Integrating Hands-On Design Project In Project-Based Learning In Order To Enhance Student’s Competen...

INTEGRATING HANDS ON DESIGN PROJECT IN PROJECT BASED LEARNING IN ORDER TO ENHANCE STUDENT’S COMPETENCY OF ENGINEERING DESIGN A CASE STUDY IN HCMC UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION Vo Xuan Tien (University of Technology and Education HCMC) Abstract Project based learning (PBL) is favorite teaching method to train student’s skill of hand on in technical field, applied commonly in Vietnamese universities, especially in technology field Hence, it becomes policy at the university (HCMUTE 2012, R[.]

LEARNING IN ORDER TO ENHANCE STUDENT’S COMPETENCY OF ENGINEERING DESIGN: A CASE STUDY IN HCMC UNIVERSITY OF

TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION

Vo Xuan Tien

(University of Technology and Education HCMC)

Abstract: Project-based learning (PBL) is favorite teaching method to train student’s skill of hand-on in

technical field, applied commonly in Vietnamese universities, especially in technology field Hence, it becomes policy

at the university (HCMUTE 2012, Regular Nr 117, p 1) However, a survey, conducted in recent semesters, exposed limitations of the PBL: student’s initiative and also the mind of engineering design process, which could be useful

to support student effectively hand on his trouble, because the PBL lacks a systematic approach of design process And students usually skipped relevant steps of engineering design process such as defining design’s problems or controlling/testing project’s results On the other hand, the two limitations are key factors to help student overcome challenges in his future career because it could make their design unstable and unreliable To solve this exposure

of PBL, the mind of engineering design process that consists of an eight-step design process, used as strategic approach, would be integrated in PBL in order to support students build up design thinking The paper is intently written to report first achievement of the process, in which students are instructed through eight-step design process

to finish their project With qualitative and quantitative research method, students’ accomplishment are recorded and collected Ultimately, the paper contributes hopefully innovation act at the University of Technology and Education HCMC to equip student essential skills such as mind of thinking design process in preparation for accustoming highly demands of industry 4.0.

Keywords: design thinking process, systematic approach, Project-based learning, hands-on activities.

1 INTRODUCTION

Project-based Learning (PBL) has been applied at University of Technology and Education Ho Chi Minh City since 2011 when the first cohort of faculties returned from Arizona State University after they had been trained in the frame of the project “Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program (HEEAP), initiated by Intel The HEEAP is a breakthrough project of Intel, considered as solution to solve disadvantages in Engineering Education, which was exposed through the myth about the Intel’s recruitment event “just only 40 graduated engineers passed the recruitment test of Intel among 2000 competitors” when the company looked for qualified workforce in order to operate its next assembly and test manufacturing plants (ATM), which would be placed in Ho Chi Minh City This may be an exaggeration of media In fact, Intel had had difficulty in employment qualified workforce for its new ATM due to shortage of skilled labor The story of Intel was not a single case in this moment because Mori’s research “Skill Development for Vietnam’s Industrialization: Promotion of Technology Transfer

by Partnership between TVET Institutions and FDI Enterprises” of, a Japanese expert of Technical and Vocational education and training, has stated this shortage of skilled labor:

Many enterprises are still seeking: (i) multi-skilled production-line leaders who can manage and improve the entire production process rather than remain limited to a specific one; (ii) engineers

or technicians who are skilled at high-precision processing in making metal, plastic parts, molds and dies; and, (iii) middle managers who can lead day-to-day improvement of factory operations

by identifying and resolving problems from a broad and long-term perspective… (Mori 2009, p 5) His statement has directly identified the specific shortage of skilled labor workforce in Vietnam:

“Vietnam needs industrial human resources who can initiate and manage the improvement of production operations, rather than those who can perform only standard tasks.” (Mori 2009, p.5) Consequently, Mori also figured out difficulties of Japanese manufacturers in recruiting middle managers and engineers

in Vietnam, who should be able to deal with complex value-added engineering products such as design process, has gradually increased in the period 2003-2006 In contrast, the ratio of manufacturers that reported difficulties in recruiting general workers (production-line workers) is relatively low In his research, the definition “Engineers” is also issued as a person: “who lead the improvement of factory layout, jigs, person-hours, and in-house logistics flows in close cooperation with the production and design departments of an enterprise’s headquarters” This is also determined by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Office in Vietnam, as Monozukuri (*) – “making thing” (Mori 2014, p 4) Monozukuri - high-skill manufacturing, which “implies manufacturing for the primary purpose of achieving customer satisfaction through high quality in the spirit of a proud and dedicated artisan, rather than just making profits” (Ohno 2009, p 9)

