This study listens to the contributions of recent graduates from the University of Victoria’s Bachelor of Engineering Program, hearing their understanding of ethics and equity, and how they experienced learning this in the program. This is done with consideration of how their understanding and experiences might inform curricular and pedagogical improvements in the experience of learning ethics and equity. Using a case study of these participants and their experiences at the University of Victoria, this research takes into account the context of engineering education accreditation standards and the current state of the curriculum that the participants completed. The findings suggest that participants have a limited understanding of what ethics and equity means, both personally and professionally. Participants also found it difficult to recall learning occasions for ethics and equity. Recommendations are made for curricular reform, taking an integrated and across the discipline approach to teaching ethics and equity to undergraduate engineers. / Graduate

This study examines the relationship between international fee-paying students and career pathways through courses of study in Science and Engineering. International education is a significant endeavour in Australia in terms of any measure (students, dollars, associated employment). Over the last two decades it has grown in scope, beyond international fee-paying students, so that it now crosses all sectors of education and training (schools, vocational education and training, and higher education). Australian institutions have expanded their enrolment offshore and engaged in a variety of joint venture activities to capitalise on this surge of interest. The study examined international fee-paying students and career pathways shortly after the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) conducted two major studies in 2004 into career education and transnational education amongst member countries. The links between course and career intentions were investigated by focusing on the subject fields of Science and Engineering. The term career pathway is used as a metaphor to describe the way students move through the Australian education and training system, with such movements possibly occurring through sequential levels or by sectors. A literature review was conducted initially, and a mixed research methodology (involving both quantitative and qualitative approaches) was adopted for the study. A survey instrument was used with a sample of 110 international fee-paying students drawn from students studying Science and/or Engineering at nine institutions across sectors of Australian education and training, then a further sample of 22 students was interviewed in order to gain an understanding of the underlying reasons for students making the decisions, in relation to courses and careers that they do. / These samples provide the opportunity to evaluate international students' understandings of the Australian education and training system, especially the entry procedures into Science and/or Engineering courses. As part of the methodology the preliminary results were shared with the institutions involved to gain their input. Major findings were that 68 percent of the sample did not have career preparation or advice before coming to Australia; 52 percent of the sample was able to explain the term 'credit-transfer'; 53 percent of the sample had researched the recognition of their course in their home country, and careers advice was sought by 58 percent of the sample whilst studying in Australia. Resulting from the study are a number of recommendations for major stakeholders associated with international education (Australian Educational International, the Graduate Careers Council of Australia, government policy makers, institutions, the related professional bodies in the fields of Science and Engineering, and international fee-paying students). The findings of this study have implications for the way in which careers services are provided to international fee-paying students at Australian institutions. The outcome of this study is presented in two volumes. Volume One contains the body of the thesis in 6 Chapters. Volume Two (on disk) includes the associated documents of this study, presented in twelve Appendices.

