Professional Documents
Culture Documents
3,September2014
doi:10.14355/jitae.2014.0303.04
EffectiveIncorporationofElearningFeatures
inaFoundationEngineeringCourse
DiptiSrinivasan
DepartmentofElectrical&ComputerEngineering,NationalUniversityofSingapore,4EngineeringDrive3,
Singapore117583
dipti@nus.edu.sg
Received11May2014;Accepted3July2014;Published28July2014
2014ScienceandEngineeringPublishingCompany
Abstract
apply their knowledge to new contexts and practical
problems.Thefirstyearofthecurriculumemphasizes
Conductingafoundationleveluniversityengineeringcourse
developing a strong foundation in mathematics,
poses several challenges due to large enrolments and
physical science as well as, introduction to various
varyingbackgroundofstudents.Classesaretypicallylarge,
and conducted in lecture theatres thus limiting the amount
engineering disciplines, while in the remaining three
of interaction and discussion among the students and with
years,studentsfocusonthesubjectsthatformthecore
the lecturer, and lack of flexibility in class activities. This
of their engineering program and complete a senior
paper presents an elearning approach that was
designprojectaspartofthegraduationrequirements.
implemented in teaching a first year electrical engineering
First year engineering courses are therefore crucial as
course with an average class size of 450, and incorporated
thisiswhereastudentgetshisfirsttasteofthesubject
extensiveuseofwebbasedactivities,videosandanimations
and
decides whether or not to pursue a bachelors
for explaining fundamental principles using examples,
degreeinthatfieldofengineering.
scenarios and practical applications that students could
relate to. These components complemented the regular
lectures and tutorials, and enabled the students more
flexibilityinlearningandunderstandingthetopicscovered.
Student feedback data obtained over eight consecutive
semesters showed that students found the overall learning
process to be more effective and enjoyable, and displayed
better understanding of course content as demonstrated
throughvariousassessmenttasks.
Keywords
Elearning;LargeClasses;FoundationCourses
Introduction
The primary focus of engineering education has
shiftedfromjustimpartingengineeringknowledgeto
students in the past, to institutionalizing a coherent
mechanism for providing a broad understanding of
various technologies, creation of new technologies,
andnurturingtheabilitytoapplythemforthebenefit
ofhumankind.
Engineering educators strive to build a sound
foundation in engineering fundamentals, cultivate
critical thinking, and develop strong problem solving
skills among their students so that the students can
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Therestofthepaperisorganizedasfollows.Thenext
Section presents the details about the course used for
this case study, after which the various elearning
featuresandexamplesarepresented.Theevidenceof
effectivenessoftheseelearninginitiativesispresented
next, following which the main conclusions are
highlighted.
Course Objectives and Description
The course selected for this case study is a first year
course which aims to introduce basic concepts in
electrical and computer engineering in an integrated
manner, and motivate their understanding in the
context of practical engineering applications. It covers
the basic understanding of various electrical
engineering areas that address the hightechnology
needs of the modern society and include analog and
digital circuits, power electronics, control systems,
circuit theory, computer architecture, and electrical
energy conversion devices. The topics covered are:
Kirchhoffs Current and Voltage Laws, Ohms law,
idealandrealsources,accircuits,power,powerfactor,
resonance, energy storage elements: capacitors and
inductors, introduction to circuit concepts including
diodes, operational amplifiers, transformers, dc
machines and logic gates using applications. It is
hopedthatanoverviewofthismajorwouldintroduce
the students to the exciting world of electrical
engineering that offers exciting careers within the
varied electrical engineering and allied disciplines.
Since the ability to design is an essential part of
electrical engineering, students are presented with
challengingandinterestingdesignproblemsaspartof
thecourse.Laboratoryexperimentsareanintegralpart
of this course, and provide handson experience to
strengthenstudentsappliedknowledge.
Thispaperillustrateshowseveralelearningfeatures
were effectively incorporated in teaching an electrical
engineering foundation course that all freshmen
engineeringstudentsareexpectedtotakeintheirfirst
semester of study. The cohort typically comprises
studentswithdiversebackgroundsfromseveralAsian
countries. This course introduces basic concepts in
electrical and computer engineering in an integrated
manner, and motivates the understanding of these
concepts in the context of practical engineering
applications.Thebasicunderstandingachievedinthis
course forms the foundation for subsequent study in
electrical engineering. The course content was
designed such that new material was integrated with
students prior academic experiences to make the
overall curriculum more comprehensive and less
fragmented. Many elearning features such as videos
andanimationsforexplainingimportantconceptsand
principles, as well as, webbased tutorials, examples,
scenariosandpracticalapplicationswereincorporated
so that students had ample opportunities to learn at
theirownpace.Thislearnercenteredapproachhelped
the lecturers share useful resources, and encouraged
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instructionalmaterialincludinglecturenotes,tutorials,
webbased assessments, animations and interactive
tutorials.Theassignmentsandtutorialsincludeamix
of problems: routine problems to build the students
confidence; and difficult problems to challenge even
the brightest. Though some students would rather
plug numbers into formulas or follow procedures by
rote,thetutorialproblemsweredesignedtoencourage
themtothinkforthemselves.
averageclasssizeis450.
