Engineering Design: How to Introduce it in Low Level Courses?

1
Engineering Design How to Introduce it in Low
Level Courses?

• Muhammad Taher Abuelmaatti
• King Fahd University of Petroleum and
  MineralsDepartment of Electrical Engineering

2
What is Said?

• I was sustained throughout my professional
  career by an undergraduate education that taught
  me how to think and organize my thoughts, how to
  analyze problems in a critical manner, how to
  design solutions to open-ended problems, and how
  to learn on my own
• Professor David Conner, Ex-Editor, IEEE
  Transactions on Education, 2002

3

• Employability is best served by training
  graduates who can think
• Professor Ian Markham, Liverpool Hope University
  College, U.K., 2000
• The purpose of a university education is not to
  program students in a predetermined job, it is to
  develop their critical and analytical powers. It
  is to teach them to think widely rather than
  narrowly.
• Vivien Coombs, Westcot Farmohouse, U.K., 2000

4

• ?Today too many engineering students believe
  they can get by without understanding the
  fundamentals and without paying attention to
  details.
• S.M. Miri, IEEE T. Education, 1993
• ? Design skills are the least relevant/used
  skills
• Employer Survey conducted in 2004 by the College
  of Engineering Sciences, KFUPM

5

• Design projects must be introduced to satisfy
  the ABET design content in the courses
• Dr. E. S. Ibrahim, International Journal of
  Electrical Engineering Education, 2004
• ? I was sustained because my undergraduate
  education required that I rigorously pursue each
  problem to completion with personal discipline.
  (No! I was not subjected to an ABET-mandated
  group capstone project )
• Professor David Conner, Ex-Editor, IEEE
  Transactions on Education, 2002

6

• The design projects have been introduced not
  only to satisfy the ABET design content in the
  courses, but also because they have proven to be
  excellent vehicles for teaching the subject and
  for motivating the students
• Drs. R. Betancourt and W.V. Torre, IEEE
  Transactions on Power Systems, 1989

7

• Teaching design can change the students
  attitudes about learning fundamentals and dealing
  with details, and thus, can help produce future
  engineers who will be more innovative than many
  of todays practicing engineers.
• S.M. Miri, IEEE T. on Education, 1993

8

• ?Design should be an integral part of every
  engineering education
• M. Moghavvemi, Saudi Technical Conference and
  Exhibition, 2000
• ? The learner learns only what he himself does
• J. Alison and F. A. Benson, IEE Proceedings-A,
  1983

9
Who Needs Engineering Design in our Courses?

• 1. The local industry? NO (the least required
  skill)
• 2. ABET? YES (for accreditation)
• 3. How about us, the Faculty and Students ?
  YES! Why ? To help us produce graduates
  who can
• a. Think.
• b. Critically analyze.
• c. Learn on their own.
• 4. Be innovative.
• That is Engineers.

10
How to Infuse Design in Low Level Engineering
Courses?

• I. In the laboratories
• Hands on experience is the first step of design.
  The best man in the field should be in the
  laboratory not the least experienced and least
  expensive person available.
• 2. In the laboratory divide students into
  groups, make a competition among the groups. Ask
  the first group who successfully complete the
  experiment to present and share their findings
  with the rest.

11

• Convert the final laboratory test to a simple
  open-book design project using the design,
  construct and test format. Avoid too complex or
  lengthy projects. Possible distribution of marks
  is 40, 40 and 20 respectively.
• 4. Show and teach the students how to
  troubleshoot circuits and systems. Do not do it
  yourself. Successful completion of the experiment
  is not the main issue. Students may learn more
  from their failure than from a successful
  experiment that works from the first time.

12

• 4. Give the students the chance to modify the
  proposed design in order to test their
  understanding of the theory.
• 5. Even in the very basic courses, make the
  experiments relevant to real life.
• 6. Make use of the time allocated to the
  laboratory in full.

13

• 7. Whenever possible avoid using simulation
  packages. The real performance of the circuits
  and systems can be measured only in the
  laboratories. Simulation may be helpful but it
  cannot be a substitute for the practical
  measurements. If you ask the students to perform
  simulation, then you must ask them to compare
  hand-calculation, simulation and practical
  measurements and to find out where and why there
  are differences.

14

• II. In the lectures
• Show the students that for any engineering
  problem there is always more than one solution.
  Ask the students to suggest solutions and discuss
  with them the merits and demerits of every
  solution.
• 2. Always explain the physical meanings of the
  mathematical results. Discuss with the students
  the possible sources of errors in real life
  applications of these results. Always stress the
  approximations made in the models used to obtain
  these mathematical expressions.

15

• 3. Remember that quality is more important than
  quantity. So given a good raw students what do we
  do? Teach them the importance and power of
  fundamental concepts and how to think.
• Teach the students to ask the question what if?
• 5. Teach the students what is the function of
  every single component in the system and how a
  design value can be chosen for it. Also show them
  that calculated values of components can not be
  always met in practice.

16

• III. In the examinations
• State the problem clearly and avoid imposing the
  methodology of solving it. Let the students take
  the right decision.
• ?Always avoid problems requiring just equation
  plugging solutions.
• Assign marks on the steps of the solution rather
  than on the final answer only.
• Design questions that have multiple correct
  answers.
• Avoid reusing questions from old examinations and
  solution manuals.

17

• Design Projects in Low Level Courses Must
• Be relevant to course material.
• Be doable by the student.
• Be constructed and tested.
• Be completely worked out by the instructor.
• Have clear grading and design evaluation
  criteria.

18

• Possible Sources of Design Projects in Low Level
  Courses
• By observing what is going on around us and
  asking the question What If?.
• From technical magazines.
• By converting text book problems to open ended
  ones by removing a constraint or converting what
  is known to unknown.

19
Conclusion

• Faculty and students need design in engineering
  courses even if local industry do not require
  it.
• Faculty must prepare students by incorporating
  design principles and concepts in the courses in
  lectures, in laboratories and in examinations.
• Faculty have to adopt teaching approaches that
  emphasize thinking rather than memorizing.

20

• In engineering education nothing can replace the
  teaching of fundamentals and attention to
  details. Teaching engineering design can develop
  deep understanding of the fundamentals.
• Students learn most effectively through
  successful design experiences.