Return to the Intel’s story, Rick Howarth – Vietnam Intel Products’ general director has also mentioned about skill shortages of Vietnamese candidates in media’s interview: Besides professional competencies, Intel demands also another relevant skills such as foreign languages, multi-tasking, professional behaviors, team-working He was, therefore, conduce disadvantages of Vietnamese candidates: communication skill in foreign languages, negotiation skill, conflicts-solving skill in multi-cultures environment, problem-solving skills, decision making, etc Moreover, he has a remarkable comment about higher engineering education in Vietnam that instructional activities in Vietnamese universities is heavily theoretical Students are almost required reading books, then they just have occasions of application their knowledge when they are graduated The company want to reduce this gap – learning and doing should be instructed in the same time

To solve this problem, Intel has started the HEEAP, which intend to improve instructional activities

of faculties and learning ways of students, in which process of knowledge transfer would be enhanced by increasing interaction between them And the most important innovation act is integrating Problem-based learning in courses, conducted in engineering education programs at HCMUTE Profiting from the program, PBL has been successfully and wide integrated at HCMUTE and become the most popular hands-on activities

in the classroom in order to provide students with a more interactive higher education experiences

In addition, Crawley et al has discussed about important industry need, which employers expect from their engineers who can Conceive, Design, Implement, and Operate complex products and systems

in a modern, team-based environment (Crawley et al 2014, p 50) He has advised that building syllabi should be based on concept of CDIO, abbreviation of Conceive – Design – Implement – Operate and fulfil such standards as Design-implement experiences, integrated learning experiences Integrated learning (*) Monozukuri means “making things”, defined by Prof Ohno in his paper “Avoiding the Middle Income Trap:

Renovating Industrial Policy Formulation in Vietnam” at Vietnam Development Forum (VDF) in Hanoi 2010

experiences that lead to the acquisition of disciplinary knowledge, as well as personal and interpersonal skills, and product, process, and system building skills 8 Active learning 6 Teaching and learning based on active and experiential learning methods (ibid, p.36) Therefore, Crawley et al suggest that teaching activities should focus on students’ cognitive and affective development that includes analytical reasoning and problem solving, experimentation, investigation and knowledge discovery, system thinking, creative thinking, critical thinking, professional ethics and other responsibilities (ibid., p 51)

2 IMPLEMENTATION OF PROJECT-BASED LEARNING – MORE HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES BUT LACK

OF DIDACTICAL APPROACH OF ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS

According to the university’s policy about CDIO approach, students at HCMUTE are involved with PLB since they are freshman in such courses as Introduction to Engineering right in the first year Almost courses at HCMUTE are now designed and conducted according to CIDO approach, which students should spend their time during courses to apply their learned knowledge to do their project Based on Problem-based learning, all courses at HCMUTE rests on a foundation of motivating students

to acquire knowledge out of curiosity and a desire to solve a particular problem In each course, Design-implement experiences will focus on developing professional engineering skills and competencies while applying and reinforcing knowledge in order to build their practicing compentency Figure 1 shows students’ hands-on activities in welding training course, in which they are requested to work in teams and develop a hands-on project themselves Dealing with implementation projects, students have chances

to apply their learned welding skills in the courses to build metal structures such as bicycles, decorative windmills, swings etc Through these hands-on projects, they are trained important skills such as team-working, communication, negotiation, etc However, they are lack of mind’s engineering design process regarding to author’s observation But their activities are driven spontaneously and depend totally on lecturer’s instruction Their working are led under adjustment of their instructor and often done through try/fail cycle There are two key reasons account for the lack of convergence between engineering education and engineering practice: (1) an absence of rationale (engineering design concept as guideline for student’s project implementation, and (2) an absence of detail (lecturer’s observation and controlling

if students go through design process step by step or not in order to be sure that student’s relevant skills could be formed during project proceeding) Thus the starting point of research’s effort was a statement

of the underlying need for engineering education: clear formulating of engineering design concept which can accompany by PBL teaching method at HCMUTE Thereby students can finish their project more scholarly and effectively The design concept makes student’s project proceeding more explicit

