Mechanical Engineering Curriculum at DTU and the Application of CDIO in First Year Courses.

2. Mechanical Engineering Curriculum at DTU and the Application of CDIO in First Year Courses. by Assoc. Prof. Niels Houbak and Prof. Peder Klit Department for Mechanical Engineering (MEK), Technical University of Denmark (DTU) DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.

3. Study structures at DTU – Now and then BACHELOR program (Diplomingeniør) 3½ years BE. Study program Includes ½ a year of industrial practice and gives practical and professional engineering competences. This program will over the coming years be changed to comply to a large extend with CDIO standards in all its diciplines. MASTERs program (Cand.Polyt.) Until 2004: 5 years MSc. Study program After 2004: 3 years BSc. Study program (not equivalent to the BE program) 2 years MSc. Study program This will not be a CDIO program but several courses will utilize CDIO.

4. The Annual Wheel Fall term: September 1. – January 31. • Lectures (13 weeks): September 1. – December 1. • Exams (11 days): December 1. – December 22. • Whole day activities (3 weeks): January 3. – January 25. Spring term: February 1. – June 30. • Lectures (13 weeks): February 1. – May 10. • Exams (11 days): May 15. – June 2. • Whole day activities (3 weeks): June 5. – June 26.

5. Offered DTU Study Programs (BSc.) • Bio technology • Building technology • Design and Innovation • Electro technology • Physics and Nano technology • Chemistry • Communication technology • Mathematics and technology • Medicine and technology • Environmental technology • Production and Engineering Design (P&E) ◄ • Software technology • Health and Food Production

6. DTU BSc. General Study Structure • Common for all 13 study programs - nearly • 3 years of study • No business training/practice – must be extended with a Master study • Each block is 45 (ECTS) credits - at least!

7. Courses in Production and Engineering Design. Technological Courses (45 out of 60 credits) • Principles of Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering 1 • Fluid Mechanics • Fundamental Engineering Thermodynamics • Strength of Materials 1 • Strength of Materials 2 • Engineering Design • Process Technology • Production Technology (Fundamentals) • Production Technology (Workshop training) • Introduction to Production and Operations Management • Materials Science

8. P&E First Year Courses. Compulsary courses • 1. SEMESTER • Mathematics 1 (10 credits) • Physics 1 (5 credits) • Engineering work (10 credits) • Production technology – Workshop training (5 credits) • 2. SEMESTER • Mathematics 1 (10 credits) • Physics 1 (5 credits) • Strength of Materials 1 (5 credits) • Production technology – Theory (5 credits) Elective courses (one from the list) • 2. SEMESTER • Materials Science (5 credits) • Basic Economy (5 credits) • Something else

10. The Course: 11000 Engineering work Main content: • CAD (Pro/E), drafting, sketching, animation (40%) • Disassemble and assemble a lawn mover with a four stoke gasoline engine (20%); should one of the students become professor one day. • Sketch and analyze different parts and functionalities of the engine (10%) • Product economy and product enhancement (10%) • Engineer lectures, excursions, engineering history, etc. (10%) • Group work, report writing, socializing, study plan activities (10%)

11. The Course: Engineering work The Lawn Mover Engine • its parts (crankshaft, connecting rod, piston, cylinder etc.) • super-system (the lawn mover) and sub-systems (the engine, the air filter, etc.) • the task that it performs (cutting grass) • the operator interface (starter, speed control, brake) • the internal process (four stroke engine)

13. The Course: Engineering Work. Other Activities • First exercise on day one: A better solution to a handicap. Handed in after 2 weeks. A model when we lecture writing a technical report. • CEOs and younger engineers lecture about their engineering experience. A group of students gives a 5 minutes introduction to the company • Make your own study plan and write an essay about qualifications required for your dream-job. Why did you become an engineering student? • DTU students have many CDIO professional, personal and interpersonal skills when entering. Maintain and evolve those skills.

14. Comparing 1 Year Courses Experiences gained similar to Gustafsson et.al. • A pass/no pass evaluation reduces the student interest in sweating too much; individual grades are cumbersome for the lecturers to produce for large classes but it is necessary. • Practical project work stimulates curiosity and puts theoretical elements into perspective. • Female students have a lot of limits moved but it gives them some confidence; they may end up being excellent engineers. In general our female students are much more focused on problem solving and harder working than the typical male student. • Groups must not be too small, and it is OK to make students change groups for different tasks. It is OK to let one group participate in the evaluation of another group. • Close contact between students and faculty makes the students feel welcome and important

15. Conclusion. • It is important in the first year to balance student work between theory and experimental work – the first year must also contain some fun and challenging elements that lay a foundation for building up their specific domain of engineering (vocabulary, materials, components, etc). • For the Danish industry (many Small and Medium-sized Enterprises), uniform (with respect to technical area covered) engineers are not optimal. Broad coverage. Many elective courses. • Ongoing effort to improve curriculum and lecturing goals is important • The trend at DTU is generic courses – we are loosening the strings to specific applications. A basic understanding of phenomenons is important. • CDIO soft skills (reports, presentations, group/team-work) are trained in many courses.