Engineering Commons^™

Transforming Curriculums For An Age Of Multi-Modal Education: A 5-Phase Approach, Justine I. Blanford, Jeroen Verplanke

Practice Papers

The pandemic has accelerated the trend towards online and hybrid learning with many educational institutes pivoting their education to online learning environments and has subsequently transformed societal expectations. There have been many benefits associated with these changes (e.g., multi-dimensional interactions, flexibility and deep learning). As we move into more online education due to changing needs and demands from students, how best to adapt our education for multi-modal learning environments can be a challenge. Getting our education ready for a multi-modal age is bringing about disruptive changes forcing us to rethink what we teach and how we teach it. Thus, the …

A Framework For Teaching Machine Learning For Engineers, Lauren Singelmann, Jacob Covarrubias

Practice Papers

As machine learning and artificial intelligence become increasingly prevalent in our day-to-day lives, there becomes an even greater need for literacy in machine learning for those outside of the computer science domain. This work proposes a conceptual framework for teaching machine learning to engineering students with the goal of developing the knowledge and skills needed to apply machine learning techniques to engineering problems.

Many machine learning courses in computer science, math, and statistics focus on the theoretical basis of machine learning algorithms and assessment. This framework takes a fundamentally different approach by creating a course structure for machine learning practitioners …

Amplifying New Voices And Making Space For Alternative Knowledge Systems In Engineering Curricula – The Example Of Ubuntu, Anita Occhio, Fiona Caroline Saunders, Gladson Chikwa, Dawn Theresa Nicholson

Practice Papers

Engineering projects are ubiquitous; from developing COVID-19 vaccines to building new cities and developing climate change solutions. An inclusive approach to teaching engineers how to master the complexities of engineering project management is vital to the deliverability of sustainability and net zero initiatives (Hockings 2010). Yet, our engineering curricula remain deeply rooted in Western epistemology (Winter et al. 2022, Mbembe 2015). Arguably, this is an opportune time to consider decolonising our curricula. At a fundamental level, ‘decolonising the curriculum’ means introducing previously ignored voices, images, authors, theories and arguments into our teaching (Rogers et al. 2022). This is a challenge …

Embedding Sustainability In The Engineering Curriculum: Meeting The Requirements Of Professional Accreditation, Darren Carthy, Richard Manton, Louise O' Gorman

Practice Papers

Professional accreditation agencies are increasing requirements on sustainability in engineering education as a response to ethical obligations, industry needs and emerging academic best practice. In 2021, Engineers Ireland increased sustainability requirements in new accreditation criteria. This paper reports on a thematic analysis carried out by Engineers Ireland on the self-assessment and achievement of these new accreditation criteria on sustainability. The analysis was conducted on the self-assessment reports from a large Irish University, referred to as University A hereafter. The results indicate that, for the purpose of meeting accreditation requirements, University A has interpreted sustainability in their programmes as either meeting …

Investigating K-12 Computing Education In Four African Countries (Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, And Uganda), Ethel Tshukudu, Sue Sentance, Oluwatoyin Adelakun-Adeyemo, Keith Quille, Ziling Zhong

Articles

As K-12 computing education becomes more established throughout the world, there is an increasing focus on accessibility for all, whether in a particular country or setting or in areas of the world that may not yet have computing established. This is primarily articulated as an equity issue. The recently developed capacity for, access to, participation in, and experience of computer science education (CAPE) Framework is one way of demonstrating stages and dependencies and understanding relative equity, taking into consideration the disparities between sub-populations. While there is existing research that covers the state of computing education and equity issues, it is …

Adapting The Surveying Curriculum To New Dimensions Of The Profession, Fahria Masum, Reinfried Mansberger, Audrey Martin, Gerhard Navratil, Anthony Mushinge

Articles

Today the surveying profession is very different from what it was twenty years ago. Recent technological innovations, globalization, and global land-related challenges have allowed a wide range of advances in the surveying profession. The vision is to promote surveying practices that can enhance the quality of services in a variety of tracks in the land profession. According to the new adjacent professional areas and the needs of the labor market, academic courses for surveyors have to be adapted to meet the broader scope of the surveying profession and to supply highly qualified land professionals. This paper outlines the new challenges …

How Are The Educational Institutes Of Ireland Embracing The Paradigm Shift Towards Bim?, Michael Mcdonald, Stephen Donohoe

Conference papers

Abstract ̶ The main objective of this paper is to evaluate how Building Information Modelling (BIM) is being implemented and embraced within Higher Education. The authors intend to examine the current delivery and aspirations of the sector.

As the Irish economy faces several more years of austerity, every opportunity must be seized to make design more efficient in Architecture, Engineering and Construction. Higher Educational Institutes must respond to ensure that graduates have the skill set to support this. This paper will examine how these institutions need to migrate away from the traditional iterative design approach/process to a more collaborative holistic …

Educating Engineers For The 21st. Century: And Why Some Elements Of History And Philosophy Should Be Incorporated Into The Curriculum, William Grimson, Mike Murphy, Eugene Coyle

Conference papers

It has been said that in some respects the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky was a magpie – borrowing styles and ideas from diverse sources for whatever musical project he was working on. The practice of engineering has this same characteristic in that it willingly takes ideas, knowledge and techniques from wherever in pursuit of completing its goal. Further, Engineering is, at least in part, in agreement with Fyodor Dostoevsky – ‘if everything on Earth were rational, nothing would happen’. Against such a background it is proposed that a framework based on both philosophy and the history of engineering, science and …

Learning Games Programming With Dalek World., Bryan Duggan, Hugh Mcatamney, Fredrick Mtenzi

Conference papers

From September 2005 the School of Computing in the DIT will offer an elective in computer games programming to final year computer science students. This paper demonstrates how students will learn games programming by developing a 3D FPS (First Person Shooter) called Dalek World. Dalek World is developed using Microsoft Visual Studio in C++ and was originally developed by the authors to learn games programming techniques themselves. In developing Dalek World, students will learn Euclidian geometry, 3D graphics programming, object orientated game design, level loading, physics, collision detection, the A* algorithm, perception and enemy AI using finite state machines.