Fig 1 Students are conducting their project while they take part in welding training course (Source: Vo 2017, p 10)

This assumption is supported by a research, conducted at beginning of previous semester In the research, student are requested to answer some questions involved with the topic “engineering design” with main research question “How students involve with their projects?” First of all, author has conducted qualitative interviews among 13 students at first meeting in frame of course

“manufacturing technology”, complement a hand-on project is perquisite condition to pass the course, with following questions:

- What is engineering design really?

- What is outcome of engineering design?

- Which step do you usually skip when you conduct your course’s project?

- Which step is the most important step in the engineering design process from your view?

Result from interviews indicates that student consider engineering design as building technical drawings rather than a process They often tend to finish projects based on requests from their lecturers Accordingly, students have tendency to quit controlling or testing their project models completely They just try to finish required project promptly However, they also recognize that testing or controlling project’s model operation is a vital step of design process to make their project’s achievement working properly

Moreover, a further quantitative research with 120 students, who have to finish project as course’s requirement, has been conducted, in which the questionnaire has been composed with following questions:

- Please use one word to describe engineering design

- How would you begin to implement their project?

- Would you test project’s model operation in order to be sure that it work properly?

- Which step might you quit in process of implementing your project?

At the first question, answer is diversified and involve with sketching or drawing technical objects The answer show student’s consideration about engineering design just an activity rather than a process They need to be equipped the conceive-design-implement-operate premise in order to understand that

design in engineering is really a process Actually, engineering design is a loop and has specific process

alignment not a straight though process In addition, it is very interesting when 39 percent students have

tendency to skip the first step of the process with the question “which steps in the designing process, you might skip?” (See Fig 2) This answer exposes the fact that students need to instruct mind of design carefully in order to help them to be in the habit of logical thinking in design On the other hand, students believe that they should focus on the step of testing and evaluation performance rather than defining the problem and collecting information about research object This is a positive point from the research However, students also show that they have no idea how they can deal with testing activities

Fig 2 Trend of skipping the first step of engineering process when students do their project (my own research)

Therefore, they should be provided the systematic approach to engineering design in order to strengthen their thinking of project processing and build their mind of engineering design It will be helpful for future career path of student The designing skill is very essential for engineers in the era of technology, because the term “Engineer” is defined in the research of Mori as “…should be considered production engineers who lead the improvement of factory layout, jigs, person-hours, and in-house logistics flows in close cooperation with the production and design departments of an enterprise’s headquarters” (Mori 2009, p 5) and engineer should do “the job of engineers to be able to engineer”: Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate complex value-added engineering products, processes, and systems in a modern, team-based environment (Crawley et al, 2014, p.50) As mentioned before, according to author’s observation, students have no consideration how to conduct testing and evaluation design’s performance Hence, it leads to the incompletion of the design easily Because “if the design

of a bridge produces a new structure that is visually stunning with no consideration for its strength, this

is design without the engineering If, on the other hand, the designers of a new concept car use analysis

or experiments to evaluate air drag, structural integrity, and manufacturability in addition to style when coming up with a new exterior design, this is engineering design” (Kosky P et al., p 347) Providing thinking design to students has two main goals: (1) to eliminate personal bias from the process and (2)

to maximize the amount of thinking and information gathering that is done up front, before committing

to the final design The result is fewer costly design changes late in the product development stages In fact, almost student’s project at HCMUTE stay at very first phase of engineering design and need to be upgraded Some projects will be improved and completed during research’s proceeding such as smart bin project, automatic hand-washer project, sea-bin project It is more than a fact that whether students become practicing engineers or engineering researchers, setting their educational experiences in the context of the conception, design, implementation, and operation of systems and products strengthens their backgrounds (Crawley et al 2014, p 50) And engineering education should formulate engineering manufacturing environment precisely

3 Innovation act of integrating hands-on design project in project-based learning with systematic approach to engineering design – results and remarks

