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Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Conference paper
Future Proofing Engineers through Embedded Systems Design
Prooceedings of the 29th Australasian Association for Engineering Education Conference 2018 (AAEE 2018), pp.547-552
Australasian Association for Engineering Education Conference (AAEE), 29th (Hamilton, New Zealand, 09-Dec-2018–12-Dec-2018)
Engineers Australia
2018
Abstract
CONTEXT: With the rate of change in the field of engineering today the need for future-proof engineers is more than ever. Especially the traditional engineering courses can no longer produce the multi-skilled engineers the stakeholders demand. Not only the theoretical knowledge, they also need product development and project management skills for changing demands. Exposing engineering students to real-world challenges with constrained resources provides them the opportunity to develop real-world solutions within the study term. Students studying electrical and mechatronics engineering at Central Queensland University(CQU) have units in the area of embedded systems design. These units are offered in a very complex environment with multi-campus and multi-mode student enrolments.
PURPOSE This paper discusses the outcomes of embedded microcontrollers units in electrical engineering and mechatronics engineering streams in the CQU engineering course. The unit considered for this study is a project based learning unit and the students enrolled in this unit learn C language and microcontroller programming through lectures and interactive learning activities. Then in a small team they develop an embedded systems solution for a real world problem of their choice as their main project for the unit. The purpose of this paper is to identify overall effectiveness of content learnt in this unit and the student understanding about future-proofing their education curriculum.
APPROACH The embedded microcontrollers (ENEE14006) is running as a core unit in electrical engineering and mechatronics engineering courses. End of term unit feedback data on student satisfaction is collected over years and analysed. The student satisfaction level against the student study mode and campus location was analysed to understand the student resource demands. Resources available for each delivery mode and campus location was developed year by year taking these into consideration.
RESULTS End of term unit feedback on student satisfaction data and a special survey data on content learned and skills developed were analysed against the changes made to the unit and to the delivery modes. The student satisfaction shows a clear link between the on-campus support in multi-campus delivery model. This was used in enhancing the multi-campus teaching model for subsequent terms.
CONCLUSIONS This is an ongoing project of enhancing the student satisfaction, knowledge transfer, product development and project management skills into engineering curriculum. Future-proofing engineers is achieved by embedding software controlled hardware programming into electrical engineering and mechatronics engineering curriculum.
Details
- Title
- Future Proofing Engineers through Embedded Systems Design
- Authors
- Daluwathu Mulla Gamage Preethichandra (Author) - Central Queensland UniversityUmer Izhar (Author) - Central Queensland University
- Publication details
- Prooceedings of the 29th Australasian Association for Engineering Education Conference 2018 (AAEE 2018), pp.547-552
- Conference details
- Australasian Association for Engineering Education Conference (AAEE), 29th (Hamilton, New Zealand, 09-Dec-2018–12-Dec-2018)
- Publisher
- Engineers Australia
- Date published
- 2018
- DOI
- 10.3316/informit.198968571911646
- Copyright note
- This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99622140702621
- Output Type
- Conference paper
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