bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Knowledge structures in engineering design: integrating multiple ‘ways of knowing’
Authors: Wolmarans Nicky
Published: January 2019

In this paper I discuss the different‘knowledges’ needed to design, and their implications onthe nature of reasoning in design. Donald Schön andHerbert Simon offer useful models of design thatprivilege different knowledge types, both needed to design.Schön describes a form of case-based reasoning built onmaterial examples. Simon’s focus is on abstract reasoning,defined within academic disciplines by formal rationalrelations between theoretical concepts. Andrew Abbott’smodalities of diagnosis, treatment, and inference helpto show what underpins the different ways of knowing, buthis modalities fail to account explicitly for translationbetween the various knowledge structures.A focus on knowledge shows challenges studentsmay face transitioning from sciences to design. It suggestsways that design project briefs constrain the way in whichstudents work with, and between, different knowledgestructures. It also potentially offers ways to think aboutintroducing design reasoning into engineering sciencecourse
Measuring the Connection Between Mathematics and Engineering
Authors: Gollish Sasha , Karneyc Bryan
Published: January 2019

Mathematics forms the foundation for all the engineering disciplines. Students have trouble transferring this mathematical knowledge from their mathematics classes to the rest of their undergraduate engineering classes. This study is borne out of a desire to ‘be better,' to endeavour always to try to improve, but first, you need to know where one the starting point. The authors are also passionate about mathematics as it relates to engineering. Anecdotally the authors had heard that both students and faculty were disappointed and aggravated with the current status of mathematics teaching in undergraduate engineering. With no known study in Canada looking at how mathematics connects with engineering the authors went down the path to find out how strong the connection between mathematics and undergraduate engineering is at the University of Toronto.Through a mixed-method survey, the goal was to measure respondents’ (i.e. The teaching staff) views on the importance of and students’ competence of both mathematical topics and specific mathematic skills. A survey was administered in the 2017 fall semester to all of those who teach in the Faculty of Applied Science at the University of Toronto. The first part of the survey used a 5-point scale, the second part of the survey had open-ended questions.The responses to the 5-point scale questions demonstrate that the selected mathematic topics and specific skills were all seen as important and that the students’ competence was lower than their rated importance. The open ended-questions asked for respondents definitions and views as they related
Experiential Learning vs Systematic Prescriptions in Engineering Design: A Crossroads for Education
Authors: Gressfc G. R. , Li S. , Brennan R. W.
Published: January 2019

The systematic, non-experiential prescriptions of classical design methodology continue to have a strong presence in large segments of design research and education while another segment sees domain experience and consequent intuition and creativity as being key to successful design. In this paper the two approaches are outlined and the empirical research literature in human behaviour is employed to discern discrepancies and potential weaknesses. Results show that gaining experience in a domain intrinsically changes how one designs, which the classical methodology does not account for. For example, only designers with tactile and visual domain experience can abstract functions per the dictates of the classical (non-experiential) methodology, which means that they cannot have used the methodology to learn basic design in the first place – or did so only with great difficulty. This and other conflicts pose problems for the education of engineering design students, and to fathom their extent this paper surveys engineering design textbooks offered in Canada and the U. S.; all of the books are found to embrace the classical methodology. If they are to remain involved in preparing students for entry into industry then some aspects of their contained classical methodology must be supplanted by experiential approaches to design educatio
Using a common course syllabus as part of the quality control loop and accreditation data collection process
Authors: Ivey M. , Mohamed Y. , Musilek P. , Raboud D. , Rajendran A. , Carey J.P.
Published: January 2019

The importance of a good syllabus as part of delivering a course is well known. However, it is an all too often a reality that syllabi are prepared hastily, inconsistent from program expectations and missing vital information. The primary role of the syllabus is to help instructors prepare and deliver the expected course content to students. However, it can also be used as a tool to aid programs in their continual improvement and quality control process. Further, it can be used to automatically collect vital information for accreditation purposes.In this paper, we introduce a Syllabus Assembly and Management System (SAMS) that supports our instructors and our programs teaching mandate
Windmills of Your Mind: Metacognition and Lifelong Learning
Authors: Evans Greg J.
Published: January 2019

career success as an engineer. This paperadvocates for the explicit instruction of metacognition asa mechanism to support self-directed and lifelonglearning. Relevant literature is synthesised with anemphasise on how this teaching might be operationalised.Experience gained through preliminary inclusion ofmetacognition in a core second year course is described.It appears that easy ways exist to integrate instruction ofmetacognition into existing undergraduate engineeringcourses that should potentially yield major benefits tostudents.
Utilizing the CDIO syllabus to reveal CEAB Graduate Attribute Pathways in a Mechanical Engineering Curriculum
Authors: Meikleham Alexandra , Brennan Robert , Hugo Ron J.
Published: January 2019

