This study aimed to refine and validate a Mechatronic System Usability Evaluation (MSUE) questionnaire. A total of 626 users were selected using random sampling, from the area of West Thessaloniki, Greece. The validity of the questionnaire were tested with the content and construction validity method. The reliability of the MSUE questionnaire…

The biomaterials science has advanced in a high speed with global science and technology development during the recent decades, which experts predict to be more obvious in the near future with a more significant position for medicine and health care. Although the three traditional subjects, such as medical science, materials science and biology…

This paper describes the design of an industrial informatics course, following the project-based learning methodology, and reports the experience of four academic years (from 2012-13 to 2015-16). Industrial Informatics is a compulsory course taught in the third year of the B.Sc. degree in industrial electronics and automation engineering at the…

The purpose of this study was to construct the indicators of professional competencies of the nanotechnology-based sputtering system industry based on industry requirements and analyse the core competencies of the industry for promoting the human resource of physical vapour deposition technology. The document analysis, expert interview, and Delphi…

This article presents a case study that illustrates the paradigmatic shift in higher education from content-centered teaching to learning-centered academic programs. This pragmatic change, triggered by the STEM movement, calls for the introduction of success measures in the course development process. The course described in this paper illustrates…

In general engineering studies focus on the technical skills in their own discipline. However, in their subsequent industrial careers, a significant portion of their time needs to be devoted to non-technical skills. In addition, in an increasingly globalised world collaboration in teams across cultures and disciplines is paramount to the creation…

This paper presents the experienced difficulties of students participating in the multidisciplinary, remote collaborating engineering design course challenge-based innovation at CERN. This is with the aim to identify learning barriers and improve future learning experiences. We statistically analyse the rated differences between distinct design…

The increasing complexity of the new breed of distributed intelligent systems, such as the Internet of Things, which require a diversity of languages and protocols, can only be tamed with design and programming best practices. Interest is also growing for including the human factor, as advocated by the "ambient intelligence" (AmI)…

More and more Canadian post-secondary institutions are introducing a fall break into their term calendars. In 2015, a full week fall break was introduced at our university in order to enhance academic performance and improve mental health amongst students. Our interdisciplinary team surveyed undergraduate students at our university about their…

To be successful in the competitive workforce markets, graduates nowadays need more than just disciplinary skills and knowledge. The changes in how businesses operate, have brought about the need to develop highly skilled workforce that is equipped with generic skills, such as communication, creativity and problem solving, next to their…

Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) sites widely serve as the first major research gateway for undergraduates seeking a structured research experience. Given their lack of prior research skills, and the highly compressed duration of the REU programs, these students frequently encounter barriers to a seamless transition into a new…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to enhance and complement teaching about resource system feedbacks and environmental modelling. Students were given an interactive exercise based on a research model (ForeseerTM), developed by an inter-disciplinary research team, that explores the interconnectivity of water, energy and land resources. Two…

As inspirations from flora and fauna have led to many advances in modern technology, the concept of drawing ideas from nature for design should be reflected in engineering education. This paper focuses on a maple-seed robotic flier (MRF) with various complexities, a robotic platform modeled after the samaras of maple or ash trees, to teach STEM…

Several studies have applied the dichotomy of deep and surface approaches to learning in a range of disciplinary contexts. Existing questionnaires have largely assumed the existence of these constructs; however, in a recent study Case and Marshall (2004) described two additional context-specific approaches to learning in engineering. The current…

During the phase of developing new technologies and models to be used in education and for their integration, not only the technical studies and research but also the human factor which is a significant factor for the education system should be taken into consideration. Hence, a reflection concerning the answer to the question of "To what…