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In order to enhance the student's hands-on capabilities, a series of new courses is being developed in our Department. It began with fundamental hands-on courses, and was extended to an upper division open-ended design and testing course.
The project has been in its third year. In the beginning, two courses developed were "Application of Computer Software in Engineering" for freshmen and "Computer Aided Experimentation and Instrumentation Techniques" for sophomores. The motivation was to introduce the students to efficient hands-on experiences early in their college life with the hope to grow. This effort has indeed catalyzed in the Department an evolution of other existing courses to embrace the flavor of design, hands-on experiences, and the application of computer assistance for efficiency.
The first new course applies various programming languages as well as engineering analysis software packages to demonstrate the logical approaches in solving engineering problems. The second new course introduces common ground concepts and the knowledge discovery process in experimental sciences, namely, the iterative procedure of hypothesis initiation, modeling, experiment design, data acquisition, analysis, estimation, interpretation, and hypothesis verification and improvements. Emphasis is on the spirit of hypothesis verification and to develop models that match the reality.
A third new course, "Open-Ended Engineering Design, Manufacturing and Testing," was created later as a capstone exercise for junior and senior year students. In this course, students are organized into project teams, simulating the industrial environment, to carry out mini research and development projects through the iterative process of concept initiation, prototype design, manufacturing, and performance testing.
It turns out that the project was started just early enough so that the project is getting ready just-in-time to go beyond the Department for collective efforts with other simultaneously maturing on campus developments in teaching methodology and instructional technologies to further improve our teaching and learning efficiency. This is indeed a spontaneous bottom-up Engineering Education Reform Program initiated at the right time by the right people and nurtured for growth by the right administrators at critical moments.
Key Words: engineering education reform, fundamental hands-on laboratory, software applications, computer aided experimentation, instrumentation, capstone, open-ended, design
INTRODUCTION
This story started with Professor Emeritus Fu-Kang Tsou of Drexel University coming to National Central University at Chung-Li City in Taiwan at the beginning of 1993. Professor Tsou carries with him his personal experiences in the Enhanced Experiences in Engineering Education (E4) Program [1,2] at Drexel, where located the headquarters of the US NSF Gateway Coalition [3]. He started to introduce the concepts of the 1987 ASEE National Action Agenda [4] and the works of the US NSF Engineering Education Coalitions to the Taiwanese engineering education community by organizing a seminar series on "Engineering Education Reform in the United States" in December of 1993 [5] . The seminar speakers were Dr. Win Aung of NSF, Professor S. Carmi and Professor Albert S. D. Wang of Drexel University. In debt to these speakers, the opportunity for the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the National Central University to get on the first train of Engineering Education Reform in Taiwan was split open by the introduction of this new information. Our project got funded by the National Science Council of ROC in the Spring of 1994.
The project started with the task to create a series of courses to jump start our students' capability to apply computers in solving hands-on engineering problems. "Application of Computer Software in Engineering" for the freshmen and "Computer Aided Experimentation and Instrumentation Techniques" for the sophomores were the first two courses to be developed. We choose to start on fundamental experiments and computer applications in the hope that these new courses will serve as the pilot model to catalyze an evolution of all other courses to embrace an integrated hands-on flavor and to become more efficient [6].
In the past three years, these new courses have gone through three trial iterations and are emerging into regularly offered courses. Following the same ideology and the project experiences, we invested significant efforts to reorganize and serialize all the mandatory courses and their contents in the Department for conciseness and improved connectivity. Moreover, we have developed the third new course "Open-Ended Engineering Design, Manufacturing, and Testing" as a direct extension to the other two fundamental hands-on courses. This third course serves as a collective conclusion and an examination on the effects of the reform efforts.
Professor Tsou had not only initiated the fundamental concept of the whole project, he also took the lead in the Spring Semester of 1995 to pilot the third course until his return to Drexel University in July of 1996.
In addition to the intellectual resources mentioned above, we also benefited from the technology progresses made by our domestic manufacturers in instrumentation equipment and personal computers. All the equipment we have invested in the instructional laboratories for the new courses are made in Taiwan. Moreover, we are accumulating the capability to do the maintenance and calibration ourselves. This is the only way that we can afford to run the courses on regular basis. This also the only way that we can graduate from the mentality of a high tech product consumer into that of a designer or a developer of high tech equipment.