Many Canadian engineering programs offercourses through a pre-requisite approach: coursework,and therefore knowledge, is assumed to build throughout aprogram. The pre-requisite approach allows postsecondaryinstitutions to monitor the pathway a studenttakes throughout a program, and is assumed to be informedby knowledge journeys. In our experience, however, prerequisitesmay only be loosely based on scaffoldeddevelopment of student learning. Course pathwayssometimes place a greater emphasis on administrativeconvenience and historical relationships, rather thanreflect an up-to-date or meaningful developmental journey.These “pathways” appear to be particularly tenuous whenit comes to professional skills development, despite anincreasing emphasis on their importance (see Canada’sGraduate Attributes 6-12 (Canadian EngineeringAccreditation Board, 2017)). The pre-requisite model mayreinforce a bureaucratic approach to professional skillsdevelopment, inhibiting flexibility and innovation in coursedelivery by allowing administration, rather than learningoutcomes to guide student learning
Componential Theories of Creativity: A Case Study of Teaching Creative Problem Solving
Authors: Rennick Chris , McKay Kenneth
Published: January 2019

Engineering is the discipline of applying scientific and mathematical tools to solve practical problems for society. At the core of a person’s problem-solving abilities is their creativity. This is a preliminary and exploratory theory-based paper summarizing the two most prevalent componential theories of creativity as applied to a case study. These theories outline a set of processes which contribute to a person’s ability to be creative in a domain. The components differ slightly between models, but include: motivation; domain-specific knowledge, skills, and abilities; and cognitive process of creativity including problem finding, ideation, and evaluation.To demonstrate the practical application of these theories to engineering pedagogy, they will be applied to a case study of a 2-day academic hackathon called “Tron Days”. Tron Days guides students through a multi-step modelling and verification process and concludes with teams of students designing and constructing a robotic arm. At the end of the second day, students demonstrated their functioning robotic prototypes. This event has now been run twice for first semester Mechatronics Engineering students, and similar implementations with different problems have been run in seven other engineering programs at the same institution. Each section of this paper will demonstrate the application of componential theories of creativity by drawing connections to the Tron Days event.
Implementing reflective writing in large non-technical engineering courses
Authors: Chen Lawrence R. , Orjuela-Laverde Maria
Published: January 2019

Reflective writing is a strategy used to promote self-regulated skills among students. We describe the implementation of reflective writing assignments in two compulsory  undergraduate non-technical engineering courses on the engineering profession and professional practice. We discuss our observations on the content of the student papers and the challenges associated with the implementation of these reflective writing assignments
Improving Classroom Engagement to Maximize Learning in an Interdisciplinary Dual Faculty Capstone Experience at the University of Manitoba
Authors: DeGagne William C.D. , Labossiere Paul E.
Published: January 2019

One of the most effective and efficient ways for an engineering program to facilitate compliance with the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) accreditation criteria is through capstone design projects and courses [2]. Currently, The University of Manitoba Faculty of Engineering has several capstone design courses; however, each is independently focused on its own respective discipline. The resulting educational experience for students, though rigorous and challenging, is maintained within the boundaries of the students’ engineering discipline, thereby neglecting to provide the opportunity for students to work with people from multiple disciplines and across different faculties. This method of education, where students work in isolation, arguably does not reflect real world engineering. Through internal focus group meetings, program representatives from the Faculty of Engineering at The University of Manitoba agree that the capstones should be more reflective of real life situations. Interdisciplinary courses are most important because they “…articulate the difference between educational problems and workplace problems” [1]. Hence, to allow “(students) persons from different disciplines to work collaboratively and are integrated to combine their knowledge to solve a problem” (sic)[4], interdisciplinary capstone courses are essential to a rounded engineering education. Furthermore, teaming with the Faculty of Architecture will provide several benefits for both facilities such as: develop lifelong learning patterns; foster cooperative and collaborative team relationships; and, allow both facilities to learn the other’s cultures and technical languages.Since 2016, The University of Manitoba has presented research papers at the Canadian Engineering and Education Association (CEEA) conferences on the development and future assessment of an interdisciplinary capstone course. These papers have shown the evolution of the course from a multidisciplinary engineering program to an interdisciplinary Engineering and Architectural dual faculty offering. The course was launched in January, 2018, and will be evaluated through the winter session and into the fall.This paper, will explore, define, and explain how the proposed new engineering/architecture interdisciplinary capstone and dual faculty course will be developed, highlight the early stages of its initiation, describe the ongoing implementation, outline how the performance of the new course will be evaluated, delve into how the new course will be improved to make it more meaningful and practical to both faculties and students, and; discover how engagement can improved student learning.
How to Make Peer Feedback in Teams Useful: An Empirical Study
Authors: O'Neill Thomas , Maynard Nicoleta
Published: January 2019

