Role of Engineering Projects in Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Curriculum in Open and Distance Learning S.A.M.A.N.S.

Senanayake, The Open University of Sri Lanka Abstract The present research was carried out to identify the problems associated with engineering projects in the curriculum of the mechanical engineering technology degree study programme offered using open and distance learning methodology. Twenty engineering projects completed by graduates of the Open University of Sri Lanka were selected for the study. The reasons for the study were the ambiguities with regard to learning outcomes, depth, subject coverage, supervision, assessment and evaluation of engineering projects in the mechanical engineering technology curriculum over the last few years. The main confusion was learning outcomes between the mechanical

engineering designs and the engineering projects. According to the study 77% of the projects had given emphasis to detail engineering design by disregarding other important aspects of engineering projects. Though a considerable number (66%) had correctly identified and included the problem statement in their project reports they failed to carry out and report proper need analysis and develop alternative conceptual solutions. As far as the level of detail designs of machines are concerned 44% of the projects recorded as high and 33% recorded as moderate. Most noteworthy finding was that none of the projects rated as high in using a holistic approach to solve the problem, and 33% recorded as moderate. This paper discusses the problems with regard to selection of proper engineering projects, learning outcomes, supervision and assessment and evaluation engineering projects in open and distance learning. Keywords: Open and Distance Learning, Mechanical Engineering projects Introduction Engineering involves professional activities which ultimate lead to the creation of physical artifacts for the benefit of mankind with the use of resources economically (Srinath, 2004). According to the UK standard for professional engineering competence (2008), the charted engineers are characterized by their ability to develop appropriate solutions to engineering problems, using new or existing technologies, through innovation, creativity and change. They might develop and apply new technologies, promote advanced designs and design methods, introduce new and more efficient
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production techniques, marketing and construction concepts, or pioneer new engineering services and management methods. It is therefore, necessary that

engineering curriculum is so designed that those who passed out from universities and other institutions are well oriented to engage in engineering professional activities that need holistic approach. In this regard the engineering projects play an important role in any engineering curriculum. The objectives of engineering projects are to give the student experience similar to that are encountered in the real world in providing engineering solutions to the problems. The learning outcomes of such projects include the identification of the problem, formulation of the problem by giving attention to engineering aspects of the whole project, conduct need analysis, and finally apply engineering knowledge, the student gained through their education as well as through individual experiences. The other important aspect in an engineering curriculum is the engineering design. In mechanical engineering context the engineering deign mostly refers to the machine design. By integrating design through the curriculum, students learn the practical applications of the material covered in the class (Joseph, 2001). They develop the ability to analyze a given problem and carry out detail design calculations by applying engineering principles they learned in the courses. Rationale for the present study It has been observed that there is confusion with regard to the content and expected learning outcomes of engineering projects as well as in differentiating learning outcomes of engineering projects as against engineering designs in the mechanical engineering curriculum of the engineering degree programme conducted by the Faculty of Engineering Technology of the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL). The students, and in some situations, the faculty members are in ambiguity in deciding what is to be done under engineering projects and to what extent, whereas engineering design is found to be very straightforward, in that students are given a task that can be dealt with standard engineering principles with standard design equations and procedures as outlined in engineering handbooks. It is often argued by some staff members that engineering projects undertaken by students lack detail engineering design content while other argue that engineering projects need to be carried out with a holistic approach rather than detailed design of a artifact in segregation. Engineering projects as a course in the engineering curriculum in the Open and Distance Learning (ODL)
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environment, as practiced by the OUSL gives additional problems due to the nature of the mode of course delivery. In conventional education, the student projects are subjected to thorough supervision and it is fairly simple for teachers to monitor the student progress. However, in the distance mode education, though the projects are equally important to inculcate the methodology of addressing real world challenges, the faculty members often find it difficult to guide the student and monitor the progress, because at the time of taking the projects towards the completion of the degree, many are employed and find little time to consult the supervisors. The Faculty of Engineering Technology of the OUSL with its long experience of over 20 years in conducting engineering diploma and degree study programmes through ODL methodology continuously faces difficulties in supervising and monitoring the engineering projects undertaken by undergraduates and finally ensuring the learning outcomes are sufficiently achieved . Further to this, determination of the academic level and the extent of subject coverage of the engineering projects while ensuring the uniformity among different projects had been a problem. The aim of this paper is to critically investigate the scope, level, relevance, supervision and evaluation of engineering projects in ODL curricula, by giving special attention to the engineering projects carried out by mechanical engineering students of the OUSL during the last few years. Methodology The engineering projects in mechanical engineering specialization of Bachelor of Technology (Engineering) study programme offered by undergraduates of the Faculty of Engineering Technology of the OUSL were scrutinized by referring to the final submissions. Further to this, extensive discussions were held with the mechanical engineering staff and the present students to establish the position of the present engineering projects with regard to the undocumented expected learning outcomes. Twenty engineering projects of the students who completed the degree were selected for the study. In respect of each project, it was recorded that whether the important steps expected from engineering projects, such as problem identification, need analysis, objectives, alternative solutions, evaluation of solutions, and economic analysis have been covered. Also, the extent of detail designs in the projects was rated as high, medium and low on subjective assessment.

