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Synchronizing the Teaching of Capstone Design Course in Two Countries

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Conference

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

San Antonio, Texas

Publication Date

June 10, 2012

Start Date

June 10, 2012

End Date

June 13, 2012

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Capstone Design II

Tagged Division

Design in Engineering Education

Page Count

11

Page Numbers

25.1223.1 - 25.1223.11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--21980

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/21980

Download Count

401

Paper Authors

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Yuyi Lin P.E. University of Missouri Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-2660-5035

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Yuyi Lin received his M.S. from UCLA in 1984, Ph.D from UC, Berkeley, in 1989, and has been teaching mechanical design at the University of Missouri since 1990. He is a registered Professional Engineer and inventor.

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Xiuting Wei Shandong University of Technology

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Xiuting Wei is currently working as the Dean and a professor of the College of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University of Technology, China. He received his B.E (1982, in hydraulic machinery) from Jiangsu University, China, and Ph.D. (1999, in mechanical design and theory) from Zhejiang University, China. He has 30 years of research and teaching experience in mechanical engineering, with 46 papers published. He is involved actively in mechatronics, CAX & product information integration, and surface engineering.

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Lanmei Wang Shandong University of Technology

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Lanmei Wang graduated from Shandong Agricultural Machinery Institute in 1982 and has been teaching descriptive geometry and engineering graphics in Shandong University of Technology (in Shandong Agricultural Machinery Institute and in Shandong Engineering College). She is a professor who has accomplishments in engineering education.

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Yanfei Zhang Shandong University of Technology

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Yanfei Zhang received Ph.D. degree in mechanical design and theory from Beihang University in 2006 and.received a B.S. degree and a M.S. degree in mechanical designing and manufacturing automation from Hebei University of Technology in 2000 and 2003 respectively. Currently, she is an Associate Professor at Shandong University of Technology. Her major research experiences and interests include parallel robotics and optimization design.

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Wenqiang Yu P.E. Shandong University of Technology

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Wenqiang Yu began to teach in Shandong University of Technology in July 2000 and is engaged in teaching management.

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Yufeng Sun Shandong University of Technology

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Yufeng Sun is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Graphics at Shandong University of Technology, where he received his B.S. in mechanical engineering. He also holds a M.S. at China Agricultural University. He has 22 years' experience teaching graphics.

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Abstract

Synchronizing the Teaching of Capstone Design Course in Two CountriesABSTRACTIn a globalization environment, sharing teaching and learning experience among different educationalsystems and countries is an important educational practice for cultivating next generation ofengineers, who will be more likely to work in international companies or in different countries.Capstone design is a good start point for faculty collaboration and synchronization, because it reflectsand collects all the features of the curricula in different educational systems in specific countries.The authors have more than 60 years of combined teaching experience in two different educationalsystems, and have launched collaborative and synchronal teaching of the capstone design course inUS and China since 2010. The same design topics had been offered to student teams in the twocollaborating schools. Based on student learning experience and performance in the finishedprojects, the major differences in the two systems are significant. For example, (1) Chinese studentsput more emphases into individual design performance, discussing mainly with the faculty adviser; (2)Chinese system requires more in the detailed analysis and calculations, such as gear tooth strengthverification, bearing life calculation et al; (3) American students put more effort into creativity, teamwork, project planning and management; (4) American system contains a series of softwareapplications from calculation, presentation to CAD and analysis, such as MATLAB, MS Office,SolidWorks, Algor et al. Furthermore, Chinese system is better prepared for the use of a secondlanguage, although most of the students are still not as proficient as needed for engineering day today work.With all the recognized differences, a few commonly agreed objectives are clear. For the benefit oftraining global engineers, and for the efficiency of teaching senior capstone design course, it isdesirable to develop a common set of lecture notes and teaching materials, which can have smallvariation to fit the needs of the outcome based evaluation systems in different countries. We wouldalso like to share the same electronic tools such as Blackboard, Camtasia or Adobe Presenter foronline delivery and distance teaching. It is also desirable that through the collaborative work,faculty members and students become proficient in both languages so that future design projectteam can be truly multi-national.This is just the beginning of an on-going project. More data on student learning experience andperformance in the finished projects will be collected each semester from the collaborating schools inUS and in China. Based on the collected data, the course content, delivery methods, includinglanguage and electronics media, will be adjusted and improved.

Lin, Y., & Wei, X., & Wang, L., & Zhang, Y., & Yu, W., & Sun, Y. (2012, June), Synchronizing the Teaching of Capstone Design Course in Two Countries Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21980

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