Evidence is clear that peer feedback has a slightly beneficial effect on future peer ratings of students effectiveness in teams, suggesting that peer feedback is useful. However, the effects are quite modest and are inconsistent. We believe one reason for this is the inconsistent approaches to debriefing and guiding the usage of peer feedback information. That is, instructors vary widely on the process they use to implement peer feedback in the classroom. Our feeling is that interventions that drive attention to and action on the results of the peer feedback will be instrumental for activating regulatory processes and creating stronger, more consistent behavior change. We report on one such intervention versus a control condition without any particular support beyond provision of the peer feedback scores and comments. We find that the intervention actually buffered students from scoring lower at a later time in the semester, suggesting that the intervention was successful in helping students maintain the early levels of positive ratings before the work became intensive and some members potentially failed to perform according to expectation
Network-Based Approach to Assessment of Cognitive Skills
Authors: Simper Natalie , Frank Brian , Mulligan Nerissa
Published: January 2019

Cognitive Assessment Redesign (CAR) project is an institution-wide, network-based approach to the development of cognitive skills in undergraduate education. This project aims to encourage first and fourth-year instructors to align skill development through the design of course assessments, to enhance cognitive skill acquisition and provide a measurement of learning. The learning outcomes for the project are framed and operationalized using the language and dimensions from the Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education (VALUE) rubrics. An assessment redesign network was created, matching assessment facilitators who have disciplinary and educational expertise with instructors to develop authentic assessments of student learning. One of the goals of the network is to encourage sustained participation and collaboration, and to build progression in teaching and learning throughout the institution. The project also includes a standardized test for comparison to course assessment outcomes. Testing at the fourth-year level has been dependent on the use of incentives for student participation. Although recruiting instructors from the faculty of Engineering and Applied Science was initially a challenge, course instructors have reported various successes stemming from participation in the project.
Improvements in Transport Phenomena Teaching
Authors: Proulx Pierre , Lavoie Francis B.
Published: January 2019

Over the last years, the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Université de Sherbrooke has made a major change: the Matlab teaching has been replaced by Python. This programming language shift allowed the access to multiple powerful tools which were not available before. The Transport Phenomena courses involve theoretical understanding, the use of multiple physicochemical properties as well as complex mathematical equation solving. Open-source Python packages were then substantially implemented in these courses and all exercises and examinations are now performed with computers. Moreover, the Transport Phenomena courses are now given in flipped classroom with the use of a novel web platform developed in our Department. This platform allows to execute Python codes directly on the website and allows to follow and to quantify the overall progress of the students in the course.
Graph-based approach to model the dependency information of graduate attributes for supporting the accreditation process
Authors: Lie S. , Brennan R. W. , Nygren A.
Published: January 2019

In the accreditation of an engineering program, the criterion of graduate attributes is particularly challenging due to its outcome-based nature, which involves diverse instructors to collect and analyze data on students’ skills and competencies in course activities. Also, the amount of data can be vast, causing the issues of relevance and consistency of the collected data. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to facilitate the relevant process by modeling the information dependency concerning the measurements of graduate attributes and the responsibilities of stakeholders. The modeling approach is based on the graph representation that focuses on the nodes and their relations. In the graph-based model, information contents are treated as nodes, which are classified into five types: graduate attribute (GA), attribute indicator (AI), program course (PC), learning outcome (LO), and grading component (GC). Then, the contextual interpretation of the GA assessments is specified by the relations that connect these content types. In this work, three types of content relations are defined: refine, measure and associate. Further, three types of stakeholders are identified (i.e., accreditor, administrator, and instructor), along with their relations to specify their responsibilities to the content types. To demonstrate the application of the proposed graph-based model, this paper overviews the use of the Integrated Course Design Tool (ICDT) and the course outline template in the accreditation process. Based on the graph-based model, suggestions are provided toward the development of quality function deployment and software tools.
Engineering Co-op and Internship Experiences: The Roles of Workplaces, Academic Institutions and Students
Authors: Liu Qin , Kovalchuk Serhiy , Rottmann Cindy , Reeve Doug
Published: January 2019

