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Active Learning Games. By Olivier de Weck and Rania Hassan This paper discusses active learning games as a potentially important pedagogical technique in support of formal classroom education. A brief review of the active learning literature is given, followed by a list of known active learning games relevant to the CDIO engineering education context. As a specific example of an active learning game we present the learning objectives, rules, and implementation of a “Genetic Algorithm Game” that is used to introduce this class of evolutionary optimization algorithms to graduate students. Genetic algorithms do not require mathematically advanced formulations. Nevertheless, many students are experiencing conceptual difficulties in understanding the abstract nature of genetic operators and how the algorithm is able to successfully search complex design spaces for good solutions. We have found that playing the “Genetic Algorithm Game” during class is an effective tool that helps students experience and reinforce the inner workings of genetic algorithms. This activity enhances conceptual learning and initial student feedback has been very positive. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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Active Learning in Materials Science and Engineering. By P. J. Goodhew and T. J. Bullough Active learning is not only a key element of CDIO syllabi, but is expected to increase student motivation, commitment and retention. The incorporation of active learning elements into a materials engineering programme is considered by means of three example modules. The implications of introducing these modules into a materials programme is discussed in terms of five Ts – their titles, testing, teamwork, timetabling and the totality of the student experience. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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Active Learning Through Group Dialogue in a Project-Based Course on Environmentally Adapted Product Development. By Maria Knutson-Wedel and Antal Boldizar This paper describes experiences of active learning through project based learning in combination with group dialogue between students. The learning approach was applied in an elective course about environmentally adapted design of products given by the Department of Materials and Manufacturing Technology for third and fourth year students. The aim was to implement more reflective teaching and learning, moving the focus from a procedural approach to reflection and conversation for gaining understanding and perception. The resultant course was created aiming for a comprehensive lifecycle perspective of the disciplinary knowledge on environmental adaptation as well as development of student competencies such as responsibility, creative thinking and group dialogue. Assessment was pursued by a combination of oral and written examination through project presentations. The evaluation of how these ideas turned out was based on our perception as course examiners, the work and reports produced by students and the results from student course surveys. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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Adoption of Active Learning in a Lecture-Based Engineering Class. By Steven R. Hall, Ian Waitz, Doris R. Brodeur, Diane H. Soderholm, and Reem Nasr In 1999, the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT expanded its repertoire of active learning strategies and assessment tools with the introduction of muddiest-point-in-the-lecture cards, electronic response systems, concept tests, peer coaching, course Web pages, and Web-based course evaluations. This paper focuses on the change process of integrating these active learning strategies into a traditional lecture-based multidisciplinary course, called Unified Engineering. The description of the evolution of active learning in Unified Engineering is intended to underscore the motivation and incentives required for bringing about the change, and the support needed for sustaining and disseminating active learning approaches among the instructors. Presented at the ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Boston, MA, USA, 06-09 November 2002. Available here through the courtesy of the American Society of Engineering Education.
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Assessing engineering students' modeling skills. By Thomas Lingefjärd A group of researchers in mathematics education from Australia, England, and Ireland who are concerned about how to detect and recognize students modeling achievement, have devised assessment strategies and a mathematical modeling test for measuring general and specific competencies in modeling and applications. The mathematical-modeling test used in this study is intended to collect evidence of growth in mathematical modeling competencies.
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Assessing the teaching & learning of mathematics in the mechanical engineering program at Chalmers Technical University. By Thomas Lingefjärd The way students actually learn mathematics, in or outside an engineering program, is hard to follow and analyze. This study for one and a half years so far illustrates that engineering students' conceptual growth in algebra depends more on the engineering subjects than on the algebra course, and that some of the concepts and routine skills in the algebra course seem to stay out of reach even after one year. Presented by Prof. Thomas Lingefjärd of Chalmers Technical University and Göteborg University at the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education conference in Athens, Georgia, USA, 26-29 October 2002.
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Assessment and mathematics examinations in the CDIO project. By Thomas Lingefjärd The fact that knowledge or understanding of mathematics is much more than just an ability to calculate or solve routine problems is well spread common knowledge among most of us who teach mathematics today. Yet, it can be very hard to really define what we mean by understanding mathematics. The fact that different taxonomies have been used for several years to illustrate how different levels of understanding or achievement can be matched against items of different conceptual difficulty is illustrated in this paper. Bloom's taxonomy and the MATH taxonomy are discussed in detail. This paper is a draft of a document to be used in faculty workshops at Chalmers Technical University and Göteborg University in Sweden.
