The Contribution of the New Technologies and Modern Teaching Methods to the Engineering

The contribution of the new technologies and modern teaching methods to the engineering education

MARIA PARALIKA

Civil Works Technology

Technological Educational Institutions of Athens

Ag. Spyridonos and Dimitsanas str, Aigaleo

GREECE

Abstract: Engineering education must provide tothe students the scientific knowledge of many fields concerning technical design, construction, repairing, maintenance,and demolition. The main aim of education is to make the students thinking on a technical way and also to make them capable to solve technical problems during their career. The use of new technologies in engineering education isvery important because the professors have the opportunity to develop new methods of teaching like distance learning, supervising self teaching etc and the students can understand better the technical aspects. On the other hand the large window of internet provides full information at every technical field in a short time and makes possible an easiest communication between professors, students, students and professors. There are dangers if we try to substitute the real contact between students and professors and also if we super estimate the computers. An open-mind professor must use the modern tools but in the same time try to make a balance between the human brain and the computer.

Key-Words: engineering education, computer’s use, internet, teaching methods, distance learning, research

1Introduction

There is almost 35 years ago, that a new scientific field arose due to the strong questioning among the teachers, but also among the students, concerning the way to transfer the scientific knowledge, especially in physic sciences, mathematics and consequently in the scientific specializations based on physic, mathematics, chemistry, like engineering. Under the general title of “Didactic” has been developed strongly the new science which searches answers to the following main questions.

• Which are the procedures that permit us to learn effectively?

• On which way we can teach in the Universities in order to transfer the scientific knowledge? Which are the appropriate methods and how we can form an environment in the classroom in order to achieve a large communication and interaction between students and professor which will produce the best results?

During the last 15 years a new parameter has a big influence to the educational procedure. We mean the wide use of new technologies. It is estimated that year by year increases the number of topics which are computer aided taught. The average of the teaching depending on computer, internet, etc,

Are in our days almost 50% of the lessons (especially laboratories).

We try in this paper to present the contribution of the new technologies and modern teaching methods, according our experience of teaching at Technological Educational Institution of Athens - Department of Civil Works Technology.

2The engineering education

The engineering education consists of three main parameters.

• To provide strong basic knowledge of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry etc (according the specialization of engineer).
• To provide the whole special knowledge concerning the technical design, the study, the construction, the well working, the repairing, the maintenance and finally the demolition.
• To provide the ability at the students to develop step by step the technical way of thinking in order to make them capable to solve many technical problems during their career.

It is not simple to educate a good engineer. We need to combine the science with the practice, the theory with the experiment, the equations with the experience. The engineer must product a work which will be safe, effective, functional, proof against damages, long-lived, of the lowest possible cost and friendly to the environment.

They have to design it, organize its construction and supervise all the technological applications during the construction, the operation and finally the demolition of the work.

The legislation charges the engineers with the whole responsibility of the above mentioned activities.

It is not simple to be an engineer;consequently the TechnicalUniversities and their professors have the heave duty to offer a fine engineering education.On the other hand the students, like candidates engineers, must do their best in order to ‘conquest” the appropriate scientific knowledge and behavior.

Taking into account the progresses of research and the technological explosion in many technical fields i.e. the field of materials, we understand that the engineering education is continuous during the whole life.

The use of the exact mathematic formulas, transformations, etc. during the design and study of a technical concept as well as the precision of arithmetic results, are necessary parameters for the engineers. They need a strong background on Mathematics, Physics and other natural sciences, so their education on these topics becomes of an important heaviness.

Unfortunately the teaching of these topics presents some difficulties in engineering education.

The students comes from the high school,having very often the “math fear” which is born cause of a wrong perception concerning the role of mathematics .This perception leads to the static learning of formulas and methodologies, notin the use of mathematics like a necessary tool which opens our mind in order to solve several common or difficult problems of the life and work every day.

Very often appears thephenomenon of delayed graduation for a number of students because of their difficulty to pass successfully the exams of Mathematics or Physics even they “spent a lot of time for study”.