Engineering curriculum for Open and Distance Learning There is no noteworthy difference in engineering curricula in ODL with those of conventional engineering education. However, there are and have to be changes in the mode of delivery and time span of acquiring knowledge and skills by the students. The OUSL engineering curriculum consists of a range of course categories offered at four academic levels aimed at developing student knowledge and skills in several areas as demanded by the real workplace environment. These include engineering, engineering projects, mathematics, industrial training, management and general courses. Students need to obtain a certain minimum number of credits in each course category subject to certain minimum credits at specified academic levels to qualify for the award of the degree. Total requirement of credits considering all levels and categories is 11.5. The credit here reflects the course content in terms of number notional hours required to complete the course. One credit is taken as 450 notional hours of study. Table 1 shows minimum and maximum credits limits applicable for different course categories in the degree programme. Table 1: Course categories minimum and maximum credit allocations Minimum credits 6.667 0.667 1.167 0.5 0.5 1.0 0 0 Minimum credits as % of total 58 5.8 10 4.3 4.3 8.7 0 0 Maximum credits 7.667 1.333 2.167 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.333 0.333 Maximum credits as % of total 66.67 11.56 18.8 8.7 8.7 8.7 2.6 2.6

Course category

Engineering Engineering Projects Mathematics Management General Industrial Training Computer Literacy Language (English)

The engineering courses that form the major portion of the curriculum (minimum 58 % of the total credits) are offered through common ODL methods; especially printed
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course materials supported by laboratory classes and filed visits. The students need to come to the university or regional centers where laboratory facilities are available to attend the laboratory classes. Industrial training is provided for those who are not employed in a relevant engineering industry for a period of 5weeks for diploma and 10weeks for degree. The students employed in a relevant engineering industry can get credit exemptions for industrial training by submitting a report and facing a viva-voice examination. The students take individual engineering projects, offered as a course at level 6, usually in the final year after completing most of the engineering and mathematics courses. Minimum credit requirement for engineering projects is 5.8% of the total. As engineering projects are different for individual students, the projects proposals submitted by the students are carefully studied before approval is given. The students need to present their proposals to a panel of staff. The decision for approval is largely dependent on subjective assessment and it is a common occurrence that there are considerable variations among different projects in the level, subject coverage and degree of relevance. Student need to submit two progress reports followed by oral presentations made to an audience consisting of departmental staff and invited industry and faculty members during the course of work in the projects. The continuous assessment is made based on the progress reports and the oral presentations and it is usually done by examiners drawn from among the faculty members. Final submission of the project report is permitted only if the students performance is satisfactory. Upon acceptance of the final report the student is required to face a viva-voice examination and a written paper of 2 hour duration which is based on the individual project work. Final grade is computed based on the average mark obtained for continuous assessment and viva voice examination. Mechanical engineering machine design project is integrated in the course principles of machine design with credit value of 0.333, equivalent to 150 notional hours of study. Students are given a machine design assignment for them to familiarize with detail design calculations for pre-determined specifications or requirements. Students carry out this design assignment in a period of 5 days in the campus. This assignments focus on standard machine design problems without significant electrical, computer and electronic integration.
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Observations and discussion The mechanical engineering projects varied significantly from the expected learning outcomes of engineering projects. A majority of the students attempted to design a machine or a component of a machine (77%), some of them would have been done in a typical machine design class of 2 or 3 days. A significant number (66%) of students had done problem identification properly with problem statement in their final reports, but they had directly embarked on detail machine design calculations on a single concept without looking for alternative solutions. Tables 2 and 3give the insight to the engineering projects already completed. Table 2: Analysis of engineering projects completed during last 2 years Factor Problem statement Need analysis Objectives Alternative solutions Embodiment of design concepts Evaluation of concepts Detail designs Cost analysis % Number of projects 66 44 66 11 22 11 77 33