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Benchmarking Engineering Curricula with the CDIO Syllabus. By J. Bankel, K-F Berggren, E. Crawley, M. Engström, K. El Gaidi, S. Östlund, D. Soderholm, I. Wiklund Four internationally–renowned universities — Chalmers University of Technology, Linköping University, and the Royal Institute of Technology, of Sweden; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US — developed a stakeholder survey that may be used by any engineering school to benchmark curricula for teaching of personal, interpersonal and system building skills. The results of the benchmark survey indicate that a consistent and deliberately designed curriculum in this area could demand no additional resources, yet provide a much more effective education for the students. The survey gives useful indications of how to begin such a redesign process. This paper was published in The International Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 21 No. 1 (2005). Available here through the courtesy of IJEE.
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Capstone Design - Experience with Industry Based Projects. By Brian Surgenor, Chris Mechefske, Urs Wyss, John Pelow As with most engineering schools, the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Queen’s University in Kingston, has a final year capstone design course. Since 1998, capstone projects have involved teams of students working on industry-based problems. This paper summarizes the experience of current and past course coordinators with the university-industry component, comments on how the Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate (CDIO) elements of the design cycle are handled, and discusses the implications of the two term structure of the course. The first term course MECH 460 Team Project – Conceive and Design is mandatory for all students. The second term course MECH 462 Team Project – Implement and Operate is optional. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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A CDIO Approach to the Final Year Capstone Project. By P.J. Armstrong, R.J. Kee, R.G. Kenny and G. Cunningham The principles and standards of CDIO are being implemented in the MEng programme in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast. As part of the implementation plan the final year of the programme has been modified in order to provide an integrated learning experience centred on a new team-based project. The changes to the programme are described and examples are presented to illustrate the type of project carried out by the student teams. Finally the new project’s role in helping to meet the CDIO Standards is discussed, conclusions are drawn and future work is outlined. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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CDIO-Based Courses in Engineering Biology at LiTH. by Pentti Tengvall, Annalena Kindgren, Kenneth Jarrendahl, Kajsa Uvdal CDIO based courses have traditionally been implemented into education programs with predominatly mechanical, aeronautics and electrical/physical content. However, improved engineering skills are needed also in other engineering study programs, such as those emerging in biotechnology. The previously developed CDIO-courses (themes) at Linköping University, that are primarily intended for the Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering program, constitute today the platform also to these other study programs at the university. The bioengineering program named “Engineering Biology” at Linköping University, Sweden, with focusing on bioprocessing, biomaterials, molecular biotechnology and technical biomedicine, introduced recently a CDIO-project course during the second semester of the first study year. The intention is now to continue with a similar program development also during the 3rd and 4th study years; prior to the diploma (i.e master) thesis work and we hope this traditionally science oriented program in due time will be pervaded by the CDIO engineering approach. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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The CDIO Based Survey as a Useful Tool in the Monitoring and Evolution of the Curriculum in Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department at Queen's University, Canada. By U. Wyss, T. Bryant, N. Kubrick, C. Mechefske, P. Oosthuizen, D. Strong, B. Surgenor The department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (MME) at Queen’s University adapts the curriculum like any other similar department on an ongoing basis with input from students, faculty, alumni/ ae and other sources. Joining the CDIO initiative and working with colleagues from around the world has been very helpful to set priorities for curriculum changes. A slightly modified version of the Queen’s University Belfast CDIO survey was used to get feedback from alumni/ ae. Some of the suggested changes have already been implemented, and work will continue on other ones. One of the challenges will be to repeat the survey in the future, to see if the changes made a difference. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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The CDIO Initiative from an Automatic Control Project Course Perspective. By M. Enqvist, S. Gunnarsson, M. Norrlöf, E. Wernholt and A. Hansson The CDIO Initiative is explained, and some of the results at the Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering program at Linköping University, Sweden, are presented. A project course in Automatic Control is used as an example. The projects within the course are carried out using the LIPS (Linköping interactive project steering) model. An example of a project, the golf playing industrial robot, and the results from this project are also covered.
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CDIO: An International Initiative for Reforming Engineering Education. By Karl-Frederick Berggren, Doris Brodeur, Edward Crawley, Ingemar Ingemarsson, William Litant, Johan Malmqvist, Sören Östlund. With support from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Royal Institute of Technology, Linköping University, and Chalmers University of Technology, of Sweden; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of the US, launched the CDIO Initiative to improve undergraduate engineering education in their countries, and, eventually, worldwide. This paper describes the Initiative’s launch, progress and impact. This paper was published in World Transactions on Engineering and Technology Education , Vol. 2 No.1 (2003). Available here courtesy of the UNESCO International Centre for Engineering Education and the UNESCO publication World Transactions on Engineering and Technology Education.
