1、Title page for submission of manuscript Title: The Warman Student Design Towards large class sizes; Away from practical laboratory work; Away from project work involving access to prototyping facilities. Towards engineering-science teaching and away from project-management and design. Engineering gr
2、aduates go to a wide range of jobs. As a rough statement, in the first years after graduation about half work in the mining and related industries with the rest employed in sales, management or fabrication. There is much debate in Australia at present about the role of engineering education. Several
3、 points of view are common: That universities should teach mainly engineering-science because this cannot be learned in any other place. Deep learning in the theoretical aspects of thermodynamics, for example, is not usually available to graduates as a professional-development option. That universit
4、ies should not teach practical skills such as the use of the milling machine, lathe, metal casting and so forth, because these are somehow a lower kind of knowledge, unworthy of engineers. Students who want to learn about such things should go to TAFE (technical college). That graduates will learn a
5、bout practical matters very quickly when they begin to work in industry (this is called the “steep learning curve”), and will synthesise knowledge for themselves from remembered engineering-science and new practical experience. When a young colleague visits the university after working for some year
6、s, he or she appears as a new kind of creature: no longer a student, but an engineer. So there must be at least some truth in the “they will learn in industry” view. What of graduate competence? Even the way to measure this is controversial. If we say that graduates are to be judged on their demonst
7、rated knowledge of what was taught in the degree program, we reinforce the idea that the teaching was correct and sufficient. But if we judge graduates by the standards of industry, the results are unfortunately rather distressing. Our graduates are quite good at modelling and analysis, provided the
8、 problems are framed in the right way, but could be stronger in the areas of project management, design, teamwork, written communication - the skills most valued by industry 3. Right now, in Western Australia at least, we are blessed with a “resources boom”, meaning that the mining industry is profi
9、table and growing. As a result students from high school are interested in engineering and we have good enrolments in our programs. However we know this is an anomaly on a world scale. In many parts of the world, enrolments are down and it is not clear why. If we may venture a theory, we think it is
10、 because engineering degrees are known to be “hard” and students would prefer an easier time. But if our degrees were known as “hard” but “great fun, interesting” perhaps that would make the crucial difference. We want the best students from high school, and we want them to work hard - so perhaps we
11、 have to convince them that engineering is not boring. 2. THE WARMAN STUDENT DESIGN It is competitive and students can see what their peers are doing, to some extent at least; It is practical and physical, requiring hands-on construction; Record-keeping and report-writing are made part of the task;
12、The task has more than one obvious solution strategy; A good score can be obtained without necessarily solving the whole task; Resources are adequate to solve the problem, with some lateral thinking; and Teamwork is encouraged. The outcome for students is, in our experience, Unprecedented excitement
13、 and interest. Students simply love the opportunity to try their engineering “muscles” on the task. It is for many the first time they have had the chance to do a challenging project of this type. Encounters - again, often for the first time - with the problems of getting a machine to work, and work
14、 reliably. There is no standard solution to the task - something has to be invented and prototyped. What materials are cheap and how can they be shaped? What kind of motors and control can be implemented, and how, in detail? New understanding of teamwork processes: how to have ideas and criticise th
15、e ideas of others, without causing offence; how to negotiate with others to divide labour. New understanding of project management issues: how to plan work where the milestones are possibly unclear; how to judge the value of a given branch of a complex space of design decisions, before investing tim
16、e and resources; the place of engineering modelling in design decision making. New understanding of the importance of visual communication: sketching as a form of rapid prototyping, as a way to quickly explore design issues and solutions; and the importance of clarity and adherence to drawing conven
17、tions, when explaining ones ideas to others. Those of us who run such design competitions and exercises know very well how the enthusiasm of students can drive learning and quite amazing achievement. Students will work late into the night to make just a little more progress toward their goal - volun
18、tarily and with good humour. Lifelong friendships are formed. Students demand to be taught about technical matters needed for their design, for example how to implement a microprocessor based solution, with feedback control. It is a very different situation from the usual academic classes, in Austra
19、lia at least, in which students are driven rather unwillingly through a set of exercises chosen by staff. 5. STUDENT REFLECTIONS ON THE COMPETITION Each year we ask students who have just finished the competition work, and have submitted their final report, to reflect on the experience. We ask them
20、to write some advice for students in the following year. Here are examples of such advice from the 2007 class: Group 1 Group 2 Dont use LEGO(TM) because you wont learn anything. Seriously you need to experience the pain of everything breaking. Physics dumpster is a gold mine. KISS - keep it simple s
21、tupid Get an AVR and someone who knows C. Sparky + Comp. Sci. mates are awesome. Dont go in a group with your friends because you cant tell them to work harder when they slack off Do CAD of Warman for 3D rendering, you will get good marks If you get stuck ask Nathan Ask places for offcuts = FREEBIES
22、 Dont worry, everything made of MDF + ply is rubbish Dont worry, no second-years can build as well as they think they can. Get AVR from ATMEL or eBay Ask previous Warman groups for free stuff Your worst two runs will be your assessed ones Learn HEX, it is awesome Learn C, same deal Learn circuitry,
23、same deal Dont sleep on the Warman table Use simple stuff for electrics e.g. timing, counting, on/off etc. Yes, the Warman contest is our massive disappointment Fixed axle simplifies things a lot compared to an independent motor drive on each side of a little car There is a mechanical way to do ever
24、ything you are currently doing electronically. Consider it! Plan to meet every criterion for score multiplication before considering the additive factors. I.e. meet battery conditions first before worrying about ball deployment issues Local supply company A know less than you think. And local compan
25、y B know only a little more than A. Company C are your friend. Think outside the box e.g. drink coasters might make good wheels. Beware of investing time and money in applications of products you are unsure about e.g. doormats dont make good tracks. Start early and still expect to use all the time a