The need of innovation comes from the fact of manufacturing when the author does qualitative interviews, in which industry sectors was asked to figure out demands on their recruited workforce, especially engineers, who are graduated from Technology Universities (TU) Responses are very definite that companies expect their engineers as designers should make smart and cost-efficient design choices and in turn minimize the product critique and unnecessary communication as well as time wasted during the start-up of a new component Because the design engineer’s initial solution usually receives product critique from the supplier during the design of a new component This results in a lot of communication, both in and outside of the company

Integrating hands-on design project and leading students from the beginning of project’s initial to the end are not only giving tasks and request students to do their project or control their implementing results about the project but also giving them the mind of design concept Firstly, students should be equipped theoretically the systematic approach to engineering design, which comprises eight steps: define the problem, generate alternative concepts, evaluate and select a concept, detail the design, design defense, manufacture and test, valuate performance, prepare the final design report (See fig 3) This flowchart is applied to show and explain at the beginning of the semester in order to help students understand the way to conduct their project Consequently, students should be clear about this design process flowchart and have to follow these steps in conducting their project

Fig 3 Design Process Flowchart (Kosky P et al., p 352)

According to the design concept of Kosky, students are demanded to apply the flowchart throughout from first step: defining the problem, which they are concerned and develop their conceptual solutions laterally and the lecturer should carefully control each steps and makes sure that students are free from questions and problems in order to help them reach their project’s target in each steps They are engaged

to express their ideas or observations about troubles, difficulties, which they have to face or conceive from reality This is, actually, a brainstorming process because students have to present their ideas to another group and discuss about alternative solutions, which they want to choose They have even to defend their conceptual solution in front of class by explaining 4W-1H: What is their concern? Why do they choose it? Where do they intend to apply the solution? Who will get benefit from the solution? And how do they solve the problem? (See fig 4)

Presenting ideas Developing conceptual design

Evaluating the concept Defending the concept Fig 4 Hands-on activities in classes, in which the systematic approach to engineering design is applied

Through these activities, students can understand deeply the problem, should be solved Consequently, they can gather relevant information, which are essential for developing conceptual design It makes communication between team members and teams more effectively and aids them depict their thinking more precisely

After finishing the first step, they can develop not only one but also several alternatives for their project design At the second step, they must also negotiate with team members and other teams in order

to decide most suitable design conceptual for their project, which they can turn into detail sketch or drawing then

The integration of design’s thinking really helps students solve the problem more effective than before This can be proved through the case of “smart dustbin design project” This project is an advancement from prior project at previous semester, when they have not yet learnt how they can get along with engineering design They could not complete their design perfectly because they did not

conduct experiment on model’s project properly As a part of the research, the team has been requested to improve their prior project by focusing on step of results and analysis, which they had no consideration

in last semester The following table is big change of the team, who take advance in implementing their project They enhanced their project by focusing on the step of evaluating and analyzing the design of smart bin Thus, they had developed some prototypes and tested them in several definite situations (see Table 1) Through this step, the team can easily run tests on their model and modify the design Finally, they could choose the appropriate concept for their project This step makes their smart bin’s operation work more stable and reliable

Table 1 Testing conditions, in which the project “smart dustbin” would be operated and checked

1

- Set the detective range of the first sensor is 380

mm at the totally empty condition and 100 mm at

the full condition The remaining space is divided

into 4 levels.

- Set the maximum detective range of the second

sensor is 250mm.

- Set the delay for the users to put the trash in the

bin at 3 seconds.

- The indicate LEDs display 4 different colors to

show the remaining space.

- The alert notification and email will send continuously.

- Set the opening angle of the servo motor at 50°.

- The bin could not open although it is full (didn’t have enough space for the lid to rotate).

- The lid still opening in full condition.

- The lid also opened although it was in an accidental case (Need to be optimized).

- The lid closes fast (cause difficulty for the users).

- The bin was still working when cleaning (risk

of components being damaged).

- Annoying users with notification and email.

2

- Change the detective range at the full condition

to 140 mm.

- Change the program to force the lid to close in

full condition.

- Increase the delay time up to 5 seconds.

- The bin was working more stable.

- The lid still closes fast.

- Some issues still could not be solved.

3

- Increase the remaining space level to 8.

- Update to increase indicate LEDs colors to 8.

- Add LEDs display patterns to alert when the

second sensor detected person in range and

when they go away.

- Update program to set the pushing notification

and email period between each time is 15

minutes

- The bin was working more stable and more accurate.

