Iain MacLeod

Using a shared workspace and wireless laptops to improve collaborative project learning in an engineering design class

Two different technologies, groupware (a shared workspace) and shared wireless laptop computers, were implemented in a project design class in a civil engineering course. The research interest was in the way these technologies supported resource sharing within and across project groups and in the forms of group collaboration that resulted. The initiative was evaluated using both qualitative (e.g. pyramid discussion) and quantitative methods (e.g. survey, logs of usage). The results showed that these technologies helped improve group sharing of resources and supported different kinds of group collaboration. The shared workspace provided a location-independent central repository of resources around which group activities were coordinated whereas the laptops provided a focal point for the face-to-face discussion of these resources. The paper discusses the importance of embedding supportive technologies and the different forms of learner collaboration mediated by each technology.

Time is not enough: promoting strategic engagement with writing for publication

Research, scholarship and publication are central to the work of higher education. However, even academics with the necessary research and writing skills can struggle to publish as often as they would like. Research suggests that a writing retreat is one solution; there is a process going on there that addresses the problem, but how it does so has not been fully explained. The authors used a novel approach, containment theory, to explain why the functions of a structured retreat work. They argue that a retreat does more than simply provide time to write; it is a model for academics to meet the demands of research assessment. Finally, the authors conceptualise this as strategic engagement – a model for producing regular writing for publication while continuing to meet other professional demands.

The education of innovative engineers

Purpose – Traditional engineering education in the UK, as established in the nineteenth century, is based on the principle that a degree in engineering should be focused on engineering science and not on the practice of engineering. This has proved to be seriously negative to the development of engineering ability in general and innovative engineering in particular. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the reasons for this situation.Design/methodology/approach – Features of innovative engineering are outlined and a structure for learning which has potential to promote innovation is proposed.Findings – Because of principles based on misplaced academic elitism established in the nineteenth century, traditional engineering curricula tend to develop an academic mindset rather than an engineering mindset in students. They do little to support innovative engineering. As a result, the large amount of money spent on engineering education in the UK does not represent a good investment. The academic mindset does...

Automatic structural component definition from a spatial geometry model

Abstract This paper describes how the geometry files of the architecture design package GOAL are used to automatically create nodes and members for use in structural design. The main programming language used is Prolog which was found to be most suitable for this purpose.

Research leadership in writing for publication: a theoretical framework

Academics experience difficulty in managing competing tasks, particularly in relation to writing for publication. In a study conducted on a writing retreat, analysis of data obtained from academic writers revealed that facilitative leadership provided at a writing retreat was central to managing task complexity and writing-related anxiety. The question remains, however, about how this leadership can be modelled in campus settings in order to continue to support academics in managing the complexity of their multiple roles as teachers, researchers and writers, beyond purely technical-rational approaches. This article outlines one approach to answering this question: it explains how containment theory was used to shed light on the leadership role at the writing retreat, and it proposes a model—strategic engagement—for the leadership role in writing for publication in campus settings.

Object-oriented software patterns for engineering design standards processing

An object-oriented software pattern identifies the framework of the participating objects, their roles and collaborations for a specific problem context. Three patterns for engineering design standards processing are described in this paper. These relate to design standards, design cases and design product data. They employ the reusability characteristic of object-oriented software technology in its wider prospect. In addition to providing object frameworks that can be used/adapted frequently in the development of standards processing systems, the reusability is also employed, by using the delegation mechanism, for modelling standards cross-references and for the integration of the standards and design cases object models.

James Clerk Maxwell and the democratic intellect

Ivan Tolstoy (1982) avers that James Clerk Maxwell stands shoulder to shoulder with Newton and Einstein in his contribution to physics but he is not lionised in the UK. It is not only that he is not lionised, very few people have even heard of him. Here we present a short history of his life and indicate his contribution to physics and to engineering. His achievements are considered in relation to his experience as a boy, to his formal education in the twilight of the Scottish Enlightenment and to the context of his career as a university professor. We are now at a time when the conventional style of education is being challenged but new paradigms to replace the old order have not yet clearly emerged. Can the experience of Clerk Maxwell help us to define (or redefine) new, improved paradigms? We think that the answer to that is ‘‘Yes’’.

Issues and strategies for evaluation of structural design options

Two basic approaches to design option evaluation, controlled convergence and scoring, are described. Their use is illustrated for the design of a 160-m-span bridge. The methods allow both subjective and objective criteria to be used. The use of these methods does not normally give clear-cut answers as to the best option, but allows the competing features of an evaluation to be understood more clearly.

A check on the numerical stability of frame analysis solutions

Abstract A method of checking numerical instability in a frame solution is to compare the values of ‘decomposed’ loading diagonal elements of the structural stiffness matrix with their original values. Using this comparison a number of practical cases are studied to indicate how situations in which numerical instability is likely can be identified.