Work-integrated learning, particularly in theform of co-ops and internships, has long been an integralpart of many engineering programs. While recentgovernment interest in work-integrated learning hasraised its profile, it is unclear how the three main actors –the workplace, the academic institution and studentsthemselves – interact with each other to enhance students’learning experiences and outcomes. This paper attemptsto fill this gap by examining engineering co-op andinternship literature as well as programming practices atnineteen North American universities. In light of aconceptual framework foregrounding organizationalstructure, human agency and learning outcomes, weidentified five themes that demonstrated the interactionsbetween organizational and individual factors involved inthe workplace learning process of engineering co-ops andinternships. The paper contributes to the discussion onwork-integrated engineering education by highlightingthe usefulness of the conceptual framework to empiricalresearch on workplace learning and the practicalimplications of the findings for engineering educators,employers, and engineering co-op and internshipstudents.
Peer Tutoring in Project-Based Course
Authors: Brousseau Jean , Sano-Gélinas Andrée
Published: January 2019

In undergraduate engineering programs, design competency is mainly developed through project-based design courses. In such courses, a well framed practice is one of the best strategy to help students develop the ability to design solutions to complex, multifaceted and open-ended engineering problems. Nevertheless, supervising students, especially first-year students, requires a lot of effort and time. As the number of students increases, the task of closely supervising them becomes more difficult. Considering the small number of academic staff, peer tutors can provide a solution to the lack of resources. In addition to this, peer-tutoring is a very interesting pedagogical solution. In fact, the literature demonstrates that peer tutoring can benefit both students and tutors.Teaching assistants (TAs) have contributed in project based courses for a long time but there are not so many documented experiences about how to integrate peer-tutoring in a project-based design course or how to use fourth year students to tutor first year students.In fall 2017, a peer-tutoring program (PTP) has been implemented in the first year multidisciplinary design course. Fourth-year engineering students with relevant design experience acted as tutors for teams of four or five students. The intention was to reduce the pressure on our professional staff, while maintaining the same quality level of supervision.PTP assessment revealed that all stakeholders appreciated the experience. At low cost, it allowed more weekly hours of supervision and gave the professionals the possibility to perform tasks that only them can do. Although the impact of PTP on the quality of learning was not measured, the student level of satisfaction was very high.
Quantifying “deep learning” in geomatics engineering by means of classroom observations
Authors: Rangelova Elena , Detchev Ivan , Packer Scott
Published: January 2019

On the spectra of soft-hard and pure-applied disciplines, geomatics engineering can be categorized as hard and applied, similarly to other engineering disciplines. One can expect that geomatics engineering would score lower in deep learning as such patterns have been observed for other engineering disciplines compared to soft and pure ones. Some students in upper level courses in geomatics engineering may still struggle with fundamental knowledge from lower level courses. This makes it hard for instructors to create an environment for deep learning. They may have to spend a significant amount of class time reviewing basic concepts, and not as much time is left for building up more complex concepts and problem solving. In order to be more successful in tackling higher level learning outcomes, it would be useful to identify areas of troublesome knowledge and specific threshold concepts in key geomatics engineering courses. By addressing these concepts, instructors can eliminate, or at least minimize, the bottlenecks in the learning process. This is the aim of the teaching and learning research study presented in this paper.The main method for collecting data for this study is classroom observations complemented by minute papers at the end of each course unit. Even though the study is in its early stage, some correlations between the type of lessons delivered and the student cognitive and behavioural engagement can be seen, and some concepts can already be identified as probable threshold concepts. As far as the authors are aware, this is the first study on threshold concepts in geomatics engineering
Using Internships to Enhance Engineering Programs – the Case Study of an Industrial Partner
Authors: Côté Antoine
Published: January 2019

Many institutions recognise the importance of internships.As part of the training of future engineers, theseopportunities confront students to the realities of jobmarket. The University studied in this case is one of thoseinstitutions. It has developed its way of integratinginternships with the engineering bachelors degree.The University in question gives high importance topractical knowledge. As third and fourth year studentscomplete their studies, they are asked to manage full-scaleprojects – from Design Brief to assembly, along withPlans and Specifications. These courses are bound to theUniversity's engineering Chair, who accompaniesstudents in their design process. All subjects come fromreal customers who either have heard of the Chair, ordiscovered it via internships. In fact, a major part of theChair's clients comes from partnerships developed insummer time, outside of the walls of the University: theconfidence and trust built in internships propel theprogram. Recently, this symbiosis was brought up to anew level
An experimental lab to enhance undergraduate electromagnetics education
Authors: Garrett David , Fear Elise
Published: January 2019

