Computer Applications in Engineering Education最新文献

Exam versioning is a widely used approach to prevent cheating during exams, but it can increase the workload for lecturers in terms of exam preparation and correction. Automated exam versioning can help reduce this workload and minimize errors in correction. This article presents the EVERSYS platform, which is focused on linear circuits but can be applied to other engineering fields. An exam problem is described as a circuit schema, a set of component values, and a set of questions to be answered. The EVERSYS platform allows lecturers to easily create exam versions with high variability, including different schemas, component values, and question sets. The platform is based on the MATLAB/Octave programming language and HTML document descriptions. Creating a multiversion exam is straightforward, involving the adaptation of a set of predefined MATLAB scripts and modification of the HTML format if necessary. A set of example exams is provided as well as the complete platform source code. The platform was tested during a 2021–2022 compulsory course on linear circuits at a Spanish University. The results indicated that the platform significantly reduced the time required for exam preparation and correction, and there was no statistically significant difference in student performance across different exam versions. Students reported high levels of satisfaction with the platform, and almost all agreed that it effectively prevents cheating during exams.

Available records of computer programming results from the universities in southeast Nigeria for the period under review (2016–2020) show that 70% of the students marginally passed the course. This, therefore, raises a concern to re-examine the instructional strategy used in the teaching and learning process, hence the adoption of innovative pedagogy that involved the use of digital tools like Google Classroom and Google Meet in their instructional delivery process of a computer programming course. This study adopted quasi-experimental research design involving intact classes with a nonequivalent group. Total population sampling technique was used to select all the 152 second-year computer education students made up of 60 males and 92 females drawn from the three private universities in Southeast Nigeria that offer computer programming. Data was collected using computer achievement test, digital skill development scale and engagement level scale. The findings of the study showed that students' academic achievement and level of engagement increased significantly in a computer programming course. Also, digital skills development and self-efficacy in the experimental group were higher than in the control group. Implementing innovative teaching strategies helped to facilitate the timely development of digital skills required by students to attain sufficient learner engagement in the learning process. It was recommended that computer educators should be encouraged to adopt innovative teaching techniques that blend with Classroom, Google Meet and MS Teams, among others to influence students' active engagement in the learning process.

Blended Learning (BL) is defined as a combination of face-to-face and digital activities that, in recent years, has been adopted more and more frequently by Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). In the engineering field, the adoption of BL allows creating challenging situations for students with industry-like problems to foster the acquisition of advanced problem-solving skills. Thus, it can be used to enhance traditional learning by enriching it with new aspects, allowing to update the Intended Learning Outcomes traditionally defined by teachers. Although prior coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) teachers had the time to prepare and programme the transition to BL, during the pandemic they had to abruptly move to the full digital delivery of the content, requiring technological and organizational adaptation, as well as change in the content teaching and assessment methods. Through a systematic literature review, this paper aims to understand how BL has been implemented in the engineering field by HEIs, discussing if and how the learning expectations of teachers (evaluated through Bloom's Taxonomy) change when using different mixes of face-to-face and digital activities and when the target audience changes. More specifically, the investigation addresses how content and learning expectations are split and set in face-to-face and digital settings. Additionally, the interest is towards understanding how COVID-19 impacted the adoption of BL, not only during the pandemic but also after.

The wind turbine components are bulky and costly. Undergraduate students majoring in wind power cannot achieve professional skills training in the laboratory. To deepen the understanding of wind turbine installation, a virtual simulation platform for the teaching exploration of wind turbine assembly practice course is developed. The goal of the platform is to build a virtual simulation installation process of each huge component of the wind turbine through the model, so that students can experience the experiential learning of the installation of the wind turbine, and experience the learning opportunities of the visualization of parts and the operability of the assembly process, so as to lay the foundation of wind power engineering practice for undergraduate students. The teaching of simulation working process based on wind turbine assembly process and performance characteristics is discussed. The results and questionnaires of students in three classes are counted. The teaching experiment shows that the average score of the experimental group is 4.5 points higher than that of the control group. This method can significantly improve students' interest in learning and academic performance, improve students' wind turbine assembly ability, and meet the actual needs of students majoring in wind power. The research shows that the platform can be effectively used as a practical teaching tool for wind power students.

The use of contour flood plots and color digital movies is investigated for teaching fluid mechanics, heat transfer, and mass transfer at the first-year graduate student level. The color visualizations are intended to not only stimulate curiosity but also encourage enthusiasm and determination in learning difficult material. Although there is a significant amount of finite-difference material, the focus is on analytical solutions. In particular, the mathematical problems involve error functions and Fourier series, which generally prove uninteresting and unpopular. Students are encouraged to produce the visualizations themselves, in addition to being provided with digital results in various forms. Excel can be used to generate both the analytical and finite difference calculations, but Python or another computer language can be employed. While software, such as Matplotlib with Python, Gnuplot, or Tecplot, can create excellent contour flood plots, results from Excel are also good, and Powerpoint will produce movies from individual frames. Student response is positive, although quantifying their reaction is difficult based on the small class sizes. Not surprisingly, the use of color appeals to students and adds to their interest. In addition, students claim increased understanding with contour plots and movies, but the visualizations should be used in conjunction with more traditional graphs, perhaps augmented with consistent use of color. However, the impact on motivation due to color presentation is harder to establish. Interestingly, both graduate and senior undergraduate students showed about equal preference for the rainbow and viridis color palettes.

