicate that not answering the first level of subjective questions will result in assembly time estimate within 15% of the time had the subjective question been answered. The probability density plots of the time estimates also indicates that 63% of the time, the estimated assembly time without making the subjective decision will fall within the normal distribution had the subjective decision been made. This provides evidence that there is an opportunity to reduce the amount of subjective questions that a user must answer to estimate the assembly time of a product.


2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 446-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Tsang ◽  
David M. Harris

Patients expect physicians to be lifelong learners who are able to interpret and evaluate diagnostic tests, and most medical schools list the development of lifelong learning in their program objectives. However, lecture is the most often utilized form of teaching in the first two years and is considered passive learning. The current generation of medical students has many characteristics that should support active learning pedagogies. The purpose of this study was to analyze student and faculty perceptions of active learning in an integrated medical curriculum at the second-year mark, where students have been exposed to multiple educational pedagogies. The first hypothesis of the study was that faculty would favor active learning methods. The second hypothesis was that Millennial medical students would favor active learning due to their characteristics. Primary faculty for years 1 and 2 and second-year medical students were recruited for an e-mail survey consisting of 12 questions about active learning and lecture. Students perceived that lecture and passive pedagogies were more effective for learning, whereas faculty felt active and collaborative learning was more effective. Students believed that more content should be covered by lecture than faculty. There were also significant differences in perceptions of what makes a good teacher. Students and faculty both felt that lack of time in the curriculum and preparation time were barriers for faculty. The data suggest that students are not familiar with the process of learning and that more time may be needed to help students develop lifelong learning skills.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 255
Author(s):  
Julieta Noguez ◽  
Luis Neri ◽  
Víctor Robledo-Rella ◽  
Rosa María Guadalupe García-Castelán ◽  
Andres Gonzalez-Nucamendi ◽  
...  

Education 4.0 demands a flexible combination of digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving in educational settings linked to real-world scenarios. Haptic technology incorporates the sense of touch into a visual simulator to enrich the user’s sensory experience, thus supporting a meaningful learning process. After developing several visuo-haptic simulators, our team identified serious difficulties and important challenges to achieve successful learning environments within the framework of Education 4.0. This paper presents the VIS-HAPT methodology for developing realistic visuo-haptic scenarios to promote the learning of science and physics concepts for engineering students. This methodology consists of four stages that integrate different aspects and processes leading to meaningful learning experiences for students. The different processes that must be carried out through the different stages, the difficulties to overcome and recommendations on how to face them are all described herein. The results are encouraging since a significant decrease (of approximately 40%) in the development and implementation times was obtained as compared with previous efforts. The quality of the visuo-haptic environments was also enhanced. Student perceptions of the benefits of using visuo-haptic simulators to enhance their understanding of physics concepts also improved after using the proposed methodology. The incorporation of haptic technologies in higher education settings will certainly foster better student performance in subsequent real environments related to Industry 4.0


2005 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilson Lowrey ◽  
George L. Daniels ◽  
Lee B. Becker

This study is an attempt to understand the mechanism driving programs of journalism and mass communication to converge media sequences. The study also describes the extent and variation of these changes. Findings from a national survey show that a majority of programs are at least experimenting with convergence, though most are also maintaining specialized tracks in some form. Findings also suggest that faculty perceptions of industry changes explain movement away from a sole reliance on separate tracks, but small program size and lack of accreditation are more important in explaining the decision to merge sequences.


Author(s):  
Dilek Karahoca ◽  
Adem Karahoca ◽  
Ilker Yengin ◽  
Huseyin Uzunboylu

This chapter explains the developmental reasons and design to implementation cycles of the Computer Assisted Active Learning System (CALS) for History of Civilization (HOC) courses at Engineering Faculty of Bahcesehir University. Implementation purpose of CALS is to develop set of tools in a systematic way to enhance students’ critical thinking abilities for HOC courses. Dynamic meta-cognitive maps, movies, flash cards and quiz tools were developed. In order to reduce implementation costs of CALS, open Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) standards and platforms were utilized in the development and implementation cycles. This study also investigates the importance of the e-learning platform usage in HOC courses in Engineering Faculty of Bahcesehir University to improve the level of students. Results indicate that the concept based meta-cognitive tool improves learning instead of students just memorizing the class material. Also, engineering students improved their positive attitude towards who wants to learn the history of civilization by using CALS. This study shows that software helps to change human behavior in the learning cycle. This chapter highlights the implications of successful development of FOSS for the CALS.


Author(s):  
Juan Francisco Coll-García

This chapter investigates student perceptions toward an international collaboration that involved an online role-play simulation, Engineers Without Borders (EWB). Forty-two undergraduate students enrolled in an engineering course at a university in the United States were paired with 56 engineering students based at a university in Spain. The simulation was designed and developed not only to foster problem-solving skills, but also to provide opportunities for participants to develop communication skills, teamwork, and professionalism. The simulation also provided opportunities for EFL students to communicate in English and develop their intercultural skills through the use of a variety of electronic collaboration tools. This chapter reports on participant feedback and highlights the benefits of the computer-based nature of the telecollaboration.


Author(s):  
Laura E. Schulte

Graduate student and faculty perceptions of the ethical climate and its importance in the retention of students were investigated at a midwestern metropolitan university. The subjects included 159 graduate students and 52 faculty members from five major areas within the College of Education. The subjects' perceptions of the ethical climate were measured by the Ethical Climate Index (ECI). There were differences between student and faculty perceptions of the ethical climate for four of the five academic areas. Results of the study indicated that a positive ethical climate is perceived by faculty and students to be important in the retention of students within graduate academic programs. Administrators and faculty members should consider the ethical climate as an important factor in retaining graduate students within academic programs.


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