Future Trends in Biomedical Electronics

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COMMUNITY BASED PROBLEMS IN 2nd YEAR ELECTRICAL
ENGINEERING COURSES A/Professor Alec Simcock Dr
Juan Shi Professor Richard Thorn School of
Electrical Engineering Victoria University Email
richard.thorn_at_vu.edu.au,
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ATTRACTING STUDENTS TO ENGINEERING
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• there are only two fields that are going
  to
• improve the world in a very dramatic way
• engineering and computer science
• biology and medicine
• Bill Gates
• Microsoft
• 2004

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• Fewer people remain interested in
  technological
• work as they progress through school, and
  theres
• a particular drop-off among women and
  minorities,
• groups that are already under represented
  in
• computer science
• Bill Gates
• Microsoft
• 2007

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• THE PROBLEM
• In Australia, (and UK and USA) there is a
  declining
• proportion of school leavers choosing to study
  
• engineering at University, along side an
  increasing
• demand for engineers in the workforce
• SUPPLY ?
• DEMAND ?

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• POSSIBLE REASONS
• Fewer people taking higher level mathematics
  and
• physics at High School
• The activity of engineers is invisible to
  society
• at large
• Poor status of engineers
• Young people take engineering and what it can
• do for granted it has lost the WOW factor

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WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
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CHANGING TEACHING AND LEARNING APPROACHES?

• Lecture
• Teacher led discussion
•       Problem focused discussion
•            Case method
•                      Problem based learning
• Project based
  learning
•                            Work based
  learning

Increased student motivation and learning
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• PROBLEM
• BASED
• LEARNING
• A teaching methodology that develops knowledge,
  abilities and skills
• Through participation, collaborative
  investigation resolution of authentic problems
• Ref Clarke Hubball 2001

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FROMENGINEERING GRADUATESWHO ARE NOT WORK
READY
CHANGE WHAT?

• What do students need to know?
• Lecturer transmits information in lecture
• Problem given to demonstrate that information is
  understood
• Exams to test information retention

GRADUATE WITH TECHNICAL SKILLS
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HOW DID PBL AFFECT PROGRAMMES IN ELECTRICAL
ENGINEERING?
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SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

• Undergraduate programs
• Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and
  Electronic Engineering (4 years)
• Bachelor of Engineering Science in Electrical and
  Electronic Engineering (3 years)
• Postgraduate programs
• Masters in Engineering
• PhD in Engineering

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PREVIOUS DEGREE STRUCTURE

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BEng Electrical and Electronic Engineering -
First Year
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PBL PROJECTS THE CORE OF THE CURRICULUM
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University
Industry
Project work within the University
Yr 1
Project work within the University, but with
strong ties to industry which could mean visiting
the industry often or stay there for short
periods
Yr 2
The work is done partly within the industry but
owned and supported by the University
Yr 3
Probably working within industry
Yr 4
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PBL STUDIOS
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TRADITIONAL LABORATORY
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CASE STUDY A COMMUNITY BASED PROBLEM
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THE PROBLEM

• Automated Inventory Control
•  
• The customer wants to set up a system where
  they can automate the issuing, inventory and
  stock control of items in a tool library. This
  will involve some type of scanning system and a
  database of loan items and locations.

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DESIGN OF A PROBLEM
Objective
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WHAT THE TEAM NEGOTIATED WITH THE CLIENT

• Operational Specifications
• Technical Specifications
• Alternative Solutions
• Access Solution
• C solution
• Deliverables
• Hardware and software for the chosen solution
• Oral presentation to Clients
• User Guide/Manual

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• THE CONSTRAINTS
• Team size 4-6, Team Leader and Team Secretary
• Minimum 10 hrs per person per week
• Total meeting time with clients limited
• Meetings with Academic Supervisors guided by
• students
• Extra workshops/tutorials by request

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• THE PROCESS
• Week 1 Team formation, problem selection
• Week 2 Meeting with client, project definition
• Week 3 Agreed technical specification and
  project
• Plan
• Week 5 Mid-semester project presentation
  (Internal)
• Week 11 Final project presentation (External)
• Week 12 Portfolio and product submitted

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• ASSESSMENT
• 14 LOs based around Engineers Australias Stage
  1
• competencies
• - knowledge base
• - engineering ability
• - professional attributes
• Rubric used to guide students on assessment
• requirements

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THE OUTCOME

• Successful product developed to client
• Automated User Friendly Inventory Control System
  Tool database/Customer database/Overdue
  alarm/Automatic invoice generation/automatic
  backup
• Students still provide upgrade service to client

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WHAT THE STUDENTS SAID

• Definitely the best so far, because it showed
  us a whole new aspect that we had not met before
  the facts of working with real life clients with
  real needs. This is the best experience that I
  have had in my university career so far, because
  I had the chance to actually help a person and
  work for them with my engineering abilities.

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MORE STUDENT THOUGHTS

• In previous semesters the university has
  presented us problems devised and created by
  members of the faculty. This semester was
  different as each group was presented a problem
  faced by external members of the community. The
  task set to our group was to devise a
  computerised inventory system for Braybrook
  Community Centre ... This task offered us a
  chance at learning how problems are tackled in
  the workplace.

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THE CLIENT'S THOUGHTS

• It is amazing, they are still working on the
  project even though they are supposed to have
  finished. I have never seen students so
  interested and involved, it is a lot different to
  my time!

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• LESSONS LEARNED
• Initial problem should be presented using a
  proforma
• Important to keep pressure on early in the
  semester
• Keep groups aware of 12 weeks time constraint
• Continuously reinforce links between project
  and
• supporting units
• While encouraging team work, assessment must
• reward individual effort
• Need strategies to ensure all contribute

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• CONCLUSIONS
• Community based problems can be used to help
• early year undergraduates gain a range of hard
• and soft skills
• Problem Based Learning does help students to
• integrate subjects across the curriculum
• The design of the problem is critical

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• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• Braybrook Community Centre Tool Library
• The student team Celal Alangor, Michael
  Baxter,
• Francis Chirgwin, Roger Francis, Edward
  Wright and
• Daniel Zapateiro