Table 3: Subjective assessment of engineering projects % number of projects High Level of detail designs Holistic approach to solve the problem 44 0 Moderate 33 33 Low 11 55

As shown in table 2, 44% of the engineering projects had high content of detail machine design, and 33% recorded as moderate in machine design. None of the projects had noteworthy holistic approach in addressing the problem.

Engineering Projects or Design projects The objective of engineering projects is multi facet. It is primarily expected that the students inculcate the skills needed to address real world engineering challenges through projects. Engineering projects focus on solving problems that are not necessarily machine designs in mechanical engineering context. These problems may occur due to inappropriate use of machines, men, materials, and procedures in a particular application. It is the task of the engineer to investigate the problem and identify the specific problems that need solutions by engineering inputs, and work towards that end. The solutions may or may not involve detail designs of machines or components of machines. Some problems do not demand application of extensive and complicated engineering principles, but adaptation of available solutions or reorganization of systems and processes. If solutions are required by introducing new machines or mechanisms, systematic machine design process has to be followed. The engineering projects in undergraduate curriculum should therefore ensure that the students develop underlying cognitive skills that are essential in tackling engineering problems in general, but not specific abilities related to the projects he/she undertakes. The student shall gain competencies required to undertake similar and broad based challenges in the sphere of engineering. The engineering design is culmination of knowledge in engineering and the distinguishing feature of a good engineer is the ability to design (Srinand etal, 2002). Therefore, engineering design cannot be undervalued in any undergraduate engineering curriculum. The design process emphasizes certain analytical skills that are applied throughout the design process at various stages. According to Hubka and Eder (1992), engineering designing means transforming a given problem statement into a full description of a technical system. The problem or the need in the first instance is in colloquial terms, and required to be transformed into a functionally precise definition using technically fundamental terms, through a process of need analysis. The outcome of the need analysis is a set of design specifications. This happens only with the acquired skill to think on an abstract level. This is the first step in engineering design process, followed by conceptual design, embodiment design, and detail design (Pahl & Beitz, 1996). Though in mechanical engineering curriculum, the design commonly refers to designing of artifacts, it should be considered in a wide scope that includes processes, systems and combination of these as well.
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However, as designing of

