Malgorzata S. Zywno

Integrating the Internet, multimedia components, and hands-on experimentation into problem-based control education

At the brink of a new millennium, a shift in pedagogy toward a learner-centered approach is emerging where critical thinking skills are fostered through problem based learning opportunities and innovative approaches to instruction and student work assessment. New media technologies are being effectively used to help achieve such goals in engineering education. The paper describes technology aided teaching of undergraduate engineering courses in control theory. Early results show that students are better motivated and their achievement improves compared to when more traditional methods of instruction are used in delivering the course content.

A practical servomotor project: combining the Web with simulation tools to solidify concepts in undergraduate control education

Current technology enables the lecturer to use computer tools to enhance the conceptualisation of lecture material. This can be especially useful in an engineering curriculum, as the course material can be rendered less abstract through visual illustration of difficult mathematical concepts. In this paper, we present an example of a multimedia enhanced course in linear control theory, taught by authors at Ryerson Polytechnic University (Toronto, Canada). In our implementation of the course, we combine software simulations of practical systems to illustrate control theory concepts with extensive online course notes to assist with comprehension. Followup analysis shows that the use of the WWW and computer tools to enhance the learning process leads to increased enthusiasm, comprehension, and information retention. A review of the process required to create the technology enabled learning environment shows that initially there is a great deal of work involved. However, we conclude that the effort is justified by allowing a positive qualitative change in the way we educate engineering students.

Student learning styles, web use patterns and attitudes toward hypermedia-enhanced instruction

This paper focuses on attitudinal aspects of a four-year research on relationship between learning styles and learning outcomes in a hypermedia-enhanced environment. The research showed that a majority of engineering students had learning styles mismatched with the style of instruction that is still mostly verbal, theoretical, and does not encourage active participation. The author used hypermedia-enhanced instruction in order to provide effective scaffolding for such students. This paper discusses exit survey results showing that students overwhelmingly approved of hypermedia-assisted instruction and web support. This supports the conclusion that educational technology can accommodate a wider variety of learning style preferences, and thus increase learning.

Innovative initiatives in control education at Ryerson Polytechnic University. Fuzzy-logic control of the 3D-helicopter simulator

This paper describes one of projects undertaken at Ryerson Polytechnic University to integrate emerging trends in control engineering into the undergraduate curriculum. An intelligent control scheme based on fuzzy-logic, and developed for an experimental setup, is discussed. The process is a highly coupled 8th-order, multi-input multi-output, 3 degrees-of-freedom simulator of a helicopter. Currently the setup is used to develop control strategies for undergraduate thesis students. Eventually, the process will also be accessible to students remotely over the World Wide Web. The controller performance with the fuzzy-logic control (FLC) is benchmarked against that of a conventional controller. The simulations show that the system performance under FLC does not deteriorate away from the equilibrium point and remains comparable with, or superior to, the performance under the linear control, over the whole range of operating conditions of this setup.