284 f. / Submitted by Suelen Reis (suziy.ellen@gmail.com) on 2013-04-24T16:59:47Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese - Gabriela Pinto Seg.pdf: 2522284 bytes, checksum: 75a34e02e61bd238ad5cc4fb6ab74b9e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Auxiliadora Lopes(silopes@ufba.br) on 2013-04-30T16:57:03Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese - Gabriela Pinto Seg.pdf: 2522284 bytes, checksum: 75a34e02e61bd238ad5cc4fb6ab74b9e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-04-30T16:57:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese - Gabriela Pinto Seg.pdf: 2522284 bytes, checksum: 75a34e02e61bd238ad5cc4fb6ab74b9e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Este trabalho objetiva incitar discentes que participam do processo de formação em engenharia a refletirem sobre a importância de se dedicarem às disciplinas que são ofertadas para tratar de temas humanísticos, relacionados aos desafios do cidadão na sociedade contemporânea, como a desigualdade social e outros que vêm sendo potencializados pelo desenvolvimento tecnológico e pela globalização, como a fragilização da relação face a face, o aumento do consumismo, a reconfiguração das cidades, a insegurança e o medo no cotidiano, os danos à saúde, etc. Quando começamos a participar dos encontros da disciplina EXA 829 – Tópicos de Formação Humanística (EXA 829 – TFH), ofertada para os estudantes do curso de Engenharia de Computação (ECOMP), da Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana (UEFS), demo-nos conta de que há algo particular no ser humano: a vontade, pois tais disciplinas são resistidas por alguns deles. Procuramos, então, compreender sob a perspectiva da Psicanálise o que é o processo de resistência, que fatores impactam, de forma negativa, na freqüência e participação dos estudantes e no seu potencial de aprendizagem. Para nos auxiliar na pesquisa, baseamo-nos na metodologia de Pesquisa-Ação, uma pesquisa social que é concebida e realizada em estreita associação com uma ação ou com a resolução de um problema coletivo. Para o levantamento de informações utilizamos a observação participante, a pesquisa bibliográfica, documental e questionários. Por meio do método de Análise Contrastiva, contrastamos o que foi observado durante os encontros com os estudantes, assim como o que foi lido a partir dos diários reflexivos escritos por eles, com o que foi encontrado nas obras de autores que pensam sobre temas co-relacionados. Verificamos que essa resistência é algo antigo e complexo. Um dos motivos de resistência mais citados pelos estudantes está relacionado com a forma como o pensamento ocidental foi organizado, ao longo da história da humanidade, que refletiu na maneira como os currículos foram sendo articulados. A própria tradição informa sobre como os engenheiros são preparados para a vida em sociedade: por meio de uma formação fortemente baseada em conhecimentos técnico-científicos, em outras palavras, houve uma supervalorização do conhecimento técnico-científico. Além disso, constatamos que há alguns fatores inerentes ao próprio processo educacional, que no caso de ECOMP está diretamente relacionado ao método Problem Based Learning (PBL), utilizado pela comunidade; e outros fatores de caráter político, social, cultural, biológico e psicológico também influenciam na motivação dos estudantes. Ponderando a vontade, alteramos a forma de trabalhar, a fim de motivá-los a apreenderem e refletirem sobre os temas previstos e a freqüentarem e participarem dos encontros. Neste sentido, reunimos os passos do ciclo PBL, a espiral de conhecimento de Nonaka e Takeuchi, problemas, filmes e músicas, chuva de conceitos, mapas conceituais, ontologias e softwares em uma estratégia educacional que denominamos Problem Based Learning Knowledge Building (PBL-KB), e a interpretamos a partir da perspectiva da complexidade. Após o acompanhamento de 5 turmas, três da disciplina EXA 829 - TFH e duas de EXA 890 – Ética em Computação, ofertada com o intuito de ampliarmos as discussões sobre os temas humanísticos na comunidade, observamos que os recursos selecionados e a estratégia adotada contribuíram para: (re)valorização e a aprendizagem dos temas humanísticos; desenvolvimento do pensamento sistêmico-local-crítico-reflexivo; potencialização da capacidade comunicacional; fortalecimento do princípio de prazer; reflexões sobre a ética; integração de saberes técnico-humanísticos; desenvolvimento da autonomia e da capacidade de trabalhar coletivamente; além de motivar os estudantes a freqüentarem e participarem do curso. Uma vez que os estudantes se motivaram na disciplina, percebemos esses espaços de aprendizagem se transformarem em locais de produção e apreensão de conhecimentos para a transformação da realidade local. Verificamos, assim, que é preciso que se cuide da formação técnico-científica, contudo, que a subjetividade humana é complexa em si mesma e necessita de uma formação mais ampla. / Salvador

No description available.

<p dir="ltr"><b>Background:</b> Though ethics has been recognized as an important aspect of engineering education, there is not a definitive consensus on what ethical engineering is. This dissertation seeks to understand what constitutes ethical behaviors in engineering by distinguishing them from other normative behaviors.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Purpose:</b> This study aims to understand what ethical engineering looks like in practice by addressing the research question: To what extent do engineering ethics experts agree when normative behaviors in engineering are also ethical in nature? While definitions of what constitutes ethical engineering practice are varied in the literature and have been debated theoretically by scholars, this study adopts an empirical approach to understand how experts in engineering ethics conceptualize ethical behaviors in engineering.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Methods:</b> This dissertation study uses a Delphi process to build consensus among experts on what behaviors constitute ethical engineering practice. The Delphi panel consisted of 27 scholars, educators, and practicing engineers with expertise in engineering ethics who provided iterative feedback across three rounds of data collection through questionnaires. Round 1 generated 25 statements of normative behaviors in engineering. Round 2 prompted panelists to judge the ethicality of each behavior. Round 3 presented panelists with the aggregated responses and opinions from the previous round and invited them to revise their judgments.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Findings:</b><b> </b>The results of the Delphi process identified areas of consensus and disagreement among the panel on which normative behaviors in engineering are generally considered ethical or non-ethical in nature. Of the 25 statements, panelists agreed that 20 of the behaviors tended to be ethical in nature and one behavior tended to be non-ethical in nature, while the remaining four statements did not yield consensus.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Contribution:</b> This research aims to provide clarity around what constitutes ethical behaviors in engineering by differentiating them conceptually from other normative behaviors in engineering practice. The empirical approach taken in this study has implications for research, teaching, and assessment in engineering ethics education. Specifically, the questionnaire developed through the Delphi process can be deployed to study engineering students and practitioners to make broader claims about what is ethical in engineering.</p>