machines is the prime duty of a mechanical engineer the mechanical engineering curricula place high emphasis on machine designs. Many students tend to undertake engineering designs, particularly machine design in mechanical engineering, in place of engineering projects without much thought. Engineering projects have a wider context than engineering designs. And also by giving high emphasis to design aspects in a project, the expected learning outcomes of engineering projects are often undermined. This finally leads to produce engineers who will do bright designs but will not look at the problems in a wider context of financial, environmental, social, ethical, and sustainability issues, which at the end results in a failure by being not acceptable to the people and to the society in spite of cleverness of the design output. Can an engineering project be without some form of design or the application of engineering principles? The answer is no, because, the prime objective of engineering education is to produce capable engineers who are knowledgeable in the application of engineering principles to solve problems in the first instance, in which designing plays a major role. Therefore, the learning outcomes should be achieved by undertaking a project in which a certain portion is devoted to the application of engineering knowledge, not necessarily machine design, the student gained during the course of the study in the university. There is no argument on carrying out engineering designs in engineering projects, but it should not be with the expense of other main considerations of projects. Such designs should be done after following systematic procedures that are expected to follow in engineering projects. Unfortunately, according to the findings of present study, the most of the machine designs in engineering projects had been carried out without any consideration to the other factors, such as problem identification, proper need analysis, searching for other conceptual solutions and economic aspects. The students tried to apply engineering principles as much as possible, sometimes such engineering principles had a trivial effect on the design, which would have been ignored after proper reasoning at the start. The undergraduate projects should essentially and sufficiently cover the areas of problem identifications, need analysis, conceptual designs and embodiment design, but not essentially the detail design and product development. The conceptual design requires innovative skills and ability to think critically. In this stage the student shall provide concepts for solving the problem without considering the constraints with
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embodiment design. The embodiment design is the establishing of the major design parameters, for instance, the shapes, sizes, power requirements, and inter-connections of the different components etc. The different concepts are then evaluated on a defined criterion taking into account such factors as technical feasibility, durability, customer acceptability, ease of maintenance, costs etc. The problems in engineering projects in ODL A majority of students who follow courses in ODL are employed and have family and social commitments. Therefore, time availability for them to meet supervisors is very limited. In this scenario it is always encouraged that they undertake engineering projects at their work places or in their hometowns, preferably supervised by engineers of the workplace. If this is done in a proper manner with close monitoring by the academics of the university, these projects better serve the purpose of engineering projects. However, some students do not have suitable employment related to the study area to engage in engineering projects of this nature. These students face additional difficulties when they take projects proposed by the academic department and find a little time for discussion with the supervisors. Other problem associated with engineering projects is the lack of well defined learning outcomes as always available with other courses. Because of this, there is a disparity among the projects undertaken by students. The understanding among the academics is also uncertain with regard to the depth and the extent of subject matter coverage in engineering projects. Academics demand different levels of innovative concepts as well as varying degree of complexity in the application of principles in the projects. In a worse situation some may even think of having new knowledge creation through undergraduate engineering projects. Some are lacking the overall approach to problem solving while other are lacking significant application of engineering principles in finding solutions to the problems. The learning outcomes of an engineering project have to be defined in broader terms as there is always wide range of engineering challenges in practice which the student may come across. Properly identified learning outcomes make it convenient to decide on the suitability of a particular engineering project.

Learning outcomes of engineering projects The learning outcomes of any engineering project can be stated as below. 1. Identify and solve problems and make decisions using critical and creative thinking 2. Work effectively and harmoniously with others as members of a team, organisation and community 3. Organise and manage themselves and their activities responsibly and effectively 4. Collect, organise, analyse, and critically evaluate information 5. Communicate effectively using visual, symbolic, and/or language skills in various modes 6. Use engineering principles showing responsibility towards the environment, ethics and the health of others 7. Demonstrate an understanding of the world as a set of related systems by recognising that problem-solving contexts do not exist in isolation and need holistic approach It is worth noting that only the no. 6 is concerned about the application of engineering principles out of seven points mentioned. It is also not mere application but with responsibility towards the environment, ethics and the safety of others. It is understood that finding of suitable projects so that all learning outcomes are achieved to the same expected level is not practicable. However, the supervisors need to use discretion to decide on the suitability of the project by comparing relative strengths and weaknesses in achieving each learning outcome. The most important aspect is that the project should not be narrowed down to mechanical engineering design task. It is frequently asked that whether a critical or comprehensive study of a system can be treated as an engineering project. This type of projects is only one phase of a real engineering project, which is conducted to identify causes of a problem. If a system or a machine functions perfectly, there is no justification to study it critically in view of achieving the learning outcomes expected from engineering projects. On the other hand, a situation, in which a task is to be carried out by alternative processes and machines, can be treated as an engineering project if such modifications improve the parameters associated with machines or processes i.e. efficiency, productivity, easy maintenance,
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cost effectiveness, and environmentally friendliness. This implies that the present system has a scope to be developed towards an idealization in the design. Therefore, projects in engineering curriculum should be strategically selected so that (1) it is likely to be addressed and solved predominantly by engineering inputs and (2) there is sufficient substance for the students to acquire the above mentioned learning outcomes. Role of critical and creative thinking One of the most important skills the student need to comprehend, whatever the discipline of study is the ability to think critically and objectively about an issue and to present a well structured argument. The creativeness is about applying imagination to finding solutions to problems (Cottrell, 2005). Especially in engineering projects, a great deal of critical analysis and creativeness is needed to generate different conceptual solutions that are not mere reproduction of available standard solutions. Creative

