A Pedagogical Model to Educate Tomorrow's Engineers through a Cloud-based Design and Manufacturing Infrastructure - Motivation, Infrastructure, Pedagogy, and Applications

• Published in: Association for Engineering Education - Engineering Library Division Papers p. 23.87.1
• Main Authors: Patel, Srujal, Schaefer, Dirk, Schrage, Daniel P
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Atlanta American Society for Engineering Education-ASEE 23.06.2013
• Subjects: Automation; CAD; Cloud computing; Collaboration; Computer aided design; Curricula; Education; Engineering; Engineers; Experimentation; Geographical locations; Industrial robots; Infrastructure; Manufacturing; Manufacturing engineering; Mathematics; Model testing; Pedagogy; Prototypes; Robotics; Secondary school students; Secondary schools; Students; Symbiosis

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition – Atlanta, GA – June 23-26, 2013 Abstract submitted on 9.21.2012 A pedagogical model to educate tomorrow’s engineers through a cloud-based Design and Manufacturing Infrastructure— Motivation, Infrastructure, Pedagogy, and Applications Abstract Motivating high school students to pursue a career in Engineering is crucial in building a strong foundation for a successful future of any nation. In the United States, many Science, Technology,Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) programs engage high school students in projects which focus on cultivating their aptitude in a subset of the broad field of Engineering, for example Applied Mathematics, Robotics, Manufacturing, Computer-aided Design(CAD) etc. However,most of these discipline-focused activities or programs do not allow aspiring students to explore more than one facet of a field prior to making a first decision toward a career choice. Also, most high school students do not understand how engineering as a unified discipline operates in building a product that satisfies requirements from the functional as well as manufacturer’s point of view.To address these concerns, we propose a new teaching model which engages students in a structured project-based curriculum through an Integrated Design & Manufacturing Infrastructure (IDMI), which integrates both virtual resources, such as Computer-Aided Design(CAD) systems, as well as physical resources, such as additive manufacturing machines and LEGO kits. This model utilizes a cloud computing-based IT infrastructure for collaborative,distributed engineering and can be implemented at either high school or undergraduate freshmen level to introduce students to a variety of design and manufacturing related activities in a holistic fashion. In Section 1 of this paper, we provide a brief overview of the teaching model to demonstrate how various facets of Engineering like Mathematics, Scientific inquiry & experimentation, CAD,Robotics, Computer Science and Manufacturing are seamlessly interlaced in our project-based curriculum. In Section 2, we specifically address how IDMI fosters a symbiosis and integration of virtual and physical resources to deliver the teaching model proposed in Section 1. In addition,we propose a number of potential ways of implementing this model locally at one campus or in a nationwide distributed setting.In Section 3, we present an overview of a prototype implementation of our model tested in a high school summer camp program that was conducted concurrently at two geographical locations at which students participated together in collaborative team-projects as outlined in section 1.In Section 4, we summarize our experiences and lessons learned from this endeavor and draw conclusions through formative assessment activities conducted during the summer camp. We also propose multiple solutions to rectify issues that were faced during the summer camp.In Section 5, we report on how the cloud-based design and manufacture infrastructure introduced in Section 2 as well as the prototype implementations discussed in Section 3 will be scaled up to support activities at five geographical locations in summer of 2013. We focus on the technical implementation aspects as well as the pedagogical opportunities and challenges associated with these types of education activities.