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The CDIO Syllabus: A comparative study of expected student proficiency. By Johan Bankel, Karl-Fredrik Berggren, Karin Blom, Edward F. Crawley, Sören Östlund, Ingela Wiklund This paper describes a unique international collaboration among four universities to reform engineering education. The collaborators agreed to a statement of goals, which include descriptions of knowledge, skills and attitudes vital to an effective education, and codifies proficiency levels expected of graduates. We developed and utilized unique stakeholder surveys to both validate our prototype and determine desired proficiency levels. The collaboration resulted in The CDIO Syllabus, A Statement of Goals for Undergraduate Engineering Education. The Syllabus is both a template and a process that can be used to customize the syllabus to others’ programs. It can define new educational initiatives, and be employed as the basis for rigorous assessment. This paper details how, with the input of industry, academia and others, the collaborators employed an engineering problem solving paradigm to effect redesign. It outlines the Syllabus and the unique process employed to create it. This paper was published in the European Journal of Engineering Education, Vol.28 No. 3 (2003) and is posted here by permission.
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CDIO Workshops and Laboratories Survey for the Vehicle Engineering Program at the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH. By HP Wallin and Sören Östlund A survey of the activities and physical spaces with respect to workshops and laboratories in the Vehicle Engineering Program at KTH was undertaken as part of the CDIO program. The results of the survey include the total number of students at each department that are involved in the eight different workshop and laboratory activities described in this investigation, i.e., activities outside traditional classroom teaching including lectures and tutorials. The results of the survey show that there is a strong relation between the type of subject and the use of workshops and laboratories. In mathematics and numerical analysis, and computing science, there are only a few students involved in activities which take place in particular workshop or laboratory spaces; even then, these students are in a “Student Work Place Mode”. On the other hand, in more applied subjects like machine design, vehicle engineering, and aeronautics, a large number of students are involved in more or less all of the eight different workshop and laboratory activities considered in this investigation. Traditional engineering science subjects like mechanics and solid mechanics typically end up somewhere between these two extremes. The survey also presents the equipment available at the different workshop and laboratory spaces available to the Vehicle Engineering students, as well as the type of general and CDIO-related activities taking place in the different spaces. (2002)
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Course Evaluations as a Means for Educational Improvements. By Peter Friis-Hansen, Niels Houbak, and Peder Klit A general evaluation of any education shall be based on the educations ability to meet defined goals and objectives. If such an evaluation is performed continuously it can be viewed as a relative quality measure. A main task when evaluating the whole education will be an evaluation of the individual courses. This may comprise of several parts: A lecturer evaluation/report, a student evaluation/report of the course and the lecturer(s), the number of students having passed the course, the grade average and the distribution of the grades.
At DTU (The Technical University of Denmark), students have for more than 10 years been evaluating the courses they attend. During the last 5 years, this evaluation has been completed electronically as an integral part of our CampusNet computing and course administration system. The electronic version has opened up for further analysis of the evaluation data and extraction of important information; this will be the main focus of this paper. In the evaluation of courses, the students are given seven different questions and for each question they can select between 5 different answers. Each answer is given a certain weight, and by summing up the weights for the selected answers and making an average over all the students, each course obtains a utility value. A similar set of questions and answers exists for all course lecturers. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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Creating the CDIO Syllabus: A Universal Template for Engineering Education. By E. F. Crawley This paper details how a team at MIT identified and codified a set of goals for engineering education, which can serve as the basis for curricular improvement and outcome based assessment. The result of two years of scholarship, these goals are embodied in The CDIO Syllabus, A Statement of Goals for Undergraduate Engineering Education. The specific CDIO (Conceive — Design — Implement — Operate) Syllabus objective is to create rational, complete, universal and generalizable goals for undergraduate engineering education. The Syllabus focuses on personal, interpersonal and system building skills, and leaves a placeholder for the disciplinary fundamentals appropriate for any specific field of engineering. It complements and significantly expands on ABET’s criteria. The process of adapting the Syllabus to a degree program includes a survey step to determine the desired level of proficiency in the designated skills that is, by consensus, expected of program’s graduates. With rationale, detail and broad applicability, the CDIO Syllabus’ principal value is that it can be generalized to serve as a model from which any university’s engineering programs may derive specific learning outcomes. Written for presentation to the ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Boston, MA, USA, 06-09 November 2002. Available here through the courtesy of the American Society of Engineering Education.
