This paper examines a particular methodology of teaching engineering design to undergraduate engineering students, which relies on Lego ® Mindstorms ™ . A number of important issues are addressed, including the timing of the design module within the programme, prior knowledge required and assessment components. The module, which has been running for three years, was found to have many positive attributes, not only in relation to the core design activity, but also in generating good team-building and engaging students with the degree programme.
This paper reports on certain key aspects of the design, building and testing of MyVLE, an internet-based e-learning system that is used at NUI Maynooth for the delivery of a remote program in engineering education. The system was designed from first principles with strong support for numerical disciplines integrated at the outset. The paper will describe in some detail the most novel components of the software viz. the engineering science focused interactive quiz feature and the results management component. Further we describe the background to such learning environments, the rationale behind our decision to custom-build a solution as well as drawing focus to the field of distance learning in engineering education in Ireland. This work should be of interest to researchers in distance learning in engineering and the sciences as a consequence of the finished system's modest build cost, numerical discipline support, scalable architecture, pedagogical flexibility and recorded impact.
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