Jacek Uziak

Is Accreditation an Opportunity for Positive Change or a Mirage

Accreditation was originally conceived and applied as an assessment tool for the quality of university programs. However, its emphasis shifted to program objectives and learning outcomes from the original prescriptive focus on measurable inputs. Accreditation normally confirms that the institution/department offering a program has established suitable processes and resources to ensure that the required quality and standards are achieved. Through the years, it has become the fundamental quality assurance mechanism for engineering education (Prados et al. 2005; Sarin 2000; Woollacott 2009). Accreditation is an important step in the life of any professional program, especially for international benchmarking. In the case of engineering programs, accreditation by any signatory of the Washington Accord guarantees international recognition, a feature sought after by many colleges of engineering, especially those in developing countries. Accreditation confirms that graduates have attained a recognized academic standing and that they possess the professional competence to practice engineering. In a majority of developed countries, graduation from an accredited program is the primary step toward professional registration; however, in most developing countries, graduation from any engineering program confers sufficient license to practice engineering. In these countries, graduation from an internationally accredited program provides additional recognition and acceptance. The international recognition of an engineering program has become important in recent years and is likely to be promoted by the increasing mobility of engineering graduates. It is particularly important for graduates in developing countries, who aspire either to work in more developed countries or in multinational companies. Graduation from an accredited program assures possible employers of the quality of education of their entry-level professionals. Because employability of graduates is one of the primary indicators of success and ranking of engineering programs, the competition for talented students has inevitably created a strong tendency, almost a necessity, for engineering programs to be internationally accredited. The accreditation requirements of different accreditation bodies may differ in form and detail, but all expect a considerable amount of documentation as the basis for evaluation. The preparation of the documents can be extremely challenging for first-time program presenters; preparation for each revalidation of the accreditation is also a time consuming activity. This paper advocates that, although the accreditation process is very demanding, it provides a great opportunity for a comprehensive review of an academic program. Ideally, the accreditation process should not only improve the program itself, but should also promote the development of the faculty that delivers the program. However, neither of these two objectives is usually achieved in developing countries. The following argument is based on the authors’ extensive experiences in the management and delivery of engineering programs in different institutions and on their involvement in the preparation of accreditation documents. Unfortunately, the accreditation of a program is not, in itself, a guarantee that the spirit intended by accreditation bodies is captured and implemented in the program.

Spreadsheets: The ideal tool for distance learning in engineering education

Formal Engineering Education has traditionally been delivered using the low technology—high touch lecturing method, in which the lecturer and student meet face to face. Distance education in this field has been quite slow to develop primarily because of difficulty in delivery of practical based instructions and problems on integrity of assessments. Developments in information technology and the increased demand for further education by people already in employment have however changed this even in developing countries. It puts extra demand on Lecturers to guide distance learners in handling numerical computations so prevalent in Engineering. At the campuses, computer based methods are available in the high touch—high tech lecture method. High level and efficient computer software is used to help the student to simulate and solve some problems. However, such software is expensive—and therefore—not readily available to the distant learner. Spreadsheets on the other hand are almost universal on todays computers and they bridge the gap between hand calculations and high level programme computations. This paper therefore makes a case for the use of spreadsheets in Distance Engineering Education. An example in Spring Design, Selection and Adaptation is used to illustrate the simplification and other advantages of their use by practicing distance learners.

Blackboard as a Tool for Peer Learning and Interaction for Engineering Students

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the learning experiences of mechanical engineering students who used Blackboard technology at the University of Botswana. The results presented are based on the application of the technology in two courses offered to Year 3 students. As the results of this study were encouraging it is recommended that more courses in the mechanical engineering programme should migrate to blended mode of instruction delivery.

Improving students’ freehand sketching skills in mechanical engineering curriculum

Freehand sketching is a fundamental skill in mechanical engineering and many other engineering disciplines. It not only serves as a communication tool among engineers, but plays a critical role in engineering design and problem solving. However, as computer-aided drafting has replaced traditional drawing classes nowadays, the training of students’ freehand sketching skills has been almost completely eliminated in modern engineering curricula. This paper describes the attributes of freehand sketching and its roles in several essential aspects of engineering; in particular, in its roles in problem solving, of which current literature has ignored. Representative examples are provided to show students’ freehand sketching skills in problem solving in a foundational undergraduate mechanical engineering course. Pedagogical suggestions are made on how to teach freehand sketching to engineering students.

Changes in the Use of It Technologies by Students of Agricultural Faculties

Abstract Research on the selected population of students with a standardized questionnaire method concerning the use of IT technologies has been carried out since 2008/09. Results for the data from the first and the last year of research (2009 and 2016) for agricultural students were compared. It was reported that students use IT technologies in the process of learning. Majority of students − 94% (2009) and 98% (2016) positively assessed the usefulness of these technologies in the learning process. The Internet was used mainly for communication (respectively in the investigated years 82.5% and 99.1%). Usefulness of the Internet in the process of studying was marked very high - in 2009 it was 51% positive answers and in 2016 − 77%.

Using Blended Learning Approach to Deliver Courses in An Engineering Programme

The paper discusses how the use of blended learning approach was adopted to deliver a 3rd year Mechanics of Machines course for Mechanical Engineering students at the University of Botswana. The course delivery involved a mix of both face-to-face and Blackboard technology to create an efficient and effective learning environment. A survey of 101 students was conducted over a period of 3 years for the respondents to evaluate their teaching and learning preferences. The results show that students accepted the blended learning approach because of its benefits. More lecturers are encouraged to use blended learning and teaching approaches to promote active, independent and lifelong learning. KEywoRDS Blackboard Technology, Blended Learning, eLearning, Face-to-Face Learning, Online learning, University of Botswana

Tracking Design Elements in a Mechanical Engineering Curriculum

Design activity is core to modern engineering practice. Some design experience is demanded by professional bodies that accredit degree engineering programmes (e.g. ABET and ECSA). The purpose of this paper is to track design related topics through the curriculum of the mechanical engineering degree programme at the University of Botswana. A questionnaire was designed and administered to staff teaching on the programme. The responses were used to map design components in the curriculum and assess the design experience of students. The results showed that design topics were delivered in various courses and the knowledge gained by students increased steadily from Year 3 to Year 5. Some observed deficiencies in the teaching of design included lack of industry recommended projects, negligible application of design software, and the use of only single discipline based problems (i.e. no multi disciplinary teaching approach). It was concluded that a programme review is needed to improve the pedagogy of design and enhance programme robustness. It is envisaged that the study will help in designing a new mechanical engineering curriculum to satisfy accreditation requirements.