Background: A redesigned curriculum for teaching engineering graphics was adopted in an introductory mechanical engineering course. The rollout of this curriculum was staggered, allowing for comparisons of student perceptions across the newly revised and previous instructional approaches. The new curriculum borrows from content and pedagogy…

While the changing nature of design activity is a topic supported by a range of popular and academic publications, the role that design tools have taken in that change is less well studied. The tools used in the trade, both by industrial designers and mechanical engineers, have undergone a rapid transformation in the last fifty years. The research…

Engineering design is known as an answer to an ill-defined problem. As any answer to an ill-defined problem, it can never be completely right or absolutely wrong. The methods that universities use to teach engineering design, as a consequence of this, suffer from the same fate. However, the accumulated experience with the "chalk and…

Students often have difficulty grasping the principles of dimensional tolerances and frequently fail to recognize that dimensioning practice has a significant impact on the tolerance of part features. This observation may be attributed to several factors, not the least of which are changes in prior student education and life experiences and…

In recent years major changes have been introduced into the system of higher education in the common European Higher Educational Area (EHEA). On account of the Bologna Process the EHEA is leading to greater compatibility and comparability of the systems of higher education and is making it easier for learners to be mobile and for institutions to…

Engineering design graphics courses taught in colleges or universities should provide and equip students preparing for employment with the basic occupational graphics skill competences required by engineering and technology disciplines. Academic institutions should introduce and include topics that cover the newer and more efficient graphics…

Discussion of technical education as part of the engineering education curriculum focuses on the effects of computerization, specifically the computerization of technical drawing. Topics include computer-aided graphics, computer-aided design, and the need for curriculum changes to allow more hours of practical work. (Author/LRW)

This report investigates the feasibility of including computer aided design (CAD) materials in engineering courses. Section 1 briefly discusses the inevitability of CAD being adopted widely by British industry and the consequent need for its inclusion in engineering syllabi at all levels. A short description of what is meant by CAD follows in…