Electromagnetic field theory is a required part of the undergraduate electrical engineering curriculum. This material is taught in either one or two semester courses, encompassing concepts related to static and time-varying fields. These classes often focus on Maxwell’s equations and application of mathematical tools required for problem solving. Simulation and visualization tools are often used to enhance student understanding of field distributions and wave propagation. However, hands-on experiences have the potential to deepen understanding and emphasize connections between theory and real-world applications. As RF and microwave equipment is expensive, it is difficult to sustainably outfit laboratories for large undergraduate classes. In this paper, we describe a low-cost, hands-on experimental lab that involves students designing and implementing an antenna. This lab is designed to reinforce concepts related to wave propagation. This work adds to the few papers in the literature reporting incorporation of innovative and low-cost experiments into the undergraduate electromagnetics curriculum.
Cohort Analysis and Reporting for Graduate Attribute Assessment
Authors: George Aneta , Peyton Liam
Published: January 2019

The Graduate Attribute Information Analysis system (GAIA) was developed at the University of Ottawa to support data collection and performance management of graduate attributes for engineering programs at the program level and at the course level [10]. This paper reports on our research to develop support for cohort analysis and reporting by providing a single consistent view of graduate attributes (GA) and performance indicators for groups of students who started and finished an engineering program at the same time. This is supported by two special purpose reports: Graduate Attribute Report per Cohort (GAR/C) and Course Progression Report per Cohort (CPR/C). The former shows average GA data per attribute, the latter tracks student achievement as students progress in their program. It also adds to the historic data trend analysis for a program. Furthermore, a COOP Progress Report per cohort (COOPR/C) is generated.
Graduate Attribute Based Continuous Course Improvement in a Blended Learning Engineering Design Course – A Writing Improvement Case Study
Authors: Jamieson Marnie Vegessi , Shaw John M.
Published: January 2019

The Capstone Chemical Process DesignCourse instructors engaged with Writing Across theCurriculum to develop and then provide writing seminarsfor students taking the second blended learning iterationof the design course to address needs identified bystudents in a pre course skill self assessment. The goals ofthis initiative were to further develop students’ technicalwriting abilities, encourage ongoing writing during thecourse, and to help students develop better strategies toprepare preliminary and final design project reports.Students’ attendance and reaction to the voluntaryseminar sessions were measured as part of an armslength survey and used as input to the course continuousimprovement process. The results and follow up steps arereported.
Student Video-Usage in Introductory Engineering Courses
Authors: Harandi Negar M. , Agharebparast Farshid , Linares Luis , Dodson Samuel , Roll Ido , Fong Matthew , Yoon Dongwook , Fels Sidney
Published: January 2019

As videos are gaining popularity in flipped and blended Engineering classrooms, there is an increasing need to track and understand students’ use of the videos, in order to identify evidence-based practices matched to the emerging trends in video and video annotation tools. We explore students’ surveyresponses, follow-up interviews, and log data from their interaction with common video platforms as well as, ViDeX, a new experimental video annotation tool, to evaluate how, when and why students watch, rewatch, and annotate videos in two large introductory Engineering courses, with flipped, and blended formats. Our findings show that students watch thevideos with the instructors’ intended use in mind, and plan their review process accordingly. In the flipped classroom, most students summarized the short preclass screencasts in their personal notes to minimize the need to re-watch the videos before the exam. In contrast, students in the blended  classroom reexamined the long tutorial videos mostly to redo the problems before the midterm and final exams. Bookmarking seemed to be useful for locating those problems of interest. Since the problems required drawings and computations, paper annotation was more beneficial than a dedicated video annotation platform.
Flipping the Script on Project Management Practices in Education: Outcomes of Applying Agile Development Methodologies in a Classroom Setting
Authors: Abid Saif , Antipin Maxim , Timorabadi Hamid S.
Published: January 2019

In this paper, an application of Agile Devel-opment Methodologies (ADM) to university project ori-ented courses is presented. A multidisciplinary student team applies Waterfall and Agile (Scrum) project man-agement strategies over a period of 10 months to a pro-ject based capstone course. The study primarily focuses on evaluating the two methodologies across five catego-ries – student confidence, student awareness, stakeholder confidence, stakeholder awareness, and project success. Results suggest that overall Agile can be more effective than Waterfall. Due to practices such as daily standups and frequent sprint planning, the student team and stake-holders found they were not only able to stay up to date with the progress of the overall project but also found there was enough time allocated to address the ever-changing nature of requirements brought on by the pro-ject. The lessons learned and recommendations provided in this study are generalized such that they can be applied in other project based courses as well.
A networked social change lab approach to re-imagining engineering education
Authors: Frank Brian , Brennan Bob , Mydlarski Laurent , Mattucci Stephen , Salem Deena
Published: January 2019

