A research agenda for design-based learning in engineering education

It is often argued that ‘design’ is an (perhaps the) essential characteristic of engineering practice; that, “Design requires unique knowledge, skills, and attitudes common to all engineering disciplines, and it is these attributes that distinguish engineering as a profession.” Hence, it is not surprising to see engineering design identified as a key element of engineering education. There are a range of pedagogical models described, badged with a range of names, that are suggested as approaches to teaching engineering design, for example: project-based learning, problem-based learning, design-based learning, conceive-design-implement-operate (CDIO), problem-oriented project-based learning, social design based learning and project-oriented, design-based learning. While significant literature on engineering design education generally exists, many authors note open questions regarding optimal pedagogical approaches, and opportunities for further evaluation and research. In this paper we draw on literature about design education and DBL in engineering education, and synthesise themes that present a potential research agenda for those educators involved in DBL in engineering education.A search of the research literature was conducted using terms related to DBL in engineering education, including ‘Engineering Design’, ‘Design Education’, ‘Engineering + Project Based Learning’, ‘Engineering + Problem Based Learning’ and ‘Engineering + Design Based Learning’. The literature thus collected was expanded by inspecting the lists of references in the initially identified literature set for further potentially relevant literature. This process was repeated until no further related literature was identified, and resulted in 124 items. All collected literature was carefully reviewed for explicitly identified suggestions for future research. The authors also considered the literature set as a whole to identify additional research possibilities implied by aspects of DBL practice commonly addressed weakly, or not at all, in the available published research. From the results of this review, a set of themes was synthesised by grouping related research recommendations and possibilities. In the following section the identified research themes are presented and, for each, a summary of the supporting literature is given and a central research question is formulated by the authors.

Freshman residential schools for undergraduate on-campus and on-line engineering students

By means of evidence-based practice, this paper describes the residential-school component of an accredited online (distance education) undergraduate engineering program in Australia, with a particular focus on how the residential school program is implemented at freshman year. During these residential schools, activities were organised around the respective engineering courses undertaken by students during the semester. Elements considered suitable and worthwhile for inclusion in residential-school programs included: • In-person engagement with academic lecturers, • Practical and laboratory learning activities, • Presentations and interaction with guest speakers from industry, • Industry-based site visits, • Engagement in sole and group-based learning and assessment activities on campus, and • Social interaction with other students. After running pilot residential schools for two years, it was found that a workable format consisted in a two-week residential experience in the first semester, linked to two key freshman courses, Fundamentals of Technology Management, and Engineering Physics. On-campus and online students’ academic grades were compared for both courses over the years 2005 to 2012. We found that for physics lab, on-campus students’ grades tended to be higher than those for online students, and vice versa for technology management. We also conclude that when carefully designed, residential schools for online students do enhance learning for both online students and their on-campus counterparts.

An evaluation of group work in first-year engineering design education

It is argued that ‘design' is an essential characteristic of engineering practice, and hence, an essential theme of engineering education. It is suggested that first-year design courses enhance commencing student motivation and retention, and introduce engineering application content and basic design experience early in the curriculum. The research literature indicates that engineering design practice is a deeply social process, with collaboration and group interactions required at almost every stage. This chapter documents the evaluation of the initial and subsequent second offerings of a first-year engineering design unit at Griffith University in Australia. The unit 1006ENG Design and Professional Skills aims to provide an introduction to engineering design and professional practice through a project-based approach to problem solving. The unit learning design incorporates student group work, and uses self-and-peer-assessment to incorporate aspects of the design process into the unit assessment and to provide a mechanism for individualization of student marks.

Social media as sensor for healthcare: A machine learning approach.

This thesis advances the area of applied machine learning, sentiment and psycholinguistic analysis in social media for health analytics. In particular, the thesis views social media as a gigantic form of 'sensor' to inform about mental health community and related topics.