Thecourseoutcomesforthiscourseareasfollows.At
theendofthiscoursestudentsshould
a) beabletosolveACandDCcircuitsinsteadystate
usingKirchoffslaws.
b) be able to generate Thevenin and Norton
equivalentcircuitsforindependentanddependent
sources.
c)
Inteachingthiscourse,themaingoalistoenablethe
students to develop a conceptual intuition. The
students are encouraged to interpret new equations
not as blackbox formulas into which one plugs data
and from which the answer appears. An attempt is
made to present mathematical equations as a formal
wayofquantifyingtherelationshipsbetweenphysical
properties, which helps them internalize the
information.Effortsaremadetoachieveanconceptual
intuition by starting with a simple system and
working towards the more complex one. Thus, by
starting with a concept that is already intuitive, more
complex pieces are introduced, while staying focused
onthefundamentalpremise.
d) beabletoanalyseACcircuitsinsteadystateusing
complex phasors, and understand and
demonstrate the concept of average, root mean
squarevalue,peakvalueinACcircuits
e) beabletounderstandtheworkingoftransformers
andcoupledinductorsanduseequivalentcircuits
forACcircuitanalysis.
f)
understandthebasiccharacteristicsofdiodesand
theiruseinrectifiercircuits.
E-Learning Portal
Since this course involves a rather large number of
diverse topics to be covered in a limited number of
contacthours,itmakesextensiveuseoftechnologyto
introduceandreinforceconcepts,teachanalyticaltools,
and show their practical applications. A set of
interactive computerbased courseware has been
implementedtoenhancethelearningenvironmentfor
students exploring electrical engineering. The
objectiveistofacilitatelearningbyengagingstudents
in course material through standalone learning
modules emphasizing basic conceptswith the help of
animations, and to promote the development of self
efficacy among the students through the use of web
basedtutorialsdesignedtoenablestudentstolearnin
a flexible, interactive manner. The courseware has
been designed to manage course information in a
structured and efficient manner, and provides the
benefits of centrallyaccessible resources and shared
information for class management. The webcast of
lectures is available so that students can view it to
revise the topics covered. For enhancing the learning
environment, selfpaced learning units have been
developed for foundation topics for the benefit of
students coming from diverse backgrounds and to
accommodatetheirdiverselearningstyles.
Thesubjectisdealtwithinatheoreticalandanalytical
manner, yet ties in with many of the more practical
applicationsthatstudentsarefamiliarwithfromtheir
daily experiences. The continuous assessment tools
include two midterm tests and three laboratory
experimentswhichmakeup45%ofthefinalmarksfor
this course, while the final examination carries 55%
weightage.
This course is conducted over 13 teaching weeks that
provide 39 contact hours that include lectures and
tutorials. In addition, the students attend three
compulsory lab sessions to reinforce the concepts
learnt and gain relevant handson experience.
Additional optional exercises have also been
developed for students who wish to engage in self
explorationontopicsrelatedtotheseexperiments.The
eportal created for this course contains all
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Prerequisites:Thispartexplainsrequirementsneeded
beforestartingthetopic,andincludesnecessaryprior
knowledgeandspecificskills.
Unit Structure: This outlines the main components
andsubtopicsand/orphasesoftheunit.Theintentof
thissectionistoexplainhowtheunitisorganizedand
whatsubtopicsareincluded.
Learningmodes:Thevariouslearningmodesforeach
unit, such as, the available videos, animations for
learning concepts, selfassessments, selflearning
tutorials, etc are indicated, so that the student can
selectthedesiredoption.
Class Schedule: This part includes the schedule of
lectures,tutorials,andlabsforeachtopic.
The elearning portal allows the students to
understanddifficultconceptsthroughanimationsand
explanations. Animations are used in many ways for
illustratingbasicconceptsandtomakethecourseware
comealive.Themainobjectiveistominimizethetime
takentolearnandtomaximizethelearningexperience.
Numerousthreedimensionalanimationsillustratethe
concepts in electrical systems, such as filter circuits
and resonance, basic concepts in magnetics,
transformers, motors, and operation of largescale
electrical energy systems, and have been successfully
employed during lectures. Some of the files are also
availableonthewebtoallowthestudentstoviewthe
animations on an individual basis. These efforts have
considerably enriched the understanding of some
basicelectricalengineeringtopicsbythestudents.
