Other Engineering Commons^™

Arise (Certcoin)- Inspiring Demand For Sustainable Energy Skills, Barry Mcauley, Paul Mccormack, Andrew Hamilton, Eduardo Rebelo

Conference papers

The European AEC Sector now faces impending challenges over the next decade concerning escalating climate targets. To reach these targets, it vital that the green economy deliver a better-skilled workforce and develops new competencies and methods of working. Training in the domain of digital construction technologies and processes, such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), are now seen as essential upskilling vehicles that must be embraced if the sector is to transition towards a greener agenda. To assist in meeting these training needs a selection of partners from the BIM EPA will partake in the Horizon 2020 ARISE project, aiming to …

Improving The Sustainability Of The Built Environment By Training Its Workforce In More Efficient And Greener Ways Of Designing And Constructing Through The Horizon2020 Bimcert Project, Barry Mcauley, Avril Behan

Conference papers

The construction industry consumes up to 50% of mineral resources excavated from nature, generates about 33% of CO2 present in the atmosphere and is responsible for 40% of total global energy through both construction and operation of buildings. The realisation that current pervasive construction practices now face globalization, sustainability, and environmental concerns, as well as ever-changing legislation requirements and new skills needed for the information age has resulted in technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) becoming a key enabler in navigating these barriers. To assist in overcoming these barriers, a number of funding initiatives have been put in place …

Bim In Ireland 2019: A Study Of Bim Maturity And Diffusion In Ireland, Barry Mcauley, Alan Hore, Roger West

Conference papers

In 2017, the BIM Innovation Capability Programme team applied five macro BIM maturity conceptual models to capture the capability of the Irish construction industry and assess its BIM maturity. The results found that while Ireland is mature for modelling processes, it is less developed with regards to collaboration processes and policies. Ireland also ranked poorly when it came to regulatory frameworks, measurements and benchmarks compared to a number of countries which also applied the same conceptual models. At the time, the findings highlighted that Ireland’s diffusion dynamic was middle out, meaning that larger organisations or industry associations were pushing the …

Delivering Energy Savings For The Supply Chain Through Building Information Modelling As A Result Of The Horizon 2020 Energy Bimcert Project, Barry Mcauley, Avril Behan

Conference papers

The global buildings sector is now responsible for 40% of final energy consumption as well as accounting for 33% of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. This has resulted in a growing urgency to address energy and emissions from buildings and construction, to meet restrictive 2020 targets as specified by the European Union (EU). To achieve these targets a number of funding initiatives have been put in place through Horizon 2020 with a focus on BIM, due to it having the potential to rapidly produce energy outputs that enable design teams to analyse and compare the most cost-effective, energy-efficient options. However, despite …

Linking Geospatial Engineering Into Collaborative Multidisciplinary Bim Projects - An Educational Perspective, Avril Behan, Helen Murray, Jonathan Argue, Ronan Hogan, Audrey Martin, Pat O'Sullivan, Robert Moore, Malachy Mathews

Conference papers

This paper describes the background to and execution of a postgraduate project undertaken by students on DIT's MSc in Geospatial Engineering (GeoEng) in support of a project on level 2 BIM being undertaken by students on the MSc in applied Building Information Modelling & Management (aBIMM) around the retrofit of and new build extension to the Grangegorman Clock Tower Building. In support of this requirement, an external and internal survey of the existing structure and its surrounding topography was required. The aBIMM students and staff acted as the Design Team who subcontracted the Geo Eng group who were organised into …

What Do We Know About Eesd And How Do We Know It?, Eddie Conlon, Iacovos Nicolaou, Brian Bowe

Conference papers

Huckle (2004) has argued that critical realism (CR) can provide a philosophical framework for higher education for sustainability. This paper reflects on the process of researching EESD in the Irish context and the usefulness of our approach which used mixed methods and drew on CR as its guiding philosophy. We will argue that aspects of the CR approach: its emphasis on a depth ontology, the search for causal mechanisms, its model of agency/structure relations and its emphasis on the combination of extensive and intensive methods provide tools for exploring EESD as a system. CR requires us to focus on “deeper …

