Projects matching your search criteria
Innovative Student Assessment in EBL
The aim of this project is to make students full partners in the teaching and assessment of an EBL engineering mathematics course. The objective is that students will work in small groups using EBL to specialize on a particular part of the course syllabus. They will then teach their specialist part to their peers and formulate a suitable assessment question by which their peers' learning will be gauged. The desired outcome is to empower students' learning through having them experience the entire 'life cycle' of a taught course module, from preparation, through delivery to final assessment.
Project Team: Paul Grassia, Grant Campbell Faculty: Engineering and Physical Sciences
Funding year: 2005
Keywords: assessment, chemical engineering, engineering, mathematics, groups, peer, syllabus, question writing, teamwork
Case Study (PDF, 151.3Kb)
A Structured Approach to Preparation for Group Project Work
The Embedded Systems Project (ESP) is a major student-centred PBL activity where students work in small groups throughout the second semester on the design of a microcontroller based product. This development project will generate a series of linked activities focused on the three key areas of team working, project planning and presentation skills, which the students previously identified as areas of difficulty.
Project Team: Peter Hicks, Norman Powell Faculty: Engineering and Physical Sciences
Funding year: 2005
Keywords: embedded, systems, design, electrical engineering, electronic, pbl
Case Study (PDF, 86.9Kb)
Assessment and Enterprise through EBL
The aim is to development a robust method of assessment based upon the application of enterprise skills to an investigation. It is difficult to devise fair assessment when learning is characterised by a lack of rigid structure as in EBL. The project will develop a guiding structure for EBL assessment. This will provide some guidance and constraint to the lines of enquiry being followed and yet still allow students considerable freedom when making their investigations.
Project Team: Tim Jones Faculty: Engineering and Physical Sciences
Funding year: 2005
Keywords: enterprise, assessment, project, individual, undergraduate, engineering, report writing
Case Study (PDF, 129.6Kb)
An Enquiry-Based Chemical Engineering Design Project for First Year students
The aim of the project is to create a new Chemical Engineering Design Project that incorporates relevant aspects of today’s process industry with an enquiry-based approach. The objective is to design an open-ended task based on a real industrial problem in which students will use all mechanisms of enquiry to elicit a solution. The main purpose is to change the approach from a fixed and sometimes contrived process design with very restricted alternatives and solutions to a more open-ended problem in which students can explore different routes, make decisions and find different solutions depending upon those decisions. The project will look at real industrial questions and will set an engineering working environment by using role-playing. The work will be carried out in small teams with a team leader and also a chief engineer and a manager. The academics will act as consultants to the teams and a representative from industry will provide students with relevant information about the problem at hand.
Project Team: Dr Robin Curtis, Dr Esther Ventura-Medina Faculty: Engineering and Physical Sciences
Funding year: 2006
Keywords: chemical engineering, design, project, industry, process, role-play, first year, undergraduate, teamwork, professional
Case Study (PDF, 85.2Kb)
Embedding Enquiry-Based Learning in the First Year Curriculum
The aim of the project is to incorporate enquiry-based learning in the delivery of the first year curricula of the undergraduate courses of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. The objective is to promote and develop critical thinking and problem solving skills as well as encourage students to be more independent in their learning by changing the focus of the course delivery from traditional lectures and tutorials in modules to an integrated format of lectures and enquiry-based learning sessions. Students will be given real and stimulating problems to solve as part of a team so that they will be encouraged and motivated to gather information, apply concepts and develop working skills. Learning resources such as lectures material, course notes and IT will also be available for the enquiry-based sessions.
Project Team: Dr Esther Ventura-Medina, Dr Ted Roberts, Dr Leo Lue Faculty: Engineering and Physical Sciences
Funding year: 2006
Keywords: chemical engineering, critical thinking, pbl, first year, problem solving
Case Study (PDF, 83.7Kb)
Conversion of an MSc Module in Physiological Measurements to EBL
This project will convert the conventionally taught 12 week 'Physiological Measurement's module into a Problem-Based Learning module. This module combines engineering knowledge and medical knowledge pertaining to vital sign monitoring; the latter part is similar to Nursing curriculum while the first part is akin to Electronic Engineering modules. It is intended that the final converted module will be of a multidisciplinary nature which could be effectively utilised by both Engineering and Nursing students as well as the MSc students targeted in this particular module. It is the intention to map the learning objectives (the existing curriculum) to an MCQ evaluation test and hence satisfy the requirement of curriculum coverage while at the same time ensuring that the learning process remains open ended.