Life-saving appliances (LSAs) play a crucial role in maritime emergencies, and seafarers need to undergo rigorous professional training on these appliances to ensure their competence in maritime work. However, traditional teaching and training that mainly rely on real appliances have several limitations. To address these limitations, we have developed a virtual training system that enables multiperson collaborative operation. To guarantee the system's scalability and versatility, the system framework is designed to be modular. In the networking function section, we establish a network architecture and apply state synchronization mechanisms to ensure consistent scenarios across multiusers. Additionally, we propose an interaction management model and an evaluation model for collaborative training and evaluation. Two collaborative training modes are designed to enhance the flexibility of the system. To evaluate the effectiveness of our system, we select 72 trainees to participate in a training and evaluation experiment. The evaluation model is validated by comparing it with expert evaluations. The results show that trainees can gain a better understanding of their roles and responsibilities and accurately remember the collaborative operation sequence. The training effect is positive, indicating that our system can effectively facilitate the teaching and training of LSAs.

The rapid development and widespread use of computer technology in today's society have brought significant benefits and convenience to individuals and organizations. The study presents a concept for constructing a research framework in the realm of computer ethics impact. This involves the introduction of an information fusion model and the utilization of a Dempster–Shafer (D–S) evidence theory algorithm. The information fusion model aims to integrate multiple sources of evidence related to computer ethics, including expert opinions, public attitudes, and legal regulations. Furthermore, the experimental results show that the platform's impact perception was effective in reducing the number of individuals who consider computer ethics unnecessary from 40% to 3%. This finding highlights the potential of this platform for enhancing public awareness and understanding of computer ethics. In conclusion, the proposed information fusion model and D–S evidence theory algorithm offer a valuable tool for conducting early research on the construction of computer ethics. It is of utmost importance to delve into the uncontrollable facets of building computer ethics and to navigate the subject–object dilemma from the standpoint of computer users. This approach is essential in addressing the ethical dilemmas that have arisen due to the rapid advancement of computer technology in today's world. The novelty lies in the research methodology used in this study, substantial public perception change, ethical risk reduction, and subject–object issue in computer ethics resolution all substantially contribute to the field's influence on people, organizations, and societies.

There have been global efforts to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) on quality education, gender equality, industry, innovation, and infrastructure development; however, in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), men still dominate these fields at the highest levels, as boys dominate STEM subjects in schools. Thus, there is a need to improve female participation in these fields at all levels. Therefore, this systematic review examined the empirical evidence on the factors affecting girls' participation in STEM subjects. We conducted a comprehensive literature search using electronic databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, EBSCO-host, and Google Scholar. An analysis of 165 scholarly publications was done using a systematic methodology. The study found that only 10% of the studies indicated that girls' poor participation in STEM could be attributed to personal factors and 61% to environmental factors. Additionally, behavioral factors accounted for 29% of the sampled studies, which found that negative attitudes, lack of career plans, lack of collaboration, interest, poor self-concept, self-efficacy, and low motivation were identified as factors that affect girls' participation in STEM subjects. The findings highlight a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge of girls in STEM, providing policymakers, educators, and practitioners with valuable insights into creating an enabling environment that supports more girls in STEM subjects. Furthermore, it contributes to the global efforts to achieve the SDGs 4, 5, and 9.

The Bologna process has brought about a revolution in university studies since, among other things, it encourages continuous evaluations throughout the academic period. This situation causes already depleted teaching teams to have an additional workload, so automatic tools are needed to evaluate the new assignments. In the computer science field, the ideal evaluation technique would be to use automatic code evaluators (i.e., Java, C, C++, etc.). The main objective of this work is to analyze whether the use of C-coding self-assessment exercises correlates with an improvement in exam performance. For this purpose, we have collected self-assessment exercises carried out on the AulaWeb platform belonging to the Degree in Organizational Engineering and Degree in Chemical Engineering, taken in the last 5 and 3 years, respectively, in the course of Programming Fundamentals (Fundamentos de Programación) in an engineering school of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. In total, 688 students completed these assignments. The most important results are: (a) regarding the January final exam, self-assessment exercises have influence on the final grade and (b) regarding the June final exam, there are academic years where students forget to carry out programming problem of greater complexity making a negative correlation between self-assessment performance and final scores achieved.

Mastering the concept of distributed forces is vital for students who are pursuing a major involving engineering mechanics. Misconceptions related to distributed forces that are typically acquired in introductory Physics courses should be corrected to increase student success in subsequent mechanics coursework. The goal of this study was to develop and assess a guided instructional activity using augmented reality (AR) technology to improve undergraduate engineering students' understanding of distributed forces. The AR app was accompanied by a complementary activity to guide and challenge students to model objects as beams with progressively increasing difficulty. The AR tool allowed students to (a) model a tabletop as a beam with multiple distributed forces, (b) visualize the free body diagram, and (c) compute the external support reactions. To assess the effectiveness of the activity, 43 students were allocated to control and treatment groups using an experimental nonequivalent groups preactivity/postactivity test design. Of the 43 students, 35 participated in their respective activity. Students in the control group collaborated on traditional problem-solving, while those in the treatment group engaged in a guided activity using AR. Students' knowledge of distributed forces was measured using their scores on a 10-item test instrument. Analysis of covariance was utilized to analyze postactivity test scores by controlling for the preactivity test scores. The treatment group demonstrated a significantly greater improvement in postactivity test scores than that of the control group. The measured effect size was 0.13, indicating that 13% of the total variance in the postactivity test scores can be attributed to the activity. Though the effect size was small, the results suggest that a guided AR activity can be more effective in improving student learning outcomes than traditional problem-solving.