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A Curriculum For Life Cycle Engineering. By J. Jeswiet, J. Duflou, W. Dewulf, C. Luttrop, M. Hauschild It has been observed that 70 percent of product costs are decided at the design stage. With respect to the design of products and their impact upon the environment, it can be observed that if we get the design right, at the beginning, then environmental impacts can be reduced by an estimated 70%. Therefore, an awareness of product impact upon the environment, must be created at an early stage in undergraduate education. Such a course does not need to have a high mathematical content and can give undergraduate students exposure to information which can be used, in product design courses, as they progress through university. The content of such a course is suggested in this paper. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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Design, Build and Test Experiences Within the Design Curriculum at University of Pretoria. By Danie Burger The mission of the design group is to teach students mechanical engineering design with an innovative and practical approach to ensure that the students is adequately equipped to apply their mechanical engineering knowledge and skills in industry. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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Development of Three Bachelor Programs At Linkoping University According to CDIO. By Kenneth Bjerner, Sten Granath Linkoping University has been participating in the CDIO Initiative from the beginning (2000), through the Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering program (Y). The board of the Faculty of Technology decided in August 2004 to introduce the CDIO concept for three programmes at the Bachelor level starting from the academic year 2005/2006. These programmes are Electrical Systems Engineering (ES), Media and Communication Technology (MK) and Logistics Engineering (TL). Two of the programmes (MK and TL) represent new areas for CDIO at Linköping University. The development of programmes according to the CDIO Standards and CDIO Syllabus is a major task. Therefore the Board of Studies for the Engineering Programmes at Bachelor level has formed a special reference group with members from the faculty, the industry and the student group. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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Development of a Physical Prototyping Lab at Chalmers University of Technology. By J. Malmqvist, M. Distner Chalmers is developing a product realization lab consisting of two basic facilities: the IDE studio which supports teams working with virtual prototypes, and a physical prototyping lab that enables students to implement and operate their own designs. This lab will be a fundamental resource used throughout the ME education and the IDE education. The development and planning of the prototyping lab is described in this report. (27 September, 2001)
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Effective Workspace for Engineering Education: The Integrated Learning Center at Queen's University, Kingston. By David S. Strong and James D. McCowan Although conceived and developed independently, the IL initiative at Queen’s and the CDIO initiative developed by Chalmers, KTH, LiU and MIT have much in common. In both programs, it has been apparent that existing university facilities can be limiting factors in the implementation of innovative curriculum. This paper discusses IL responses to those spatial needs.  This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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Engineering Design and Rapid Prototyping. By Olivier de Weck, Peter Young, Christopher Graff, Aaron Bell, William Nadir, Il Yong Kim  This paper presents the second offering of a new undergraduate design and rapid prototyping course in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. The course combines design theory, lectures, and hands on activities to teach the design stages from conception to implementation and testing. Activities include hand sketching, CAD, CAE, CAM, design optimization, rapid prototyping techniques, and performance testing. The learning objectives, pedagogy, required resources and instructional processes, as well as results from the latest implementation of the course and student assessments are discussed. A review of the previous year’s assessments and a short project description is also included. A key pedagogical insight from this course is that design iterations are not to be interpreted as error correction or rework, but as an essential part of a sound engineering process. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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Experiences from the Transformation of an Engineering Education Introductory Project Design Course Into a Project Design-Build-Test Course. By G. Gustafsson This paper describes the changes made to an introductory course in Mechanical Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology to transform it from a project design course into a project design-build-test course. The aim is to inspire engineering educators to introduce practical hands-on build (manufacture) elements in their curricula through an account of the positive experiences gained. Presented at NordDesign 2004, 18-20 August 2004, Tampere, Finland.
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The First Year As Engineering Student: The Experiences of Four Cohorts of Engineering Students in Applied Physics and Electro Technics in Linköping University. By E. Stiwne In this paper comparative data from four cohorts of engineering students´ expectations and experiences during their first study year are presented and discussed. The study is one part of an ongoing longitudinal study. The data from the first cohorts, 1998 and 1999, are base-line data against which data from the latter cohorts, 2000 and 2002, are compared. Comparisons are made in relation to the planning and implementation of a CDIO curriculum from 1999 and on. The results show a changing approach to studying between the first and the latter cohorts, from an achievement and future oriented approach to a gratifying and here- and-now oriented approach. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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First-year introductory courses as a means to develop conceive – design – implement – operate skills in engineering education programmes. By G. Gustafsson, D. Newman, S. Stafström and H. P. Wallin This paper presents a part of the ongoing Conceive – Design – Implement – Operate (CDIO) Program for Engineering Education Reform, which is run by Chalmers University of Technology, the Royal Institute of Technology and Linköping University, all in Sweden, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA, USA. In the paper we present and discuss first-year introductory courses in engineering education programmes at the four universities from a CDIO perspective, with an emphasis on the student projects in these courses. Presented the SEFI Annual Conference, Firenze, Italy, 08-11 September 2002
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Flight Handling Qualities: A Problem-Based-Learning Module for Final Year Aerospace Engineering Students. By G. Padfield This paper describes the methodology and key results from the first 3 years of operation of ‘Flight Handling Qualities’ (FHQ), a Problem-Based-Learning core module for 4th year Master of Engineering (MEng) undergraduates in Aerospace Engineering and optional module for the Systems Engineering MSc Programme, at the University of Liverpool. The module aim is to equip students with the skills and knowledge required to tackle aircraft handling qualities (HQs) and related ‘whole aircraft’ problems. Students are presented with the theory of handling qualities engineering in a series of interactive lectures. The students work in teams of 4 or 5 and undertake a number of team-building exercises throughout the first semester. Teams are presented with the idea that the aircraft with its handling qualities is the focus for knowledge acquisition and skills development. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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The IDE Studio - Development of an Environment for Distributed Design Work. J. Norrström Chalmers University of Technology has an objective to be on the front line in the area of distributed engineering. Thus, a room especially equipped for this type of work will be set up, the IDE studio. This thesis is the initiating step towards establishing the type of functionalities to be supported, and proposes how they could be carried out. This paper is a Master of Science thesis presented 01 November 2001.
