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ContentsRESTRUCTURING OF ENGINEERING TEACHING AT THE SECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY OF UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO PARANÁ - BRAZIL
ABSTRACT
This paper presents a summary of the program entitled "Restructuring of Engineering Teaching at the Sector of Technology of Universidade Federal do Paraná - Brazil". The program´s main goal is to foster a broad update of all engineering programs. It is subdivided into three related projects whose purposes are: to reformulate the curriculum of the five existing engineering programs; to promote cooperation with technical and high schools; to modify the administrative structure of the technological area; to organize computer laboratories; to improve courses and laboratories; and to work with new teaching methods.
INTRODUCTION
The Universidade Federal do Paraná has developed in the past few years several programs in order to improve the quality of graduate and undergraduate courses. In this context, engineering programs have been promoting actions with the objective of fostering a program-wide update.
This paper presents a summary of the program entitled "Restructuring of Engineering Teaching at the Sector of Technology of Universidade Federal do Paraná - Brazil" - UFPR ( 1995 ), whose objective is to coordinate efforts towards the formation of modern engineers. The program has the financial support of the Brazilian agency FINEP.
Basically, the program is subdivided into three related projects. The first project, denominated "Institutional Rearrangement of the Sector of Technology", intends to define the profile of the modern engineer, to establish the necessary qualifications and knowledge for his formation, to act on high school students to promote motivation for their interest on the engineer profession, to evaluate the procedure used for admission to the University, to promote continuing education, and to modify the administrative structure of the technological area to attain the established goals.
The second project, "Computational Strategic Plan of the Sector of Technology" , intends to increase the use and applications of computers in the engineering courses and in the activities of undergraduate students.
The third project, entitled "Educational Project", intends to implement new teaching methods in order to improve core courses, such as Mathematics, Physics, Fluid Mechanics, Chemistry, Electricity, and Mechanics. It also intends to integrate experimental and numerical courses, to promote innovation in the curriculum and structure of the core courses, and to develop new approaches to the environmental questions. In this latter case, an experimental watershed will be used by undergraduate students as an outdoors laboratory.
In terms of innovation in curricular content and structure of the programs, the main implementations are related to the flexibilization of courses, to the multi-disciplinary design integration, to the reduction of the total number of hours, and to the reformulation on the mandatory professional experience program for undergraduate students.
INSTITUTIONAL REARRANGEMENT OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL AREA (IRP)
The main purpose of the project denominated Institutional Rearrangement of the Sector of Technology concerns the renewal of the traditional Engineering Programs to promote the formation of modern engineers. Several activities must be carried out to attain this purpose, for instance :
The definition of the profile of the modern engineer may depend on factors related to degree of development, economic situation, natural resources and development plans of a country or a region. The profile will be defined through discussions with Engineering Professional Associations and the society in general.
Recent studies ( Castro et al., 1995 ) recommend a generalist formation with solid basic knowledge in Mathematics and Physics, in quality and productivity, in environment-related subjects, in research spirit, in administrative, political and social problems, in the use of computing resources and in foreign languages. Once the scientific knowledge and the necessary qualifications for the engineer we want to form have been identified and established, the next step of the project will be the updating of the curriculum. The main planned modifications in this respect include the flexibility of the courses, the creation of many elective courses with multidisciplinary integration, the reduction of the total number of hours required in each program, and a reformulation of professional experience. In this particular item, a full-time professional experience period of six months, with no course-work, as adopted by Chemical Engineering ( Luz , 1995 ), seems to be a good alternative.
Other goals of the IRP are the reduction of the permanence of the students in the programs and the reduction of drop-out rates. Preliminary results indicate that the highest drop-out rates occur at the first two years of the programs. The precise determination of its causes and the definition of mechanisms to attain its reduction are part of the project. One of the probable causes of the high drop-out rates has origin in the lack of knowledge of the high school students of the importance of the modern engineer in the society. In this context, the development of a program to determine whether these students possess the skills and capabilities for the engineer profession is essential. Besides that, more efficient student admission procedures must be implemented.
In the IRP steps, dynamic continuing education programs will be created - courses of short and long duration and professional engineering master programs. These actions will lead to a better relationship with industry and society, besides allowing professionals to access updated knowledge and technology.
One important decision must be made in order to make the program feasible: the reorganization of the general structure of the Sector of Technology. The main objective is to promote in the faculty members the habit of continuous behaviour change in an organized manner, emphasizing the efficiency in the actions and in the quality of the work done, in order to follow the environmental changes of a globalized and competitive world. Therefore, this reformulation intends, through an organizational intervention, to start a self-analysis of the Sector of Technology, its present state and the definition of alternative future scenarios in order to be recognized as a standard in technological and scientific knowledge. The specific objectives are :
Regarding faculty members, the incentive to attain better qualification and the search of external resources through research projects is fundamental. The project also defines that professors working 40 hours a week must locate 20 hours in teaching and administrative activities and the other 20 hours in research activities in a research center or in emergent groups of knowledge production.
