Successfully completing an engineering degree often requires at least four or five years of intense study by students, and many of these students start their programs with a limited sense of what an engineer is or does. During their journey, some students gravitate towards a blend of practical application and theoretical knowledge of engineering principles; some, for diverse reasons, may be unable to invest the time required for an engineering degree. For these students, an engineering technologist career, which focuses on application and implementation, may be more appropriate. Leveraging the common first-year engineering curriculum recently launched in British Columbia, Vancouver Island University has developed and implemented a new, generalist, Integrated Engineering Technologist diploma (ITED) that combines civil, mechanical, and electrical principles, and provides a career pathway for those students who start engineering studies but choose not to continue with the degree. This paper will focus on the development of this new diploma, while a subsequent paper will evaluate its implementation. The three development phases of the IETD were:1. Identifying key program graduate attributes,2. Developing the program structure and delivery modes, and,3. Creating the detailed course content. Within the first phase, an inventory of desired skills was obtained through broadly distributed surveys, direct engagement with industry, professional, and government groups, and evaluation of future needs within the technologist profession. This paper will outline the methods used to collect this data, and the process by which this data was developed into a thematic collection of higher order skills and attributes. Through this iterative consultation process, a technologist credential with a broad, non-specialized disciplinary focus was found to best meet the identified skills gap and need. The second phase consisted of a study of engineering, technologist, and technician programs to evaluate best practice. This paper discusses the cohort model that was ultimately chosen, and the highly modular approach used by the instructor team. Each four-week module consists of up to five courses run in parallel, where individual learning topics are treated collectively and strategically sequenced to best facilitate learning. A summative assessment evaluates learning at the end of each module. In the final phase, which is on-going, specific course content is being developed, including lab-based and field activities, classroom-based learning, and project work. Examples of this work and their motivation are provided.
{"title":"Developing a new Engineering Technologist career pathway from First-Year Engineering","authors":"B. Dick","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15840","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15840","url":null,"abstract":"Successfully completing an engineering degree often requires at least four or five years of intense study by students, and many of these students start their programs with a limited sense of what an engineer is or does. During their journey, some students gravitate towards a blend of practical application and theoretical knowledge of engineering principles; some, for diverse reasons, may be unable to invest the time required for an engineering degree. For these students, an engineering technologist career, which focuses on application and implementation, may be more appropriate. \u0000Leveraging the common first-year engineering curriculum recently launched in British Columbia, Vancouver Island University has developed and implemented a new, generalist, Integrated Engineering Technologist diploma (ITED) that combines civil, mechanical, and electrical principles, and provides a career pathway for those students who start engineering studies but choose not to continue with the degree. \u0000This paper will focus on the development of this new diploma, while a subsequent paper will evaluate its implementation. \u0000The three development phases of the IETD were:1. Identifying key program graduate attributes,2. Developing the program structure and delivery modes, and,3. Creating the detailed course content. \u0000Within the first phase, an inventory of desired skills was obtained through broadly distributed surveys, direct engagement with industry, professional, and government groups, and evaluation of future needs within the technologist profession. This paper will outline the methods used to collect this data, and the process by which this data was developed into a thematic collection of higher order skills and attributes. Through this iterative consultation process, a technologist credential with a broad, non-specialized disciplinary focus was found to best meet the identified skills gap and need. \u0000The second phase consisted of a study of engineering, technologist, and technician programs to evaluate best practice. \u0000This paper discusses the cohort model that was ultimately chosen, and the highly modular approach used by the instructor team. Each four-week module consists of up to five courses run in parallel, where individual learning topics are treated collectively and strategically sequenced to best facilitate learning. A summative assessment evaluates learning at the end of each module. \u0000In the final phase, which is on-going, specific course content is being developed, including lab-based and field activities, classroom-based learning, and project work. Examples of this work and their motivation are provided.","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"35 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121330582","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Afsah Dawood, B. Lindsay, Mandeep Pandey, M. Boyce, Kim Johnston
National interest in mental wellbeing in the Canadian population has trickled down to focusing on subsets of the population that are particularly vulnerable to poor mental wellbeing. One of these subsets is the engineering student population due to the high stress and anxiety associated with their course load and prospects. The current study carried out a secondary analysis of wellbeing surveys administered to engineering students (N = 141) during the Winter 2020 semester. The primary analysis sought to determine whether perceived peer support, instructor support, and staff support predicted engineering identity. Greater identification with one’s career path is shown to be related with greater wellbeing in students and employees in the form of greater satisfaction and likelihood to remain in the degree program. Further, the analysis explored whether gender and hometown acted as moderating variables, either intensifying or lessening the main relationship. The analysis uncovered a statistically significant relationship between perceived peer support and engineering group identity, r = .534, p <.001. This relationship was moderated by gender, p = .033, wherein female engineering students who reported low levels of peer support were far less likely to feel a sense of belonging in the engineering community than male students. This gender difference did not exist for those who reported high levels of perceived peer support. Implications for female representation and program development are discussed.