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Implementing Product Data Management in Product Development Projects. P. Månsson, D. Nyberg The purpose of this thesis work is to change and develop the Product Development course, given to master level students at Chalmers, in line with the requirements CDIO and the examiner have set up for the education. As part of this a product data management system was implemented in the PD course to better prepare students to perform design activities in a software environment often used in industry. This paper is a Master of Science thesis presented 19 December 2002.
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Implementing Project Based Learning Using CDIO Concepts. By S. H. Pee To prepare our students for the knowledge economy, a new education model which aims to provide our students with a more balanced and holistic education integrating the teaching of (i) domain knowledge with (ii) people and process skills and (iii) values & ethics is being developed in Singapore Polytechnic. New innovative approaches to teaching, learning and assessment that promote creativity and authentic learning are being explored. After learning about the CDIO concepts and realizing the potential of cultivating students with the desired skills, a pilot programme incorporating CDIO concepts into project-based learning was implemented in the Singapore Polytechnic in 2003. The projects were developed using CDIO theories where students worked through conceive, design, implement and operate stages. In these projects, students in a class of 20 are required to build an artifact that comprises sensors and control algorithms. So far, three cohorts of students have completed their projects. As the projects developed were highly innovative and creative, the local news program had featured some of the students’ innovations. Besides completing the projects, students also developed other attributes such as creative and critical thinking, resourcefulness and learning to learn traits. This paper was submitted to the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario but not presented. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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Integrated Assessment of Disciplinary, Personal, and Interpersonal Skills in a Design-Build Course. By Kristina Edström, Khalid El Gaidi, Stefan Hallström and Jakob Kuttenkeuler Integrated assessment of functional disciplinary knowledge and personal and interpersonal performance is discussed in the context of a final-year design-build course. The course is intended to consolidate disciplinary knowledge through individual and teamwork efforts in an authentic design-build project. There is a coupling between approaching the task and practicing personal and interpersonal competencies. We believe that personal, interpersonal and disciplinary knowledge are mutually supportive and learned together. The learning objectives do therefore explicitly include knowledge, skills and attitudes related to personal, interpersonal and product and system building skills, as well as disciplinary skills. Since the assessment should reflect the course objectives a procedure for integrated assessment of the above mentioned competences was developed. This paper was submitted to the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario but not presented. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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International Collaboration in the Reform of Engineering Education. By D. Brodeur, E. Crawley, I. Ingemarsson, J. Malmqvist, S. Östlund In October 2000, with support from the Wallenberg Foundation, four universities launched an international collaboration designed to improve undergraduate engineering education in Sweden, the United States, and worldwide. This is a closely coordinated program with parallel efforts at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Linköping University in Linkoping, Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The vision of the project is to provide students with an education that stresses engineering fundamentals set in the context of Conceiving-Designing-Implementing-Operating real-world systems and products. The collaboration calls for three face-to-face meetings per year, alternating venues among the four institutions. Videoconferencing, email, and a dedicated Web page facilitate collaboration between meetings. This paper describes the results of the first year of the collaboration, the impact of the reform efforts, and the plans for the next three years. Presented at the ASEE Conference, Montreal, Canada, 16-19 June 2002.Available here through the courtesy of the American Society of Engineering Education.
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Lessons Learned from Design-Build Test-Based Project Courses. By J. Malmqvist, P. Young, S. Hallström, J. Kuttenkeuler, T. Svensson Projects in which students design, build and test a device are increasingly being used in education. In this paper, a number of design-build-test-based project courses are analyzed. Findings indicates that these experiences do not only train design skills but also effectively motivate students, integrate disciplinary subjects, and provide a platform for teaching non-technical skills such as communication. These learning events further receive very positive evaluations from students, faculty and industry. However, design-build-test tasks also require careful planning, different faculty competence and re-designed learning environments. The paper suggests a set of guidelines that help address these challenges in a course development process. Presented at Design-2004, Dubrovnik, Croatia, May 2004.