This paper presents a literature review of social laboratory and network approaches to change, and describes a collaborative approach being implemented in some Canadian engineering programs to rethink the engineering curriculum. As part of the Canadian Engineering Education Challenge in the Engineering Change Lab, the institutions present some proposed curriculum interventions and proposed research activities.
Student usage of higher production value multi-camera lecture recordings in a first-year engineering chemistry class
Authors: Delaviz Yasaman , Ramsay Scott D.
Published: January 2019

This study explored student preference andusage patterns with multi-camera (5 cameras providing 5unique angles) recordings of in-person lectures comparedto standard single camera recordings employing a staticwide shot of all chalkboards. The participants were firstyearundergraduate engineering students at the Universityof Toronto. Hard copy anonymous survey responses andanalytical data collected from unlisted YouTube videoswere used to gather feedback and data. To assesspreference for multi- vs. single camera production, 6lectures were uploaded simultaneously in both productionformats. Data collected from YouTube Analytics showed ahigher preference for multi- vs. single camera production,as the multi-camera versions had on average 4.1 times thenumber of views compared to the single-camera videos.When compared to the multi-camera productions, thesingle-camera videos had a 34% greater average decreasein audience retention (from the first 30 seconds to the last30 seconds). From student survey responses, 64% ofstudents felt that the multi-camera recordings were moreengaging compared to the single camera production. Thefindings of this study demonstrate that students perceivevideos of high-production multi-camera as being valuableand more engaging to watch compared to the standardwide shot single camera lecture captures.
On Becoming Educator-Changemakers
Authors: Zhuang Kai , Newland Franz
Published: January 2019

Today’s world has an urgent need for engineer-changemakers to participate in the addressing of complex societal challenges. However, today’s Engineering Education does not provide the opportunity for students to develop the necessary skills, perspectives, and experiences to become engineer-changemakers. In this paper, we present a new model of changemaking and use this model to assess the profession of engineering, engineering education, and a number of initiatives we have created over the past year at the Lassonde Futures Lab. Using the model, we also propose a forward thinking vision for creating a “purpose-driven collaboratory” that simultaneously catalyzes change and prepares changemakers.
Developing Student Meta-Cognition in a Design Course.
Authors: Steele Alan L.
Published: January 2019

practice can help with developing professional skills. To encourage the development of self reflection and ultimately meta-cognition related to project and design work, undergraduate electrical engineering students in anon-capstone project course undertook reflection exercises on their group project. The instructor observed a range of abilities to undertake the reflections, with some not going beyond describing the work that they had done, whereas others started to show a deeper consideration and thinking about their project work. The main route for reflection was a reflection journal, where five entries were required over the period of the project. The choice of reflection topic was up to the student except in one entry case when a mandatory question on life long learning was asked. For each of the other reflections a suggestion was provided for a reflection topic. Other opportunities for reflection were included with questionnaires at the beginning and end of the course, as well as presentations including one describing one thing the group had learned.The individual experiences of students in a first major group project course allow a range of reflections to occur, from ideas about planning, group work, problem solving and design being potential areas for discussion. Evaluation here is restricted to the instructors observations and not a detailed analysis of the student’s reflection work. This is an early examination of reflection and meta-cognition of the students but there areindications that students are taking the first steps in considering their approaches to project and design work.
Reduced Complexity Processor for Teaching Computer Architecture
Authors: Timorabadi Hamid S.
Published: January 2019

This paper proposes the application of a Reduced Complexity Processor (RCP) as a tool in teaching computer architecture. The design and implementation of the RCP as well as its effectiveness is reported. The proposed RCP is a single-cycle, 8-bit processor. The processor currently used in the course is a soft-processor, Nios-II, by Altera. Nios-II is a complex, single-cycle, 32-bit processor that cannot easily be dissected for students’ realization of computer archi-tecture. Teaching RCP alongside Nios-II allows to eliminate some of the unnecessary complexities that prevent students from achieving a rather better realiza-tion of computer system functionality. The intention is also to actively involve students in design process by providing a platform that allows students to modify and build their own processor
A Study of Blended Learning in a First-Year Chemistry for Engineers Course
Authors: Grove Jason , Boghaer Eline
Published: January 2019

