Virtual On line
June 22, 2020
June 22, 2020
June 26, 2021
Capstone/ET Projects III - Mechanical and Manufacturing Focus
Engineering Technology
13
10.18260/1-2--34090
https://peer.asee.org/34090
491
Dr. Wei Zhan is an Associate Professor of Electronics Engineering Technology at Texas A&M University. Dr. Zhan earned his D.Sc. in Systems Science from Washington University in St. Louis in 1991. From 1991 to 1995, he worked at University of California, San Diego and Wayne State University. From 1995 to 2006, he worked in the automotive industry as a system engineer. In 2006 he joined the Electronics Engineering Technology faculty at Texas A&M. His research activities include control system theory and applications to industry, system engineering, robust design, modeling, simulation, quality control, and optimization.
Dr. B. Hur received his B.S. degree in Electronics Engineering from Yonsei University, in Seoul, Korea, in 2000, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA, in 2007 and 2011, respectively. In 2017, he joined the faculty of Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. USA, where he is currently an Assistant Professor. He worked as a postdoctoral associate from 2011 to 2016 at the University Florida previously. His research interests include Mixed-signal/RF circuit design and testing, measurement automation, environmental & biomedical data measurement, and educational robotics development.
Dr. Yonghui Wang received his B.S. in Optoelectronics from Xidian University in 1993, his M.S. in electrical engineering from Beijing Polytechnic University in 1999; and his Ph.D. in computer engineering from Mississippi State University in 2003. From 1993 to 1996, he was a Research Engineer with the 41st Electrical Research Institute in Bengbu, China. From July 1999 to December 1999, he worked as an IT Specialist in IBM China, Beijing, China. He is currently with the Department of Computer Science, Prairie View A&M University. His research interests include artificial intelligent and computer vision.
Suxia Cui is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU). She joined PVAMU right after she obtained her Ph.D. degree in Computer Engineering from Mississippi State University in 2003. Her research interests include image and video processing, data compression, wavelets, computer vision, remote sensing, and computing education. Her projects are currently funded by NSF, United States Department of Agriculture, and Department of Education.
Bugrahan Yalvac is an associate professor of science and engineering education in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Culture at Texas A&M University, College Station. He received his Ph.D. in science education at the Pennsylvania State University in 2005. Prior to his current position, he worked as a learning scientist for the VaNTH Engineering Research Center at Northwestern University for three years. Yalvac’s research is in STEM education, 21st century skills, and design and evaluation of learning environments informed by evidence based pedagogies and How People Learn framework.
Many engineering technology students struggle with theoretical concepts. Cookie-cutter laboratory activities and courses projects that are more like academic exercises can only provide limited help for student to make the connection between theories they learn in classroom and real-world problems. Maker Culture is an attractive way of enhancing student learning. The Maker Movement can achieve learning-by-doing in an informal environment, which works well for engineering technology students. Maker Culture also allows for the implementation of several student centered learning options such as active learning, cooperative learning, peer-led team learning, peer instruction, problem-based learning, project-based learning, inquiry-based learning, and challenge-based learning. In the Control Systems course in the Electronic Systems Engineering Technology (ESET) program at Texas A& M University, students were introduced to the Maker Culture in class. Laboratories were re-structured to support students’ effort to work on course projects that they chose on their own. This had a positive impact on the motivation of the students. A Mini-Maker Faire was organized at the end of the semester where student did demo and presentation. The project evaluation was also changed to reflect the Maker Culture spirit: whether your design works or not is not as important as what you learned in the process. Although the subject has been discussed by many educators, the authors learned from their first trial that a successful implementation requires careful planning and flawless execution in a specific course. This paper presents the design of lectures, laboratories and the course projects. Assessment methods and lessons learned are also discussed.
Zhan, W., & Hur, B., & Wang, Y., & Cui, S., & Yalvac, B. (2020, June), Actively Engaging Project-based Learning Through a Mini Maker Faire in an Engineering Technology Program Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--34090
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