Project Team: Dr Tony Matthews, Dr Paul Beatty Faculty: Medical and Human Sciences
Funding year: 2006
Keywords: physiology, physiological measurements, postgraduate, pbl, multi-disciplinary, engineering, medicine, medical, MCQs
Incorporation of Enquiry-based Techniques into a Team-Based Programming Project.
This proposal is aimed at improving and developing students' planning, inquiry and presentational skills, within a team-based project. This will be achieved by re-structuring the existing framework of the module to include substantial elements of enquiry-based learning. By encouraging the students to devise their own activities, it is anticipated that they will perceive a greater sense of ‘ownership’ of the work carried out, and help lead to higher levels of achievement and enthusiasm. Another expected outcome is that the module leaders will also benefit by learning how to apply similar techniques to other areas of their teaching, where appropriate.
Project Team: Dr David Armitage, Geoff Rubner Faculty: Engineering and Physical Sciences
Keywords: engineering, project, programming, computer systems
Encouraging engineers to read: A book-based final year assessment
It is proposed to initiate a student-driven learning activity based around the directed reading of a book relevant to the broader context of chemical engineering. Students would then undertake formal assessment of the material covered in their book. The learning process would be managed via structured group activities including formal discussion groups. Benefits would include: (i) first view books as accessible and to have the inclination and interpretative tools to engage with them as a basis for lifelong learning; (ii) the opportunity for individual students to direct their learning towards areas of specific personal interest, through selection from a diverse pool of relevant books; (iii) a redirection of the teaching ‘burden’ such that staff too are encouraged and enabled to make time for reading, with this otherwise luxury having the legitimate and tangible outcome of being directly connected to teaching.
Project Team: Dr Grant Campbell and Dr Paul Grassia Faculty: Engineering and Physical Sciences
Funding year: 2008
Keywords: reading, discussion groups, chemical engineering, lifelong learning, personalized learning
Incorporating Enquiry-Based Learning in Experimental Laboratory Projects in Chemical Engineering
This project aims to embed EBL into experimental laboratories in the third year of the Chemical Engineering undergraduate degree. Problem statements will be developed which are less prescriptive and support students to actively research, plan, design, perform and report their experimental work.
Project Team: Leo Lue, Esther Medina-Ventura, Paul Grassia, Robert Clegg, Simon Perry Faculty: Engineering and Physical Sciences
Funding year: 2008
Keywords: experiment, labs, laboratory, chemical engineering
Humanitarian Aid in Engineering (postgraduate)
There is evidence that volunteers who help in disaster situations are often ill-prepared for this task. Engineers need knowledge and skills not only from other branches of engineering but also related to the social, political and economic environments in which they may be working. This proposal is to develop a new programme, drawing expertise from across, and possibly outside, the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences that would enable Engineering graduates to be equipped with the appropriate skills needed to work for aid agencies. Unlike other similar humanitarian aid programmes in the UK, this course will be specifically designed to offer the practical training necessary to work effectively and collaboratively with aid organisations. The project team intends to work with aid agencies, in particular Engineers against Poverty, to ensure the relevance of the programme; but it is also hoped that these collaborative relationships will generate sponsored places and practical placements in the future.
Project Team: Rosemary Tomkinson, Rob Young Faculty: Engineering and Physical Sciences
Funding year: 2009
Keywords: engineering
Enriching Students’ Learning Experience of Fundamentals of Structural Behaviour through EBL
The aim of the proposed project is to enrich the student learning experience of the fundamentals of structural behaviour course unit by introducing EBL-style teaching methods. This pedagogic change will be achieved in the first instance by devising a set of idealised problems, based on real-life civil engineering projects. These real-life scenarios are intended (1) to help students to appreciate the link between the subject curriculum and real life; (2) to develop their problem solving skills through constructing suitable mathematical models; (3) to enhance their understanding of fundamental civil engineering concepts; and (4) to enable them to master solution techniques. The project team also seeks to produce two learning guides: “How to Study Structural Analysis 1” and “How to Study Stress Analysis 1”. These guides are intended to facilitate student-centred learning. The third task will involve the introduction of a computer-aided structural analysis package (Oasys GSA) into the semester 1 Design unit. The structural analysis package will then be used to support the EBL activities that will take place in semester 2. The final task will include expanding the usage of PASS sessions by introducing EBL group activities as a means of encouraging greater student participation in the scheme.
Project Team: Tianjian Ji, Adrian Bell, Tom Swailes and Yong Wang Faculty: Engineering and Physical Sciences
Funding year: 2009
Keywords: structural behaviour engineering