国家对加拿大人口心理健康的兴趣已经逐渐下降到关注特别容易受到心理健康不良影响的人群。其中一个子集是工程专业的学生，因为他们的课程负担和前景带来了很高的压力和焦虑。目前的研究对2020年冬季学期对工程专业学生(N = 141)进行的健康调查进行了二次分析。初步分析试图确定是否感知同伴支持、教师支持和员工支持预测工程身份。研究表明，对职业道路的认同程度越高，学生和员工的幸福感就越高，满意度越高，继续攻读学位的可能性也越大。进一步，分析探讨性别和家乡是否作为调节变量，是加强还是减弱主要关系。分析发现，感知同伴支持与工程团队认同之间存在统计学上显著的关系，r = 0.534, p < 0.001。这种关系受到性别的影响，p = 0.033，其中报告同伴支持水平较低的女工程专业学生比男学生更不可能在工程社区感到归属感。这种性别差异并不存在于那些认为同伴支持水平高的人身上。讨论了对女性代表和项目发展的影响。
{"title":"Perceived Support and Gender: Identifying with the Engineering Community as a First-Year Engineering Student","authors":"Afsah Dawood, B. Lindsay, Mandeep Pandey, M. Boyce, Kim Johnston","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15954","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15954","url":null,"abstract":"National interest in mental wellbeing in the Canadian population has trickled down to focusing on subsets of the population that are particularly vulnerable to poor mental wellbeing. One of these subsets is the engineering student population due to the high stress and anxiety associated with their course load and prospects. The current study carried out a secondary analysis of wellbeing surveys administered to engineering students (N = 141) during the Winter 2020 semester. The primary analysis sought to determine whether perceived peer support, instructor support, and staff support predicted engineering identity. Greater identification with one’s career path is shown to be related with greater wellbeing in students and employees in the form of greater satisfaction and likelihood to remain in the degree program. Further, the analysis explored whether gender and hometown acted as moderating variables, either intensifying or lessening the main relationship. The analysis uncovered a statistically significant relationship between perceived peer support and engineering group identity, r = .534, p <.001. This relationship was moderated by gender, p = .033, wherein female engineering students who reported low levels of peer support were far less likely to feel a sense of belonging in the engineering community than male students. This gender difference did not exist for those who reported high levels of perceived peer support. Implications for female representation and program development are discussed.","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"63 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122566085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article uses expert interviews to support the need for architecture-engineering collaborations in undergraduate education and uses teaching practice reflection to evaluate an example of such a collaboration at work. We establish the state of such collaborations in professional practice and use that as context to consider the design of an undergraduate architecture-engineering collaborative tutorial. We find that while the experiential, project-based educational model employed can mimic key aspects of professional practice, there are limitations to what can be delivered in a one-term experience. Key to understanding those limitations and decisions are the two diagrams provided in the article, which visualize the tutorial and the courses it is attached to as interrelated learning environments. We find that such a tutorial—in addition to delivering core content knowledge to students in each discipline—should create an environment in which students can develop key interdisciplinary skills and abilities, especially as regards communication, teamwork and interpersonal relations. We also reflect on the key design decisions behind the current iteration of the tutorial and identify future considerations for both the tutorial and this research project, of which this article is intended to be the initial stage.
