Application of Blended and Active Learning to Chemical Engineering Design Instruction

ion to concrete solutions rapidly and iteratively while other students may fixate on the first solution developed and attempt to use a linear problem solving method. (Moraes, 2015) This may be one of the key differences between the students who achieve higher grades and those who do not, as teaching thinking skills and design methods was not yet a formal part of the engineering curriculum. It was thought to be an intuitive skill. During the 1980’s projects often came from process research and sometimes from industrial problems. The graduating classes comprised 30 to 50 students. The first cohort of chemical engineering co-op students graduated in 1986 along with a cohort of regular stream students. At this time there was not a significant difference in the co-op outlook and the regular program outlook as students in both programs had similar opportunities. Co-op students and regular students submitted applications to companies who posted jobs with the Career and Placement Services then located in the Student Union Building, of which the Engineering Employment Centre was a part. As the co-op program gained popularity, competition for engineering placements increased. Another significant development at the close of this decade was the Chemical Engineering Department received a gift to establish a Stollery Executive in Residence program. Dr. Sieg Wanke explained the purpose of the program was to assist with developing real world problems and to provide real world data for design projects. The program was intended to be similar to one in the Faculty of Business. Over time, this program evolved into the industry project sponsor program for design projects in place at present where advisors assist in developing initial project outlines and supply the input and output stream requirements for them. 2.6. 1990-2000 Industry Partners and Engineering Growth Fred Otto, Dean of Engineering from 1985 1994, was a member of the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) from 1990-98 and chair from 1996-97. During this period the description of engineering design was revised and a requirement for a significant capstone design experience based on the knowledge and skills acquired in prior course work that gave students exposure to teamwork was Application of Blended & Active Learning to Chemical Engineering Design Instruction MV Jamieson November 2015 18 mandated. The University of Alberta Chemical Engineering Program may have been the first to meet this criterion. In 1994 Dr. David Lynch became the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and a period of student and faculty growth started. In 1996, Dr. Lynch became a member of the CEAB. Bill Pick became involved with CHE 465 on a casual basis to assist students with their projects during this period. In 1991, as the first "Stollery Executive in Residence”, he gave lectures in both Design I and Design II, and supported projects. This arrangement was presented at the 1994 ASEE conference as paper 1654. A copy of this work is included in Appendix C. Practicing engineers from various companies started to be a part of the undergraduate chemical engineering design program as it grew and developed. Eventually most CHE 465 projects had industry sponsors. A former student during this period, Trevor Hawkins recalls: “About half-way through the term we were given a list of potential projects to select from. We formed teams of 2-3; we chose our own partners. We were encouraged to contact industry sponsors for our projects. I found our sponsors to be extremely helpful describing the objectives of the project as well as constraints, and they did a good job of leaving the problem solving to us. This was among my favourite courses. The content was practical, and I could see a definite use for the information Dr. Mather provided. ” (Hawkins, 2015) As enrolment increased the student design group size increased from 2 or 3 to 4 students working on one design project. It was noted at this time that the student to instructor ratio was key to providing adequate support to the student teams. The course continued to be taught as a single section and group size was increased to limit the number of projects required. Drs. Alan Mather and Murray Gray taught Design I between 1990 and 1994. Dr. Gray recalls the collaborative nature of coordinating and teaching the design courses at the University of Alberta and the impact of the pedagogical choice of maintaining two design courses: “During the 1990s the first design course was offered twice each year, by me (Gray) one term and by Alan Mather in the other. The basic structure of the course was set by Mather, and the positive feedback from the students encouraged us to keep the same approach of a series of lectures on design to link the fundamentals to sizing and costing of equipment, then a group design project. ” “The success of the course is in pushing the students to apply their knowledge to real problems, and to work as a team on a real project. The Alberta approach differs from other universities by giving students two distinct design experiences, and by giving major feedback after a brief initial project. While the two-