A key advantage of Additive Manufacturing (AM) is the opportunity to design and fabricate complex structures that cannot be made via traditional means. However, this potential is significantly constrained by the use of a facet-based geometry representation (e.g., the STL and the AMF file formats); which do not contain any volumetric information and often, designing/slicing/printing complex geometries exceeds the computational power available to the designer and the AM system itself. To enable efficient design and fabrication of complex/multi-material complex structures, several algorithms are presented that represent and process solid models as a set of voxels (three-dimensional pixels). Through this, one is able to efficiently realize parts featuring complex geometries and functionally graded materials. This thesis specifically aims to explore applications in three distinct fields namely, (i) Design for AM, (ii) Design for Manufacturing (DFM) education, and (iii) Reverse engineering from imaging data wherein voxel-based representations have proven to be superior to the traditional AM digital workflow. The advantages demonstrated in this study cannot be easily achieved using traditional AM workflows, and hence this work emphasizes the need for development of new voxel based frameworks and systems to fully utilize the capabilities of AM. / MS / Additive Manufacturing(AM) (also referred to as 3D Printing) is a process by which 3D objects are constructed by successively forming one-part cross-section at a time. Typically, the input file format for most AM systems is in the form of surface representation format (most commonly. STL file format). A STL file is a triangular representation of a 3-dimensional surface geometry where the part surface is broken down logically into a series of small triangles (facets). A key advantage of Additive Manufacturing is the opportunity to design and fabricate complex structures that cannot be made easily via traditional manufacturing techniques. However, this potential is significantly constrained by the use of a facet-based (triangular) geometry representation (e.g., the STL file format described above); which does not contain any volumetric (for e.g. material, texture, color etc.) information. Also, often, designing/slicing/printing complex geometries using these file formats can be computationally expensive. To enable more efficient design and fabrication of complex/multi-material structures, several algorithms are presented that represent and process solid models as a set of voxels (three-dimensional pixels). A voxel represents the smallest representable element of volume. For binary voxel model, a value of ‘1’ means that voxel is ‘on’ and value of 0 means voxel is ‘off’. Through this, one is able to efficiently realize parts featuring complex geometries with multiple materials. This thesis specifically aims to explore applications in three distinct fields namely, (i) Design for AM, (ii) Design for Manufacturing (DFM) education, and (iii) Fabricating models (Reverse engineering) directly from imaging data. In the first part of the thesis, a software tool is developed for automated manufacturability analysis of a part that is to be produced by AM. Through a series of simple computations, the tool provides feedback on infeasible features, amount of support material, optimum orientation and manufacturing time for fabricating the part. The results from this tool were successfully validated using a simple case study and comparison with an existing pre-processing AM software. Next, the above developed software tool is implemented for teaching instruction in a sophomore undergraduate classroom to improve students’ understanding of design constraints in Additive Manufacturing. Assessments are conducted to measure students’ understanding of a variety of topics in manufacturability both before and after the study to measure the effectiveness of this approach. The third and final part of this thesis aims to explore fabrication of models directly from medical imaging data (like CT Scan and MRI). A novel framework is proposed which is validated by fabricating three distinct medical models: a mouse skull, a partial human skull and a horse leg directly from corresponding CT Scan data. The advantages demonstrated in this thesis cannot be easily achieved using traditional AM workflows, and hence this work emphasizes the need for development of new voxel based frameworks and systems to fully utilize the capabilities of AM.

The purpose of my dissertation study is to better understand the educational experiences of undergraduate engineering students within non-curricular learning environments, specifically in the form of extracurricular engineering groups or programs. I first conducted a content analysis of engineering education literature to identify where engineering design learning occurs, and to synthesize the implications of studies regarding engineering design learning. Aiming to fill a gap in the literature regarding non-curricular learning contexts, this study investigated what extracurricular groups and programs can educationally provide undergraduate engineering students by observing and interviewing students engaging in these environments. This study also aimed to identify if and how engineering students find navigational flexibility within engineering curricula, and how non-curricular learning environments might provide navigational flexibility. With regard to where engineering design learning occurs, the literature points to various educational contexts that effectively deliver engineering design education. Strategies that involve authentic and longer-term engineering design experiences tend to be the most impactful in terms of student outcomes and perceptions, however those experiences are not always implementable at larger scale. More traditional educational approaches to engineering design learning, though less impactful, are still effective delivery methods for introducing key aspects of engineering design education (e.g. modeling, global/societal/economic/environmental factors, communication skills). However, there was limited literature regarding more non-curricular learning experiences, such as learning in designed settings, outreach learning, learning media, and everyday informal learning. This literature review is one of the first attempts towards synthesizing where and how engineering design learning occurs, and has identified a significant gap in the literature regarding non-curricular educational settings. Addressing the identified gap in engineering education literature regarding non-curricular learning experiences, this dissertation study investigated five non-curricular engineering learning sites for undergraduate engineering students at a large research-driven state institution. Informed by the preliminary findings of a pilot study, I first investigated the salient features of engineering-related non-curricular activities from the students' perspectives using a self-directed learner autonomy framework to guide the study. Students participating in extracurricular engineering environments exhibited strong attributes of self-directed learners, particularly a willingness and ability to be challenged and to learn. The educational environments of the extracurricular opportunities cultivated these self-directed learning attributes by providing students a space to be exposed to an engineering community, authentic engineering work, and accessible resources. Findings from this portion of the dissertation indicated necessary modifications to the self-directed learner autonomy framework used to guide this study. The modified framework contributes a possible approach towards future assessment or research pursuits regarding non-curricular learning experiences in engineering. I also investigated the role non-curricular activities play in providing engineering students navigational flexibility through engineering curricula. Extracurricular engineering environments afford navigational flexibility by offering students opportunities to work on motivating challenges with and among supportive communities. By providing a space for students to express their engineering selves in primarily self-directed ways, extracurricular engineering experiences cultivate students' drive to find and pursue personally meaningful curricular and non-curricular educational experiences. However, institutional barriers, particularly time constraints and institutionally recognized achievements, stifle students' flexibility and willingness to pursue personally meaningful experiences. The findings of this study have helped uncover the various affordances non-curricular learning experiences provide engineering students, but more importantly, have identified the institutional barriers that prevent students from taking full advantage of non-curricular learning experiences. Based on these findings, I recommend that university and program level structures be reevaluated to encourage and provide students with more flexibility to find personalized learning experiences in and out of the classroom. / Ph. D.