Chemistry for Engineers is an introductory chemistry course taken by most engineering students at Waterloo during their first term. Over the past two years online content was developed to facilitate the implementation of blended learning. The motivation for this was: i) to create time for more valuable instructor–student interactions, allowing the instructor to reinforce challenging concepts, focus on problem-solving strategies and lead experiential learning activities, and, ii) to allow students to explore content at their own pace, thereby accommodating the diversity of students’ high-school chemistry preparation. Our study aims to compare and contrast student experience, satisfaction and performance between a blended learning and traditional lecture model of instruction through data from surveys and grades
A Three-Level Software Support Platform for the Graduate Attribute-Curriculum Improvement Process
Authors: Taylor David
Published: January 2019

Since 2014, the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) has required that accredited engineering programs implement a process of Graduate Attribute Assessment and Continual Improvement (GA/CI). At the University of Ottawa, the GA/CI process has beendesigned around three levels of administration (Faculty,Program and Course) that also utilizes Vena Solution’scloud database system structured around Excel. This paperdescribes the Faculty’s three-tiered administrative structure and discusses the implementation of the Vena system at each of these levels.
A Case-Control Study of Student Performance in a Blended Learning Environment
Authors: David Taylor
Published: January 2019

This paper discusses student performancein a fourth-year computer-aided design course under twodelivery modes: one using a blended learning format andthe other based on a classical lecture style. Specifically, thefinal exam results following the blended learning approach(2017) are compared to those from the previous four years(2012 to 2016), where the latter delivery was based on aclassical lecture style.Course enrolment during the study period varied froma minimum of 68 students for the 2012 cohort to amaximum of 122 registrations in 2017. Meanwhile, themean cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of eachcohort varied from a minimum of 6.71 ± 1.21 (mean ± SD)in 2012 to a maximum of 7.10 ± 1.33 (mean ± SD) in 2014;the mean CGPA in 2017 was 6.87 ± 1.31 (mean ± SD).While the class average in the final exam for each yeartracked more-or-less the entrance CGPA, the distributionof grades did not. Instead, the blended learning cohortshowed the lowest proportion of students achieving below50% on the final exam.
Sustainability within Technical Engineering Curriculum – A Hydraulic Fracturing Module in Fluid Mechanics
Authors: Anderson Ryan , Gannon Paul , Plumb Carolyn
Published: January 2019

A transferable module is presented that brings sustainability topics into a core chemical engineering fluid dynamics course. A topic was chosen based on technical applicability to the course and currentdebate on the topic. In this case, hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) was chosen for the connection tocourse content (e.g. pumps, porous media flows) and its widespread debate in the United States. Onthe day of the activity, a guest instructor first surveyed the students with questions on theirunderstanding of and opinion on topics within fracking. The students were then shown two short videoson the topic, one from a science-focused group and one from an industrial proponent of the frackingtechnology. After the videos, students were sorted into five theme areas: science/technology,economics, policy, society, and the environment. These areas were chosen to highlight the breadth oftopics that must be engaged in order to approach such complex problems. Further, it is a move towardinterdisciplinary learning within engineering curricula where students consider broader societal themesas part of an engineering solution4. Students brought a research device for this day, and all students hadaccess to laptops or various smart phone devices. During the in-class activity, the students in theirgroups engaged in their own research on the topic using a variety of web-based sources. As they foundinformation relevant to their theme area, they took notes and then brought that into a groupaccumulation of relevant information. With this data compiled, one representative from each areasummarized salient points to the entire class. A course-wide (n ~ 40) discussion ensued with facilitationfrom the guest instructor. Beyond that day of integration, the course instructor aimed to show theimportance of such topics via three practices. First, the course objective ‘Students will analyzeengineering problems in the context of economics, technology, society, and the environment’ wasadded to the course syllabus along with ten other objectives focused on more traditional technicalcontent. Second, after the activity, a homework assignment was given on material balances and pumpsizing requirements associated with a typical hydraulic fracturing site to directly connect the technicalcourse content to the broader focus of the fracking activity. Lastly, a bonus problem on the final examasked students “If you were a landowner, would you allow hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on your land?Briefly explain your answer.” Select survey results from Fall 2017 are chosen to highlight students’ selfreportedunderstand of and support for fracking (pre-post responses), if the class-format was effectivein their learning, and open ended comments relating to changes in their opinion and the course format.The transferability of this module is discussed, along with ways to translate the concept to othercourses, such as into a heat transfer course via a nuclear power module.
Computer-supported collaborative knowledge building using a sustainability assessment framework and Microsoft Teams
Authors: Buchal Ralph
Published: January 2019

