Redesign of a first year engineering design course lab activity for remote instruction

Matthew Robin Kohanfars; Edward I Lan; Huihui Qi; Tania Morimoto

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Conference: 2021 ASEE Pacific Southwest Conference - "Pushing Past Pandemic Pedagogy: Learning from Disruption"
Location: Virtual
Publication Date: April 23, 2021
Start Date: April 23, 2021
End Date: April 25, 2021
Page Count: 11
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--38247
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/38247
Download Count: 385

Paper Authors

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Matthew Robin Kohanfars UC San Diego

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I am a mechanical engineering master’s student that is focused on encouraging students to seek engineering careers by developing entertaining and thought-provoking curriculums for the engineering department at UC San Diego. My master's degree background targets the field of medical technology, where I am able to work in a design laboratory that specializes in researching and developing medical devices. I plan to continue my education to obtain a Ph.D., directing my impact on engineering education and translational research at UC San Diego.

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Edward I Lan University of San Diego California

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Edward Lan earned his B.S in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, San Diego in 2017. He moved on to work in the aerospace industry at Applied Composites San Diego (Formerly San Diego Composite) directly after graduating, developing new composite technologies devoted to applications for aerospace and defense through small business innovation research(SBIR) funding. In 2020, Edward re-entered the University of San Diego California to pursue a master's degree in mechanical engineering, and is presently specializing in dynamic systems and control, material sciences, and bioinspired robotics. During his undergraduate career, Edward spent 2 years as an instructional tutor for an engineering design course and spatial visualization course at the University of California, San Diego. Presently he is working as an Instructional Assistant during his graduate studies, and is also working as an engineer designing robotic control methods for SBIR technologies at Dynovas Inc.

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Huihui Qi University of California, San Diego

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Dr. Qi is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). She earned her Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rutgers University-New Brunswick. Dr. Qi’s teaching interests include Engineering Design, Solid Mechanics, Mechanical System Design, and Computer-Aided Design. Dr. Qi’s areas of interest and expertise include design sustainability, Life Cycle Assessment, decision making for optimal design, and Computer-Aided Design and Engineering Education. Prior to her position at UCSD, she was an Assistant Professor at Grand Valley State University.

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Tania Morimoto University of California, San Diego orcid.org/0000-0001-5319-8995

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Tania K. Morimoto received the B.S. degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, in 2012 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University, Stanford, CA, in 2015 and 2017, respectively, all in mechanical engineering. She is currently an Assistant Professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and an Assistant Professor of surgery with University of California, San Diego. Her research interests include robotics, haptics, and engineering education.

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Abstract

This work-in-progress paper presents the transformation of a lab activity for a first-year mechanical engineering design class at xxx university. The changes were designed to cope with the challenges raised by the remote learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. This first-year mechanical engineering design course, traditionally taught in person, consists of both lectures and lab activities. Lectures and labs were focused on meeting course objectives such as identifying design problems, modeling a system to meet the desired needs, and introducing the design process through hands-on experience. All the knowledge learned from lectures and labs were reinforced through a robot design project. One important lab is the Force, Torque, and Power Energy (FTPE) analysis, in which students test for and understand concepts such as torque, spring constants, moments, power, and energy for motors, springs, rubber bands, etc. Proficiency in these concepts and skills are also important for their robot project. This analysis provides students with the opportunity to gain hands-on experience measuring and performing experiments that allow them to identify critical design constraints for their robots. In a traditional setting, students would utilize an on-campus design studio, and be given access to measuring and testing equipment, however, the pandemic has made it difficult to perform the lab in the original in-person method. Although a hardware kit was shipped to the students prior to the start of the term, due to budget limitations, a few lower-frequency utilized components (force spring gauges, stall torque measurement apparatuses, and high-speed motor counters) were omitted from the kit. Thus, a modified lab activity using low-cost, more easily accessible materials was needed. This paper describes the modified lab activity in comparison with the original one. Survey responses, assignment performance data, and equipment costs were gathered and assessed to determine the success of this modified lab in terms of cost, and how much the original learning objectives have been achieved.

Citation
Format

Kohanfars, M. R., & Lan, E. I., & Qi, H., & Morimoto, T. (2021, April), Redesign of a first year engineering design course lab activity for remote instruction Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Pacific Southwest Conference - "Pushing Past Pandemic Pedagogy: Learning from Disruption", Virtual. 10.18260/1-2--38247