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Mechanical Engineering Curriculum At DTU And The Application Of CDIO In First Year Courses. By Niels Houbak and Peder Klit In the mechanical engineering area the Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Management and the Department of Mechanical Engineering deliver the technical courses for the Bachelor education (called Production and Engineering Design, P&E). In cooperation the two departments gives an introductory ‘Engineering Work’ course with much emphasis on the CDIO philosophy. This course in particular but also the design of the study plan will be described in this paper as will an ongoing effort on evaluating the current curriculum with improvements in mind. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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The MIT iCampus Robotworld Project: The Peer Review Process and Tablet PC Experiences. By Alexander Slocum, Patrick Willoughby In 1999, MIT and the Microsoft Corporation formed an alliance called the iCampus research project. The iCampus RobotWorld project was formed to investigate how to systematize the deployment and operation of courses that use design projects as a vehicle for teaching engineering. While teaching staff use computers to present lecture notes and additional support materials online, traditional computer systems don’t typically support students’ collaborative effort in team-based design projects. Specifically, technology was needed to assist the front-end stage of product design. Much of the early stages of design take place collaboratively on paper or a chalkboard, leaving teams with the task of preserving the designs or translating them into an electronic source using time-intensive software. Team members needed to be present in order to collaborate and valuable design time was spent entering sketches and ideas from paper or the board into the computer. To simplify the collaborative procedure, the Peer Review Evaluation Process (PREP) is used to add structure to the creative development process. A PREP session begins with a specification of the problem, as well as a general format for expressing and documenting ideas. Each team member individually creates several possible design solutions for this problem in the agreed format, including sketches, basic engineering models, references, and risks and possible countermeasures. The team leader distributes the solutions amongst the other team members for anonymous review, after which the team assembles to discuss the benefits and problems with each solution, rapidly evolving the solutions into a final design. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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Problem-Based Learning in Aerospace Engineering Education. By D. Brodeur, P. Young, K. Blair Problem-based learning is now a widespread teaching method in disciplines where students must learn to apply knowledge, not just acquire it. In the undergraduate curriculum in Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, problem-based learning and design-build experiences are integrated throughout the program. In an early freshman-year experience, Introduction to Aerospace and Design, students design, build, and fly radio-controlled lighter-than-air (LTA) vehicles. In the sophomore-year Unified Engineering course, students design, build, and fly radio-controlled electric propulsion aircraft. In a course on Aerodynamics, a case study from either industry or government is used to provide an authentic problem. Upper-level capstone courses are entirely problem-based. In these PBL experiences, students identify problems of interest to them and experiment to find solutions, as well as design complex systems that integrate engineering fundamentals in a multidisciplinary approach. This paper describes several problem-based learning experiences in undergraduate aerospace engineering at MIT within a four-level framework for categorizing problems. It presents the learning theories that underlie the success of PBL, identifies the basic characteristics of PBL, critical features in the design of problems, and effective methods for assessing PBL. Presented at the ASEE Conference, Montreal, Canada, 16-19 June 2002.Available here through the courtesy of the American Society of Engineering Education.
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Problem-Based Learning in Professional Education. By D. Brodeur
Interest in problem-based learning arose in higher education in response to criticism that programs in professional areas, e.g., medicine, engineering, failed to equip graduates with the problem-solving skills required for a lifetime of learning. Problem-based learning derives from the theory that learning is a process in which the learner actively constructs knowledge. This presentation uses examples from undergraduate aerospace engineering at MIT to present learning theories that underlie successful PBL, identify critical features in the design of problems, and suggest effective methods for assessing PBL experiences. Presented to the American Association of Higher Education, San Diego, CA, USA, 2 April 2004.
