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Teaching Heat Transfer through Industry Partnership S. Nasrazadani and R.A. Mirshams College of Engineering University of North Texas Denton, TX 76203

Abstract In this research project, a heat transfer course was taught to senior undergraduate students in a new way that involved an industrial engineer as a collaborative instructor (an adjunct). The industrial engineer was invited to bring engineering products to the classroom and demonstrate the latest design approach for the product’s improvement. Through the exercise, topics typically not covered in a traditional classical heat transfer course were discussed, and enhancements in students’ learning of the course were measured using an evaluation tool specifically designed to this purpose. Results indicated that students reacted very positively to inviting industrial adjunct faculty. In addition, the qualitative perception of the authors is that students were more engaged in this interactive method than in the traditional method of teaching. Two limitations of the new method of teaching include the time shortage in covering the complete content and the difficulty of evaluating the effectiveness of the adjunct faculty because of their limited availability to students.

Introduction The ongoing expansion of the new College of Engineering at the University of North Texas (UNT) created an opportunity for the addition of a new, innovative mechanical and energy engineering (MEE) program and an excellent prospect for the establishment of an innovative approach to engineering education. As part of our planning approach for the MEE program and innovative teaching approach, a small-group team-learning approach to Learning-to-Learn practice was adopted. Because heat transfer is one of the essential subjects for any mechanical engineering program, it was selected as the topic for the pilot course. Our hope is to use the experience in shaping a teaching style for other courses in the MEE program. Traditionally, the course was taught by standard method of teaching referred to as “chalk- and-talk” style. Recently, a great deal of attention has been directed toward teaching methods collectively called “active learning” methods. Research studies evaluating student achievement have demonstrated that many strategies promoting active learning are superior to lectures in the development of students’ skills in thinking and writing.1 Furthermore, cognitive research has shown that a significant number of students have learning styles best served by pedagogical techniques other than lecturing.2-4

Heat transfer as a pilot course Heat transfer application is a required senior-level undergraduate course in the mechanical engineering technology program at the University of North Texas (UNT). The required textbook for this course was written by Yunus Cengel.5 Course objectives and student learning outcomes from the course syllabus are listed in Appendix A. Each learning outcome addresses at least one course objective. Each course objective addresses at least one outcome criterion in accordance with Technology Accreditation Commission (TAC) of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) and possibly one or more criteria set forth by the

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Nasrazadani, S., & Mirshams, R. (2007, June), Teaching Heat Transfer Through Industrial Partnership Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--1945