Cultural Change Through Bim: Driving Lean Transformation In Education, Avril Behan, Malachy Mathews, Kevin Furlong, Ciara Ahern, Una Beagon, Peter Brennan, Colin Conway, Lee Corcoran, Pierce Fahy, Alan Hore, Barry Mcauley, Trevor Woods

Conference papers

This paper presents a case study of how the adoption of BIM-based practices in the AECO industry is being reflected by cultural change in higher education in Ireland. The silo-mentality that has dominated the AECO sector for more than a century has, despite numerous reorganisations, been replicated in the structures of educational institutions, including in Dublin Institute of Technology since the inception of its founding colleges in the late 1800s. Most AECO programmes must include content that is external to the programme’s specific discipline. Through the School structures of the Institute, delivery of such content is known as "service teaching" …

What Role Does Mathematical Preparedness Play For Engineering Students Who Transfer From And Ordinary Degree Into An Honours Degree?, Michael Carr, Marisa Llorens, Susan O'Shaughnessy, Anne Marie Mccarrick, Domhnall Sheridan

Conference papers

Students who have not achieved a high level of mathematics at secondary school but have a pass in ordinary level mathematics have the option of entering onto a 3-year Ordinary degree (Level 7). Upon successful completion of this award students may apply to progress to the third year of the Honours degree. Up until relatively recently an upper merit (60%) was the minimum required to make this transition. In recent years this requirement has been reduced with many students with lower marks being offered the possibility of transferring.

Relatively little work has been done on the transition from an Ordinary …

The Integration Of Sustainable Development Competencies In Irish Engineering Education: Findings Of A Curriculum Content Investigation Of Four Engineering Programmes, Iacovos Nicolaou, Eddie Conlon

Conference papers

This paper presents the initial findings of an investigation of the Sustainable Development (SD) content in five professional engineering degree programmes in a large Irish Institute of Technology.

A comprehensive investigation of the modules content was conducted to see to what extent the learning outcomes for SD as set out in the Barcelona Declaration and SD competencies were covered by the modules. It was found that 40% of the 137 modules included SD learning outcomes and/or addressed SD competencies. The modules have a focus on environmental issues and tend to address only one of the three dimensions, environmental, social and …

Should Electrical Apprentices Study More Mathematics, David Lalor

Conference papers

The Department of Electrical Services Engineering, formerly known as the Installation Department, Kevin St., train Electrical Apprentices to become Qualified Electricians, has recently started to award Degrees in Electrical Services Engineering which includes the built environment. These students come from CAO applicants and from phase 6 students who have passed through the school. It is a popular and well subscribed course. I am involved in teach Phase 4 and 6. To progress to phase 6, phase 4 students must pass four examinations of which Electric Science is by all accounts the most difficult. To qualify as Electricians phase 6 also …

The Measurement Of Success In External Engagement Activities, Mike Murphy

Conference papers

Our ambition is to identify, through the presentations and the discussion, a number of key insights and necessary actions for development of more and deeper partnerships between Higher Education Institutions and Employers.

Concurrent Masters Degrees Across The Atlantic: Innovations, Issues And Insights, Michael Dyrenfurth, Mike Murphy, Gary Bertoline, Robert Herrick, Kathryne Newton, Gareth O'Donnell, Donal Mchale, Nuria Castell, Miquel Barcelo, Didac Balas, Maria Ribera Sancho, Jordi Garcia

Conference papers

Atransatlantic degree consortium to implement a four-semester dual masters degree initiative across a three-institution consortium consisting of Purdue University (USA), the Technological University Dublin (DIT), and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain) is presented in this paper.

A Doctoral Thesis Examining Change In A Hei In Ireland: Changing Universities And The Response Of Academics To Change In The Dublin Institute Of Technology, Kevin Kelly

Books/Book chapters

This is doctoral thesis undertaken by an experienced academic in the Engineering Faculty of a Higher Education Institute in Ireland. It examines the demand for universities to change in response to a fast changing external environment. This research explores how stakeholders are responding to the demands for change and how a bureaucratic organisation is attempting to become more responsive and innovative.