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Product Development by Deterministic Design. By Marc Graham, Alexander Slocum In the MIT Mechanical Engineering course, Introduction to Design and Manufacturing (2.007), students learn Deterministic Design, a design process similar to the scientific method approach to solving problems in the natural world. Deterministic Design merges qualities of the scientific method with the business focus of risk assessment and countermeasures, and schedules. We call it Deterministic Design because the method seeks to minimize unknowns, and to map out a solution path and implementation plan. We practice it with the use of a Peer-Review Evaluation Process (PREP). Idea development is a sequence of three stages: Strategies, Concepts and Modules. At each step of creating (strategy, concept, and modules) a deterministic process occurs. Individuals create (and write down their ideas), PREP, and then brainstorm. It is with this crucial process, we can virtually guarantee underrepresented people will be drawn in as fully contributing members of design teams. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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Quality Assurance of Engineering Education in Sweden. By Aija Sadurskis In January 2001, a national programme for quality assurance was introduced, with the Agency evaluating subjects and programmes. All studies that lead to general or professional degrees were to be evaluated in a six year period, being the first of recurring cycles of evaluation. The evaluations have two main aims: control and development. They can also serve other purposes, e.g. to inform or to lend authority. The control component can be described as making certain that studies meet minimum requirements. There is no attempt to rank the subjects or programmes since the Agency believes that what we are evaluating is too complex for ranking to be meaningful. There is a connection between the evaluation and the right to award degrees. If serious quality flaws are noted by the Agency, the university or university college should be aware that the right to award a degree can be revoked if no action is taken within a year. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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Recommendations to Address Barriers in CDIO Project-based Courses. By Sven Andersson, Kristina Edström, Petru Eles, Madelaine Engström, Maria Knutson-Wedel, Diane H. Soderholm This report is presents the findings from an examination of several project-based courses at three universities in Sweden and one in the United States. Specifically the report contains recommendations for possible solutions to common barriers to teaching and learning in courses in which students work in pairs or groups to complete projects. In addition to recommendations, actual tools and resources are included to assist faculty who are planning or running project-based courses. (Dec. 2003)
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Scultping the Sculptor: Designing a Faculty Support Program for New CDIO Member Institutions. By Dolf Steyn The University of Pretoria is a new member to CDIO but not new to engineering education. The drive to align our activities to reasonably correspond to international engineering education methods, is not an isolated incident, but part of a continuous cycle of didactic evolution. The CDIO initiative does however present an opportunity and impetus to this quest. The people factor in faculty members may at times leave some of them unconvinced and even unequipped to deal with the challenges modern engineering education presents. Changes are required from the methods lecturers themselves experienced as students and while most staff would readily acknowledge the fact that they are primarily engineering specialists and not didactic experts, the nature of the task at hand call for mastery of both disciplines.
This paper reports on an initiative at the University of Pretoria to identify faculty needs in this regard. It also reflects the necessary interventions to support faculty in not only changing their own approaches where necessary, but in taking the lead to ensure that our learners’ abilities reflect the necessary competence. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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Student involvment in principled change: Understanding the student experience. By K. Edström, M. Engström, Å. Wiklund, J. Törnevik The CDIO Initiative is an international collaboration to reform engineering programs of participating institutions. Student representatives are actively involved in the process together with faculty and staff. In order to better represent a majority of students, the student representatives initiated and carried out a survey of learning experiences among their peers. In the three participating Swedish engineering programs, students were interviewed about their study experiences. Presented at the 2003 Improving Student Learning Conference, England.
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Survey of Laboratory Exercises within the Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering (Y) program at Linköping University. By S. Gunnarsson, P. Eles, T. Krantz-Rülcker, P. Frykman A survey concerning the laboratory exercise activities within the Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering (Y) program at Linköping University is presented. The aim of the survey has been to view the laboratory exercises from a CDIO perspective. Sixty-four laboratory exercises have been covered by the survey. The main conclusions are that "verification and/or illustration of principles" and "verification and testing" are the activities most often found in the laboratory exercises, while activities like "design" and "formulation of goals and specifications" are less common.
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Towards a New Model for First-Year Introductory Courses in Engineering Education Programmes. By G. Gustafsson, J. Malmqvist, D. Newman, S. Stafström and H. P. Wallin An important and common component of engineering programmes is a first-year course aimed at introducing various subjects as well as motivating the students and introducing them to the engineering profession. This paper compares four such courses at Chalmers University of Technology, The Royal Institute of Technology, Linköping University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Discriminators showing details of each course are displayed and possible course development is discussed. Presented at NordDesign, Trondheim, Norway, August 2002
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A Transatlantic Program for Teaching Engineering Ethics. By Göran Collste As part of the CDIO program, teaching modules for ethics, communication and group work have been developed. The author of this paper, together with philosopher Martin Peterson, is responsible for the ethics module, In this paper, Collste discusses the module as part of the CDIO curriculum project. The ethics instructor guide is presented on a web-site. The paper includes a summary of the content of the ethics module, some particular so called “best practices,” and raises some questions for discussion. Presented at the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics annual conference in Cincinnatti, Ohio, USA, 28 February 2004.