According S.Papert(1980) “the anti-math land, where students live, leads to math-fear, so the love for education is transformed to fear”.

The recover of “math land” instead of “anti-math land” during the education in University seems to be a very important issue for the professors, taking into account that usually the teaching of Mathematics takes place during the first semesters of studies.

In the third or fourth semester begins the teaching of special lessons, according the engineering specialization.

A good background in Mathematics, Physics, etc and the technical mind are necessary for the understanding of special lessons.

The time of teaching never is enough in order to complete the basic knowledge, to give specialized learning and to construct the technical way of thinking.

The traditional way of teaching, like the lectures, is very poor for the engineering educationand the traditional books cannot contain all the details and the information concerning the modern scientific conclusions.Pictures, plans and schemas are useful tools and they contribute effectively to the understanding of technical aspects.The participation as more as possible senses, during the mental procedure leads persons to a holistic perception of things and ideas. In ancient time, many philosophers like Platon, Aristoteles, Dimokritos and others have referred to the importance of “images” and “mental images”

From Rabelais, Bacon, Cartesius to Piaget, Inhelder, M.Denis ,A.Bishop and many other researchers it is mentioned the importance of image during the mental procedure.The images contribute absolutely to the development of imagination in order to be visualized a sense or an idea.

During all times and all over the world, teachers use a surface (earth, ceramics, stones, papyrus, paper, and the well known blackboard) in order to make schemas during teaching.

The practice in the laboratories is very useful because gives the opportunity for observation but, often, is not capable to fulfill the empty spaces in the mind of students and to achieve a full connection with the theoretic assessment of a topic.

The students are obliged to spend time and work hard,the most of the times out of the school during afternoon and evening,in order to understand the specialized knowledge.

It is very common method, all over the world, to let students design a technical project in order to achieve a holistic assessment at a special technical topic.The results are the best in this case but the students need some help using appropriate bibliography, previous examples and especially the contact with the teacher in order to receive accurate answers to their questions. Obviously this method requires time from bothparts, students and professors and this is a big problem in our days because we spend a lot of time in big cities for transportation between home, university, libraries etc, so the young students become anxious, they have not the time for sleeping enough or for going to the cinema or meeting friends. The results are not good for the construction of their personality and many problems appears later in the society.

It is obvious that the traditional way of education is not enough for the engineering education.

The professors have to search tools and teaching methods in order to offer an education of high quality, modern, complete and effective in a reasonable time.

This is a big challenge for the professors and Universities involving in the engineering education.

3Modern teaching methods and New Technologies

Thequick development of new Technologies (hardware and software) in our days has a big influence in many sectors including the educational procedure in Technical Universities.

The introduction of the computer in the classroom has the power to upgrade the traditional methods of teaching as well as to contribute to the development of modern methods.

The use of computer is very practicable for the teacher as well as for the students because the teacher is shot of inconvenient repetitions and the students avoid the worrying calculations. It is also a pedagogical tool which permits the imagination and the simulation and provides an additional possibility for the accurate introduction of mathematical senses ( Rogalski,1985).

The young people handle the computer easily and they can learn playing or play learning.

J.Flake noted in a recent experiment, that the feedback between student and computer was much more successful than the feedback between student and professor.

The professor may turn to advantage the computer during the lecture for the presentation of pictures, plans and schemas well done, clearly presented, in colors. He has the possibility to make focus in a part of great importance, to show easily several details,toaccompany the lecture with sounde,if necessary, to make moving texts for better impression, to show movies concerning the topic ,etc. Everything is done on a short time, clearly, lightly and pleasurably, with the possibility of repetition several times. The professor can make and present graphs for comparison contributing to better understanding, avoiding on this way the tiring prose.

The use of computer is of a great importance in the laboratorial teaching also. There, the students have the possibility to elaborate the measurements immediately, to compare with previous results, to make graphs, to connect with the theoretical solutions and to detect by them own the probable inaccuracies. It is a perfect way for the introduction of research during the post-graduate studies and the development of the future researchers.