thinking tends to be characterized by a drive to find the very best solution, continuously looking for even better or quicker or more effective or more elegant solution. This aspect is highlighted in the first learning outcome of the engineering projects and by engaging in a good engineering project the student inculcate this habit to think critically and be creative in addressing real world problems. By not providing innovative alternative concepts during progress presentations the students demonstrate the ignorance of creative and critical thinking- one of important aspects in engineering problem solving. Assessment and Evaluation Considering the nature of ODL, student assessment is especially important for institutions and faculty members to obtain information about how and what students are learning, in order to improve their ODL efforts and to demonstrate to others the degree to which students have accomplished the learning goals (Jung, 2005). It is recognized that the task of assessing the nature, quantity and quality of teaching is a highly complex activity (Murphy, 2009). Particularly, designing and implementing of continuous

assessment tools in ODL is difficult and need frequent changes to serve the intended purposes. Continuous assessments (1) help students to organize their studies throughout the year, (2) provide useful feed back to the students; (3) provide teachers with

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information on the students progress and needs; and (4) have a final mark which does not depend uniquely on the results of a final examination (Lpez etal, 2007). Providing useful feedback to the students through assessment is very vital in engineering projects because of uniqueness of each and every project. When assessment is used to give marks based on the progress made assessment tools should ensure , consistency. Therefore, the assessment should be based on the generic aspects common to all engineering projects as spelt out in learning outcomes. Therefore, it is very important that all projects should have a significant coverage to include given learning outcomes. If some of the learning outcomes cannot be achieved due to the nature of the project itself, such students are at a disadvantage. Hence, it is very important that projects are carefully analyzed against the learning outcomes before the student is given the approval to proceed. At the same time, during assessment, for the purpose giving marks, due consideration need to be given to the nature of project to prevent the students being penalized. Even though the main responsibility lies with the supervisors in guiding the students, it is difficult for both students and staff members to meet often and discuss the problems as students are employed. As evident from the findings of the present study, the expected learning outcomes of engineering projects have not been achieved to a satisfactory level, partly due to difficulties in guiding the students by the present mechanism. In the present method of guiding, the students face difficulties to grasp the instructions given to them at the end of oral presentations. Many questions are asked by the audience only to determine the progress and to clarify certain issues, and constructive suggestions for the success of the study are hardly given. The student are in quandary as to what should be done what should be disregarded that transpired at the presentations. Despite all these supervision and progress presentations, many examiners of the final examination are found to be of the view that projects would have been carried out in different ways, and raise doubts about the depth and coverage of engineering aspects for the award of an engineering degree. This claim has also been found to be true in respect of many project reports securitized in the present study. Therefore, the time is right to revisit engineering projects in the mechanical engineering and the ways of guiding the students towards achieving proposed learning outcomes especially in the context of open and distance learning. The main aspect should be to