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Use of CDIO Standards in Swedish National Evaluation of Engineering Educational Programs. By Johan Malmqvist, Svante Gunnarsson, Kristina Edström and Sören Östlund In this paper, we report on a large-scale application of the CDIO standards, involving approximately 100 educational programs. The context is the Swedish national evaluation of its “civilingenjör” engineering degree programs made by the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education (Högskoleverket, HSV). In the paper, we first briefly describe the CDIO standards focusing on the role as a support for continuous program development. We then present the self-evaluation materials used in the HSV evaluation and account for HSV’s motives for including the CDIO standards evaluation in the self-evaluation package and for the modifications made compared to the original CDIO standards. We then discuss the results from a survey and an interview study directed to the program managers that have applied the CDIO standards in the HSV evaluation. The questions in the survey aim to investigate the respondents’ view of the relevance, benefits, limitations and ease of use of the CDIO standards. The questions are aimed both at the overall level – the body of standards – as well as at the level of single standards. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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The Use of "How Does it Work?" Type Projects in a Mechanical Engineering Program. By Patrick H. Oosthuizen “How Does It Work?” type project involve a student or a group of students being assigned an engineering device or system to study. They must gather information about how it works, on how it is implemented and on whether any problems have been encountered with the device or system during its operation and they must then prepare a report and/or presentation on their findings. In gathering the required information, the students must use the Web and books including handbooks and manuals, consult with trades-people involved with maintaining and repairing devices or systems of the type being considered and they must arrange to view examples of the device or system and take suitable photographs to complement the other information they have gathered. The latter requires that examples of the device or system be in use within a reasonable distance of the academic institution at which the student is studying. Devices and systems that are suitable for such projects are often in use by the academic institution itself. Examples of suitable project topics are discussed in this report and some details of typical projects of this type are discussed here. A discussion of the way in which “How Does It Work?” type projects can be incorporated into design and engineering science courses to help illustrate the practical application of the course material is also presented. The advantages and disadvantages of projects of this type will also be discussed. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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PRESENTATION (.ppt 436K)
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The Use of Virtual Reality in the Development Process of a Physical Prototyping Laboratory. By F. Spelz The use of virtual reality is shown in this report in the development of a physical prototyping laboratory at Chalmers University of Technology. The presentation of this model will take place in a Virtual Reality CAVE. (18 June 2001)
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Using an Alumni Survey as a Tool for Program Evaluation. By Svante Gunnarsson, Eva Lindblad, Ingela Wiklund One part of the implementation of the CDIO concept at Linköping University is to develop and improve the tools for assessment of student knowledge and skills. As an assessment tool and as a quality management method at Linköping University the Balanced Scorecard is used. The method is also introduced as a CDIO assessment tool. At program level, Linköping University uses three surveys to meet demands within the Balanced Scorecard. An Introduction survey for beginners, a satisfactory survey for students in the middle of the program and an alumni-survey for engineers who have taken their degrees 10 years ago and 2 years ago are used. The satisfactory and the alumni surveys are developed and implemented during 2004- spring 2005.The alumni survey gives baseline knowledge of the engineer situation before the CDIO-concept and makes it possible to, within some years, evaluate the effects of the participation in the CDIO initiative. This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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Using Concept Maps and Concept Questions to Enhance Conceptual Understanding. By D. Darmofal, D. Soderholm and D. Brodeur Conceptual understanding is the ability to apply knowledge across a variety of instances or circumstances. Several strategies can be used to teach and assess concepts, e.g., inquiry, exposition, analogies, mnemonics, imagery, concept maps, and concept questions. This paper focuses on the last two -- concept maps and concept questions. Concept maps are two-dimensional, hierarchical diagrams that show the structure of knowledge within a discipline. Concept questions are questions posed to students to encourage higher order thinking and help them understand the basic principles of a discipline. This paper describes progress at MIT in the development and use of concept maps and concept questions in aerospace engineering. Presented at the ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Boston, MA, USA, 06-09 November 2002. Available here through the courtesy of the American Society of Engineering Education.
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Using portfolios for exit assessment in engineering programs. By D. Brodeur The MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics is designing a portfolio assessment system to assess students' achievement of program outcomes. The undergraduate aerospace engineering program has embarked upon major curriculum reform initiatives centered on 16 program outcomes detailed in its CDIO Syllabus. Portfolios will be organized into categories reflecting these outcomes. (The 16 CDIO skills, or program outcomes, are also the cornerstone of the program's self-study report for ABET accreditation.) This paper addresses the planning and development of portfolios for assessing students' achievement at the end of their MIT aerospace engineering program.  Presented at the ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Boston, MA, USA, 06-09 November 2002. Available here through the courtesy of the American Society of Engineering Education.
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Using a Project Model for Assessment of CDIO Skills. By Tomas Svensson, Svante Gunnarsson It is discussed how a project model can be used for assessment of CDIO skills in Design-Build-Test courses. A project model offers a structured method for carrying out projects and gives the students experience of project work under industry like conditions. The different phases, activities, and documents in the project model enable assessment of a large number of topics in the CDIO Syllabus.  This paper was presented at the CDIO Annual Conference, 06-09 June 2005, Kingston, Ontario. They are posted here by permission of the author(s).
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Writing mathematics and assessment in the CDIO project.By T. Lingefjärd One growing concern about the change of how one assesses mathematics is often connected to the use of technology. Technology is used to reproduce pencil and paper work or in the development of concepts, and, consequently, one has to change the way assessment is practiced. One such change is to give students assignments where they are expected to communicate the mathematics through writing. This paper is a short example of how this can be connected to different taxonomies of levels of learning and understanding. This paper is a draft of a document to be used in faculty workshops at Chalmers Technical University and Göteborg University in Sweden.
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