- The lid still closes fast.

- The alert period was more suitable.

- Some issues still could not be solved.

4

- Update program to remove delay time and now

keep the lid open until the users go away.

- Update program to stop the bin from working

when the user is cleaning it.

- Add ‘Do not disturb’ mode for the user to

stop pushing notification and email to avoid

annoying user.

- Add the slider to change the brightness of the

LEDs to reduce power consumption.

- Change the opening angle of the servo motor

to 60°.

- The bin is working effectively, stable and accurate now.

- The lid opening angle I suitable for the user.

- All issues are solved.

Furthermore, students in another groups were also required to focus on the step of analyzing the pilot model’s performance, which are usually skipped when they complete the project In this step, it

is important for students when they can decide and state testing conditions, which the model should be run smoothly and perfectly According to results of this step, they can choose more suitable concept for the project thoroughly Converting ideas to project’s model by doing it scholarly rather than let them do it upon natural way as “try and fail” And Kosky’s eight-steps-design-process is suitable cognitive structures in this case to simulate manufacturing environment They can practice by dealing with this didactical thinking of design in order to be accompanied with design-implement experience, which is an activity in which learning takes place through the development of a product, process, or system Consequently, students are engaged in applying and developing their knowledge and skills while working on an authentic engineering task, in working modes resembling professional engineering practice That is why the research approaches by instructing student concept of engineering design It

is really useful to help students on the way from novices to experts of technology design This can be proved through another successful completed projects such as automatic hand washer, model of Scare robot for chess playing, water bin (for trash collecting on sea surface), etc which all of them can work stable and reliable Addition of design’s concept give student roadmaps to lead them go through design process scholarly from beginning to the end They will not skip any important step while they proceed their project, especially they can build specific testing conditions

4 CONCLUSION

The innovation act of the systematic approach to engineering design at HCMUTE in frame of the research has started in previous semester Results, reported in the paper, are just a very first achievement

of the research This act should be implemented in following semesters and needs more time to evaluate precisely Moreover, impact of this act should be evaluated by specific statistic model However, results from the first semester, when the innovation act was applied, have great promise Students can finish their project more completely They can also recognize how an engineering design process carry on and how relevant to align the design process steps by steps They considered also that they should not quit any step of the procedure because each step has specific duty and has relevant effect on their level of project completion Moreover, the systematic approach to engineering design ignites student’s initiative

in realizing their project It provides them a didactical way in thinking and doing, which plays important role to lead them to success

This paper is just a first briefly report on integrating mind of design at HCMUTE The author will continue the innovation and also observe more precise impacts in order to provide more valuable information about the innovation Afterwards, the systematic approach to engineering design is hopefully an effective addition in order to help students fulfil high demand on labor market in new circumstance of industry 4.0, in which undergraduate students are often pushed into design department

in companies and expect to the job of engineers to be able to engineer: Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate complex value-added engineering products, processes, and systems in a modern, team-based environment (Crawley et al, 2014, p.50)

5 REFERENCES

1 Crawley E F., Östlund J M S Edström D R B K (2014) Rethinking Engineering Education: The CDIO Approach, 2nd Edition, Springer International Publishing Switzerland

2 Japan International Cooperation Agency Vietnam Office – JICA (2014) Policy Paper Promoting Tripartite Partnerships to Tackle Skills Mismatch: Innovative Skills Development Strategies to Accelerate Vietnam’s Industrialization, Vietnam Office, Hanoi, 10 2014

3 Junichi Mori, Nguyen Thi Xuan Thuy, Pham Truong Hoang (2009) The final report to Hiroshima University’s COE project entitled “Research on Cooperation in the Fielded of Skill Development Education and Economic Development”: Skill Development for Vietnam’s Industrialization: Promotion of Technology Transfer by Partnership between TVET Institutions and FDI Enterprises, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Vietnam Country Office

4 Tien Vo, Xuan (2017) WIL in Vietnam and Best practice example of CDIO at HCMC University In: TVET@Asia, issue 9, 1-14 Online: http://www.tvet-online.asia/issue9/vo_tvet9.pdf

5 University of Technology and Education Ho Chi Minh City (2012) Regular Nr 117 regarding to Innovation of teaching and learning activities at HCMUTE