The most of the libraries in our days provide electronic services; educational materials are made electronically and in every University are establishedspecial electronic classrooms in order to make easy the access to computer.

On the other hand, the most of engineering students buy their own personal computer during their studies like a necessary tool.

The distance communication, supporting by internet is become very easy. The young people all over the world learn on an early age how to “surf” in the internet in order to take useful information and they enjoy this type of search. Consequently they can be taught on this way.

The method of distance learning, concerning post-graduate as well under-graduate education, has a remarkable development during the last ten years. This method permitted to many people the access to education in parallel time with their professional work. It permits on the other hand to handicap persons to be educated minimizing the problems of transportations etc.

Such a method may have some application in post-graduate engineering studies, but according our opinion is not the suggesting for the under-graduate studies of engineers. The student of engineering must be in real contact with the University, the professors, the laboratories.

The professors of engineering have the opportunity to use the new technologies in the classroom in order to make the procedure more attractive and effective.

The method of supervising self-teaching ,according the theory of constructionism of S. Papert, seems to offer benefits to the engineering education.

S. Papert said that the best way to learn a topic is to try teaching it. Undoubtedly the professors know very well this principle due to their experience.

For the application of this method we have to combine the traditional way of making the students a project, with the presentation of this project by them in the classroom in order to teach their schoolmates.

Of course the important requirement for the success of this method is the right work of the professor. He must give instructions to the students concerning the form and the time of presentation and provides them information for bibliography, web sites and any other scientific source, if necessary.

The new technologies are the helpful tool in this case because we have an easy contact using e-mail.The students can send questions and parts of the project to the professor via e-mail and they will receive the answers and the corrections on the same way.So the management of the work is easier, minimizing the parameter of the lost time.

Students like very much this type of teaching because they feel happy and proud to participate actively in the educational procedure debit the first self-consiousness.The professor must be friendly, to start the teaching with humor and to stay close to the students during the presentation helping them sometimes to give the right answers to the posed questions.

We did a pilot application of this method in the Department of Civil Works Technology of Technological Educational Institution of Athens. We selected a class of thirty (30) students attendingthe optional lesson “Solid Waste Management”, to be taught this way during last semester.

Theresults were very encouraging.

The students have shown a remarkable interest and sensibleness for the problem, they have used all the suggesting scientific sources; they came closer to the professor by using his e-mail as well as the real contact with him.

The presentations took place in the classroom in a friendly climate.

The presence of the professor was necessary in order to organize the procedure, to remind the time and help to the discussion and questions.

The results of the written final examination were excellent for the whole number of students attending the lesson.

The new Technology contributes to big changes of the educational procedure concerning the educational materials, the self-evaluation of the students as well as the classic evaluation.

The e-class model seems to be very convenient and opens new horizons to the teaching and evaluating methods.

In our Department we run a project, with the financial support of a European program, aiming to the upgrade of the undergraduate studies with the contribution of new technologies.

We shall start next semester to teach with the method of supervising self-teaching tow mandatory lessons “Sewerage and wastewater treatment” and “Water supply works” as well as the optional lesson “Safety and Health at the workplaces”.

We have constructed our e-class which will contain the basic educational materials, examples and projects, links with similar and useful web sites, self-evaluation tests.

We organize a research system for the evaluation of this project and we hope we shall present some results at the next congress.

Obviously this effort would not possible in the absence of new technologies.

On the other hand we don’t forget the dangers coming due to the bad use and the super estimation of computer concerning the body, the mental and the social health, from the simple headache to the mental dependence.

We must handle carefully the new tools, to control them, to check the results. We save time using computers and this time must be spent in order to keep our mind clear, to think. The good engineer must have the perception of magnitudes, forms and operations in his mind. In case we trust the computer without checking its results some very serious failures will happen for certain. During his education the engineer must develop this critical thinking and learn how to make the balance between the human and the artificial brain in order to achieve the best results.

4Conclusions

The modern tools which the development of new technologies provides, give very important advantages to Universities in order to upgrade their operational and educational system.

In the field of engineering education there are many benefits concerning the development of modern teaching methods or the upgrade of traditional methods.