The expected results with the implementation of the IRP must certainly contribute to the improvement of the quality of teaching and the modernization of the Engineering programs in the Sector of Technology.
THE COMPUTING STRATEGIC PLAN (CSP)
The main purpose of the computing strategic plan of the Sector of Technology is to guarantee the teaching of modern of computer techniques and to spread the use of computers among engineering students, through the creation of new computer laboratories named Computer Units, for engineering undergraduate students. Another aim is that students be stimulated to access and produce information fast. With these new computer laboratories, all undergraduate engineering students shall have access to computers and be able to realize their every day uses.
Currently, there are two Computer Laboratories that can be adopted as models for the Computer Units' conception, viz., the Mechanical and Civil Engineering computing laboratories. After this conception, the idea is to establish rules for operation, maintenance and use of the units for all engineering undergraduate students. For example, aspects such as working hours, user identification, equipment maintenance, and the control of material consumption will be commonly defined for all laboratories.
Another important characteristic is that the Computer Units will be linked to each other using a special network connected to the University's main network. The idea is to provide each undergraduate student with a personal account using one of the Computer Units and, specially, provide fast and reliable access to the internet and the world wide web.
These Computer Units, appart from common minimum standards of software and hardware, can be equiped with specific hardware and software, taylored to the interests of each undergraduate program. For instance, some laboratories will have plotters, digitizing table and high performance workstations.
ENGINEERING TEACHING PROJECT
The teaching project is being implemented by the Engineering, Physics and Mathematics Departments from the Sectors of Technology and Science of Universidade Federal do Paraná. It is based on the development of 9 sub-projects, whose main purpose is to guarantee the development of new teaching methodologies for core courses such as: Physics, Mathematics, Transport Phenomena, Electricity, Mechanics and Chemistry. In the Engineering programs these disciplines are taught to at least 450 undergraduate students annually. It means that if an improvement is made in the learning process of these courses, the project will be benefitting a large number of new prospective engineers.
The teaching sub-projects were idealized to ensure some basic concepts:
Other sub-projects aim is to implement "open laboratories" to stimulate responsibility, creativity and initiative of undergraduate engineering students while analyzing the proposed experiments. A summary of the main sub-projects is presented bellow.
Revitalization of the Instructional Laboratory of Experimental Physics
The Instructional Laboratory of Experimental Physics, of the Department of Physics, has functioned for over thirty years at the Politechnical Center of Universidade Federal do Paraná. Presently, this laboratory is used by students in the Physics, Chemistry, Biological Sciences, Chemical Engineering and Cartographical Engineering programs. The purpose of this subproject is the revitalization, expansion and modernization of the Instructional Laboratory of Experimental Physics. It is intended to have "open laboratories" including the following characteristics:
Laboratory of Numerical and Experimental Studies of Transport Phenomena
This sub-project involves the numerical and experimental studies of Transport Phenomena. The experimental approach provides instruction and practice in techniques of engineering experimentation. The numerical approach introduces computational solutions to deterministic models associated with the experiments done in a bench-scale setup. Knowledge of the two methods allows a comparison of convenience and applicability. The goal of this sub-project is the construction of twelve bench-scale units for experimental classes, and nine associated software packages for analysis of experimental data. The Department of Mechanical Engineering at UFPR, in association with the Federal Universities of Santa Catarina and São Carlos, is developing this sub-project.
Improving the Quality of the Department of Mathematics Core Courses for Engineering Programs
The Department of Mathematics serves the Civil, Cartographical, Chemical, Mechanical, and Electrical Engineering programs, offering eight courses. The purpose of this sub-project is the reformulation of these courses to revert the present failure rate. Basically, this project includes:
Updating of Electricity Teaching for Engineering Programs
The purpose of this sub-project is to reformulate and to restructure the Electricity teaching for undergraduate engineering students, developing an experimental laboratory to complement the theory. The syllabus will be taylored to the characteristics of each engineering program. In a second phase the idea is to establish a partnership program with some sectors of society such as SENAC and SENAI, commercial and industrial technical institutes, respectively. Finally, the activities of this sub-project will be guided to promote technical assistance over electrical residential projects for low income families in the Metropolitan Area of Curitiba.
