Work in Progress: Development of MATLAB Instructional Modules for Engineering Students

Sergey Nersesov; Zuyi Huang

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Conference: 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Tampa, Florida
Publication Date: June 15, 2019
Start Date: June 15, 2019
End Date: June 19, 2019
Conference Session: Technical Session
Tagged Division: International
Page Count: 6
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--33605
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/33605
Download Count: 363

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Paper Authors

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Sergey Nersesov Villanova University

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Sergey G. Nersesov received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in
aerospace engineering from the Moscow Institute of Physics and
Technology, Zhukovsky, Russia, in 1997 and 1999, respectively,
with specialization in dynamics and control of aerospace vehicles.
From 1998 to 1999 he served as a researcher in the Dynamics and
Control Systems Division of the Central Aero-Hydrodynamic
Institute (TsAGI), Zhukovsky, Russia. In 2003 he received the M.S.
degree in applied mathematics and in 2005 he received the Ph.D.
degree in aerospace engineering both from the Georgia Institute of
Technology, Atlanta, GA. Currently, he is an Associate
Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Villanova
University, Villanova, PA. His research interests include
nonlinear robust and adaptive control, nonlinear dynamical system
theory, large-scale systems, cooperative control for multi-agent systems, hierarchical nonlinear switching
control, hybrid and impulsive control for nonlinear systems,
system thermodynamics, thermodynamic modeling of mechanical and
aerospace systems, and nonlinear analysis and control of
biological and physiological systems. Dr. Nersesov is a coauthor
of the books Thermodynamics. A Dynamical Systems Approach
(Princeton University Press, 2005), Impulsive and Hybrid
Dynamical Systems. Stability, Dissipativity, and Control
(Princeton University Press, 2006), and Large-Scale Dynamical Systems. A Vector Dissipative Systems Approach (Princeton University Press, 2011).

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Zuyi Huang Villanova University

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Zuyi (Jacky) Huang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Villanova University. He teaches Chemical Process Control (for senior students) and Systems Biology (for graduate students) at Villanova. He is enthusiastic in applying innovative teaching methods in class to educate students with modeling and control skills. His research is focused on developing advanced modeling and systems analysis techniques to manipulate microbial biological systems for generating biofuels from wastewater and for combating biofilm-associated pathogens. His BESEL group developed the first model for microbial desalination cells and the first metabolic modeling approach for quantifying the biofilm formation of pathogens.

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Abstract

As an engineering technical software, MATLAB has become an immensely popular tool in both academia and industry. It is widely used as a software supplement to many courses in the College of Engineering at Villanova University. On the other hand, instructors of different courses have to spend time introducing MATLAB repeatedly. And instructors are usually left to a very fragmental teaching of MATLAB tools needed for a specific project in a course. Moreover, being focused on the fundamentals of the course, the instructors usually do not have much time to explain the details of MATLAB. This leaves students frustrated and unaware where to seek the information needed. In order to address these issues, we developed video-based instructional modules that systematically introduced fundamental MATLAB skills that are related to the curricula offered in engineering, especially in the Mechanical and Chemical Engineering departments. With these modules available online for students, instructors don’t need to repeatedly introduce MATLAB in their courses. The students can either systematically learn MATLAB or just study the modules that are related to their courses.

Seventeen video-based modules were developed in this project to introduce MATLAB and provide application examples of MATLAB to solve problems in data process and display, curve fitting, basic statistics, linear algebra, linear and nonlinear algebraic equations, integration and differentiation, ordinary differential equations (solved in both command window and Simulink format), partial differential equations, process control (including transfer function, Laplace transfer, and PID controller design), and animation. Each module includes a 15-20-minute video recording of a short lecture in which the instructor discussed a particular MATLAB feature augmented by several related examples detailing the development and implementation of the particular MATLAB script. These modules were widely implemented in courses in the departments of mechanical engineering and chemical engineering in the 2017-2018 academic year at Villanova University.

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the developed modules in facilitating students’ learning, an anonymous college-wide survey was conducted via Survey Monkey in May 2018. The survey included five general questions that were focused on evaluating the improvement of student’s overall learning, student’s conceptual understanding of principles and courses, students' ability to apply knowledge in solving real-world problems. The effectiveness of the videos in motivating student’s learning and conveying the materials was also evaluated in the survey. In addition to the college-wide survey, another anonymous survey was conducted in the course Chemical Process Control for a course-specific study of the MATLAB implementation in improving students’ skills in math-intensive techniques. While students generally provided positive feedback on the developed modules, they did provide feedback on further improving the video-based teaching format. The survey results will be discussed in detail in this work. The results will be of value in providing suggestions on implementing video-based teaching format in educating students’ programming and math skills.

Citation
Format

Nersesov, S., & Huang, Z. (2019, June), Work in Progress: Development of MATLAB Instructional Modules for Engineering Students Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--33605

TY - CPAPER
AB - As an engineering technical software, MATLAB has become an immensely popular tool
in both academia and industry. It is widely used as a software supplement to many courses
in the College of Engineering at Villanova University. On the other hand, instructors of different courses have to spend time introducing MATLAB repeatedly. And instructors are usually left to a very fragmental teaching of MATLAB tools needed for a specific project in a course. Moreover, being focused on the fundamentals of the course, the instructors usually do not have much time to explain the details of MATLAB. This leaves students frustrated and unaware where to seek the information needed. In order to address these issues, we developed video-based instructional modules that systematically introduced fundamental MATLAB skills that are related to the curricula offered in engineering, especially in the Mechanical and Chemical Engineering departments. With these modules available online for students, instructors don’t need to repeatedly introduce MATLAB in their courses. The students can either systematically learn MATLAB or just study the modules that are related to their courses.

Seventeen video-based modules were developed in this project to introduce MATLAB and provide application examples of MATLAB to solve problems in data process and display, curve fitting, basic statistics, linear algebra, linear and nonlinear algebraic equations, integration and differentiation, ordinary differential equations (solved in both command window and Simulink format), partial differential equations, process control (including transfer function, Laplace transfer, and PID controller design), and animation. Each module includes a 15-20-minute video recording of a short lecture in which the instructor discussed a particular MATLAB feature augmented by several related examples detailing the development and implementation of the particular MATLAB script. These modules were widely implemented in courses in the departments of mechanical engineering and chemical engineering in the 2017-2018 academic year at Villanova University.

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the developed modules in facilitating students’ learning, an anonymous college-wide survey was conducted via Survey Monkey in May 2018. The survey included five general questions that were focused on evaluating the improvement of student’s overall learning, student’s conceptual understanding of principles and courses, students&#39; ability to apply knowledge in solving real-world problems. The effectiveness of the videos in motivating student’s learning and conveying the materials was also evaluated in the survey. In addition to the college-wide survey, another anonymous survey was conducted in the course Chemical Process Control for a course-specific study of the MATLAB implementation in improving students’ skills in math-intensive techniques. While students generally provided positive feedback on the developed modules, they did provide feedback on further improving the video-based teaching format. The survey results will be discussed in detail in this work. The results will be of value in providing suggestions on implementing video-based teaching format in educating students’ programming and math skills.

AU - Sergey Nersesov
AU - Zuyi Huang
CY - Tampa, Florida
DA - 2019/06/15
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Work in Progress: Development of MATLAB Instructional Modules for Engineering Students
UR - https://peer.asee.org/33605
DO - 10.18260/1-2--33605
ER -