{"title":"Education As Prototype: On a Combined Architecture-Engineering Design Tutorial","authors":"E. Nolan, J. Davis","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15873","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15873","url":null,"abstract":"This article uses expert interviews to support the need for architecture-engineering collaborations in undergraduate education and uses teaching practice reflection to evaluate an example of such a collaboration at work. We establish the state of such collaborations in professional practice and use that as context to consider the design of an undergraduate architecture-engineering collaborative tutorial. We find that while the experiential, project-based educational model employed can mimic key aspects of professional practice, there are limitations to what can be delivered in a one-term experience. Key to understanding those limitations and decisions are the two diagrams provided in the article, which visualize the tutorial and the courses it is attached to as interrelated learning environments. We find that such a tutorial—in addition to delivering core content knowledge to students in each discipline—should create an environment in which students can develop key interdisciplinary skills and abilities, especially as regards communication, teamwork and interpersonal relations. We also reflect on the key design decisions behind the current iteration of the tutorial and identify future considerations for both the tutorial and this research project, of which this article is intended to be the initial stage.","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117348665","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mandeep Pandey, R. Paul, Kim Johnston, Afsah Dawood, Catherine Betancourt-Lee, Kenza Filali, Tausif Tajwar, B. Lindsay, M. Boyce
First-year engineering can be an overwhelming experience for students, and it is important to have regular check-in points for students as they transition to post-secondary education. Beginning in 2019, the Schulich School of Engineering (SSE) at the University of Calgary implemented mental wellness and engineering attributes modules across the first-year engineering curriculum. These modules focused on students’ overall development to support their success in the diverse world of engineering. In this paper, we give an overview of the program implementation during 2021-2022 and recommendations for effective implementation of such series based on our experiences. We also briefly present a summary of the students’ self-reflections from the first two years of the program. At the end of each module, we ask students a few open-ended questions to reflect on their experiences based on the materials covered in the module. In addition to these responses from different modules, the final self-reflection, where the students are asked to reflect on their journey as a first-year engineering student, is of immense help in enhancing our understanding of students’ perspectives. Analysis and review of these reflections help mold our strategies for future programming to support student wellbeing and academic and professional development.
{"title":"Learning from Learners: Wellness seminars and self-reflections for first-year engineering students to enhance their journey in engineering education","authors":"Mandeep Pandey, R. Paul, Kim Johnston, Afsah Dawood, Catherine Betancourt-Lee, Kenza Filali, Tausif Tajwar, B. Lindsay, M. Boyce","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15956","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15956","url":null,"abstract":"First-year engineering can be an overwhelming experience for students, and it is important to have regular check-in points for students as they transition to post-secondary education. Beginning in 2019, the Schulich School of Engineering (SSE) at the University of Calgary implemented mental wellness and engineering attributes modules across the first-year engineering curriculum. These modules focused on students’ overall development to support their success in the diverse world of engineering. In this paper, we give an overview of the program implementation during 2021-2022 and recommendations for effective implementation of such series based on our experiences. We also briefly present a summary of the students’ self-reflections from the first two years of the program. \u0000At the end of each module, we ask students a few open-ended questions to reflect on their experiences based on the materials covered in the module. In addition to these responses from different modules, the final self-reflection, where the students are asked to reflect on their journey as a first-year engineering student, is of immense help in enhancing our understanding of students’ perspectives. Analysis and review of these reflections help mold our strategies for future programming to support student wellbeing and academic and professional development.","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123868465","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The study of human psychology has demonstrated that satisfying a set of basic psychological needs - autonomy, relatedness, and compentence - is essential for personal well-being and thriving. However, student mental health data across North America indicates that students are experiencing high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression - an indication that they are not thriving. Our experiences of traditional approaches to leadership education, and engineering leadership education by extension, is that it tends to focus largely on the development of competence-based needs, such as specific individual leadership skills and attributes. The lack of focus on satisfying student psychological needs of autonomy and relatedness means that current approaches to engineering leadership education may not be fully supporting and preparing students to thrive, and therefore lead. Our paper explores the possibilities of incorporating all three basic psychological needs essential to thriving through an expansive, transformational approach to engineering leadership education: First Thrive, Then Lead. Our emerging integrative and holistic approach to the development of engineering leadership education draws inspiration from traditional and non-European wisdoms and practices, as well as our personal lived experiences, and is grounded in well-established scientific theories.
