An Assessment Process For A Capstone Course: Design Of Fluid Thermal Systems (original) (raw)
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ABET Accreditation: Realization in Thermo/Fluid Courses
47th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting including The New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition, 2009
One of the challenges in teaching engineering is to break the barrier between theory and practice and take the students outside the classroom to apply what they learned to solve real life engineering problems. The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) is one of the organizations that help engineering schools to achieve this objective through a set of required program outcomes needed for accreditation. The present paper discuss three examples of course improvements that successfully met the ABET requirements for design realization in Thermo/Fluid courses in the last accreditation visit. Design projects were introduced in three courses: Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics, and Heat Transfer. The details of each project, the changes made in each course and the multilevel assessment process are presented. The discussion is supported by samples from the students' work and assessment results.
Beyerlein is professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Idaho, where he coordinates the Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering capstone design program and where he regularly participates in ongoing program assessment activities. For these efforts he won the UI Outstanding Teaching Award in 2001. He has been an active participant in the Transferable Integrated Design Engineering Education (TIDEE) Consortium for the last five years and collaborates with other authors on the NSF/ASA grant. Abstract This paper describes a framework for developing and implementing assessment instruments in capstone engineering design courses. The framework provides a structure for aligning learning outcomes, methods for examining performance related to these outcomes, and providing feedback that improves student learning in these outcome areas. The framework incorporates three different perspectives—that of the educational researcher, the student learner, and the professional pra...
Assessment Framework For Capstone Design Courses
2006 Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings
This paper describes a framework for developing and implementing assessment instruments in capstone engineering design courses. The framework provides a structure for aligning learning outcomes, methods for examining performance related to these outcomes, and providing feedback that improves student learning in these outcome areas. The framework incorporates three different perspectives-that of the educational researcher, the student learner, and the professional practitioner. The paper concludes by highlighting which framework components inform different steps in a methodology currently being used to create sound, broadly-applicable, and efficient assessment instruments for capstone design courses.
Development Of A Project Based And Design Driven Thermodynamics Course
2002 Annual Conference Proceedings
This paper describes a project-based learning environment for a first course in Thermodynamics. Students are challenged through a strong emphasis on design projects which expand the boundary of their thermodynamics knowledge through the integration of fluid mechanics and heat transfer fundamentals. Design projects range from determining the blower size of an automotive HVAC system, to adept selection of nozzle diameter for a jet engine at a specified speed. These design projects are used as the platform for students to solidify their knowledge of thermal fluid systems. The authors provide their personal journey in developing a project-based and design-driven thermodynamics course that show promise for the design integration throughout the Energy Systems Thread. Formal and informal assessment measures conducted on student achievement of educational outcomes are also presented. 1. INTRODUCTION Creating a project based learning environment for engineering students has been the subject of investigation at a number of universities. In a recent study by Kettering University Core Engineering Team (CET) [1] , a survey of engineering curricula at other universities was carried out. Reviewed universities included all of Kettering's Association of Independent Technological Universities (AITU) peers, Michigan universities with major engineering programs, and universities participating in the Foundation Coalition. This review [2-6] found that many universities, including Kettering, continue to offer relatively traditional core curricula. Nontraditional or innovative programs are in place at a number of universities, but relatively few of these have been implemented for all students. Most remain in an experimental stage and are offered to only a subset of the students and taught only by interested faculty. Moreover, even programs with non-traditional elements retain in one form or another the traditional engineering core topics of differential, integral, and vector calculus, differential equations, physics (mechanics and electromagnetics) and chemistry. Some of the relatively common elements of innovative core curricula that appeared in one or more of CET's proposals were: (a) a common, interdisciplinary Introduction to Engineering course; (b) a selection of discipline-specific Introduction to Engineering courses offered by the various engineering departments; and (c) integration of engineering applications into core mathematics and science courses.
Development Of An Integrated Thermal Fluids Engineering Curriculum
2000 Annual Conference Proceedings
We present a new approach to teaching the core thermal/fluids curriculum for undergraduate programs in engineering. Traditional introductory thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer classes are being replaced with two integrated courses and an integrated laboratory course in which the three disciplines are taught simultaneously. The approach is intended to show interconnections and transferability of concepts and ideas, with an emphasis on the way they occur in engineering practice. Both courses are being taught in a new multimedia studio classroom, permitting student-student interactions, the use of in-class computer tools and examples, as well as individual desktop experiments and demonstration experiments. Our experiences in teaching through this innovative format, in using case studies to motivate student learning of introductory material, and in integrating the laboratory course experience to that of the studio classroom, are recounted.
Ac 2007-2343: Assessments for Three Performance Areas in Capstone Engineering Design
Capstone engineering design courses occupy pivotal positions in every engineering baccalaureate degree program. They are critical to preparing graduates with professional skills needed for innovative, responsible practice in a global environment, and they provide vital assessment data for ABET accreditation of degree programs. This paper describes assessment instruments developed for capstone engineering design courses, filling a crucial gap facing design educators. Seven assessment exercises are presented to address three areas of performance for capstone engineering design. Each exercise is accompanied by a scoring rubric structured around performance factors and five levels of performance. Suggestions given for utilization for formative and summative purposes make these assessments valuable for guiding student learning and assigning performance scores or grades. These assessments constitute foundational parts of an assessment system for capstone engineering design courses. Introd...
Thermal Science Capstone Projects in Mechanical Engineering
2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings
It is perceived that the majority of capstone projects for senior mechanical engineering students usually deals with designs that do not include issues related to thermal sciences; i.e., thermodynamics, heat transfer and fluid mechanics. This may lead students to falsely think that the thermal sciences are usually not critical in practical designs since the capstone course is supposed to mimic actual engineering designs in the industry. The thinking that thermal issues are incidental is dangerous since vital industries-oil, electronics, power generation and conversion and cryogenics, to name but a few-rely heavily on thermal design. Actually one of the biggest current challenges is energy-its sources and conservation, which feeds into any kind of sustainable design. Lack of thermal projects in capstone courses also may prevent interested students from making thermal sciences their focal area and future career. The relatively low number of thermal science projects in capstone courses may be due to the fact that the instructors assigned to teach these courses are specialists in other areas of mechanical engineering. This paper explores these issues through surveying capstone projects in a number of universities. It probes capstone-teaching faculty and reflects on their attitudes toward thermal-science projects. The paper attempts to determine if there is a lack of thermalscience projects in capstone courses and if so what the reasons are. A third purpose of the paper was to probe the feelings of non-thermal faculty teaching capstone towards thermal projects, and whether or under what conditions they would be willing to offer more thermal design projects in the future. The paper also poses a few general questions regarding the role of thermal sciences in capstone design and suggests a strategic way for implementing more thermal science capstone projects.