Argues that the unit operations laboratory provides an ideal setting to help chemical engineering students become better engineering practitioners. Describes a summer program at the Colorado School of Mines that incorporates experience into a unit operations laboratory. (DDR)

Reports on initiatives taken to promote project-based learning by information and communication technology in both pilot and large scale projects. Reviews the history of paradigm shifts with regard to technological advances. (DDR)

Outlines the procedures followed in the needs analysis (NA) project carried out in 1996 at the College of Petroleum and Engineering at Kuwait University. Focuses on the steps taken in the project and the rationale behind them. Offers an illustration of an NA project and to show the procedural steps involved. (Author/VWL)

Presents a new self-assessment package designed primarily for distance students to assess their readiness or mastery of particular topics; it allows a student to self-grade a series of questions, offering flexibility and the opportunity to be awarded partial credit. Results of evaluation conducted with engineering students studying mathematics…

With the development of XML Web Services, the Internet could become an integral part of and the basis for teaching computer science and software engineering. The approach has been applied to a university course for students studying introduction to computer science from the point of view of software development in a stateless, Internet…

"VizClass" is a university classroom environment designed to offer students in computer graphics and engineering courses up-to-date visualization technologies. Three digital whiteboards and a three-dimensional stereoscopic display provide complementary display surfaces. Input devices include touchscreens on the digital whiteboards, remote…

Employers often consider graduates to be unprepared for employment and lacking in vocational skills. A common demand from them is that the curriculum should include "communication skills," as specific skills in their own right and also because of the central role that such skills can play in developing other desirable attributes. Current thinking…

The reasons to introduce formats of active learning in engineering (ALE) such as project work, problem-based learning, use of cases, etc. are mostly based on practical experience, and sometimes from applied research on teaching and learning. Such research shows that students learn more and different abilities than in traditional formats of…

A well-designed assessment strategy can motivate students, and help teachers and institutions to support deep learning. In contrast, inappropriate forms of assessment may promote surface learning, and will therefore fail to support the true goals of education. Recent theories of learning stress the value of dialogue, negotiation and feedback.…

Students are most motivated and learn best when they are immersed in an environment that causes them to realize why they should learn. Perhaps nowhere is this truer than when teaching the biological sciences to engineers. Transitioning from a traditionally mathematics-based to a traditionally knowledge-based pedagogical style can challenge student…

Purpose--To present the challenge of sustainable development, the way in which technology can address that challenge and the task of engineering education to train engineers for it. Design/methodology/approach--The paper describes briefly the history of the environmental and sustainability discourse in The Netherlands, as a densely populated…

This paper presents the application of the problem-based learning (PBL) method as an innovative approach to teaching engineering. This paper supports the idea that the PBL method is aptly suited to teaching the engineering disciplines, as its methodology nurtures critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which are central to a graduate's…

This paper presents the student evaluation of a problem-based learning (PBL) implementation in the postgraduate engineering curriculum of a public university in Brazil. This investigation adopts a qualitative and collaborative design, as suggested when the research objective is to study phenomena in their natural settings in terms of the meanings…

Service-learning is an educational practice that has been used successfully in many disciplines, and is defined as "a credit-bearing, educational experience in which students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of…

In this article it is described how the department has encouraged learning outcome discussions among the teachers and students. The typical development process of a new course is described. A two dimensional learning outcome model is also briefly introduced. This model is used to discuss what kinds of knowledge and skills are relevant in a…