{"title":"First Thrive, Then Lead: An Emerging Approach to Engineering Leadership Education","authors":"Dimpho Radebe, Kai Zhuang","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15928","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15928","url":null,"abstract":"The study of human psychology has demonstrated that satisfying a set of basic psychological needs - autonomy, relatedness, and compentence - is essential for personal well-being and thriving. However, student mental health data across North America indicates that students are experiencing high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression - an indication that they are not thriving. Our experiences of traditional approaches to leadership education, and engineering leadership education by extension, is that it tends to focus largely on the development of competence-based needs, such as specific individual leadership skills and attributes. The lack of focus on satisfying student psychological needs of autonomy and relatedness means that current approaches to engineering leadership education may not be fully supporting and preparing students to thrive, and therefore lead. \u0000Our paper explores the possibilities of incorporating all three basic psychological needs essential to thriving through an expansive, transformational approach to engineering leadership education: First Thrive, Then Lead. Our emerging integrative and holistic approach to the development of engineering leadership education draws inspiration from traditional and non-European wisdoms and practices, as well as our personal lived experiences, and is grounded in well-established scientific theories.","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"105 3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128816190","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
P. Hungler, C. Thurgood, M. Marinova, Steve White, Lev Mirzoian, Matthew Thoms, Janice Law, Michael Chabot, Kimia Moozeh
It is challenging to provide students studying in chemical engineering, biotechnology and other related fields with an opportunity to tour and interact with a full-scale chemical processing plant. To address this challenge, an open-sourced virtual reality (VR) chemical processing plant was designed and built to provide students with an experiential learning opportunity. The VR plant is modelled after an ampicillin processing facility complete with a piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID). The initial student experience inside the VR plant is a tour of the plant, various plant features and unit operations. The tour enables students to freely tour the plant but also engages them in a “Quest” style experience where they need to search for specific areas and components within the plant. An EngPad was designed to provide learners with a help tool to assist their navigation and strengthen their understanding during the VR experience. Experiential learning theory was used to guide the design of the VR application and take students through the four learning modes of concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. A focus group provided feedback on the design and user interaction of the VR experience. This paper will outline how design features and enhancements were selected based on their connection to experiential learning theory.