Ashby’s sustainability assessment method provides a systematic framework for dealing with complex, multidisciplinary problems. It explicitly addresses many desired graduate attributes, and is an excellent framework to provide scaffolding for computer-supported collaborative knowledge building. This paper describes experience using Ashby’s method in conjunction with the Microsoft Teams collaboration platform in a third-year group sustainability assessment project. Students found Teams to be effective and easy to use, and the resulting group reports demonstrated development and application of most CEAB graduate attributes, particularly professionalism, impact on society and the environment, and life-long learning.
Alumni Perspective on their Undergraduate Engineering Leadership Experience and Important Career Skills
Authors: Paul Robyn , Falls Lynne Cowe
Published: January 2019

Engineering leadership is increasingly recognized as an essential attribute for engineers as they enter the dynamic and complex modern workplace. Increasingly, undergraduate institutions are offering leadership development to their engineering students. The question then follows, as these student leaders graduate and go into their career, did their student leadership experiences help to equip them to be successful in their career? This paper presents the results from a thematic analysis of twelve interviews with alumni student leaders. The results showed that the most influential factors of student leadership were: humility, empathy, and curiosity.
Identification of Ineffective Team Members Using Normalized Peer Ratings
Authors: Couturier Michel F.
Published: January 2019

Peer assessments are used in the senior process design course at the University of New Brunswick to determine individual grades, reduce free riding and improve team dynamics. The results of the monthly surveys are shared with students as formative feedback on their performance and used to calculate the relative performance of team members by dividing the overall average score of each student by the team average. This study examined whether the resulting normalized peer ratings could be used to identify ineffective team members. We found that the normalized ratings of effective team members follow the normal distribution with a mean of unity and a standard deviation of about 0.04. The small monthly variations in the standard deviation of the distribution are not statistically significant indicating that the characteristics of the distribution are time-invariant in our course. Students who obtain normalized ratings less than 0.9 are generally ineffective team members and their ratings should not be used in the calculation of the team average to avoid inflating the normalized ratings of their teammates.
WeBWorK as an open online homework system in a second-year material and energy balances course
Authors: Lee Jun Sian , Verrett Jonathan
Published: January 2019

–Many studies have shown the advantages of dynamic homework tools for student learning. Material and energy balances is a common foundational course in chemical engineering and related disciplines. There are a number of open educational resources that have been developed around material and energy balances such as screencasts, interactive simulations and conceptual multiple choice tests. In order to build upon these resources, we sought to create online homework assignments on an easily accessible platform, with instant feedback and dynamic questions with individual numbers and unique solutions. We selected WeBWorK as a tool for this due to its common use, open and editable nature and the ease to which problems can be shared between authors through the Open Problem Library system built into the software. WeBWorK problem sets were easy to use for students and well received. The switch from pencil and paper to WeBWorK showed no significant effect on student grades or participation in homework assignments. On the Instructors’ side, WeBWorK saved time overall by reducing grading significantly. This allowed greater time for student interaction with instructors. However certain problem types, notably creating diagrams or explaining problem solving methodology could not be accomplished with WeBWorK. A hybrid of pencil and paper homework as well as WeBWorK is recommended for material and energy balances due to the course material and objectives
What Makes a Good Assessment? Assessments for Learning
Authors: Stachowsky Michael , Milne Andrew J B
Published: January 2019

We present in this paper a ‘how-to’ frameworkfor designing motivating assessments, based upon thecognitive theories of expectancy-value and of aligned andauthentic objectives. The framework recasts thesecognitive theories into more practical steps of determiningobjectives, setting expectations, and framing theassessment to be well scoped, authentic, and relatable. Inthe Fall 2017 offering of our Introduction to MechanicalEngineering course, two new short design challenges andone long design challenge were piloted after beingdesigned according to the objectives-expectations-framingframework. In each case, the assessments were designed tobe (to varying extents) engaging/authentic (something thatstudents would want to do), and doable/relatable(something the students could do). The term long project(of largest scope, authenticity, and relatability) was foundby student survey to be the most motivating. Of the twosmaller projects, the second, while seemingly moreauthentic and relatable, was found to be less motivating.We understand this to be due to the context of thisassessment coming during a time in the term when studentwere busy with the term design project and other courses.
“It’s not pronounced Mahna-mahna”: Creating a hands-on activity to teach first-year engineers about pressure measurement
Authors: Robinson Mary , Li Eugene
Published: January 2019

Chemistry is a fundamental course that all first-year engineering students must take. However, many students cannot make the connection between the material learnt in class and their growing understanding of engineering. This is exasperated in the Mechatronics program at the University of Waterloo which does not have any physical labs but focuses heavily on analysis. To address this issue, the authors developed a short 90-minute activity which the entire class completed during an open-ended design event. This activity had students experience basic lab practices and gain a further understanding of pressure measurement, and the course materia