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David, I have used the future tense throughout. This approach implies that the subject is only ‘planned’ and therefore lacks credibility. By the time we publish the paper the subject may be running, so should we use the present, or even the past tense? Stephen SUBJECT STRUCTURE Engineering Innovation and Practice is one of the four subjects that form the Management Strand of the new four year Bachelor of Engineering (Table ??). These subjects are taken by all students enrolled in the Information Technology Option or the Resources and Infrastructure Option of the programme. Each of the these subjects has been allocated 4.5 credit points, which is equivalent to one eighth of a year, or about 180 hours of total student effort. The subject Communication and the Profession has been developed from an existing subject Engineering Systems, outlined by Downing et al (1993), to focus on oral and written communication together with an introduction to the engineering profession which includes some coverage of creativity. The subjects Engineering Implementation and Professional Engineering Practice, which are taught in conjunction with the School of Management, cover a broad range of topics in engineering management coupled with a more detailed focus on quality management and the management of occupational health and safety. Table ?? Management Strand of the new Bachelor of Engineering Subject Year level in course Semester Year introduced Communication and the Profession 1 2 1997 Engineering Implementation 2 1 1998 Engineering Innovation and Practice 2 2 1998 Professional Engineering Practice 3 1 1999 The formal aim of the subject Engineering Innovation and Practice is to provide students with an appreciation of a range of practical skills that are fundamental to their area of specialisation and to provide experience in the application of these and other skills in creating innovative solutions for problems both within and beyond their selected engineering Option. On completion of this subject, students are expected to be able to: • Apply a range of practical skills that are fundamental to their area of specialisation • Apply scientific and mathematical principles to the analysis of simple problems in engineering • Integrate engineering fundamentals and practical skills learned to date and apply them in creating innovative solutions to problems they have not encountered before • Appreciate the technical challenges and solution methodologies available in areas of engineering outside their selected specialisation • Use effectively the library and other IT resources in creating innovative solutions to problems • Appreciate the benefits and challenges of working in a group to tackle problems in engineering These objectives will be achieved through a series of thirteen lectures, a major eight-week project focussing on engineering practice, and a minor four-week project focussing on engineering innovation. The contact session early in the first week of the semester will be spent introducing students to the aims of the subject, presenting details of the Major and Minor Projects and giving students guidance on how the projects should be tackled. Students will select their preferred Minor Project when they have read through the project outlines following this first contact session. Students will be allocated to project groups during a second contact session towards the end of the first week of the semester. The projects will be conducted strictly over eight-week and four-week sessions. The major project will be run first so that it spans the mid-semester break, thereby providing opportunities for completing the fabrication of components, preparation of the report and other relatively time-consuming activities. Lectures The sequence of thirteen 50-minute lectures will cover the application of creativity and innovation to the solution of problems in engineering, followed by a series of case studies of engineering innovation. After the introductory lecture, three lectures on creativity will be given by a specialist in educational psychology and will focus on … (AJC to write). The remaining lectures will be taken up with nine case studies presented by staff from each of the following engineering disciplines: computer systems, civil, electrical, electronic, manufacturing, mechanical, mineral resources, telecommunications (mobile communications and signal processing). Each of the case studies will be designed to illustrate how creative thinking has been applied by engineers to develop innovative solutions to a range of problems across these discipline areas. Students will be required to produce their own brief case study of engineering innovation, in a discipline area of their choice, as a 10% component of their subject assessment. Major Project The major eight-week project will be based on a topic from within the selected engineering Option, focusing on engineering practice in its broadest sense. Students, working as individuals or in groups, will be allocated four hours per week which will be spent in computer pool rooms, drawing offices, workshops and laboratories. The initial phase of the project will involve a series of practical classes in the workshop, laboratory or on site, aimed at developing an appreciation of specific practical skills that are fundamental to the selected area of the profession and that are relevant to the specified focus of the project. These skills might include one or more from: drawing, CAD, machining, fabrication, material testing, model construction, measurement, data collection, high reliability soldering and circuit board production. The latter phase of the project will focus on the application of these skills to the solution of a specific practical problem in engineering. This major project will normally involve either the design and physical construction of a simple mechanical, electrical or electronic device or model, or the design of a simple structure or system related to infrastructure, resources or the natural environment. In 1998 the Major Project for students enrolled in the Resources and Infrastructure Option will be devoted to the design and construction of a small G-clamp. Students will work as individuals in this particular project and will be assessed largely on the practical aspects of the exercise. (DHC to give details of PES project) Minor Project The minor four-week project will focus on creativity and innovation and will normally involve students working in groups of between 2 and 6, devoting four hours per week over four weeks. The minor project may be based on a desk-top design exercise, data collection and analysis, laboratory testing, a site or field exercise, or the design and physical construction of a simple mechanical, electrical or electronic component, device or model. Each engineering discipline area will prepare an outline for one or more minor four-week projects that they are prepared to offer. These outlines will contain the following information: • title and objectives of the project, • the number of student groups and group sizes that can be accommodated, • the background and engineering basis to the project, • an outline timetable of activities for the project, • the sources of additional resource material, • name(s) of project leader(s) and their contact details, • staff contact arrangements, including practical sessions, site visits and seminars, • deadlines and assessment details. In the assessment of this project, academic rigour, construction quality and ‘engineering correctness’ will be subsidiary to creativity and innovation. Students will be encouraged to ‘break the rules’ in order to generate novel ideas. Assessment The assessable outcome of both the major and minor projects will always include a report (about 2000 words for the major project and 1000 words for the minor project) but may also include software, a seminar presentation, a demonstration and/or a physical device of some sort. The report, together with other outcomes of the Major Project, carry an assessment weighting of 60%; the Minor Project carries a weighting of 30%. The student case study of engineering innovation carries the remaining 10%. The subject has no formal summative examination. References Downing, A. R., Notley K. R., Priest S. D., Trigg C. R. and Walker D. J. (1993) Engineering Systems: an integrated project and communication based introduction to engineering. Proc Australasian Association for Engineering Education, 5th Annual Convention and Conference, Auckland, December 1993. Starkey, C.V. 1992, Engineering Design Decisions, Edward Arnold, London. That book on engineering innovation that you discovered David; I purchased a copy but I can’t find it now! 3