{"title":"Design and Development of an Open-Source Virtual Reality Chemical Processing Plant","authors":"P. Hungler, C. Thurgood, M. Marinova, Steve White, Lev Mirzoian, Matthew Thoms, Janice Law, Michael Chabot, Kimia Moozeh","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15939","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15939","url":null,"abstract":"It is challenging to provide students studying in chemical engineering, biotechnology and other related fields with an opportunity to tour and interact with a full-scale chemical processing plant. To address this challenge, an open-sourced virtual reality (VR) chemical processing plant was designed and built to provide students with an experiential learning opportunity. The VR plant is modelled after an ampicillin processing facility complete with a piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID). The initial student experience inside the VR plant is a tour of the plant, various plant features and unit operations. The tour enables students to freely tour the plant but also engages them in a “Quest” style experience where they need to search for specific areas and components within the plant. An EngPad was designed to provide learners with a help tool to assist their navigation and strengthen their understanding during the VR experience. Experiential learning theory was used to guide the design of the VR application and take students through the four learning modes of concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. A focus group provided feedback on the design and user interaction of the VR experience. This paper will outline how design features and enhancements were selected based on their connection to experiential learning theory.","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"87 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124167381","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Paula Berton, Robert Barnes, A. Telmadarreie, Steven Bryant
Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) increase research exposure and may exert a strong influence on students’ academic and career paths. However, very few CUREs are documented within the entry years of the engineering curricula. In this work, we describe the design, implementation, and evaluation of a CURE-based introductory-level engineering elective, to introduce second-year chemical and petroleum engineering students not only to research but more importantly to the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship. In contrast to more traditional CUREs, this course focuses on the innovation pathway, using concepts from engineering design and from scientific research as tools to solve real-world scientific problems. This innovation-focused CURE has proven to be an effective way to expand research experiences, in particular for engineering students who typically have limited opportunities to participate in hypothesis-driven research aimed at innovation during the introductory years of their undergraduate education.
{"title":"Course-Based Research Experience to Introduce Engineering Students to Research Aimed at Innovation in Early Years","authors":"Paula Berton, Robert Barnes, A. Telmadarreie, Steven Bryant","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15839","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15839","url":null,"abstract":"Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) increase research exposure and may exert a strong influence on students’ academic and career paths. However, very few CUREs are documented within the entry years of the engineering curricula. In this work, we describe the design, implementation, and evaluation of a CURE-based introductory-level engineering elective, to introduce second-year chemical and petroleum engineering students not only to research but more importantly to the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship. In contrast to more traditional CUREs, this course focuses on the innovation pathway, using concepts from engineering design and from scientific research as tools to solve real-world scientific problems. This innovation-focused CURE has proven to be an effective way to expand research experiences, in particular for engineering students who typically have limited opportunities to participate in hypothesis-driven research aimed at innovation during the introductory years of their undergraduate education.","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"48 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126882451","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The most common pedagogical visual tool used in engineering classrooms are slides, such as those generated by Google Slides, Keynote, Prezi or PowerPoint. Unfortunately, when viewed through the lens of current models describing human information processing, many slides are poorly designed. That is, they either contain too much, poorly organized, or distracting information. Given the complexity of engineering content, it is essential that slides be used to help the student focus on key elements to increase learning, rather than simply act as a data dump or cue card. The paper will first provide an overview of human attention processes and how these impact working memory and learning. Then, the paper will provide an overview of selected theories from cognitive psychology, including top-down vs. bottom-up processing, focused vs. divided attention, and salience models (e.g. perception, gaze, and motion). Finally, using an authentic example of an engineering classroom slide, this paper will demonstrate how the practical application of these cognitive theories of attention can increase focus on (and thus retention) of the relevant content. This paper aims to be a “why-to” as well as a “how-to” guide for improving visual aids, specifically slides, in the engineering classroom. Note, this paper builds on our previous paper that focused on the cognitive load with respect to slide design.
