Contribution: Team-based learning (TBL) with a transdisciplinary (TD) approach is applied in one introductory programming course with different cohorts. The approach reduces the failure rate in the course. In addition, the approach helped students understand the application of programming to different engineering professional areas. Background:…

Continuous developments in the electronics industry have led to constantly changing career roles and graduate skills requirements. Students in the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) have complained that numerous courses in electronic engineering are heavily focused on theoretical knowledge that is disconnected from…

Contribution: This longitudinal study modeled student leadership growth in a course sequence supporting long-term, large-scale, multidisciplinary projects embedded in faculty research. Students (half from computer science, computational media, electrical engineering, and computer engineering) participated for 1-4 semesters. Background: Project-…

Contribution: This study provides evidence for the benefit of short online courses for the transdisciplinary competence development of graduate students. It shows the significant challenges students face while learning, and provides instructional recommendations to improve students' learning quality and professionalism. Background: Developing…

Contribution: Prior studies on pedagogical methodologies to acquire soft skills have shown that developing collaborative tasks produces positive impact in students' abilities. In this article, a pedagogical approach based on interdisciplinary practice and realistic problems is proposed to improve students' teamwork skills. Background:…

This study contributes to team science and competency development by comparing demonstrated teamwork skills by engineering students participating in disciplinary and cross-disciplinary team projects. Teamwork skills are key competencies necessary to solve complex technical challenges in the workplace. Despite prior efforts to enhance these…

Contribution: While design project courses offer first-year students a practical introduction to engineering, a portion of class time is usually spent on lecturing foundational knowledge instead of practicing engineering design. This article presents a blended design-based learning (bDBL) approach that makes class time more efficient and explores…

Contribution: A modular three-credit undergraduate course that enables students to sharpen their teaming skills is introduced. The course addresses the professional skill gap between recent undergraduate students and what the work environment expects. Background: The trend of teaming in the industrial world continues to grow as the demand for…

Contribution: An analysis of the extent to which sustainability is present in the syllabi, project briefs, report templates, and student final reports of the three Iberian European project semester (EPS) providers, over a five-year period. Background: EPS is a one-semester capstone project framework that adopts project-based learning and…

Engineering education is undergoing a restructuring driven by the needs of an increasingly multidisciplinary engineering profession. At the same time, power systems are transitioning toward future smart grids that will require power engineers with skills outside of the core power engineering domain. Since including new topics in the existing…

The authors designed and ran a crash course on emotional robotics involving students from both the Information Engineering School and the Design School of Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy. The course consisted of two intensive days of short introductory lessons and lab activity, done in interdisciplinary groups and supported by a well-equipped…

This paper describes the first phase of a Mechatronics Curriculum Development effort--the design of an "Introduction to Mechatronics" course, the infusion of mechatronics activities throughout the curriculum and in outreach activities, and assessment results. In addition, the relevance and impact of such a curriculum on the education of engineers…

This paper describes the second and third phases of a comprehensive mechatronics curriculum development effort. They encompass the development of two advanced mechatronics courses ("Simulation and Modeling of Mechatronic Systems" and "Sensors and Actuators for Mechatronic Systems"), the formulation of a Mechatronics concentration, and offshoot…