Environmental Sciences
This sub-project is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Hydraulics and Sanitation. Its main objective is the theoretical and experimental teaching of environmental concepts. The theoretical studies will concentrate on analyzing engineering projects, with applications in hydrology, hydraulics, management of water resources, environmental engineering, and basic sanitation, considering environmental impacts in order to diagnose, analyze and promote the environmental recovery of urban areas. Regarding the experimental part, the sub-project seeks to develop an experimental watershed to be used as an outdoors laboratory be undergraduate and graduate students. It also aims to establish a Specialization Program in environmental management, and correlate with other graduate programs in the University.
Restructuring of Topographical Studies
The coordination of the Cartographical Engineering program proposes the restructuring of the topography course in order to achieve the following goals: modernize the course, update professors and professionals, implement the usage of automated procedures for topographic data collecting, unify the use of topography with the techniques of Spatially Organized Information Systems and promote the usage of topography in various engineering jobs. The proposed methodology for the completion of this sub-project is centered on the development of automated processes which are focused on obtaining the necessary information for the execution of systems of manipulation of spatially organized data, known as Geographic Information System (GIS). Benefits thus obtained will be passed on to Geology, Geography, Architecture, Agronomy, Forestry, Electrical and Civil Engineering students.
Computer Laboratory for the Teaching and Development of Courses in Mechanics
This Department of Transportation sub-project intends to create a computerized laboratory for the teaching and development of the course Mechanics. The laboratory will enrich, illustrate and reinforce the learning of the physical concepts presented in the theoretical classes through the use of computers. It also intends to promote the permanent upgrading of the faculty through internal courses and seminars and to develop computer software and theoretical and practical activities in the course. The integration with outside teaching and research centers with similar working programs is also planned.
General Reorganization of Courses in General and Applied Chemistry
The course in Applied General Chemistry is offered by the Chemical Engineering Program to the engineering programs of the Sector of Technology. Due to constant technological innovations, the course requires reformulation to fulfill the current educational demands of Civil, Mechanical, Chemical, Electrical and Cartographical Engineers. In order to achieve this, a change of focus is suggested by introducing concepts and technological aspects of Materials Engineering Science, associated with practical training classes in processing techniques, classification, and evaluation of properties of materials. In addition to these activities, a continuing education program and faculty upgrading will be implemented through graduate level courses and seminars.
Laboratory of Applied Mechanics and Mechanics of Solids
It is fundamental that engineering students have a sound knowledge in all basic subjects in order to perceive and quantify all the physical phenomena that occur in nature. The goal of this sub-project is to create an Applied and Solid Mechanics Laboratory. Engineering students of applied mechanics, mechanics of solids and related courses, as well as regular and technical students will be served by this lab. The services provided by the lab will include: the preparation of experiments and prototypes, material testing and computer modelling.
CONCLUSION
The program entitled Restructuring of Engineering Teaching at the Sector of Technology of Universidade Federal do Paraná is an opportunity for providing engineering students with an improved formation. Three sub-projects are integrated, establishing the profile of the modern engineer, improving the syllabi of engineering courses, promoting cooperation between high schools, technical schools and the engineering programs, defining new criteria for undergraduate students admission, and promoting computer literacy for engineering undergraduate students.
An important aspect of the current project is that it provides an opportunity for defining a new standard for engineering courses, related to the characteristics demanded by today's world, allowing Sector of Technology of Universidade Federal do Paraná to become one of the best in Brazil.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Sector of Technology of Universidade Federal do Paraná would like to express its sincere gratitude to the following Brazilian agencies FINEP, CAPES, CNPq, and SESu for their financial support of this project. Also, thanks are due to all sub-project Coordinators, viz. Profs. Heinz Dieter Fill, Nelson Dias, Ireno Denicoló, Daniel Martins, Haroldo Ponte, Elizabeth Karas, Edson Mitishita, and Peter Barbosa. Special thanks are due to Maurício Dziedzic for the accurate revision of this manuscript.
REFERENCES
1. Castro,C.N., et. Al., "Novo Currículo Adotado na FEG/UNESP para a formação de Engenheiros Mecânicos de Concepção Generalista", Anais do XXIII Congresso Brasileiro de Ensino de Engenharia, vol II, pp. 805-812, Recife, PE, 1995 (in Portuguese).
2. Luz, L.F.L., "Relatório Final do Grupo de Trabalho GT4 - Disciplinas Experimentais/Estágio", Anais do VI Encontro Brasileiro sobre o Ensino da Engenharia Química, vol I, pp.121, Itatiaia, RJ, 1995 (in Portuguese).
3. UFPR, "Reestruturação do Ensino das Engenharias do Setor de Tecnologia
da
Universidade Federal do Paraná", 120p, Curitiba, 1995 (in Portuguese).
(Projeto submetido ao PRODENGE/REENGE-FINEP)