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device a more flexible mechanism in order to monitor the students progress and for them to get productive advice from the staff. Conclusions As both engineering designs and engineering projects play important different roles in inculcating specific competencies required for engineers to tackle the challenges of the real world, clear learning outcomes should be designed and followed in the design of engineering design courses and engineering projects. In the early years of a mechanical engineering programme the students master the principles of mechanical engineering in different areas such as mechanics of machines, engineering materials, thermodynamics, electrical technology, electronics, computers, and mathematics. Machine design projects for mechanical engineering curriculum should adequately facilitate exploration of connections between different mechanical engineering areas. As of present, the machine design projects do not sufficiently cover the electrical, electronic and computer technology areas, and therefore the machine design projects need to be increased to cover these aspects. The purpose of engineering projects are totally misconceived by students as well as by some of the teaching staff deviating significantly towards imparting competencies expected to be developed by machine design exercises. Therefore, it is recommended that the teaching staff, especially the junior staff should be educated on the expected learning outcomes of engineering projects. At the same time the proper and acceptable learning outcomes of engineering projects need be established. To inculcate the cognitive skills for creative and critical thinking, the prevailing misconception that every engineering project should end up with clever engineering designs or artifacts should be removed from the students as well as from the teachers. Therefore, during progress presentations the various conceptual solutions put forward by the students should be adequately appreciated and support should be given to develop such concepts to become realities. The assessment method needs to be updated to suit the ODL students so that assessment is done reliable and effective guidance is provided to the students. The present system of progress presentation to an audience is not practicable especially in the case of high student numbers that is an unavoidable factor in ODL systems.

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Present method of guiding the students being not up to expected levels. It is therefore, recommended to form advisory committees in respect of each project consisting of the supervisor, and other 2 or 3 staff members. The role of the advisory committee shall be to closely monitor the progress and to advise the student. These committees can meet at convenient times to all concerned. This give flexibility to the employed students in selecting time slots for meetings. Further, as engineering projects, when taken in the correct definition, are multidisciplinary at least within the sphere of mechanical engineering, it is beneficial and time saving to discuss all issues at one meeting, in which several academics and/or industry experts participate. The assessment can also be carried out on agreed guidelines by the advisory committee. These meetings should be in addition to the progress presentations. As one of the learning outcomes of projects emphasis that student should be able to communicate effectively using visual, symbolic, and/or language skills in various modes, the presentation cannot be left out. References Cottrell, S. (2005) Critical thinking skills: Developing effective Analysis and Augment, Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN-10: 1403996857. Engineering Council UK (2008). UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence. Retrieved September 17, 2009 from: http://www.engc.org.uk/documents/EC0006_UKSpecBrochure_MR.pdf Hubka, Vladimir and Eder, W. Emst (1992) Engineering design: General Procedural Model of Engineering Design, Heurista, Zurich. Jung, I. (2005). Innovative and Good Practices of Open and Distance Learning in Asia and the Pacific: A study commissioned by UNESCO, Bangkok. Retrieved September 22, 2009 from: www.unescobkk.org/fileadmin/template2/apeid/odl_innov.pdf Lpez, D.,Herrero, J.R., Pajuelo, A., & Duran, A. (2007). A proposal for Continuous Assessment at Low Cost. 37th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, October 10 -13, 2007, Miwaukee, WI. Retrieved September 23, 2009 from: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=4417840

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Murphy, T., MacLaren, I.,& Flynn, S.(2009). Toward a Summative System for the Assessment of Teaching Quality in Higher Education. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 20(2).pp 226 236. Retrieved September 22, 2009 from: www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/articleView.cfm?id=351 Pahl, G. & Beitz, W. (1996). Engineering Design: A Systematic Approach. Berlin, Springer Verlag. Srinand, S. K., Christian, P. B. and Ravindra C. (2002) Designing Better. Proceedings of the 2002 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference, University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Srinath, L.S. (2004).Designing a curriculum for university level engineering programme. Current Science, vol.87, No.1.

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Biographical note of author:

S.A.M.A.N.S. Senanayake, PhD (Cranfiled), MSc (Cranfield), B Sc (Eng) (Moratuwa)

Dr S.A.M.A.N.S. Senanayake is a Senior Lecturer attached to the Faculty of Engineering Technology of the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL). He graduated in 1986 from University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka in Mechanical Engineering and joined the OUSL in 1986 as an Assistant Lecturer. Dr Senanayake obtained his PhD degree from Cranfield University, United Kingdom in 1996. He has been working in the OUSL for more than 20 years and actively involves in the design and development of open and distance learning curricula and instructional materials for engineering courses. His current research interests are engineering education and, open and distance learning. Email: nssen@ou.ac.lk Department of Mechanical Engineering Faculty of Engineering Technology, Open University of Sri Lanka, P O Box 21, Nawala, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka.

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