The Virtual Design Workshop - An Online Adaptive Resource for Teaching Design in Engineering

Alexandra Vassar, B. Gangadhara Prusty, Nadine Marcus, Robin Ford

2014

Abstract

Design education aims to develop in students the confidence to apply engineering fundamentals to the design of products and systems. This can only be achieved through intensive education and exposure to real-life engineering problems. One of the pressing issues in teaching engineering design is the resources- and labour-intensive nature of the subject. In practice, when developing a design, engineers are dependent on the situation at hand, so goals, problems and constraints are often ill defined and may change as the problem continues to unfold, providing no single ideal solution. Assumptions and estimations are required before each analysis step, and the results need to be evaluated against the desired functional output. Often, many analysis iterations are needed before a suitable solution is found. When teaching, providing the same scenario requires that tutorial guidance must adapt to the particular solution of each individual student. Conventional online tutorials help to combat some issues, but they are not able to track student progress in detail, nor are they able to provide customisable feedback for individual students. The aim of the research is to develop software tools that can address key problems in engineering design education and provide students with a more effective and enriching educational experience. This paper discusses a response to the issues in design education in engineering, in the form of adaptive tutorials, and puts forward the preliminary analysis of their success in helping students overcome the limitations of current design education.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Vassar A., Prusty B., Marcus N. and Ford R. (2014). The Virtual Design Workshop - An Online Adaptive Resource for Teaching Design in Engineering . In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 1: CSEDU, ISBN 978-989-758-020-8, pages 452-458. DOI: 10.5220/0004945204520458

in Bibtex Style

@conference{csedu14,
author={Alexandra Vassar and B. Gangadhara Prusty and Nadine Marcus and Robin Ford},
title={The Virtual Design Workshop - An Online Adaptive Resource for Teaching Design in Engineering},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 1: CSEDU,},
year={2014},
pages={452-458},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0004945204520458},
isbn={978-989-758-020-8},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 1: CSEDU,
TI - The Virtual Design Workshop - An Online Adaptive Resource for Teaching Design in Engineering
SN - 978-989-758-020-8
AU - Vassar A.
AU - Prusty B.
AU - Marcus N.
AU - Ford R.
PY - 2014
SP - 452
EP - 458
DO - 10.5220/0004945204520458