Thesis advisor: Heather Rowan-Kenyon / This study's purpose was to compare the lived experiences of doctoral women studying Education, a prototypically female field, with women studying Engineering, a prototypically male field to illustrate the phenomenon of doctoral degree progress in the two fields. Using critical feminist theory and Valian's (1999) concept of gender schemas, this study examined doctoral education culture in Education and Engineering and how these cultures influence women's doctoral student experiences and in turn their degree progress (Tong, 2009). Although women represent over 50% of doctoral student enrollment and degrees earned, gender disparities exist in Education and Engineering. Once enrolled, women are proportionally more likely to complete Education doctorates and less likely to complete Engineering doctorates (Council of Graduate Schools, 2008; Gonzales, Allum, and Sowell, 2013; Nettles and Millett, 2006). This trend is important because it implies there is something about Education and Engineering doctoral environments that make them more and less conducive for women's success, respectively (Gardner and Mendoza, 2010). This study used a qualitative interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach to capture the essence of women's doctoral degree progress by interpreting the lived experiences of 10 Education and 11 Engineering doctoral women (Smith, Flowers, and Larkin, 2009). After 63 in-depth interviews and two focus groups, four themes emerged. Overall, the Education women reported fewer positive doctoral experiences and more barriers to degree progress than the Engineering women due to the funding and research assistantship structure, the faculty advisor relationship, and the department environment. Both groups of women described doctoral education culture as proactive, independent, and competitive - characteristics more consistent with masculine gender schemas. Doctoral education culture also reflected the feminine gender schemas of flexibility and collegiality/collaboration, which were more apparent in the prototypically masculine Engineering field than in the prototypically feminine Education field. Implications for how doctoral education can be re-conceptualized, delivered, and researched are provided, calling for the incorporation of more feminine gender schemas into doctoral education culture in order to promote and achieve gender equity. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Engineering education reform has been a topic of discussion for the last twenty years. The concern has only intensified in recent years as stakeholders strive to improve quality in engineering education. Today, stakeholders are recognizing that one of the keys to successful engineering education reform is in taking a systems view of higher education. Academic departments within the higher education system are organized around academic disciplines for the purpose of creating, transferring, and applying knowledge in three principal areas: teaching, research and service. This study addresses the need for quality improvement in the engineering higher education system by first completing a literature review in order to identify recurring themes on the issue. A proposed systems view is presented. The thesis builds a case for viewing students as the primary stakeholder based on stakeholder theory concepts. The application of a systems view is then used to identify the impacts of the recurring issues on the identified stakeholders of the system. Recommendations are made to address the system’s issues.

Engineering education reform has been a topic of discussion for the last twenty years. The concern has only intensified in recent years as stakeholders strive to improve quality in engineering education. Today, stakeholders are recognizing that one of the keys to successful engineering education reform is in taking a systems view of higher education. Academic departments within the higher education system are organized around academic disciplines for the purpose of creating, transferring, and applying knowledge in three principal areas: teaching, research and service. This study addresses the need for quality improvement in the engineering higher education system by first completing a literature review in order to identify recurring themes on the issue. A proposed systems view is presented. The thesis builds a case for viewing students as the primary stakeholder based on stakeholder theory concepts. The application of a systems view is then used to identify the impacts of the recurring issues on the identified stakeholders of the system. Recommendations are made to address the system’s issues.