Assessing Third Mission Activities, Mike Murphy

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Universities Changing In Response To A Volatile Environment: A Case Study From Ireland, Kevin Kelly

Books/Book chapters

This paper is a short summary of a research thesis submitted for a doctoral degree in education in late 2008. The substantive issue investigated was the response of a large higher education institute (HEI) in Ireland, the Dublin Institute of Technology and hereafter referred to as the Institute, to the demands for change. The research was undertaken by an experienced academic from inside the organisation. What is happening in this institute may be significant to others because change in higher education is a key debate throughout the world at present. The research study shows that stakeholders in the Institute acknowledge …

An Integrated Approach To The Teaching Of Numerical Methods To Engineering Students, Garrett Keane, Michael Carr, Patrick Carroll

Conference papers

In Technological University Dublin, historically, numerical methods were taught to engineering students using a format of traditional mathematics lectures, to a large class group consisting of students from five different engineering disciplines, complemented by small class tutorials. Assessment was by a single, written exam only.

In order to improve the overall effectiveness of the students’ learning experience, it was deemed beneficial to also introduce practical computing classes in which the students would be required to apply the general mathematical methods covered in lectures to discipline-specific examples.

Three different practical computing assignments were devised for the students to undertake, and 20% …

Detect: Developing Sustainable Pathways Towards Innovative, Sustainable Collaboration Between Four Engineering, Design And Technology Education Institutions, Michael Dyrenfurth, Mike Murphy, Donal Mchale, Richard Hayes, Robert Herrick, Dhushy Sathianathan, Heinz Schmidt-Walter, Eugene Coyle, Robert Simpson

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Recruitment And Retention: The Role Of The Public Image Of Engineering, Eddie Conlon

Conference papers

This paper presents findings of three surveys conducted with first year students in the Faculty of Engineering in the Dublin Institute of Technology. It focuses on their motivation for studying engineering and the people who influenced the decision to do engineering. It shows there are gaps in the students’ knowledge of their programmes and also between their expectations and their experience of their course. Some proposed areas of action are identified to increase both recruitment and retention. It is argued that projecting an image of engineering as a creative activity would help in addressing recruitment and retention issues.

Reinventing A Level 7 Programme In Electrical Engineering And Greatly Improving On Student Retention, Eugene Coyle, Mike Murphy, Frank Costello, Leslie Shoemaker

Books/Book chapters

Following the successful implementation over a number of decades of a three-year Diploma in Electrical and Control Engineering at Technological University Dublin, the programme entered a period of extreme difficulty and uncertainty in the late nineteen ninetees and early years of the new millennium. As with many such engineering programmes, student numbers seeking to enter began to diminish. Furthermore, engagement and retention of students who had enrolled on the programme became evermore challenging, necessitating some radical moves in the formation and operation of the programme and in putting additional student support mechanisms in place. The situation hit rock bottom between …

Enhancing Educational Programmes For Geomatics In Ireland, Frank Prendergast, William Prendergast, Avril Behan, Helen Murray

Conference Papers

The growing spatial information needs of society, the rapid development of new surveying technologies, and the global demand for appropriately qualified surveyors, have triggered a radical re-evaluation of Geomatics education in Europe. Although significant enhancements to DIT’s educational programmes have been made during the last decade, the provision of new opportunities for learners and innovative changes to existing paradigms of training and education are required. This paper addresses some of the issues confronting educators in DIT, and presents some of the strategies for their enhancement and implementation.

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 …

Women, Engineering And Research: Providing Choice And Balance, Cecilia Chan, Mike Murphy

Conference papers

“Research cannot reach its full potential when half the population is excluded from its activities”1. Women researchers in engineering remain a minority in both Higher Education and industry in Ireland. Recent statistics of women graduating in science and engineering indicated an increase (a slow increase) but the numbers moving through to completion of PhD and careers in academia or industry remain quite low. Statistics on women in professorial and senior positions within the engineering sector also remains low. The educated workforce produced in Ireland by its education system is acknowledged as a key factor in attracting international investment to the …

Recruiting First Year Engineering Undergraduates, Eddie Conlon

Conference papers

This paper presents findings of three surveys conducted with first year students in the Faculty of Engineering in the Dublin Institute of Technology. It presents evidence on the reasons students study engineering, their sources of information on higher education programmes and the people who influence their decision to do engineering. It shows there are gaps in the students’ knowledge of their programmes and also between their expectations and their experience of their course. Some proposed areas of action are identified to increase both recruitment and retention. It is argued that projecting an image of engineering as a creative activity would …