26、vailable in the final week. Choose your group carefully. A few members doing nothing will make a huge difference to your workload. Start visual diary early. TABLE 1 Selected student advice about the Warman Competition to next years cohort. This reflective exercise was not assessed. Students were tol
27、d that their comments would be passed anonymously to the next years students via the web site, so they were free to say whatever they wished. The advice is mainly about where to cheaply acquire parts for small robotic vehicles, and about favoured construction methods. But there is also advice about
28、design reasoning and group management, for example “write your report as you go” or “dont build the first thing you think of”. Very often students completing the Warman project ask if there are similar competitions in later years and we must explain that, no, there are not (at least not yet!). There
29、 is no higher praise for teaching than to be asked for “more please”. When asked about the best part of their university experience, nearly all our graduates mention the Warman project with fondness. 6. OTHER PROJECT WORK WITHIN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DEGREES There is essentially no practical constr
30、uction work in the first year. In the second year, mechanical engineering students do the Warman Competition. In the third year there are two substantial projects but these are training for the final year project. Thus the form of the work depends entirely on the supervisor. Many of these projects a
31、re research by literature only and contain minimal design-build-test work. Some staff do however require design and construction work. Our current degrees are defined by a series of “units” or classes which students take, and which have little intrinsic relationship to one another. To pass the first
32、 year, for example, students must take the usual mathematics, physics, engineering dynamics, statics and so on. These are of course all tremendously valuable - but are disconnected and not enriched by project work. Students who are mature enough to see that the teaching is leading somewhere can disc
33、ipline themselves to do the assignments; but many become discouraged because the work is hard and lacks context. In summary, our mechanical engineering degrees are not devoid of meaningful design experiences but there is certainly a bias towards analysis, leading to graduates who are perhaps not as
34、well prepared for professional life as they could be. 7. MORE PLEASE: INTRODUCING PBL TO TRADITIONAL DEGREE PROGRAMS We have been reading with considerable interest of the PBL approach of Aalborg, Queens, U. Colorado, U. Queensland and others. Each of these institutions has implemented PBL in a slig
35、htly different way, with different emphasis. Our preferred model is that of Prof. Ian Cameron of U. Queensland Chemical Engineering. Students in Chem. Eng. at U. Queensland are given a series of projects of increasing difficulty, linked to work at industrial sites where possible. Lecture series are
36、still given but as far as possible the lecturers are involved in the project teams, and the lecture material is made to serve the needs of students as they solve the projects. Naturally there are also lecture series that are not so relevant but which must still be given - but at least this is the ex
37、ception rather than the rule. We have a “traditional” degree program but we wish to gradually move to a “PBL” approach. This is not an easy matter because of the ingrained attitude and curriculum now in place. Staff resent interference in their teaching and fiercely defend their right to pass on eng
38、ineering-science knowledge in the traditional way. If any attempt is made to reduce lectures and introduce projects, the immediate assumption of most academics is that this will lead to a reduction in understanding of their subject area. We are encouraged by studies such as 1 which showed that this
39、need not be the case, but such studies seem to be convince only to those staff already “converted” to PBL. Our strategy for introducing PBL, then, may be described as “gradual subversion”: 1. Create workshops and design studios that are “owned” by students (we call these “Integrated Learning Centres
40、”, a name shamelessly stolen from Queens University). The students will be those taking certain units which have strong project content. As an example, one-half of the units in the first semester of second year mechanical engineering are already project-based, so the students taking these units can
41、be put into an ILC for that semester. 2. Set up projects which take advantage of the facilities; 3. Invite our industry partners to send staff to the ILC to give lectures, workshops and advice; Send our students to our industry partners for OH Students, staff and industry representatives will work t
42、ogether; Students and staff from all Schools in the Faculty will work together; Design and prototyping facilities will be physically close. In the first semester each year we will give the facility to students doing the Warman project in Engineering Design and Visual Communication MECH2401, and a re
43、lated unit Manufacturing MECH2402. In the second semester it is hoped that a Civil Engineering construction unit and two Electrical Engineering units will be resident. The MILC is an important development within our Faculty and University. If it is declared a success, as we hope it will be, then pro
44、posals for similar facilities for more students will be well regarded. Ultimately we would like all undergraduates in the Faculty, from first year to final year, to have access to resources and space of their own to pursue advanced projects. At the very least this will make our students feel welcome
45、 on campus and will make the learning environment more like a professional workplace. Of course we hope for much more than that. 9. CONCLUSION The Warman Student Design & Build Competition has been presented as a model for industry involvement in a traditional engineering degree program. Design comp
46、etitions are tremendously valuable student experiences and can form a framework for a great deal of professional development as well as engineering science learning. The national finals of the competition enhance student excitement about the project. The obvious value of the Warman Competition and o
47、ther project work already in our degree programs has led us to seek to introduce more project work, and to improve the relevance of lecture series and engineering-science teaching. To produce gradual change and the introduction of more project work we are creating new learning spaces called Integrat
48、ed Learning Centres. Industry is donating not only money to build these centres but also staff time to assist with teaching in them. We hope to visit future conferences with news of these exciting developments. 10. REFERENCES 1 Kjaersdam F, Industrial relations in engineering education, 8thUICEE ann
49、ual conference on engineering education, Kingston, Jamaica, 7-11 Feb 2005, pp 47-50 2 Smith W, Weir-Warman and Engineers Australia Design & Build Competition - 2008 Project “READY” Responsible Aid for Disaster, Year-round, http:/www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/acme/studentactivities/warman/index.html 3 Institution of Engineers Australia, Changing the culture: engineering education into the future, Report of the review of engineering education, 1996 4 Grundfos Challenge Web Site: http:/
