Session 2
2.1 Keynote Presentation 1
#DryLabsRealScience: practical lessons learnt from teaching through a pandemic
Dr Nigel Francis and Dr David Smith
Cardiff University and Sheffield Hallam University
One of the biggest challenges that faced educators on lab-based courses at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was how to continue to provide meaningful practical experiences without access to facilities or equipment. #DryLabsRealScience, alongside similar networks in chemistry and physics, brought together bioscience educators to share ideas and best practice. What has emerged is a wealth of resources and innovative approaches that can be used to enhance practical-based teaching beyond the end of teaching restrictions. In this keynote we will explore the reasons for having labs in our courses and provide our thoughts on how technology can be used to enhance student learning.
2.2 A New Approach to Support Electronic Engineering Practical Lab Skills Development Virtually: Virtual Soldering at the University of Bath
Matthew Cole
University of Bath
Amongst those skills-based learning activitied within HE that mandated the move to more novel modes of remote engagement few are perhaps more challening than the development of soldering skills in electronic engineering, The presentation explores the need, impact and outcomes of two new modes of learning developed in the Department for Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Bath during the Covid pandemic, specifically; virtual soldering, and remote chip inspection.
MTCole_PEE Conference 2021.pdf2.3 Sponsor Presentation
Tim Kroger
GUNT Technologies
G.U.N.T is the number one choice for high quality educational equipment in several engineering disciplines. Our flexibility in offering bespoke options allows you the end user to think BIG. Our products allow both students and educators to perform hands-on teaching and research activities in the laboratories and in many cases even remotely. More details about G.U.N.T are on the conference sponsors webpage.
2.4 MATLAB Grader for Digital Signal Processing Labs
John J. Healy
University College Dublin
Programming assignments are essential to develop programming skill. In engineering context, programming concepts and syntax are secondary to design, modelling, and simulation skills, or conceptual understanding of numerical and analytical techniques. Automatic grading offers a potential solution to increasing student numbers, reserving TA contact hours for more complex problems. In this project, we apply a proprietary automatic grading tool to augment laboratory components of a digital signal processing module. Student feedback from a pilot is mixed, though the most serious problem identified is intermittent access issues from China. These may be resolved by IT Services configuring Brightspace to integrate the tool into the VLE. We have shown that the tool is suitable for formative assessment.
2_4_Healy_MatlabGrader.pdf2.5 Tactile and tacit – rethinking engineering knowledge
Roger Penlington
Northumbria University
By its very nature tacit knowledge growth is a challenge to educational systems and regulated learning, yet tacit knowledge is the key stone of the individual practice of any engineer and the creation of innovative solutions to Global challenges. This paper seeks to stimulate discussion around the way that learning that has been made descriptive and tactile will foster the acquisition of an engineering frame of thinking, the display of engineering habits of mind and subsequently enhancement of tacit knowledge. Redefining the fundamentals of engineering as descriptions rather than equations and adding the tactile ‘feel’ of the physical world the ‘craft’ of an engineering identity is fostered and greater learner confidence will stimulate wider connections being made by knowing the unknowns. Contrast how knowledge of specific equations provides isolated islands of exactness in an unmapped sea of unknown scale and terror where the unknowns are unknown. It is suggested that there is a historical basis for this approach and that it offers far more potential for making the engineering profession both more diverse and more effective at leading the solution of Global challenges than the more widely employed ‘application of science’ approaches.
2.5 R Penlington.pdf2.6 Yogurt and cheese making
Claire Johnson and Joy Mukherjee
University of Sheffield
Dairy products are an important source of nutrition in the diet of many countries around the world. Raw milk is composed of approximately 87.7% water, 4.9% lactose, 3.4% fat, 3.3% protein, and 0.7% minerals. It is also rich in calcium and the vitamins B2 and B12. The unique properties of milk are exploited to make a range of products including paneer, yogurt and cheese. Raw milk has one problem, if left untreated it provides an excellent environment for the growth of bacteria including potentially harmful Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli O157:H7. To overcome the limited shelf life of milk, different societies developed milk based products with improved keeping qualities. In Europe cheese became a valuable food product with excellent keeping qualities and paneer cheese became part of Indian cuisine. Across Europe, the Middle East and India yogurt became an important product. Here in the Bioengineering theme of the Multidisciplinary Engineering Education (MEE) department at the Diamond, we provide hands-on practical experience relevant to industry to undergraduate students. The aims of this practical are for students to design and perform a procedure for making yogurt and paneer cheese, and to investigate the use of microorganisms in the manufacture of common food products.
2.7 Sponsor Presentation
David Bradley
Armfield
Armfield is the world leader in the supply of innovative Education Equipment. With our focus on delivering meaningful innovation and content, we serve multiple markets throughout the world in the areas of High Schools, Universities and Industrial Processing. We are a leader in Fluid Dynamics, Chemical, Civil, Mechanical Engineering, Food and Pharmaceutical Processing. Our current focus is on remote learning and student engagement, enabling online classrooms to bring together virtual face-to-face contact, assignments, files, and conversations via a single platform so that we can future proof engineering teaching.
#PEE21 is sponsored by