{"title":"Cognitive Science of PowerPoint Part II: The Power of Attention","authors":"Jeffrey W. Paul, Jillian Seniuk-Cicek","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15834","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15834","url":null,"abstract":"The most common pedagogical visual tool used in engineering classrooms are slides, such as those generated by Google Slides, Keynote, Prezi or PowerPoint. Unfortunately, when viewed through the lens of current models describing human information processing, many slides are poorly designed. That is, they either contain too much, poorly organized, or distracting information. Given the complexity of engineering content, it is essential that slides be used to help the student focus on key elements to increase learning, rather than simply act as a data dump or cue card.\u0000The paper will first provide an overview of human attention processes and how these impact working memory and learning. Then, the paper will provide an overview of selected theories from cognitive psychology, including top-down vs. bottom-up processing, focused vs. divided attention, and salience models (e.g. perception, gaze, and motion). Finally, using an authentic example of an engineering classroom slide, this paper will demonstrate how the practical application of these cognitive theories of attention can increase focus on (and thus retention) of the relevant content. This paper aims to be a “why-to” as well as a “how-to” guide for improving visual aids, specifically slides, in the engineering classroom. Note, this paper builds on our previous paper that focused on the cognitive load with respect to slide design.","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"56 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130378284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Basic circuit analysis is a core course in most of the undergraduate engineering programs and is the prerequisite course for many other courses in the undergraduate electrical engineering program. Students enter into engineering schools with varying knowledge of the concepts of basic circuit analysis depending on whether they come from high school, CEGEP, or a technical college, etc. Many students from all engineering majors struggle to learn the concepts taught in these courses which creates challenges for both faculty members and students in courses when for which basic circuit analysis is a pre-requisite course. There is more research done in understanding the conceptual knowledge of physics of electricity and electric (and electronic) components and improving the instruction of basic circuit analysis concepts, but not enough work is done to understand the mistakes undergraduate electrical engineering students continue to make course after course. For this study, the authors look at the persistent problems in learning circuit analysis techniques by looking at students’ use of these techniques in three core courses in electrical engineering program namely electronics 1, electronics 2 and electromagnetic waves and guiding structures. Students’ responses to exam questions that specifically expected students to use these concepts are analyzed. The objective of the study was to analyze whether the understanding of the application of circuit analysis techniques get better as students continue to use these concepts in more courses and applications, or the problems persist. Results show that the students persistently make mistakes in applying KVL and KCL equations, nodal analysis, superposition theorem, voltage divider, and mesh analysis. Additionally, the results reveal that students persistently make mistakes in questions that involve the concepts of load and no load, open circuit, series components, parallel components, voltage drop across the current source, and voltage gain. It is noted that the mistakes made by students do not get much better as they continue taking more courses. The results of this study are important from many aspects. They are helpful to understand the continuing struggles of students and so are helpful to design pedagogy and assessment in a way that these concepts can be well explained. Thorough understanding of the concepts in a course that is as important as basic circuit analysis is important to achieve many engineering education goals including student retention, motivation, innovation, and inclusion.
{"title":"Persistent mistakes in learning basic circuit analysis","authors":"Farrah Fayyaz, C. Trueman","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15974","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15974","url":null,"abstract":"Basic circuit analysis is a core course in most of the undergraduate engineering programs and is the prerequisite course for many other courses in the undergraduate electrical engineering program. Students enter into engineering schools with varying knowledge of the concepts of basic circuit analysis depending on whether they come from high school, CEGEP, or a technical college, etc. Many students from all engineering majors struggle to learn the concepts taught in these courses which creates challenges for both faculty members and students in courses when for which basic circuit analysis is a pre-requisite course. There is more research done in understanding the conceptual knowledge of physics of electricity and electric (and electronic) components and improving the instruction of basic circuit analysis concepts, but not enough work is done to understand the mistakes undergraduate electrical engineering students continue to make course after course. For this study, the authors look at the persistent problems in learning circuit analysis techniques by looking at students’ use of these techniques in three core courses in electrical engineering program namely electronics 1, electronics 2 and electromagnetic waves and guiding structures. Students’ responses to exam questions that specifically expected students to use these concepts are analyzed. The objective of the study was to analyze whether the understanding of the application of circuit analysis techniques get better as students continue to use these concepts in more courses and applications, or the problems persist. Results show that the students persistently make mistakes in applying KVL and KCL equations, nodal analysis, superposition theorem, voltage divider, and mesh analysis. Additionally, the results reveal that students persistently make mistakes in questions that involve the