In developing these courses, we emphasize common ground knowledge, interdisciplinary consistency, and efficiency. Therefore, we pay special attention to teaching methods and instructional technologies in order to encourage pro-active learning mood in the students. We are now ready to take the advantage of the maturing "Intelligent Learning System - LISA (Learning is Active) [7]" developed on campus by Professor Chan, Tak-Wai of the Department of Information Engineering. With this system we can have the new course materials on-line and we can also enjoy a computer assisted group learning environment.
We have also participated in the First University Faculty Workshop on Teaching [9~11] and the campus wide consortium of WWW courseware developments [8] to contribute as well as to be inspired. Meanwhile, we maintain regular dialogue with Professor Chen, Fei-Ching at the Center of Teacher Education on campus on teaching methods, student guidance, and education evaluation methodologies.
These developments would not have happened if the stage has not been prepared to tolerate a trial of the innovation, i.e. if Department of Mechanical Engineering of National Central University had not been running by a faculty democratic system since 1990, if the size of the Department had not been expanded to three under graduate classes each year in l 991 to have the infusion of many new faculties of diverse industrial and life experiences, if there has not been a split opportunity for us to obtain the funding from National Science Council, the Ministry of Education, and the extra-ordinary supports from the Department Chairman - formerly Professor Chang, Chiang-Nan and currently Professor Chen, Jyh-Chen, the Dean of the Engineering School Professor Ou-Yang, Chiao-Huei, and the University President Professor Liu, Chao-Han.
In the following, we shall describe the course contents and the experiences we had on teaching the courses developed in this project. At the end, we will discuss potential developments beyond the department. However, in order to keep the paper size manageable, the details of the new sophomore course will be reported, instead, in a companion paper "Innovation of Basic Engineering Laboratory Curriculum - Computer Aided Experimentation and Instrumentation Techniques".
OBJECTIVE:
To establish in the freshman students the capability of computer applications as a fundamental skill in solving engineering problems.
APPROACH:
Use Computer Programming as a way to teach students "the logical procedure to solve engineering problems." Project assignments are not restricted to the usage of any particular programming language in order to demonstrate the common ground in approaching and resolving engineering problems logically. Examples are deliberately made using various programming languages and applying various application software packages.
The course is attempted to integrate basic computer concepts, programming languages, numerical computation, word processing, internet resource applications and communication skills together. The essence of the course is not so much to teach these individual skills but to jump start the capability to develop logical approaches in solving engineering problems with computer assistance.
A wide range of subjects are covered in order to emphasize common ground knowledge, interdisciplinary consistency, and efficiency. We also pay special attention to teaching methods and the development of instructional technologies in order to encourage pro-active learning mood in the students for improved learning efficiency. We try to Enhance students' communication skill by group learning and group project, such as project definition through discussions, information gathering from internet resources and project presentations. And, the course lectures are delivered on-site in the computer room with multimedia aids as a live demonstration of good presentation styles.
COURSE CONTENTS:
TOPICS OF WEEKLY HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS
l. Engineering Problem Solving with Computer Assistance - Computer Network Resources
2. Introduction to MATLAB - Example: Displaying the Flow Characteristics of a
Turbo-Engine
3. Advanced Data Display Features by MATLAB
4. Functions, Statistical Data Analysis, Program Flow Controls - Example: Analysis of
Speech Signal
5. Linear Algebra and Matrices Using MATLAB - Example: The Human Genome Project
6. Solving Simultaneous Equations - Example: Circuit Analysis
7. Interpolation and Spline - Example: The Motion of a Robot Arm
8. Numeric Algorithm - Example: Equation Root Finding
9. Numeric Differentiation and Integration - Example: Flow in a Pipe
10. Solution of Ordinary Differential Equations - Example: Engine Characteristics
11. Symbolic Algebra - Example: The Weather Observation Balloon
12. Signal Processing - Example: Signal Filtering
13. Control Systems - Example: Aiming a Laser Beam
EXAMPLES OF HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS AND TERM PROJECTS:
Real Life Problems of Domestic Concerns and of Sufficient Complexity Such That the Solution Requires an Integration of Different Types of Research Efforts.