Example1:ElectricalEngineeringSystemsina
ModernAutomobile
Manyoftheseeminglydifferentelectricalengineering
systemscanbefoundinaverycommonapplication
the automobile. To show the relevance of various
topics covered in the course to real life applications,
such simple every day examples are used (Fig. 1). A
modern car typically has an electric power system,
several electric machines (generator and motors),
sophisticatedcomputersystems,manycontrolsystems,
thousands of electronic components, and several
measurement and instrumentation systems, all the
topics that are briefly covered in this course. The
studentscanclickonaboxinthepicturetolearnmore
about the electrical engineering system that he/she is
Achallengeinteachingthiscoursehasbeenthewide
range of topics thatare covered.Although explaining
network theorems is rather straight forward, and is
made easier with the help of excellent textbooks
availableonthesetopics,someoftheothertopicspose
specificchallenges.Inordertohelpstudentsdevelopa
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interestedtolearnmoreabout.
FIG1:ELECTRICALENGINEERINGSYSTEMSINAMODERN
AUTOMOBILE
Example2:TransformersandTheirApplications
To illustrate the operation and functioning of a
transformer, its application in electrical energy
distributionsystemsisused,andfromthisapplication
example, the functions and connectedness of various
components in the process are discussed. AC
electricity is generated in power stations at medium
voltage levels (i.e., something like 11kV), and is
consumed by the domestic user at anRMS voltage of
220V (in Singapore). The electricity generated at the
powerstationisfedintoastepuptransformerwhich
boosts its peak voltage from afewkilo volts to many
tens of kilovolts. The output from the stepup
transformerisfedintoahightensiontransmissionline,
which typically transports the electricity over many
tensofkilometers,and,oncetheelectricityhasreached
its point of consumption, it is fed through a series of
stepdown transformers until, by the time it emerges
fromadomesticplug,itsRMSvoltageisonly220V.In
the elearning portal, this process is first presented
using the actual system, and then a simplified block
diagram as shown in Fig. 2. Upon clicking on the
transformericon,thestudentcanthenlearnaboutthe
transformer.
FIG.3:TRANSFORMERAPPLICATIONFORIMPEDANCE
MATCHING
FIG.4TRANSFORMERCALCULATIONS
Example3:SensorsandInstrumentationSystems
For the learning unit on sensors, and instrumentation
and measurement systems, applications in various
engineeringfieldsarepresented.Thistopicalsocovers
operational amplifiers, and some basic types of
instrumentationsystemswhichareextensivelyusedin
all fields of engineering. The students are first
provided an overview of the application of these
systems in various engineering applications, and are
then given concrete examples of how the sensors and
instrumentation systems work in these applications.
By using such realworld examples, and illustrating
the fundamental concepts via simple building blocks,
the lecturer is able to simplify the concepts and
present them in a short period of time. Use of
animationsfurtherallowsexplainingtheconceptsina
FIG.2:TRANSFORMERSRAISE/LOWERVOLTAGESIN
ELECTRICALENERGYDISTRIBUTION
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veryefficientmanner.
Anexampleofhowelearningportalcaneffectivelybe
used to present this large number of topics is
presented below. To illustrate the workings of a
differential amplifier, commonly applications in the
medical field are used. An example is
electrocardiographic (ECG) recording system, where
thedifferentialsignalgeneratedbythepatientsheart
appearsbetweentheelectrodes.Thestudentisshown
howthistinysignalisamplified,eventhoughalarge
60Hzcommonmodesignalispresentedbetweenthe
electrodes and the ground point of power supply,
whichneedstobesuppressed(Fig.5).
FIG.6STRAINGUAGEANDWHEATSTONEBRIDGECIRCUIT
Example4:DCMotors
The elearning portal has been designed to cover all
the topics taught in this course. Use of flash
animations and other multimedia techniques allows
understandingonconceptsinanefficientmanner,for
example where concepts from other courses form the
foundation for more advanced topics covered in this
course.Forexample,thestudentscanuseanimations
to understand the concepts from physics to
understandthebasicoperationofaDCmotor.Inthis
topic, several animations have been developed to
illustrate the concepts such as efficiency and power
lowinamotor,torquespeedrelationshipsforvarious
types of motors, and speed control of motors. Users
areabletochangethevaluesofresistancestoobserve
theireffectonthespeedofthemotor(Fig.7).
FIG.5APPLICATIONOFDIFFERENTIALAMPLIFIERIN
INSTRUMENTATIONSYSTEMS
FIG.7SPEEDCONTROLOFDCMOTORS
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Theelearningfeatureshavebeenextremelyusefulin
teaching this large number of topics in a few hours,
employinginnovativewaystopresentthematerialin
the limited time, and making it interesting and
meaningfulforthestudents.Tothisend,anefforthas
beenmadetobalancetheoryandpracticeandusereal
world examples that students can relate to. This is
donebyconnectingtheclassroomtostudentsreallife
experiences, by creating a context of engagement and
participation.
Conclusions
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feedbackdatashowedthatstudentsfoundtheoverall
learning process to be more effective and enjoyable,
and displayed betterunderstanding of course content
asdemonstratedthroughvariousassessmenttasks.
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