concepts of load and no load, open circuit, series components, parallel components, voltage drop across the current source, and voltage gain. It is noted that the mistakes made by students do not get much better as they continue taking more courses. The results of this study are important from many aspects. They are helpful to understand the continuing struggles of students and so are helpful to design pedagogy and assessment in a way that these concepts can be well explained. Thorough understanding of the concepts in a course that is as important as basic circuit analysis is important to achieve many engineering education goals including student retention, motivation, innovation, and inclusion.","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"103 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115615909","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This exploratory study investigates the design and impacts of a curated Living-Learning Community (LLC) piloted at a large student residence for a large (1000+ student) first-year engineering design course. Alongside the live-in Faculty-in-Residence (FiR), the research includes surveying first-year engineering students participating in this program and understanding the impacts on the lived student experience, and student motivation. The first-year engineering design, teamwork, and communication course is central to engineering education at this large institution. The course offers opportunities for students to work in multidisciplinary teams, applying term knowledge to authentic engineering applications, in a problem-based learning environment. The goal of the LLC is to create opportunities for interaction and scaffolded connection between like-minded students taking similar courses and inspire learning within the students living environment; an entire floor of the Residence is assigned to be an LLC for the 2022 academic year, with support from the Don, ResLife Office, and the Faculty-in-Residence (an engineering faculty member). The purpose of this study is to observe and report on the student experience throughout the duration of the course. We aim to learn how participating in the Living-Learning community can affect the perception of confidence in students’ learning of course concepts, and inter-team relations. In order to do so, students will be surveyed at multiple check points throughout the semester. Furthermore, additional relevant information will be gathered from the Living-Learning Community Don, teaching assistants, and the course instructors. The outcome of this analysis has the potential to educate us on the positive and negative connotations that come along with close-quarters learning. The applications of the results found with this study can be vast, from influencing future residence programs and the first-year engineering education experience. This study focuses on the student’s perception of their experience. Understanding how the perception of manageability of workload [1] can affect student mental health leads the curiosity of how close-quarters learning can affect the student experience, to what degree, and how this understanding can help influence future programming. A positive experience that improves student confidence of understanding and course material has the potential to positively improve mental health and engagement in education; we hope that this research brings together the academic and lived-experiences of students through this work.
{"title":"Living-Learning Communities in the First-year Engineering Experience","authors":"Raili Kary, C. Variawa","doi":"10.24908/pceea.vi.15909","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi.15909","url":null,"abstract":"This exploratory study investigates the design and impacts of a curated Living-Learning Community (LLC) piloted at a large student residence for a large (1000+ student) first-year engineering design course. Alongside the live-in Faculty-in-Residence (FiR), the research includes surveying first-year engineering students participating in this program and understanding the impacts on the lived student experience, and student motivation. The first-year engineering design, teamwork, and communication course is central to engineering education at this large institution. The course offers opportunities for students to work in multidisciplinary teams, applying term knowledge to authentic engineering applications, in a problem-based learning environment. The goal of the LLC is to create opportunities for interaction and scaffolded connection between like-minded students taking similar courses and inspire learning within the students living environment; an entire floor of the Residence is assigned to be an LLC for the 2022 academic year, with support from the Don, ResLife Office, and the Faculty-in-Residence (an engineering faculty member). The purpose of this study is to observe and report on the student experience throughout the duration of the course. We aim to learn how participating in the Living-Learning community can affect the perception of confidence in students’ learning of course concepts, and inter-team relations. In order to do so, students will be surveyed at multiple check points throughout the semester. Furthermore, additional relevant information will be gathered from the Living-Learning Community Don, teaching assistants, and the course instructors. The outcome of this analysis has the potential to educate us on the positive and negative connotations that come along with close-quarters learning. The applications of the results found with this study can be vast, from influencing future residence programs and the first-year engineering education experience. This study focuses on the student’s perception of their experience. Understanding how the perception of manageability of workload [1] can affect student mental health leads the curiosity of how close-quarters learning can affect the student experience, to what degree, and how this understanding can help influence future programming. A positive experience that improves student confidence of understanding and course material has the potential to positively improve mental health and engagement in education; we hope that this research brings together the academic and lived-experiences of students through this work.","PeriodicalId":314914,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123887502","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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