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COURSE LINKING IN THE UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM AT WESTERN ENGINEERING

Explore how courses at Western Engineering are linked to create a unified understanding of engineering, emphasizing the importance of theory-implementation balance and design skills development using tools like SOLIDWORKS.

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COURSE LINKING IN THE UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM AT WESTERN ENGINEERING

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  1. COURSE LINKING IN THE UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM AT WESTERN ENGINEERING Kurowski, P M; Floryan, M J The University of Western Ontario Faculty of Engineering Department of Mechanical and Material Engineering

  2. A well established system of grading is used to verify if the understanding of course based knowledge has been effective. Unfortunately, we have no control over how that piecewise knowledge is amalgamated and what kind of global understanding of engineering students are left with. The relevance of one course to another is established by a system of pre-requisite requirements but this is not sufficient to build bridges between different courses.

  3. We also have little control over the overall balance between engineering theory and implementation, because theory is more specific to particular courses while implementation is by nature more multidisciplinary.

  4. To address these problems, an effort is underway to deliver courses in a more unified manner where material of one course is perceived as relevant to other courses and knowledge and tools learned in previous courses are applicable, required and expanded in subsequent courses. Our goal is to obtain a synergistic effect between courses and catalyze the amalgamation of course based knowledge into a unified understanding of the engineering field.

  5. OUTLINE • Making a course suitable for linking: • alternating between theory and implementation within a course • Identification of courses suitable for linking • How to link courses • Expected benefits • Evaluation of effectiveness

  6. ALTERNATING BETWEEN IMPLEMENTATION AND THEORY WITHIN EACH COURSE Theory Implementation

  7. ALTERNATING BETWEEN IMPLEMENTATION AND THEORY FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS Implementation Theory

  8. ALTERNATING BETWEEN IMPLEMENTATION AND THEORY HEAT TRANSFER Theory Implementation

  9. MOST OBVIOUS CANDIDATES FOR LINKING ARE COURSES WITH HIGH DESIGN CONTENTS DESIGN PROBLEMS REQUIRE THE USE OF SIMILAR TOOLS TOOL COMMON TO ALL DESIGN RELATED COURSES IS CAD AND CAE USED TO DEVELOP DESIGN AN DESIGN ANALYSIS SKILLS. BOTH CAD AND CEA IS INTRODUCED WITH SOLIDWORKS

  10. MAP OF LINKED COURSES Year 1 Design studio Product Design Year 2 Mechanical components Kinematics and Dynamics Finite Element Analysis Year 3 Heat transfer Year 3a Internship Mechanical vibrations Year 4 Capstone design

  11. DEVELOPMENT OF DESIGN AND ANALYSIS SKILLS USING SOLIDWORKS Year 1 General introduction Advanced modeling and design documentation Year 2 FEA simulation of structural and thermal problems Year 3 FEA simulation of vibration problems Year 4 Design and analysis in the capstone design project

  12. DEVELOPMENT OF DESIGN AND ANALYSIS SKILLS 1ST YEAR Introduction to Design Process

  13. DEVELOPMENT OF DESIGN AND ANALYSIS SKILLS 2ND YEAR Advanced modeling and design documentation

  14. DEVELOPMENT OF DESIGN AND ANALYSIS SKILLS 2ND YEAR Advanced modeling and design documentation Will be implemented in Fall 2010

  15. DEVELOPMENT OF DESIGN AND ANALYSIS SKILLS 3RD YEAR FEA simulation of structural and thermal problems

  16. DEVELOPMENT OF DESIGN AND ANALYSIS SKILLS 4TH YEAR FEA simulation of vibration problems

  17. DEVELOPMENT OF DESIGN AND ANALYSIS SKILLS 4TH YEAR Design and analysis in the capstone design project

  18. WITHIN EACH COURSE Reinforcing learning in engineering education by alternating between theory, simulation and (in some cases) experiments BETWEEN COURSES Linking serial and parallel courses with high design content using SOLIDWORKS as a “mortar” SOLIDWORKS

  19. BENEFITS Elimination of overlaps and better use of course hours Improved learning experience Development of engineering design and design analysis skills ready for rapid implementation in an industrial environment using modern CAE tools such as SOLIDWORKS Better understanding of engineering as a whole

  20. HOW TO ASSESS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COURSE LINKING? Results of course evaluations Interviews with internship students and their employers Quality of 4th year design projects Feedback from alumni ???

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