[Home Work Example]: Gather the weather data (including temperature, humidity level, and rainfall deposit) over Taiwan from the WWW server of the National Central Weather Bureau. Each project group works on the weather data of a particular city by assignment. Use MATLAB on the following questions:
[Term Project Assignment - Example l]: Studying the relationship between the change of a lumped body temperature T and its surrounding temperature Ta.
[Term Project Assignment - Example 2]: Assume a vertical linear mass-spring-damper system, just like a lumped vehicle suspension system, a sprung mass is suspended on top of a spring in parallel with a shock absorber. If the sprung mass is released from a position which is deflected from the mass-spring equilibrium, the mass will oscillate until the initial spring deflection energy is absorbed by the shock absorber. Measuring the time when the sprung mass passes through the equilibrium position in its oscillation for at least the first three times after the release, one can determine the mass, spring, and damping constants of the suspension system.
EXPERIENCES AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
1. Holding lectures on-site in the computer room with multimedia assistance
improves learning efficiency a lot. This way, student can have hands-on practices immediately with
teacher and teaching assistant help on hand.
2. Assigning homework whose solutions require the applications of a multiple of
techniques together help to develop a holistic capability of problem solving in the students.
3. Open ended term project assignment requires the student groups to hold several
discussions with the teacher to finalize the problem definition, to implement a solution and to write
up a project report. This way, the students gain a valuable, successful, and personal working
group experiences in resolving "serious problems" rather than just any ordinary
extracurricular project.
4. The course contents and the teaching experiences are being merged into the new
departmental mandatory course "Programming Language" so that we will teach not only
computer programming but also to bring up the capability to apply any computer assistance
to solve engineering problems logically and reasonably in the course.
5. We are bringing the courseware to WWW as part of the campus wide web-class
development effort in NCU [8]. The courseware development is based on the "Intelligent
Learning System -LISA (Learning IS Active) [7]" developed by Professor Chan, Tak-Wai
of the Department of Information Engineering. With this system, we have not only on-line
course notes, but also asynchronous questions, reference hyper links, homework
management, and grading assistance to further enhance the efficiency of our teaching
works.
OBJECTIVE:
To inspire the creativity and to motivate and enable the students to realize their creativity.
APPROACH:
Motivate students to work hands-on on industrial flavored, practical, open-ended engineering problems of domestic concerns.
Create an organization simulating the industrial product design and development environment. In this setting, the students work towards their concerted goals with each individual carrying out ones own negotiated responsibilities. This way, the student can experience a complete product development cycle, namely, a cycle through the stages of concept initiation, design, prototype manufacturing, performance testing, and improvements.
COURSE CONTENTS:
The following is the example we used in the second trial of this course in the spring semester of 1996.
The weather in Taiwan is hot and humid. People spend a lot of energy resources on air conditioning. Since the energy resources are scarce in Taiwan, therefore, the subject of the project was to optimize certain design parameters which are deemed by the students themselves as the most importance in designing an air conditioner. The actual testing was done on an air conditioner test stand (about 1 ton capacity) donated by the Energy and Resources Laboratories of the Industrial Technology Research Institute.
Seven students were enrolled in the course and were divided into two teams. They had to define their own projects, and they are responsible for the installation, maintenance, and repair of the test equipment during the course. A concise description of the projects they came up with and the results they obtained follows.
[Project I] Optimization of the Heat Exchanger Fan Speed for the Best Thermal Efficiency:
Separate fan motors were installed on the condenser and the evaporator sides to control the fan speed on the two sides independently. After testing the efficiency under various fan speed combinations, it is determined that the optimal condition is to keep the two fan speeds at a fixed ratio of 1.4.
[Project II] The Match of Capillary and Expansion Valves for the Best Performance of an Air Conditioner:
The students tested expansion devices using capillaries and expansion valves of various diameters and lengths on the air conditioner test stand. They measured the overall efficiency and observed phenomena of improper match.
EXPERIENCES AND FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS:
* In this project, the students had a rare chance to think through the do's and don'ts
by themselves, they made their own choices, and they experienced the results of their own
decisions.
* We intend to lure more faculties of diverse backgrounds to join the project in order
to broaden the project options.
* We also intend to bring in industrial mentors as consultants to each individual the
student project.
* We are trying to build a web based "Asynchronous Brain Storming Environment"
for group creativity and project management. This year, we have a coalition of three universities
working on a NSC sponsored "Engineering Creativity and Contests" Engineering
Education Reform Project. Two other participating departments in the projects are the
Mechanical Engineering Department of Cheng-Kung University in southern Taiwan and the
Industrial Education Department of Chang-Hua Normal University in central Taiwan. The
proposed web based asynchronous environment will help to overcome the inconveniences
of physical separation and will provide a vehicle to share the precious faculty resources in
creativity and design across campuses.
* The performance of the students in this course provides feedback to the teachers on the
impacts of all the fundamental courses. The contrast between students who had and had not
taken the innovated course might show the effects of this engineering education reform
program. It is also a chance for the students to do a self examination on what they have
learned and to integrate their knowledge.
POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENTS BEYOND THE DEPARTMENT
In this project, we are trying to exercise the student brains in a way they had never experienced. We are trying to flood their brain with knowledge density much higher than they were ever used to. It is very easy to have the entire class lost in the wilderness. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to keep a very close contact with each individual student. The teacher and the teaching assistants and even the teacher of other courses have to work in alliance so that the students cannot evade but to face the confrontation and accept the challenges.
We also need as much help from the technology to make things more interesting and information more readily on hand. Therefore, we feel that the following developments would provide us with valuable inspirations.
* The Physics Department of our University has developed "Remote Astronomical
Observation Through Internet for Distant Learning" connections are available to the
observatory on Mt. Jade, as well as Mt. Wilson in the USA.
* Information and experience exchange with the Engineering Education Coalition Programs in
the USA shall be continued. We were inspired by the objectives and the approaches of
Drexel University, the "Gateway Central". We honor their works.
* The progresses and experiences of US-NSF Combined Research / Curriculum Development
Program and Industry Partnership Program will inspire future works in our third sub
project: "OPEN-ENDED ENGINEERING DESIGN, MANUFACTURING, AND
TESTING".
* "Development of Project Oriented Courseware for Geo-Sciences," The Geo-Science
Department project funded by NSC.
* Application of the "ILS - LISA" system developed by Professor Chen, Tak-Wai of
the Information Engineering Department of NCU will enhance the teaching efficiency by
making the course materials readily available, and by providing group learning environment.
In addition to Sub project I, the migration of Sub project II onto the system will motivate
the development of learning models for electronic circuits design and analysis, the migration
of Sub project III will push for the development of ILS environment for collective creativity
and concurrent project management.
* The Department of Mathematics of NCU are also looking into computer assisted
instruction in "Calculus". Its migration onto ILS would definitely inspire the development of new
learning models and facilities.
* We appreciate the information and experiences from the US-NSF sponsored
Engineering Education Scholarship Programs (EESP). We have accumulated some experiences in
pushing student through courses of vast diversity. We also have close contact with the
newly established Center for Teacher Education to incorporate new teaching
methodologies. The University already held one workshop similar to EESP on campus. In
this workshop, interested faculties met, voiced their concerns and offered possible ways to
make improvements. The minutes were documented in the "The Teacher Education
Program News" for reference [9~11] .
* We are also inquiring the technology and experience in developing multimedia
based course materials, the evaluation methodologies to access the impact of our efforts and to
provide
guidance for improvements. The University President has established a campus wide
consortium to promote WWW courseware development. We are actively participating to
learn and to contribute.
We were lucky to have started early enough to get prepared to take the advantage of a new wave of computer technology for more efficient education. However, as we learned that "education is a service industry, to the success of a service industry, there is nothing more important than to feel the pulse and the beat of the customers by the service provider."
REFERENCES
1. Was visiting Professor Emeritus from Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA