International Forum On Engineering Education (IFEE 2010) Book of Abstracts

5th International Forum on Engineering Education (IFEE2010)

Engineering Education in the 21st Century - Quality, Globalization and Local Relevance
Jointly with
European SDPROMO II Conference Sustainable Development in Higher Education

23-25 November 2010
Book of Abstracts
http://www.sharjah.ac.ae/IFEE2010
5th International Forum on Engineering Education

Engineering Education in the 21st Century Quality, Globalization and Local Relevance Jointly with the
Sustainable Development in Higher Education University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Engineering Education in the 21st CenturyQuality, Globalization and Local Relevance Contributions related to preparations for accreditation, responding to and meeting accreditation requirements, assessing courses, programs and institutions for effectiveness and achievement of declared objectives and outcomes, and future relevance of local, regional and international quality standards. Contemporary issues and engineering education: impacts of globalization; emerging new trends; mobility of engineers; recognition of qualifications; rule of engineering organizations; innovation and leadership; impacts of engineering;etc. Development and implementation of innovative teaching and learning units, approaches, methods, tools, and programs. Integrating sustainable development considerations into higher education. Sustainable Development in Higher Education Integration of the principles, values and practices of sustainable development into higher education. Program and curriculum issues integration of sustainable development in objectives, outcomes, courses, teaching and learning activities, ..etc. Addressing the social, economic, cultural and environmental issues in the context of sustainable development in higher education. Sustainable development requirements for accreditation of educational programs. Collaborative approaches in sustainable development education. Policy and leadership requirements for transforming education on sustainable development. Approaches for sustainable development education. Transforming universities campuses into models for sustainable development.
European SDPROMO II Conference 23-25 November 2010
5th International Forum on Engineering Educatuion http://www.sharjah.ac.ae/IFEE2010
5th International Forum on Engineering Educatuion

The International Forum on Engineering Education (IFEE) was founded in 2001 to bring together educators, students, employers, government officials, policy and decision makers, industry representatives and representatives of concerned community organizations to contribute to the advancement and enrichment of engineering education, especially in the region. The previous four conferences were held at the University of Sharjah and were devoted to addressing a variety of issues, under the following themes: IFEE 2001: The Changing Role of Engineering Education in the Information Age Innovation & Tradition. IFEE 2002: Generic Attributes in Undergraduate Engineering Education - Issues and Development. IFEE 2003: Building Partnership with Government, Industry & Society. IFEE 2006: Integration of Teaching and Research with Community Service. The title of the current 5th IFEE (IFEE2010) is Engineering Education in the 21st Century - Quality, Globalization and Local Relevance. The conference is being held jointly with the European Conference on Promotion of Sustainable Development (SDPromo). The conference also includes presentations on special theme on cultural heritage education. As a result, IFEE2010 provides a rich educational and cultural experience on hioghly relevant contemporary issues related to quality assurnace, sustainable development and cultural heritage education. Three keynote speakers were invited to address IFEE2010 delegates, as follows: Dr. Rita Awad, Director of Culture, Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALESCO) keynote presentation is titled The Role of International and Regional Organisations in Cultural Heritage Education by Dr. Hassan Al-Bassri, National University of Malaysia keynote presentation is titled Malaysia in the Washington Accord: Assuring Quality in Engineering Education Dr. Karel Mudlar, Delft University of Technology keynote presentation is titled Sustainability Challenges and Modern Engineering Education IFEE2010 is a result of the efforts of delegates and organizers. On behalf of the IFEE2010 committees, I thank our delegates, especially the many returning ones, and every one else who contributed towards IFEE2010.
Prof. Abdallah Shanableh IFEE Founder and General Chair On Behalf of the IFEE2010 Committees
Conference Organization
Honorary Chair General Chair
Prof. Samy Mahmoud, Chancellor of the University of Sharjah
Prof. Abdallah Shanableh
Advisory Committee
Dr. Mohammed Maalej (Chair) Mufid Samarai (Co-Chair) Dr. Nabil Kallas (Co-Chair) Eng. Ali Tahmaz Eng. Raad El Haidary
Organizing Committee
Dr. Maher Omar (Chair) Dr. Khaled Hamad (Co-Chair) Mrs. Faiza Shadoud Dr. Mahmoud Saad Dr. Qassim Nasir Eng. Hussein Ousman Ahmad Eng. Humam Bashar Al Sebai
Scientific Committee
Prof. Maamar Bettayeb (Chair) Dr. Omer Zia Dr. Monzur Imteaz Dr. Atuar Rahman Prof. Michele Rosano Prof. Abdulkadir Hamid Prof. Fahr Hyati Prof. Yoshihisa Shimizu Prof. Mustahan Mir Dr. Dima Jawad Dr. Riyad Abdel-Karim Prof. Shafik Jundia Dr. Abdullah F. Al-Dwairi Prof. Fahmi Abu Al-Rub Dr. Fouad Gharaybeh Prof. Mohamed Abuelmaatti Prof. Salih Duffuaa Dr Sajida Zaki Eng. Zahid Ali Dr. Zohreh Eslami
Content Five Decades of Engineering Education - A Nostalgic Look Back, A Bold Look Forward Klaus Wuersig ......................................................................................................................................... Development of Higher Education in Jordan Fouad Gharaybeh ..................................................................................................................................... In GCC Countries: Has the Multidisciplinary Engineering Education Come of Age? Muhammad Taher Abuelma'atti .............................................................................................................. Multi-Specialization: The Future Requirement Muthanna J. M. Al-Khishali and Haider M. D. Al-Juboori ................................................................... Malaysia in The Washington Accord: Assuring Quality in Engineering Education Hassan Al-Bassri ................................................................................................................................................... Omar Zia and Austin Asgill.......................................................................................................................
Page No.
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Lessons Learned from the Experience of Having Two Accreditation Visits in the Same Year
Accreditation and ISO Certification as Tools in Ensuring Excellence and Total Quality in Education Cynthia C. Llanes ..................................................................................................................................... Seeking ABET Accreditation of Manufacturing and Mechanical Maintenance Technology Programs at Yanbu Industrial College Yaser Abdulaziz Hadi ..............................................................................................................................
N. Bekheet, S. M. A. Suliman, M. Nabhan, A. Haider and O. Al-Jamal ............................................. Fahmi Abu Al-Rub, Rami Oweis and Naser Hamdi ........................................................................... Dimensions of Quality in Engineering Education Salih O. Duffuaa .....................................................................................................................................................
8 9
Accreditation Experience of the Mechanical Engineering Program at University of Bahrain
Program Stakeholders Perception of ABET
........
10 11
On the Use of Quality Tools for Improvement of the Learning Process in Engineering Education
Mohamed Aichouni and Serhan S. Al-Shammari ......................................................................................... The Engineering Education in Algeria in the New System The Case Study of the Faculty of Engineering, Tlemcen Megnoufi Abdellatif ...............................................................................................................................................
12 13
A Quantifiable Quality Assurance System for Engineering Course Raid Al-Aomar ......................................................................................................................................... Quality Control of Learning by Outcomes Based Learning Management System for Graduate Project Management Course Hamid Khan ............................................................................................................................................... Assessment and Evaluation of Program Outcomes: a Vehicle for Accreditation and Continuous Improvement Jamal A. Abdalla .................................................................................................................................................... Intelligent Evaluation in Educatinoal Context Riadh Besbes, Kabil Fekih, Adel Aimi ................................................................................................... Accreditation and Program Assessment A. Shanableh, S. Barakat, M. Omar, K. Hamad, F. Shadoud ..................................................................... Identifying Reasons for Students non-uniform Learning Outcomes Monzur Alam Imteaz, Catherine Lang and Abdallah Shanableh ............................................................ Early Warning Indicator at University of Sharjah - Proposed System M. Omar, A. Shanableh, K. Hamad and F.Shadoud .............................................................................. 3D Scientific Visualization as a Powerful Teaching Tool Othmane Bouhali, Faisal Chaudhry and Ali Sheharyar ....................................................................... E-Learning, an Effective Tool of Sustainable Higher Education Karim Gazzeh ........................................................................................................................................... Designing and Developing a Web Enhanced Project Management Course for Engineering Graduating Students Tomas Ganiron Jr and Abdelghani Toumi ........................................................................................... Use of Learning Design Methodology and Knowledge Management in Online Graduate Courses Muhammad Sohail Ahmed and Bob Lahidji ......................................................................................... Multimedia Teaching Methods Amani Mubark Al-Khatir .......................................................................................................................... Development and Implementation of a E- Management System in a Geographically Spread Educational structure Abdelghani Toumi Bahia Benchakroune, Noureddine Saidani .......................................................... Intercultural Communicative Competence in Engineering: Working Effectively with People from Different Cultures Zohreh R. Eslami and Hassan Moghbelli ..............................................................................................
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Cellular Automata Educational and Research Platform Karim Salman and Chris Stocker ........................................................................................................... A New Approach to Student Development: Effat University Case Study Rania M. Ibrahim ...................................................................................................................................... Development of Design, Implementation and Troubleshooting Skills of EE Students Mustahsan Mir .......................................................................................................................................... Critical Thinking as an Outcome of Architectural Design Education: What is it and Why is it Important to Design Practice? Amineh Andjomshoaa and Farzin Keynia.................................................................................................... Use of Commercial Structural Engineering Software in Structural Analysis Courses at the Undergraduate Level M Talha Junaid ......................................................................................................................................... Project-Based and Technology Enhanced Learning Approach for Middle Eastern Engineering Students A Haddad and L. Khezzar ....................................................................................................................... A Project-Based Active/Cooperative Engineering Design Course for Freshman Level Students Faisal I. Iskanderani, Abdelfattah A. Soliman, Reda A. Abdulaal, and Ali M. Al-Bahi ...................... Benchmarking Design Experience in Industrial Engineering Programs Ahmed E. Haroun and Salih O. Duffuaa................................................................................................... Integrated project approach as new teaching method: Risk and Hydraulic Engineering Tew-Fik Mahdi .......................................................................................................................................... Incorporating Contemporary Issues in BME Curricula Naser Hamdi, Rami Oweis and Fahmi Abu Al-Rub ............................................................................. Development of A Control And Evaluation Strategy For The Coop Training Program at The College of Engineering In Qassim University A.F. Almarshoud, E.S. Gadelmawla,A.E. Abdelraheim and K.K. Esmaeil ............................................. Certificate Level Enhancement Training Program at Colleges of Technology in Oman: A Unique Graduates Future Career and Market-Need Based Approach A. A. Yahya, T. Pervez, M. Al-Aaraimi, F. Aljahwari ............................................................................. Assessment of the Practical Training Requirement in Engineering Education in Palestinian Universities Riyad Abdel-Karim and Samir Helou ................................................................................................. Michael Jacobson ..................................................................................................................................................
28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41
Industry Incorporated Engineering Curriculum
Interaction Between Industry and Engineering Education Institutions for Relevant Updated Engineering Education Zahid Ali ...................................................................................................................................................................
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Enterpreneurship, Small Business Management, Incubation: New Engineering Education Trends

Analytical Study to Develop the Quality of Instructions within Engineering Faculty at the Islamic University of Gaza Shafik Jendia, Mohammed Hussein, Farid Al-Qeeq ............................................................................ An Inquiry Discovery Separation Based Instruction Technique for Promoting Experiental Design Learning Abdullah F. Al-Dwairi ............................................................................................................................... The Experimental Teaching of Chemical and Process Engineering: Objectives and Challenges H. Benassa ............................................................................................................................................... Enhencing Students Learning Through 3-Tier Self Evaluation Model: Successful Implementation at a Public Sector Engineering University Sajida Zaki ................................................................................................................................................ University Common Courses: What do they stand for in the curriculum ? Ahmed Hamid and Mahmoud Kulaib ....................................................................................................
Hatem A. Elaydi ......................................................................................................................................................
43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54
The Effect of Physics Placement Tests and Remedial Physics Courses on the Performance of UoS Engineering and Sciences Students Hussein M. Elmehdi .................................................................................................................................. The Joined Responsibility of the Science & Engineering Faculties in the Processing of Engineering Students Abdullah avusoglu, Haldun Abdullah and Erzat Erdil ....................................................................... Cross-Cultural Science and Engineering Education: The German-Jordanian University Experience Julie Hamdi and Akeel Al-Kazwini ........................................................................................................ Gender Based Statistical Analysis of Students in Engineering Students Over Ten Years Ahmed Imran, Mohamed Nasor and Fahar G. Hayati .......................................................................... A Tool for Efficient Planning of Course Offerings and Effective Academic Advising in a Customized Credit-Hour System Ahmed Obaide and Tarek Nada ............................................................................................................. Evaluation of Research in Two Saudi Universities Using a Bibliometric Based Approach Muhammad Taher Abuelma'atti and Aisha M.T. Abuelma'atti ............................................................
Course Binder Preparation According to ABET EC 200 A Case Study in Arabic Region Maged H. Hussein ................................................................................................................................................. Program Review: Computer Engineering at the University of Sharjah Case Study Mohamed Saad and Bassel Soudan .................................................................................................... Introducing Biotechnology to the Chemical Engineering Curriculum at UAE University Sulaiman Al-Zuhair .................................................................................................................................. Integrating Biochemistry and Biology for Bioengineering Option in Chemical Engineering Curriculum Md M Hossain ........................................................................................................................................... Can a Third World University Become a World Class University ? Muhammad Taher Abuelmaatti and Aisha M.T. Abuelmaatti ........................................................... Do UAEU Engineering Graduates Get Comparable Education to Graduates of Western Universities ? Mohamed M. Mohamed and Mohsen M. Sherif ..................................................................................... Transportation Engineering Education in Undergraduate Civil Engineering Curricula in the Middle East Khaled Hamad, Maher Omar and Abdallah Shanableh ...................................................................... Comparison of Civil Engineering Curricula in the Arab Middle East Countries Sami Tabsh , Akmal Abdelfatah, Mohamed Al Hamaydeh and Sherif Yehia ...................................... Instructional Methodology and Engineering Education in Arab World Adel A. Al-Azzawi .................................................................................................................................... Active Learning Experience at UPC: STD International Seminar Ferrer, Didac; Motrel, Ana Paula; Pujadas, Marta; Segalas, Jordi and Tejedor, Gemma.................. Engineering Students Getting the Bigger Picture Gertjan de Werk and Karel Mulder .................................................................................................................. Sustainable Development education at the National Technical University of Ukraine Kiev Polytechnic Institute: Experience of a Joint Course of 4 European Universities E. Nikiforovich, O. Kordas, R. Wennersten, J. Segals and K. Mulder .................................................. Green Construction: Options for Incorporating Sustainability into Graduate Construction Programs Edgar P. Small and Dima Jawad ....................................................................................................................... A Pedagogical Framework for Integrating Sustainability in the Engineering Design Education Sarah Khalil Elmasry ............................................................................................................................................
55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69
Sustainability Education in Civil Engineering Programs within the GCC States Dima Jawad and Edgar Small ................................................................................................................
Strategies for Integrating Sustainable Development into Higher Education H. Meliani and R. Djoudjou .................................................................................................................... Integrating Sustainable Development Concepts in Engineering Education, Specially in Civil Engineering Education
Zahid Ali ................................................................................................................................................................... Mohamed M. Mohamed and Munjed Maraqa ................................................................................................
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71 72
Environmental Engineering Education (E3) in the UAE: Survey and Comparative Study
Integrating Sustainability Education in a Classical Civil Engineering Program: The Case of Transportation and Construction Courses
Salwa Beheiry, Ghassan Abu-Lebdeh, Maruf Murtula and Adil K. Al-Tamimi ....................................
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The Participation of High Education in the Instantaneous Preparation of Sustainable Development Human Resources
Mukdad Abdulwahhab Al-Khateeb ................................................................................................................... Hafsa Al Omari ....................................................................................................................................................... Adil K. Al-Tamimi, Maruf Mortula, Ghassan Abu-Lebdeh and Salwa Beheiry .................................... Rym Aiouni, Tahar Bensebaa and Hana Bensalem .................................................................................... A. Guen Bou Azza, B. Bou Azza, H. Guen and Ne Chabane Sari .......................................................... .............................................................................................................................................. ......................................................................................................................................................
74 75 76 77 78 79 80
Towards a Sustainable Approach in Teaching Islamic Architecture
Applications of Sustainable Materials in Civil Engineering Education Algorithmic Evaluation Method for a Learning Environment Solar Energy in Favor of Communications in Isolated Sites
Five Decades of Engineering Education A Nostalgic Look Back, a Bold Look Forward
Klaus Wuersig
University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, USA E-mail: wuersig@pitt.edu
p to about 1960, Engineering Education had not changed significantly from the previous five decades. Problem solutions were accomplished by using CRC Handbooks and the slide rule. The invention of the transistor in 1947, and the subsequent invention of integrated circuits would change Engineering Education forever. Main frame computers started appearing on college campuses and a high level language called Fortran made it possible to solve Engineering problems that were too daunting for students to solve in the past. Then in the early seventies the hand held calculator made its appearance. In 1972 the H-P 35calculator, using reverse polish notation, was $395 and even though that cost was prohibitive it was the beginning of the end for the slide rule. It was only five years later that at the West Coast Computer Fair AppleII, the first real usable personal computer, made its appearance. Software manufacturers now created powerful programs that could make life so much easier for students and faculty and gave them the ability to solve complex problems within a few minutes. Super Calc, Excel, MatLab and others, were programs that provided not before seen capabilities and programs like Word Perfect and MS-Word made the type writer obsolete. In 1962 an agency called Advanced Research Projects Agency ( ARPA ) was created. It was the forerunner of what culminated in 1993 into the World Wide Web. In 1968 ARPA had four Host computers, now there are millions. Information that used to be obtained through painstaking research at the library is now available with a few keystrokes. As we move into the teen years of the 21st century we see new developments that will affect Engineering curriculums. Alternate Energy sources and Nanotechnology will have a dramatic impact on course materials and will lead to completely new Engineering disciplines. What a ride it has been for those last 50 years and the excitement and impact of new devices and technologies will continue for the next half century.
Development of Higher Education in Jordan

Fouad Gharaybeh
Civil Engineering Department Jordan university of Science and Technology Irbid, 22110 P.O.Box 3030, Jordan Email: fouadg@just.edu.jo
igher education in Jordan has grown drastically in the last decade. The number of students, teaching staff and universities has been duplicated many folds. This study will focus on the development of higher education components in general and the development of engineering education in particular between the years 2000-2010. The study will show statistics about the government and private universities indicating number of students, specializations, and course programs given. The development models of higher education components will be formulated. The annual growth rates of higher education components will be compared with population growth rate. The relationships between number of students and teaching staff will be graphically presented. KEYWORDS: Higher Education; Engineering Education; Jordanian Universities; Development Models; Accreditation
In GCC Countries: Has the Multidisciplinary Engineering Education Come of Age?

Muhammad Taher Abuelma, atti
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals Box 203, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia E-mail: mtaher@kfupm.edu.sa
his paper discusses the differences between interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary engineering education. As an example, the paper also looks into the current status of electrical and computer engineering education in two of the largest universities in the GCC countries. The paper suggests that a major reshuffling of engineering education in the GCC universities and the introduction of multidisciplinary engineering education is needed in order to produce graduates who can serve well the future needs of their societies. KEYWORDS: Engineering Education; Interdisciplinary Engineering Education; Multidisciplinary Engineering Education; Transdisciplinary Engineering Education.
Multi-Specialization: The Future Requirement

Muthanna J. M. Al-Khishali1 and Haider M. D. Al-Juboori2
Laser and Optoelectronics Engineering Department, College of Engineering - Nahrain University, Jaderiah, Baghdad, Iraq E-mail: muthanaj2005@yahoo.com 2 Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) Photo Injector Test Facility (PITZ) Group/Germany-Zeuthen, Germany E-mail: haider.aljuboori@yahoo.com
1
t is clear that advancements in science and technology give rise to develop specializations and change their types. It also causes these specializations to interfere with each other. By focusing on large scale projects, it can be realised that interference of specializations become an important condition and not a temporary case that may vanish by ending the multifarious project. In fact, matters become more complicated once a technical or scientific project is planned whether they are limited in their involvedness or boundless. From this point of view, the need arises to provide persons who are specialized with more than one field of specialization as well as computing abilities and foreign languages as well. According to the personal experience of the authors in collecting more than one specialization and making use of these specializations equally, in addition to the large number of other persons having equal abilities, it was found that it is necessary to focus on this issue of multi-specialization and show its advantages and suggest or design the proper educational and scientific procedures to achieve this aim. One way of achieving a practical procedure to provide a multi-specialized engineer, for instance, is to create new scientific departments or develop traditional ones to acquire the required specializations. This solution have been well established in famous universities such as Michigan University and Wellington Institute of Technology as well as normal level ones, such as Nahrain University and University of Technology where new departments were established and the students were graduated from these departments; [e.g. : Laser and Optoelectronics Engineering, Mechatronics, Biomedical Engineering, Engineering physics, and others]. Our main theme here is to focus in depth on these important experiences in order to expand it to include most of our universities within the Arab countries and give reasons of the importance of adding or collecting some specializations to one person to be a multi-specialist in certain fields. Also the research will focus on the necessity of the society, represented by industrial projects or firms, scientific research centres, and even universities to this kind of multi-specialists. KEYWORDS: Contemporary Issues and Engineering Education; Sustainable Development Education; Emerging New Trends
Malaysia in the Washington Accord: Assuring Quality in Engineering Education

Hassan Basri
National University of Malaysia, Malysia E-mail: drhb@ukm.my
he Washington Accord is an international agreement which recognizes the substantial equivalency of engineering degree programs accredited by the responsible bodies in each of the current eight signatory countries. It recommends that graduates of accredited programs be mutually recognised as having met the academic requirements for entry to the practice of engineering in any member country. In 2003, Malaysia was accorded provisional signatory status alongside Germany, Singapore and Japan. In June 2009, a significant milestone was achieved when Malaysia was unanimously accepted as a full signatory of the Accord after a six year period of rigorous mentoring and audit by international peers. In this presentation, the significance and implications of the Washington Accord agreement will be highlighted with special reference to developing countries. The paper will also document experiences of some engineering faculties and the Engineering Accreditation Council (EAC) of Malaysia in meeting the requirements of the sponsors and mentors. In particular, efforts in introducing elements of Outcome-Based Education as a key requirement for full membership of the Accord will be presented.
Lessons Learned from the Experience of Having Two Accreditation Visits in the Same Year
Omar Zia and Austin Asgill
Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology Southern Polytechnic State University Marietta, Georgia, USA E-mail: ozia@spsu.edu
ccreditation is a nongovernmental and voluntary process of evaluation concerned with improving educational quality and assuring the public that member institutions meet established standards. Unlike Europe that still lacks a common system for accreditation of educational programs, US universities, with engineering or engineering technology programs have to meet the standards and requirements of two different accrediting institutions. The university as whole is accredited by a Regional Accreditation agency. The engineering and engineering technology programs are additionally accredited by ABET. While it is very rare that an institution will have both accreditation agencies visiting in the same year, it does occasionally occur. Southern Polytechnic State University has recently had to deal with this occurrence. In preparing for these visits, several challenges were encountered that contributed to making the task more arduous than usual. This paper discusses some of the issues encountered in preparing for the two visits and the efforts made to reconcile the ABET and SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) accreditation requirements. In the process, there were some lessons learned that can be very useful to survive the accreditation visits. The objective of this paper is to share those lessons and experience with colleagues. KEYWORDS: Accreditation; ABET; University; Experience
Accreditation and ISO Certification as Tools for Ensuring Excellence and Total Quality in Education
Cynthia C. Llanes
Technological Institute of the Philippines Quezon City, Philippines E-mail: cllanes@yahoo.com
ince its founding in 1962, the Technological Institute of The Philippines (TIP) has endeavored to continuously re-define the meaning of academic life, in terms of its own identity and processes as well the level of excellence and quality of the educational services it offers to its clientele. TIP is one among a select number of schools in the Philippines with a Quality Management System (QMS) certified compliant to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). As a way of ensuring excellence and total quality in education, the school voluntarily submitted itself to the accreditation process through the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation (PACUCOA) as the accrediting agency under the umbrella of the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP). This paper discusses 1) a brief description of the accreditation process in the Philippines, 2) the actions taken by the school to comply with accreditation and ISO standards, 3) how these efforts contributed in the realization of its mission to transform students into graduates with full competence in their respective fields of study, and 4) the outcomes of accreditation and ISO Certification processes. KEYWORDS: Total Quality in Education; Competent Graduates; Accreditation and ISO Standards
Seeking ABET Accreditation of Manufacturing and Mechanical Maintenance Technology Programs at Yanbu Industrial College
Yaser Abdulaziz Hadi
Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology Yanbu Industrial College, Saudi Arabia Email: yasirhadi@yahoo.com
his paper narrates the effort in seeking ABET accreditation by the Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology at Yanbu Industrial college (YIC). An overview of the process of ABET accreditation and the timeline of significant events prior to the on-site visit at YIC by an ABET evaluation team is presented. The focus of this paper is the lessons learned during the several years of preparation. The suggestions offered to the department by the ABET evaluation are explained and included by enumerating the assets and liabilities of the department received during the period of preparation for accreditation..
Accreditation Experience of the Mechanical Engineering Program at University of Bahrain

N. Bekheet, S. M. A. Suliman, M. Nabhan, A. Haider, and O. Al-Jamal
Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Bahrain, Bahrain, P.O Box 32038 E-Mail: nbekheet@eng.uob.bh
nstitutions of higher education are becoming increasingly involved in conducting assessment of their academic programs and administrative support systems. Department of Mechanical Engineering (DOME) of University of Bahrain (UOB) has worked strongly during the last 6 years towards acquiring ABETinc accreditation for its B.Sc. program. To satisfy ABET nine criteria, many hurdles were being faced: the most difficult ones were the establishment of Program Educational Objectives (PEOs) and Program Outcomes (POs). This has gone through a number of trials and modifications by the Departmental Accreditation Committee (DAC) that was formed to prepare for accreditation. Though, the ABET definitions of objectives as broad statements that describe the career and professional accomplishment ---, and outcomes as narrower statements that describe what students are expected to know and be able to do ---, seem to be simple and straight forward, nevertheless, the DAC in consultation with the Program Industrial Advisory Committee (PIAC) kept revising and rephrasing the objectives and outcomes each time it discovered a need for more elaboration and/or confusion of the two criteria. Professional expertise from industry and the program alumni were the main tools for the assessment of PEOs and POs, while faculty and senior exit students assessed only the POs. Assessment of PEOs and POs showed the strengths and weaknesses of the educational process. Subsequently, continuous improvement strategies were set to elaborate on the strengths and to overcome the weaknesses. The implementation of these strategies was made by revising the curriculum, teaching methods, lab facilities etc. The self study of the program showed a good improvement of students and graduate performance. As a results of this process, the program has been successfully accredited by ABET in September 2009. KEYWORDS: Accreditation; Mechanical Engineering Program; Program Educational Objectives; Program Educational Outcomes; Continuous Improvement
Program Stakeholders, Perception of ABET

Fahmi Abu Al-Rub1, Rami Oweis2, Naser Hamdi2
Chemical Engineering Department, Jordan University of Science & Technology P.O. Box 3030, Irbid, Jordan, E-mail: abualrub@just.edu.jo 2 Biomedical Engineering Department, Jordan University of Science & Technology P.O. Box 3030, Irbid, Jordan
1
his paper presents the results of a study aimed at identifying/evaluating the perceptions of some program stakeholders; namely: students, alumni, and faculty, of ABET. Three different surveys were prepared and distributed to these program stakeholders. Stakeholders of ABET accredited and ABET-not accredited programs at Jordan University of Science & Technology (JUST) participated in this study. Analysis of these surveys showed that students believe that having ABET is a right for them from their departments, and they would be proud if their programs were ABET accredited. Faculty survey showed that most of the faculty members of the ABET accredited programs: are proud of being ABET accredited, strongly support obtaining ABET accreditation, and agree that obtaining ABET accreditation is very important for themselves, students, and graduates. Moreover, they think that ABET requirements enhanced their teaching and the quality of teaching in their departments and help their departments achieve their strategic plans. KEYWORDS: ABET; Stakeholders; Accreditation; Surveys; JUST.
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Dimensions of Quality in Engineering Education

Salih O. Duffuaa
Department of Systems Engineering King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, 31261, Saudi Arabia E-mail: duffuaa@kfupm.edu.sa
ngineering education makes vital contributions to the economic development of nations. Engineers graduating at the undergraduate level are expected to design, operate and maintain production and service systems. Engineers graduating at the post graduate level are expected to innovate and invent new technologies. In the world there are several systems for engineering education. These systems differ in structure and approaches. Examples of these systems are the European, the Australian and American systems. Each one of these systems has its features and uniqueness. Quality is an important goal in all educational systems. Quality in engineering education is defined as the ability of the graduates to achieve excellence and accomplish certain outcomes. Each of the above mentioned educational systems has an approach for quality assurance that expected to ensure the quality of graduate of engineering education. The approaches differ in content and processes. This paper reviewed different approaches, models and practices for quality assurance and improvement of engineering education in different educational systems and environments. These systems include the British, Australian and American. Then the paper outlied the impact of globalizations on the quality assurance systems. Then the paper projected the quality dimensions in production and service systems on the output of engineering education, the engineer. The dimensions of quality defined may be used as a basis for unifying quality assurance systems worldwide. KEYWORDS: Educational Systems; Dimensions of Quality; Quality Assurance; Golbalization.
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On the Use of Quality Tools for Improvement of the Learning Process in Engineering Education
Mohamed Aichouni1 and Serhan S. Al-Shammari 2
Associate Professor, College of Engineering University of Hail, Saudi Arabia, E-mail: m.aichouni@uoh.edu.sa 2 Lecturer, College of Engineering University of Hail, Saudi Arabia ,E-mail: Serhan.sh@gmail.com
1
he paper is dedicated to make a review of basic concepts on process improvement and to show the possibility of applying these concepts within the sphere of engineering education. A special focus will be made on the use of the basic quality tools by educators to improve the quality of the learning process in engineering courses at higher education institutions. A case study of an introductory engineering course delivered to first year engineering students at the University of Hail will be presented and discussed using these tools and techniques. The use of these tools by faculty members revealed great areas of improvement in the management of the course and the delivery of its contents. KEYWORDS: Engineering education; Continuous Process Improvement; Quality Tools; TQM in education.
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The Engineering Education in Algeria in the New System The Case Study of the Faculty of Engineering, Tlemcen
Abdellatif Megnounif
Faculty of Science Engineering, University of A. Belkaid, B.P. 230, Tlemcen, Algeria E-mail: abdellatif_megnounif@yahoo.fr
he Algerian government has begun, in recent years, a global reform of the system of higher education to meet new system requirements imposed by the new socio-economical data. The choice fell on the LMD: Bachelor-MasterDoctorate system which examines and defines the ways and means to teach, study and evaluate differently in higher education. After five years of implementation, it is useful to evaluate (at least, locally) some important points of this system, where the purpose is the search for quality in the university. An investigation was then conducted at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Tlemcen through a questionnaire made of 13 questions given to students. The results obtained, after analysis were very encouraging, even though the survey revealed some difficulties and other shortcomings closely related to the adaptation of the university community to the new system. KEYWORDS: Evaluation; LMD; Questionnaire; Reform; System; Survey.
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A Quantifiable Quality Assurance System for Engineering Courses

Raid Al-Aomar
Engineering Management Master Program University of Abu Dhabi, UAE Email: raid.alaomar@adu.ac.ae
ngineering courses represent the core of engineering education. Measuring the quality of engineering courses is therefore an essential component in the assurance of the overall quality of engineering education. Local and international accreditation programs such as Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) also place emphasis on the role of engineering courses and insist on implementing a viable system for assuring their quality. A variety of educational and learning criteria are used by engineering colleges to assess the quality of engineering courses and to meet the requirements of national and international accreditation programs. In ABET, for example, meeting course outcomes stated in course syllabus is a key criterion for assessing course quality. These outcomes are often mapped with the outcomes of evaluated engineering program. However, ABET accreditation program does not specify the quality assurance system to be adopted by the evaluated program in order to prove their effort, display readiness, and successfully achieve course outcomes. Engineering programs vary in methods and systems used to synthesize various course elements in an integrated quality assurance system. These systems range from a checklist of various course constituents to sophisticated assessment techniques and completeness auditing systems. The qualitative nature of these assessment systems makes it difficult to measure course progress, compare courses, and develop standard performance levels. This paper presents a quality assurance system that synthesizes various course constituents including the course work, instructor, delivery method, evaluation, accreditation, and continuous improvement. The system also quantifies the course quality attributes using ten Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). It then utilizes Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to determine an overall course score based on the course rating in the ten KPIs. The approach can be utilized for ABET accreditation, controlling and managing engineering courses, and general faculty development. KEYWORDS: Engineering Education, Course Quality, Engineering Accreditation.
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Quality Control of Learning by Outcomes Based Learning Management System for Graduate Project Management Course
Hamid Khan
Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio, TX, USA Email: akhan@lake.ollusa.edu
xcellence in teaching is really excellence in student learning outcomes, which shows evidence of best student performance. This classical experiment examines specific learning objectives by IT-enabled learning management systems and measures specific leaning outcomes accurately, showing effectiveness of learning quality control managed by students themselves. Teaching of a graduate Project Management class requires a student learn to apply strategies of project management. Students must acquire knowledge, skills, and demonstrate accurate behavior. So specific learning objectives (SLOb) of the course were clearly enunciated to the students from which specific leaning outcomes (SLOu) were clearly expected from them. An online Learning Management System (LMS) was used for such outcomes measurement. Fifteen take home exams and fifteen corresponding retention quizzes for unlimited improvement by the student, and three major exams were given under strict proctoring conditions which contained specific learning constructs (SLC) that emphasized the specific learning outcomes. We wanted apply learning outcomes quality control by attribute and determine the control limits of student performance so that 99.7% of the random variation would be included in the performance control process. This approach guides the instructor of the course as well as the students themselves to manage their own achievements and improve the quality of learning outcomes by adaptive feedback control. Such measures also monitor student achievement and progress in a timely manner for meeting the stringent requirement of defensible quality control enabled and supported by IT. And, such evidence gathering is also helpful for accreditation needs and faculty performance evaluation with regard to teaching effectiveness. Manual control would have been impossible. KEYWORDS: Project management evaluation, learning outcomes
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Assessment and Evaluation of Program Outcomes: a Vehicle for Accreditation and Continuous Improvement
Jamal A. Abdalla
Civil Engineering Department American University of Sharjah Sharjah, United Arab Emirates E-mail: jabdalla@aus.edu
he Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) has defined eleven program (students) outcomes a-k for all engineering programs. This paper will address the elements, tools and processes of assessment and evaluation of engineering programs outcomes in general and civil engineering program outcomes in particular. It will present a framework for defining performance criteria for outcomes, rubrics for measuring these performance criteria, mapping of the relevant curriculum components into these performance criteria and the direct and indirect measures for assessing these performance criteria. The process of assessing and satisfying the performance criteria of program outcomes and for evaluating them and closing the loop will also be outlined. In addition, it will show how the assessment of program outcomes can be integrated in the overall program assessment, evaluation and improvement processes. This will help in documenting program effectiveness for local or international accreditation (ABET) as well as in improving students learning.
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Intelligent Evaluation in Educatinoal Context

Riadh Besbes1, Kabil Fekih2 and Adel Alimi1
National High School of Engineering, Sfax, Tunisia. High Institute of fine arts, Sousse, Tunisia. 1 E-mail: riadhbesbes@yahoo.fr
1 2
he idea is to conceive an intelligent computing system of decision-making aid. In the context of teaching learning, the quantification of the human behaviors is the key to this systems innovation. That gives an opportunity of measuring the professional acts of the teachers in class and makes possible to locate the practices compared to the pedagogical theories, and especially compared to the constructive approach. In addition, this system helps to identify the students styles of learning; therefore it places, at the disposal, information which facilitates to the teachers the adaptation of their pedagogical methods so that the student can benefit of an optimal assimilation. With this intelligent computing system the students can also profit from an innovating alternative: result of the web based performances analysis in summative evaluation. It is a generated report, for each student, automatically at the end of the seizure of the marks stipulating in details their weak points and specifying the adequate remedies in terms of activities to be realized to proceed to reflexive regulations in order to raise their levels of assimilation. A successful system is starting from observable behaviors in classrooms and of performances seized remotely via the Web, to quantify in a rational way the cognitive and emotional states of the actors of the context of teaching learning. The general objectives of the system would be: classifying the profiles of the teachers starting from their professional competences based on their pedagogy, behavior and attitude, classifying the learners profiles by analyzing their interactions and analyzing their performances in summative evaluations, adapting the resources of the teachers pedagogical methods in order to have a better coherence with the profiles of identities, the profiles of motivation and the profiles of comprehension of learner. KEYWORDS: Evaluation, Statistics, Fuzzy Logic, Learner Profile, Teacher Profile
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Accreditation and Program Assessment

A. Shanableh, S. Barakat, M. Omar, K. Hamad, F. Shadoud
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Email: Shanableh@sharjah.ac.ae
uring the past four years, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the University of Sharjah (UoS) has experienced two accreditation cycles; accreditation by the Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA) of the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE); and by the United States-based Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). As a result, the co-authors, who formed the core accreditation team in the Department, have developed significant experience with program assessment for accreditation. The aspects of program assessment that are discussed in this article are: program educational objectives (PEO); program outcomes (PO); program criteria (PC); and graduates transcripts (ST). Assessment combined with proper documentation are meant to demonstrate that the PEOs, POs, PC, and ST are addressed, attained and/or evidenced for individual graduates and hence for the program. Based on experience at the UoS, direct assessment that addresses the various elements of the PEO, PO, PC, and ST offers a convenient approach. Furthermore, assessment requires input from internal and external program constituency and as such, close links between the program and its constituency must be maintained. In this article, the assessment approach recommended by the coauthors based on their collective experiences is described to provide a basis for discussion and further improvements. KEYWORDS: Engineering Program, Program Accreditation, Program Assessment
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Identifying Reasons for Students Non-Uniform Learning Outcomes

Monzur Alam Imteaz1, Catherine Lang2 and Abdallah Shanableh3
Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne VIC3122, AUSTRALIA, 2 Professional Learning Unit, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC3122, AUSTRALIA. 3 Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Sharjah, UAE E-mail: mimteaz@swin.edu.au
1
his paper presents results of an investigation into identifying reasons for students non-uniform assignment outcomes in a first year subject in the Civil Engineering discipline and proposees some effective measures to overcome this issue. The subject has been taught for three years since it was introduced in 2007. The assessment of the subject includes three assignments contributing 40% of the final result. In 2007 and 2008 the author observed that students performed well in the the first and third assignment, however student performance in Assignment 2 was poor. This observation was confirmed through statistical analysis of the students marks from these two years. In an attempt to rectify the less than satisfactory student results in assignment 2 a change was made to the amount of teaching and tutorial time allocated to preparing for this assignment in 2009. It was found that this increase in teaching time allocated to mathematical calculations produced significant positive outcomes. While student results in Assignment 2 improved to a satisfactory level, assignment 2 remained the least performing assignment compared to other assignments in the subject. To gain a deeper understanding students were surveyed. The initial hypothesis of this study was that the mathematical calculation focus of Assignment 2 might be the reason for lower student performance, however results of the survey show that the majority of students did not agree with this hypothesis. Students reported that they found Assignment 2 interesting and they understood the concepts and theory that it was testing. It would appear that other factors, perhaps the timing of the assignment mid-semester competing with other subject assessment, may account for the dip in student results. The outcomes from this investigation inform a set of recommendations for future teaching of the subject. KEYWORDS: Non-uniform; Assignment; Statistical Analysis; Problem Based Learning and Mathematical Calculations
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Early Warning Indicator at University of Sharjah Proposed System

M. Omar, A. Shanableh, K. Hamad, F. Shadoud
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Email: momar@sharjah.ac.ae
niversity of Sharjah is committed to maximizing the success and retention of its students. For this reason, the paper talks about proposing a system called Early Warning Indicator (EWI) to serve as an early intervention system for those experiencing problems at UOS. Approximately half of the students who leave UOS each year do so for reasons related to social and emotional difficulty rather than academic difficulty. If those students who are experiencing problems with the pressures of collegiate life, or who are thinking about or planning to leave can be identified early, it may be possible for the EWI to assist these students. The purpose of the proposed system is to attempt to identify and reach students before they make the decision to leave the University. Through EWI, the students may receive help in whatever is causing them problems, or become more informed about their withdrawal decision.
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3-D Scientific Visualization as a Powerful Teaching Tool

Othmane Bouhali, Faisal Chaudhry and Ali Sheharyar
Texas A&M University at Qatar Engineering Building, Education City P.O. Box 23874, Doha, Qatar E-mail: othmane.bouhali@qatar.tamu.edu
he Research Computing at TAMUQ has organized scientific 3D visualization Development competitions during both 2009 and 2010. The goal was to raise awareness of the benefits of visualization to scientific teaching and research activities. In particular, this was an opportunity for the students to learn some of the most up-to-date visualization techniques available in TAMUQs IVF. In total around 30 projects were submitted from different areas: Electrical, Mechanical, Petroleum and Chemical Engineering. A large number of these projects are for teaching purposes. We will present results from some visualization projects developed in the framework of these competitions. Different area and aspects of these development tasks will be covered, with an emphasis on teaching sides. KEYWORDS: Scientific Visualization; 3D; Supercomputing
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E-Learning, an Effective Tool of Sustainable Higher Education

Karim Gazzah
College of Engineering at Al-Kharj King Saud University, Saudi Arabia E-mail: gazzeh@ksu.edu.sa
he key to achieve sustainable development is the awareness of how important is the way to provide, mobilize and optimize the necessary resources and imagine tools that enhance the efficiency of the actions undertaken. In pursuit of sustainable development, no doubt that various actions can be taken and number of them are effectively underway world wide. The role of education, among others, has long been recognized as decisive in this kind of particular battle. The concept of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) was explicitly acknowledged in Chapter 36 of Agenda 21 and four major actions were identified to begin the work of ESD: improve basic education, reorient existing education to address sustainable development, develop public understanding, awareness, and training. This article aims to focus on the innovative use of information and communications technologies - synchronous as well as asynchronous activities - to increase access to quality higher education and training opportunities through the various forms of E-learning and Distance Learning Facilities. The goal is to demonstrate how E-learning in higher education can be considered as one of the fundamental principles of Sustainable Development Education as well as an efficient tool in meeting the needs of the present and future. KEYWORDS: E-learning; Information and communications technologies; Information Society; Sustainable Development; Sustainable higher education.
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Designing and Developing a Web Enhanced Project Management Course for Engineering Graduating Students
Tomas Ganiron Jr and Abdelghani Toumi
Civil Engineering Department Qassim University, KSA E-mail: tomas@qec.edu.sa
web enhanced project management course in the final semester of curriculum can facilitate the teaching-learning process. Professors and lecturers faced with trying to cramp in as much of lecture materials in a shorter semester can make use of the web to upload lectures that students can download and study before hand, give assignments that use the internet, post discussion boards that will develop critical thinking among students and give on-line examinations to help students upgrade their scores. All these were facilitated through the use of a learning management system (LMS) called Whiteboard. This paper will discuss the design and development of a web-enhanced project management course, a capstone course for graduating Engineering students that integrates all the basic knowledge a student has learned in project management. The development and implementation of a web enhanced course in Project Management coupled with the use of classroom multimedia instruction, active and cooperative learning aimed to facilitate the teaching-learning process compared to the traditional whiteboard instruction.
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Use of Learning Design Methodology and Knowledge Management in Online Graduate Courses
Muhammad Sohail Ahmed and Bob Lahidji
Eastern Michigan University, USA 111 Sill Hall, Ypsilanti, MI 48197 E-mail: mahmed6@emich.edu
erformance results of managers with an engineering background indicate higher failure rates in management than individuals from any other functional area. Previous studies suggest that educational programs do not promote social learning, instead focusing on a limited scope of knowledge transfer. Drawing upon education and training that promotes individual problem solving, engineers rarely performed well in management roles, where group skills such as teamwork, facilitation, supervising, organizing, and resolving conflict are critical to overall success. Additional challenges for educators can occur with online students. Feelings of isolation are an important stress factor, and students report confusion, anxiety, and frustration due to difficulties in communication with the instructor. To address this issue, engineering management curriculum and courses should be adapted to improve skills that promote contextual learning and knowledge construction. This modification in engineering management courses should incorporate case studies, project based learning, and discovery learning. Using these tools, students investigate multiple issues and identify various solutions, rather than find a single, optimal solution. Research in the area of social constructivism, or learning within a social context, suggests that group knowledge construction, rather than knowledge transfer, provides ideal learning. These approaches to education create the new paradigm that teaches students to discover and construct knowledge for themselves. At Eastern Michigan University (EMU), the Graduate Engineering Management online program has evolved from content to context based, using Learning Design methodology and Knowledge Management/ Utilization. Students learn best when their current view of knowledge is challenged, reformed, and synthesized through interaction with others. By applying the Classroom Community Scale results from studies on the effect of students learning style, gender, and acquaintance level, the EMU team created a methodology to develop effective online case studies. KEYWORDS: Engineering Management; Contextural learning; Knowledge Management; Learning Design; Online Teaching
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Multimedia Teaching Methods

Amani Mubark Al-Khatir
Post Box No. 327, Postal Code: 400, Ibra, Al-Sharqiya Region,Sultanate of Oman E-mail: amani@ict.edu.om
he best philosophy of todays global education involves a combination of teaching styles, including both normal classroom instruction and also new IT multimedia tools. Students should also learn how to organize their time and balance school with the rest of their lives. The key to combining various teaching methods that use knowledge, skills and creativity in combination with computers, IT methods and multimedia graphics is to use new computer programs and software applications. To improve the standard education students are given today, multimedia educational tools are often used in combination with regular classes taught by teachers. Teachers can utilize the multimedia methods in the classroom to help provide additional learning instruction, as well as allowing students to access the school database to learn more on their own. Multimedia methods also are available for online courses in universities for global students who cannot attend college elsewhere. Multimedia educational teaching methods provide useful information using new IT teaching systems that will benefit all students in the future, whether in the classroom or from online courses available overseas. Although there are many different kinds of teaching methods, a combination of various styles using regular classroom teaching with new IT multimedia tools may be the best education for students of all ages. Schools need to implement new multimedia teaching programs that allow for creative thinking mixed with a solid foundation of core knowledge and skills so will obtain the most effective overall education to prepare them for the competitive workforce. Researchers agree that the American education is starting to raise its learning standards using more IT multimedia teaching methods, which have been proven effective in both traditional classrooms and also for online university courses.
KEYWORDS: Multimedia Educational Tools; Multimedia Teaching Methods; Online Course; Multimedia Education; Multimedia Graphics; IT Educational Tools
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Development and Implementation of an E- Management System in a Geographically Spread Educational Structure

Abdelghani Toumi1 Bahia Benchakroune2, Noureddine Saidani
1 2
Qassim University, Saudi Arabia EMI, Rabat, Morocco E-mail : abdelghanimohamed@qec.edu.sa

he information and communication technology (ICT), more and more present in organizations, have become an indispensable tool to the point where it is difficult to imagine any activity organization devoid of this tool. Since their introduction in the organization, ICT has always generated considerable debate among scholars and schools of thoughts. Indeed, two competing visions, for some authors, ICT is a main lever for competitiveness and are a real (boost) of organizational learning. Others believe, however, that ICT is a new manifestation of Taylorism (disguised) computer assisted. But all observers agree that ICTs are a powerful lever of change for both the organization and people. From the simple introduction of digital tools to replace the paper management assisted by computer, the integrated management of ICT, and how interaction between different components of the organization and new tools, vary function of several factors. In fact, this degree of integration and interaction between ICT and management processes which defines the e-management in an organization.. This research project concerns the integration of ICT in the management of education organization. In specific, it is to design a management supported by information and communication technology in the structure of the program GENIE whose structures are geographically spread, and measure the performance of such structure before and after ICT integration. KEYWORDS: E-Management Design; Information and Communication Technology (ICT); Educational organization; ICT integration; Performance
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Intercultural Communicative Competence in Engineering: Working Effectively with People from Different Cultures
Zohreh R. Eslami1 and Hassan Moghbelli2
College of Education, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA Email: zeslami@tamu.edu 2 College of Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA E-mail: hamoghbelli@tamu.edu
1
he urgent need to improve engineering students intercultural communication skills has been emphasized by educationists as well as employers. In this research we investigated an intercultural online connection between the non-native English speaking (NNES) engineering students in Qatar and the native English speaking (NES) pre-service teachers in the United States. Engineering students studying at Texas A&M University at Qatar were connected with the preservice teachers in the United States through Blackboard Vista and used email communication and online discussions to learn English language and exchange cultural information. Cultural issues and intercultural communication occurred both in the online discussion activities and the individualized e-mail exchanges. Data included email exchanges, online discussions, journal reflections and surveys. Qualitative methodology was used to analyze the data. The findings indicated that it is wise to infuse authentic activities facilitated by telecommunications technologies into the engineering educational curricula. In this partnership, benefits derived from telecommunications infusion included learning how to use telecommunications to increase expertise in content areas under study, providing for individualized instruction, improving language and intercultural communication skills in English for engineering students, and providing opportunities for cultural exchange for both groups of participants. The findings imply that in an intercultural telecommunication partnership involving non-native English speaking engineering students with limited communication skills, instructors should provide support and scaffolding to the students to help them overcome the low degree of self-confidence and empower the learners to communicate authentically in a virtual environment, and provide opportunities to allow students to share their intercultural communication outcomes and experiences with each other while addressing intended outcomes. KEYWORDS: Inter-cultural communication; Engineering education; Online communication; Cultural exchange
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Cellular Automata Educational and Research Platform

Karim Salman and Chris Stocker
Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA E-mail: ksalman@mtsu.edu
e present an educational and research platform for analysis and design in cellular automata (CA). The platform is intended as an aid to newcomers and interested scholars to this field to demystify the complexity associated with understanding the structure, behavior, dynamics and evolution of such systems. It is also an inspirational tool and engine for education that can uncover the immense power and the wide scope of applications that CA can encompass. Representative examples can easily span wide fields such as modeling, cryptology, gaming, art, music, biology as well as computation, to name a few. The platform is designed to be extremely user friendly and flexible. It is believed to be unique in that it allows experimentation in a configurable mode for the CA rule space and lattice span design. Finite and bi-infinite lattice structures are allowed besides the classical periodic (cyclic) boundary conditions. Boundary conditions are comprehensively covered whereby the peripheral cells can be varied in a neighborhood adjacency mode that allows for a variety of time evolution and sampling. The problem of finite lattice is treated by the application of different rules at the boundaries. The entire rule space is utilized for the elementary cellular automata. The classification of the rule space can be studied in detail. Uniform and non-uniform (hybrid) rules can be implemented by simple pull down menus or switchable radio buttons. When the study is directed towards simulation or cryptology, the complexity and random behavior of the cellular automata is tested using Diehard, the most stringent battery of tests. The results are automatically reported and a fail/pass criterion is established. KEYWORDS: Cellular Automata; Periodic Boundary Conditions; Diehard; Rule Space
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A New Approach to Student Development: Effat University Case Study

Rania M. Ibrahim
Dean of Student Affairs, Effat University, Saudi Arabia E-mail: ibrahim@effatuniversity.edu.sa
ustainable education requires a new approach to knowledge acquisition and learning. This approach is manifested in merging student experience inside and outside the classroom, which eventually results in shaping the 21st century lifelong learner. This paper presents an innovative student development model based on the constructivist approach; and shows the collaboration between students affairs and academics. It illustrates a unique experience implemented at Effat University for developing the female students as a whole person. Effat Student Development Model is followed to complement the students academic experience with the necessary skills and abilities derived from Effat University mission that focuses on creating women leaders. The student eventually finds herself in a journey of self development and growth throughout the course of her study until graduation. At the time of graduation, she is equipped with all what it takes to be a successful career woman and a leader of change in her society.
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Development of Design, Implementation and Troubleshooting Skills of EE Students

Mustahsan Mir
Department of Electrical Engineering Ajman University of Science & Technology, UAE E-mail: ajac.m.mir@ajman.ac.ae
his paper describes the experience of a project-based course Design with ICs and its educational effectiveness in developing the design, implementation, and troubleshooting skills of junior-level Electrical Engineering students. In contrast to traditional approach of conducting experiments using laboratory handouts, students are assigned specific projects to design, simulate, implement, and test their projects in the laboratory. The course aims at gradually and systematically developing the design and practical skills of students in analog and digital electronics. Course projects are outlined and some of the designed projects are presented. Students feedback on their first exposure to projects-based approach for developing the desired skills has been analyzed and presented in the paper. It is shown that the projects-based course, though more demanding in time and effort, has significantly contributed in developing the design, implementation, and troubleshooting skills of students. In addition, by requiring the students to carry out all stages of the project, starting from the design specifications and ending with complete project testing, students have gained confidence in their acquired skills that might not have been achieved by following the traditional approach of conducting experiments in the laboratory. KEYWORDS: Projects-based Course; Design Skills; Practical Skills; Engineering Education
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Critical Thinking as an Outcome of Architectural Design Education: What is it and Why is it Important to Design Practice?
Amineh Andjomshoaa and Farzin Keynia
Islamic Azad University, kerman branch, Iran University of medical science and health services, Kerman, Iran E-mail: aida_andjomshoaa@yahoo.com
ritical thinking is currently a highly valued educational outcome throughout the educational spectrum, but particularly so in relation to higher and professional education. International concerns have focused upon citizens thinking abilities and thus the nations abilities to function and compete in complex societies and economies. Educationalists are questioning the wisdom of teaching content as opposed to teaching how to think as a means of dealing with relentless information development and change. Architectural design education is also embracing the construct critical thinking as a desirable educational outcome. Some commentators refer to the importance of critical thinking in design practice as a central component.This paper intends to examine the background to the construct and address in detail some of the important questions surrounding critical thinking, and its association with competent design practice. KEYWORDS: Critical Thinking; Architectural Design Education; Practice; Judgement
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Use of Commercial Structural Engineering Software in Structural Analysis Courses at the Undergraduate Level
M Talha Junaid
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering College of Engineering, University of Sharjah E-mail: mjunaid@sharjah.ac.ae
ith the advent of computers in every aspect of life, it has become increasingly important to integrate relevant software suites with conventional methods of teaching. This paper focuses on the use of such software in teaching structural analysis courses, however other possible areas of applications may be identified and expanded upon. The paper presents several examples to emphasize the application of black-box software in solving simple to complex analysis problems. It also presents certain what-if scenarios that may help students understand a system and its components in a comprehensive way. This paper does not, however, profess the use of commercially available software as an alternate to classical analysis methods and techniques, but merely as a tool to compliment them. KEYWORDS: Commercial structural analysis software, undergraduate level teaching, structural analysis
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Project-Based and Technology Enhanced Learning Approach for Middle Eastern Engineering Students
A Haddad1 and L Khezzar2
College of Eng., Taibah University at Yanbu, Saudi Arabia The Petroleum Institute, PO Box 2533, Abu Dhabi, UAE Email: ahaddad@taibahu.edu.sa
1 2
n terms of industrial needs, one of the major criticisms of universities in the Middle East and probably elsewhere is that graduates are not properly prepared for the tasks that lie ahead in industry. Over the years the authors spent in the Middle East as university faculty members for Strategic Development Committees, they have been constantly in contact with the subsequent graduate employers and constituencies. Their immediate experience with the new graduates they have recruited has not been positive. They have found most of them ill prepared for the job they were employed to perform, lacking considerable necessary skills for the job place. Is this condition a consequence of the lecture/recitation pedagogy applied over the years in the education system? The authors believe it is. In our view, the causes of this might be linked to the fact that engineering colleges have been offering few <practical hands-on> courses, and that students are not sufficiently trained for team work approaches to problem solving, relying rather on retention. The present paper looks at how engineering programs in the MENA area should respond to these criticisms through moving to the implementation of more authentic/active strategies and innovative ways of teaching and learning. This should help students acquire (and not just retain knowledge) the necessary skills they need in an environment resembling the real world in which they are expected to apply them. Engineering students competencies should be reinforced not only in the freshman year but throughout the curriculum. KEYWORDS: Project-Based Learning; Engineering Education; Curriculum Renewal; Teaching Methods
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A Project-Based Active/Cooperative Engineering Design Course for Freshman Level StudentS

Faisal Iskanderani, Abdelfattah A. Soliman, Reda A. Abdulaal and Ali M. Al-Bahi
Chemical, Nuclear, Industrial, Aeronautical Engineering Departments E-mail: albahi@gmail.com
n active/cooperative, problem-based, introductory modeling course was redesigned using the project-based learning approach to allow freshman level students to gain professional hands-on engineering design experience through well planed active/cooperative learning activities. The students function on effective design teams to practice guided conceptual design, project planning, and manufacturing of the designed artifact. The course introduces engineering design practices through guided design phases and provides the students with an opportunity to practice team work, quality principals, communication skills, life-long learning, realistic constraints, and global awareness of current domestic and global challenges. Each semester a new project is introduced in the form of a real-life project proposal prepared by an assumed customer to address one contemporary issue. The course is designed as an active/cooperative learning course with a suitable class layout and a small workshop to insure an effective learning environment. In addition to several successive design reports and two inclass assignments, the students are required by the end of the semester to communicate, clearly and concisely, the details of their design both orally and in writing through a functional artifact/prototype, a design notebook, an A0 project poster, and a final oral presentation. In addition to these direct assessment tools several indirect measures are used to insure triangulation including class feedback forms, process checks, entry and exit surveys and course evaluation questionnaire. Students are asked to peer assess the work of their classmates and to self-assess their own work before submission. Quality principles are enforced in each learning activity. Assignments are based on customer expectations and are assessed using a detailed checklist as: Exceeds expectations, Meets expectations, Acceptable, Needs Improvement, or represents No Credible Effort. Engineering professionalism is enforced and lapses are used to punish any unprofessional behavior. Bonus points are used, on the other hand, to encourage top performance. End of semester course evaluation is based on satisfying both course learning outcomes and course-supported program outcomes. The course was implemented for the first time in fall 2009. The students were asked to design a small wind turbine suitable for home use in Jeddah city. Direct and indirect assessment tools indicated high level of achievement of course learning outcomes together with a high level of student satisfaction.
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Benchmarking Design Experience in Industrial Engineering Programs

Ahmed E. Haroun and Salih O. Duffuaa
Systems Engineering Department, KFUPM, Dhahran 31261,Saudi Arabia E-mail: aharoun@ccse.kfupm.edu.sa
he development of design experience in programs preparing undergraduate students for engineering practice has become a focal point of accreditation bodies and potential employers. The Accreditation Body for Engineering and Technology (ABET) 2000 Criterion 5 states that students must be prepared for engineering practice through a curriculum culminating in a major design experience based on the knowledge and skills acquired in earlier course work and incorporating appropriate engineering standards and multiple realistic constraints. This paper reports findings from benchmarking the design experience students go through in the Industrial and Systems engineering Program (ISE) at King Fahd university of Petroleum and minerals (KFUPM) with eight leading international universities in this area. Well designed criteria are used to select programs for benchmarking. The study is conducted to assess, through benchmarking, the exposure of ISE students to realistic levels of design complexity relative to the design practices within curricula across a number of industrial engineering programs worldwide. The benchmarking revealed that in most cases the number of required design credit hours ranges 9-11. All schools integrate design within other courses. All senior design projects are industry or client based. Then the paper draws a number of recommendations to enhance the design experience students go through in the ISE program at KFPM. KEYWORDS: Integrated Design Experience (IDE); Benchmarking; ABET Criteria.
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Integrated Project Approach as New Teaching Method: Risk and Hydraulic Engineering
Tew-Fik Mahdi
Department of Civil, Geological and Mining, Ecole Polytchnique de Montreal C.P.6097, Succ. Centre-Ville, Montral, Qubec, H3C 3A7, Canada E-mail : tewfik.mahdi@polymtl.ca
ver the years, primary and secondary school programs changed many times. Hence, universities face new generation of students having different background. Universities must adapt their way of teaching to transmit the knowledge using new innovative approaches. This paper presents an example of a course which integrates concepts of probability, hydrology, fluid mechanics and hydraulics to explain to 2nd year undergrad students the concept of risk in Hydraulic Engineering. These students do not have knowledge of hydrology, hydraulics or probability. The course starts by posing the problem of estimating the hydraulic risk on a river reach (with population living along this river reach). Then, during the first two weeks (3 hours of class a week) some concepts of risk, hydraulics (water depth, discharge, Manning equation) and a simple definition of probability are introduced. During the remaining 11 weeks, the students work by groups of 4 to 5 students to evaluate the watershed characteristics, the discharge produced by a given rain storm, the corresponding water depth along the river reach, the corresponding consequences to estimate, finally, the corresponding risk. Every week, the minimum needed concepts are provided to the students to allow them the development an automated spreadsheet in order to achieve the course goal (estimation of river reach hydraulics risk after a storm event). This paper will demonstrate the efficiency of the new innovative approach (teaching using projects). This approach can be applied to other fields of engineering using the same idea: presenting a problem, then step by step the supervisor (Professor) brings the necessary elements to allow the students to start a research, and in the same time learn different elements belonging to different courses of engineering in order to put them together to solve the initial engineering problem.
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Incorporating Contemporary Issues in BME Curricula

Naser Hamdi1, Rami Oweis1 and Fahmi Abu Al-Rub2
Jordan University of Science and Technology 1 Department of Biomedical Engineering 2 Department of Chemical Engineering P.O. Box 3030, Irbid, Jordan E-mail: nhamdi@just.edu.jo
hile incorporating contemporary issues into any educational curriculum is generally challenging, the challenge is even greater in rapidly evolving fields like Biomedical Engineering (BME). Most science and engineering curricula and programs are structured to provide students with the fundamental knowledge and basic skills necessary to enable the graduate to thrive and excel upon graduation. Many college textbooks have been refined over the years so that they facilitate the students learning process and provide a logical flow of information and content. And while this process is very suitable for the delivery of basic science and engineering principles, the extended review and publication cycle of new concepts makes any contemporary content of some fields outdated by the time of publication. Various programs have resorted to different approaches in order to incorporate contemporary content into their curricula. This paper discusses the approach adopted by the BME department at the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) to include contemporary issues in the curriculum, and assesses the success of the adopted approach. The contemporary issues discussed herein include technological advancements; social, funding, and investment trends; as well as regulatory and governmental policy; among others. A detailed discussion of how the BME department at JUST has addressed these issues at various levels is presented, such as relying on senior-level classes in biomaterials, prosthetics, neuroengineering, among others to address contemporary issues, encourage debate, and securing relevant student-generated term projects focusing on these issues. Additionally, a mandatory seminar series focuses specifically on contemporary issues in BME, while capstone design (graduation) projects focus on applying engineering solutions to contemporary biomedical problems. KEYWORDS: ABET; Contemporary Issues; Biomedical Engineering; BME
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Development of a Control and Evaluation Strategy for the Coop Training Program at the College of Engineering in Qassim University
A.F. Almarshoud1, E.S. Gadelmawla2, A.E. Abdelraheim2 and K.K. Esmaeil2
Electrical Engineering Department Mechanical Engineering Department College of Engineering, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia 1 E-mail: dr_almarshoud@qec.edu.sa
1 2
he course GE405 is a Cooperative training program which must be completed one semester prior to the graduation from any program offered by the College Of Engineering at Qassim University. Many challenges face the application, control and evaluation of the program. The importance of this research stems from the real need to meet the different challenges by establishing control and evaluation strategy for the entire program with suitable and applicable mechanisms. A proposed strategy was established taking into consideration the ABET engineering education outcomes. These outcomes reflect the knowledge, skills, abilities and behavior that should be achieved by each engineering graduate. The proposed strategy was built in the continual improvement approach Plan-Do-Check-Act. The proposed strategy was implemented on one batch of cooperative students. Results and feedbacks out of this implementation were monitored and verified against the planned coop-program objectives and outcomes. Satisfactory results were obtained. KEYWORDS: Qassim University QU; College of Engineering in Qassim University QEC; ABET; COOP Training; Engineering Education
38
Certificate Level Enhancement Training Program at Colleges of Technology in Oman: A Unique Graduates Future Career and Market-Need Based Approach
A. A. Yahya1, T. Pervez2, M. Al-Aaraimi1 and F. Aljahwari2
Almusanaa College of Technology, Department of Engineering, Oman Sultan Qaboos University, Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Oman E-mail: farooq@squ.edu.om
1 2
ince the beginning of technological revolution and increasing demands of societies, the goal of education has become associated with the goal of good living for the individual as well as the society, which bears the cost of education. Prior to this, for centuries the primary goal of education was the development of knowledge and human mind. It existed in the form of a social contract for the educated to serve the society. However, the technological revolution has changed the concept of education by shifting its focus on national and regional prosperity through application of technical knowledge. During the last decade, we saw a mushrooming of offshore campuses, private institutions and franchising arrangements to cater the demand for higher education in the Gulf region. There is more than a three-fold increase in such institutions since last decade. The growth is phenomenal in many of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Approximately 60-70% of these are offering engineering or technology related programs. With regard to preparing students to contribute to usual and contemporary professional engineering assignments, the curriculum should accommodate the views of professional societies. In that context, Colleges of Technology in Oman aiming to provide graduates with the necessary technical skills and providing the market with selectively trained technicians in the field of market needs, a new approach of enhancement training program is introduced. Since the certificate level (first year) is a general foundation year in science at which students take only 16.7% practical related skills courses to engineering according to the degree audit, students who exit from this level are of poor skills as technicians even though the 70%-30% practical-to-theoretical delivery plan is implemented. However, that 70%-30% delivery plan concerns only the delivery of the specific subject which makes the course more tolerable to be understood by students, yet it doesnt provide them with the technically-oriented skills. That resulted in a difficulty of positioning those outputs of colleges of technology in the market. The objective of this paper is to discuss the rationale for the need of coherently integrating technical training at the Certificate Level that enhance the future students career and match market-needs. A case study of the steps taken to integrate these in a typical mechanical engineering training program at Colleges of Technology in Oman is presented.
39
Assessment of the Practical Training Requirement in Engineering Education in Palestinian Universities

Riyad Abdel-Karim and Samir Helou
An-Najah National University Nablus, Palestine E-mail: awad@najah.edu
ractical Internship is a mandatory course requirement in any Engineering undergraduate program in all Engineering disciplines and in all Palestinian Universities; this is congruent with international norms. In such courses students are expected to spend a period of eight to ten weeks in a recognized engineering firm in order to achieve essential hands-on skills in their respective fields of study. Upon completion of such a requirement students are required to present a comprehensive report detailing the extent of the practical experience attained in design work or in the field. Vernacular reasons dictate that the bulk of Palestinian students implement this requirement in local engineering outfits. The following study is conducted to scrutinize the relevance of this requirement in fulfilling the objective of the requirement under the prevailing conditions of limited adequate engineering facilities taking into serious consideration the perpetually growing student demand. The following study shows that despite the importance of this course as a key requirment for producing well qualified and trained engineering graduates, the actual practice of implementation needs to be constantly scrutinized. The hurdles facing better reinforcement of this obligatory requirement are discussed and suggested solutions are subsequently recommended. The study concludes that unless the training period is invested at a venue providing trainees with adequate exposure to the cutting edge of technology and to state of the art engineering then the entire exercise would be one of futility as it would be counter productive. The present experience of the ubiquitous students exchange program for the purpose of training through Arab Universities Union or through the International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience (IAESTE) is thoroughly discussed. In the Palestinian context transfer of knowledge is a well desired prorogative in the long overdue state building endeavor.
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Industry Incorporated Engineering Curriculum

Michael Jacobson
Electrical and Electronic Engineering Higher Colleges of Technolog y, Abu Dhabi Mens College, U.A.E. E-mail: mjacobson@hct.ac.ae
ustainable development in the industry base requires experienced engineers with creative problem solving skills. Therefore, in order to graduate engineers with the necessary practical and design skills, industry-based problems must be incorporated into various levels of a higher education, engineer training program. Industry-incorporated engineering curriculum seeks to extend and deepen student skills through the practical application of critical thinking, problem solving, team work, and relevant communication within core program courses. In other words, utilization of actual industry and business related problems for application of student academic skills, beyond traditional project and work placement courses. In order to graduate the best entrepreneurs, engineers, and business leaders, design and organizational skills must be developed and applied at all program levels for students to appreciate the relevance of their new skills, and in particular, application of sustainable development. Therefore, from induction to the foundational courses to graduation, students are actively meeting with industry leaders in order to identify and describe problems, innovate solutions, assess the possible solutions, implement a specific solution, and assess that solutions relative success. Thus, elements of these design skills are integrated into program courses in order to track a particular problem from its initial description to assessment of the implemented solution. In specific regards to sustainable development, the industry-incorporated curriculum gives the student firsthand experience of the current industrial state and challenges the student to innovate better solutions. This paper introduces the justification of an industry-incorporated curriculum in regards to sustainable development and presents its application in two sample engineering courses. KEYWORDS: Industry; Curriculum; Problem-Solving; Critical-Thinking; UAE
41
Interaction Between Industry and Engineering Education Institutions for Relevant Updated Engineering Education
Zahid Ali
Consultant, Structures & Building Materials, Islamabad, Pakistan E-mail: zee9_786@yahoo.com
nteraction between industry / professional sectors and higher education institutions, engineering education in particular is vital for development and prosperity. For a sustained development of economy, a close collaboration between engineering universities / technical institutions and industry is very essential. The stronger interaction between providers of higher education, engineering / technical education and industry be utilized for relevancy of curriculum, research and transfer of research results to industry. Such linkages and partnership will provide a curriculum relevant to national development and needed research activity. The advancements in majority of engineering fields are quite rapid. Therefore, the rapid developments / advancements both in sciences and market require relevant higher education and engineering education programs. The engineering education system needs to be responsive to the new innovations in technologies. The expertise must be exchanged between industry and engineering education. The paper deliberates on strengthening the interaction between engineering education and industry / professional sector for relevant and updated engineering education system. KEYWORDS: Engineering Education; Industry Interaction; Relevant Engineering Education Programs; Interactions and Linkages; Exchange of Expertise; Updated Engineering Education.
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Enterpreneurship, Small Business Management, Incubation: New Engineering Education Trends

Hatem A. Elaydi
Electrical Engineering Department Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine helaydi@iugaza.edu.ps
ince 2000, the beginning of the second intifada, the Palestinian economy is suffering badly and landing a job is a challenge for experienced engineers not to mention recent graduates. ANERA initiated the establishment of six IT center of excellence in six Palestinian Universities to help create an entrepreneurship environment and help create jobs. Moreover, it initiated a business fundamental course that covers the topic of entrepreneurship and small business management. The Islamic University of Gaza ran this course for two semesters for a total of six credit hours. Students were chosen based on a certain criteria and distributed on several engineering disciplines. The course was piloted over two years for the years 2006-2008 and 104 students enrolled. The course was taught be several experts. The first part of the course covered three main topics: business communications, business fundamentals and finally the entrepreneurship; while the second part of the course covered three topics: how to get fund, the structure and law of the corporate, and building a business plan. At the end of the course students were divided into teams where each one presented a business plan for a new company and each team was evaluated by a team of expert based on their technical merit and their business plan. Graduates of this course were able to use this knowledge in developing their senior year projects. Moreover, some of the graduates of this course were selected to enroll in IUG ICT incubator as a result of their senior year projects and business plan. This paper will show the details in developing this course, the novel mechanics of running it successfully, the outcomes of this course, the potential of its graduates, and finally successful stories. KEYWORDS: Entrepreneurship education; IUG; Incubator; Business Fundamentals
43
Analytical Study to Develop the Quality of Instruction within Engineering Faculty at the Islamic University of Gaza
Shafik Jendia1, Mohammed Hussein2 and Farid Al-Qeeq3
Faculty of Engineering, Islamic University of Gaza. Palestine 1 E-mail: sjendia@iugaza.edu.ps, 2 E-mail: mhussein@iugaza.edu.ps, 3 E-mail falqeeq@iugaza.edu.ps
he Faculty of Engineering at the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) evaluates its academic and administrative performance on a regular and continuous basis in the purpose of improving its capabilities and services. This paper presents the major challenges confronting quality assurance of engineering education at IUG, which have been characterized by inadequate research network, insufficient funding and weak industry-institutions relationship, due to the current situation. The purpose of this research is to provide an analytical grades study assessment for engineering students at IUG for the period (2005-2009). Provide practical recommendations in order to improve the faculty of engineering grading system creditably, and thus take an action and reasonable steps towards enhancing and improving the current existing grading system to be consistent with relevant international standards. Study led to some internal actions in order to enhance quality-engineering education at IUG, academic staff should be engaged to serve as team members in the improvement process of existing mark distribution, development of specialized evaluation programs, as well as adopt new educational strategies. KEYWORDS: Grades; Quality of Instructions; Mark Distribution; Inflation
44
An Inquiry Discovery Separation Based Instruction Technique for Promoting Experiental Design Learning
Abdullah F. Al-Dwairi
Industrial Engineering Department Jordan University of Science and Technology P.O. Box 3030, Irbid 22110, Jordan E-mail: dwairy@just.edu.jo
roposed in this paper is a constructivist instruction method for promoting engineering design learning by senior undergraduates. The method is realized in two separate stages including inquiry and discovery activities. At the inquiry stage, students are given a product-developement problem and required to exercise designing by drawing on their own abilities and prior knowledge, under limited guidance from instructor. To further deepen the exposure, students are not allowed to consult assisting references until the design problem and solution proposals have reached certain maturity in the students minds. At the discovery stage, students are encouraged to make an extensive use of assisting sources and references, analyze the found solutions, and compare them with what they have developed. Students hence are first given enough time to deploy their creativity potential to develop necessary solution frameworks, before they can access professional or commercially-available design solutions. The discovery activity helps students fill gaps in the developed frameworks and mind maps. The paper emphasizes separating the inquiry and discovery stages from each other so as to stimulate intuitive thinking and creativity, and to maximize learning outcomes from the discovery activity. It is also argued that this separation helps learners build non-hierarchical mind maps, provides for better appreciation for the design solutions, and accelerates the learning process. The proposed strategy is recommended to practice with senior undergraduates working on product development projects. The approach is most useful at the early design phases including problem understanding and design conceptualization. The technique can be used repeatedly within the same design project, as at system-level design development, as well as at detail design phases. Limitations and challenges encountered in the implementation of the proposed methodology are discussed. KEYWORDS: Product Design Instruction; Inquiry-Discovery Learning; Constructivist Approach; Reverse Engineering
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The Experimental Teaching of Chemical and Process Engineering: Objectives and Challenges
H. Benassa
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Tlemcen P.O. Box 119, 13 000 Tlemcen, Algeria E-mail. ho_benaissa@ yahoo.fr.
hemical and process engineering are fully-fledged sciences and no an intellectual art. In their teaching, the practical exercises play an essential and formative role: this situation imposes a redefinition of its goals and objectives. Here, objectives waited of practical exercises and difficulties met during their realizations are landed with presentation of some suggestions susceptible to palliate them. KEYWORDS: Experimental Teaching; Chemical and Process Engineering; Objectives; Challenges; Suggestions
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Enhencing Students Learning Through 3-Tier Self Evaluation Model: Successful Implementation at a Public Sector Engineering University
Sajida Zaki
Department of Humanities NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan E-mail: drzaki@neduet.edu.pk
his paper shares an effective teaching learning framework, the Three Tier Model of Self Evaluation that coincides with the current academic developments and meets the professional demands of the present century. The model combines effectively two essential academic routines, teaching and testing; and provides an observable and a systematic procedure to consciously and continually gauge students understanding, and acquisition of knowledge and skills regarding a taught concept. The paper describes the model in terms of its conceptual framework and then shares the implementation with an intact group of students during an undergraduate course at a public sector engineering university. It enables students to reflect upon and to analyze critically their learning i.e. their knowledge and skills output by adopting three levels of self evaluation called Tiers which are evaluating ones performance against (1) the identified criteria, (2) peer performance and, (3) an acceptable and identified standard sample. This self evaluation technique is introduced right after the formal classroom instruction of a topic with the help of pre and post assessments and a formal assignment/ project. The qualitative and quantitative data from the three stages of the evaluation as well as the difference in the pre and post test scores revealed the process to be an effective and enriching experience for the students in terms of content, skills and the measurable performance. The students products improved substantially, and their involvement in the learning process increased considerably. KEYWORDS: Three Tier Self Evaluation Model; Teaching- Learning Strategy, Acquisition of Knowledge and Skills.
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University Common Courses: What do they Stand for in the Curriculum?

Ahmed Hamid1 and Mahmoud Kulaib2
Faculty of Science and Engineering University of Science and Technology, Yemen 2 University of Sanaa, Yemen E-mail: kulaibmma@yahoo.com
1
ertain common courses are endorsed by high-education officials and appointed among compulsory courses for all universities in Yemen. These are mainly Arabic and English languages together with Islamic culture. Different faculties, individually, assigned additional courses, which are believed to accord with the faculty specializations, in to the different curricula of the different departments. In faculties of engineering, these are mainly include mathematics and introductory to computers. Syllabi of these obligatory courses; however, may differ from a university to another but they may all are associated with misjudging or overlooking their expected outcomes. This study reviewed and investigated the situation of these courses. It mainly concerned about the incorporated shortcomings in respect with the contents and the teaching techniques. A number of proposed ideas are introduced for developing such important components of the curricula so that they contribute well towards the student knowledge.
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The Effect of Physics Placement Tests and Remedial Physics Courses on the Performance of UoS Engineering and Sciences Students
Hussein M. Elmehdi
Department of Applied Physics, College of Sciences, University of Sharjah PO Box: 27272 Sharjah, United Arab Emirates E-mail: hmelmehdi@sharjah.ac.ae
he results of a study that was carried out over the past ten years to investigate the impact of Physics Placement Tests (PPT) and Remedial Physics (RP) courses on the performance of University of Sharjah (UoS) engineering and sciences students is reported. The performance of three groups of students was evaluated. The first group (G1) included students who registered in the colleges of Engineering and Sceicnes prior to the 2004/2005 academic year; the year during which the University of Sharjah implemented PPT and RP as an approach to assess students physics and mathematics background. Hence, students in G1 were admitted into the program without taking PPT or RP. The second (G2) and the third groups (G3) included first year students who were admitted into their respective programs after the academic year of 2004/2005. G1 included students who were placed in Physics I after passing the PPT, while G3 included students who did not meet the PPT cut score and had to take RP before they were admitted into their program of study. The results of the study showed that the passing percentage in Physics I has improved by 10% after implementing the PPT and RP approach. It was also found that students PPT scores had higher correlation coefficient with Physics I grades (0.7) than High School Physics grades (0.2). This is an indication that PPT is a good approach for properly assessing students physics background. It was also found that students in G3 attained higher grades in Physics I than their counterparts (G2). In addition to their better performance, G3 students had significantly lower drop-out and withdrawal rates than students in G2 and G3. Our study concludes that PPT and RP courses have a pronounced impact on students performance, not only in Physics I, but in subsequent advanced courses as well. It was also found that PPT tests and RP courses have influenced other educational quality attributes such as lowering withdrawal, drop-out rates, and provided students with extra time to adapt to the college life and atmosphere. The conclusion is that the PPT and RP courses improved the quality of education at the Colleges of Engineering and Sciences at UoS.
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The Joined Responsibility of the Science and Engineering Faculties in the Processing of Engineering Students
Abdullah avuolu, Haldun Abdullah and Erzat Erdil
College of Engineering, Karabk University, Karabk, Turkey E-mail: abdullah.cavusoglu@karabuk.edu.tr
our phases in the processing of the professional engineer are mentioned in terms of renewability. The first phase which covers the undergraduate study period, is considered as a non-renewable phase. The latest ABET outcome criteria are discussed with respect to the latest engineering design requirements. Knowledge of basic ecology as a natural science is emphasized as necessary for the understanding of environmental issues and sustainability. The macroscopic approach in raising student environmental awareness and learning about global issues such as economics and other human needs is strongly recommended. It is concluded that such goals could only be achieved with a close cooperation and sharing of responsibility between the faculty of engineering and the faculty of sciences. If this could be achieved, graduate students will be better equipped with the ability to contribute synergistically in a competitive environment, and tackle problems with a holistic multi-disciplinary approach. KEYWORDS: Engineering Curriculum, Ecology, Sustainability, Macroscope, Professional Engineer; Lifelong Learning
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Cross-Cultural Science and Engineering Education: The German-Jordanian University Experience

Julie Hamdi1 and Akeel Al-Kazwini2
1 2
Pharmaceutical-Chemical Engineering Department Biomedical Engineering Department German-Jordanian University P.O. Box 35247, Amman 11180, Jordan E-mail: julie.hamdi@gmail.com
he Jordanian and German governments have embarked on a unique cross-cultural science and engineering venture by establishing the German-Jordanian University. This institution not only requires Jordanian students to enroll in extensive German classes, but also hosts German faculty to teach courses in science and engineering disciplines, and ultimately requires students to complete part of their coursework and practical training in Germany. This paper discusses the unique aspects of this program, the successes, shortcomings, and lessons learned. This may serve as a model for future cross-cultural education programs, promoting scientific collaboration, tolerance among diverse peoples, and a climate of respect and understanding. This inter-cultural educational venture draws on a consortium of nearly 70 German universities, employs a highly diversified faculty, and graduates multilingual students speaking Arabic, English, and German. We also evaluate the ability of the model to promote technology transfer through student research and practical experience in Germany, as students are required to spend an entire academic year in Germany. An early assessment and analysis of the program is presented based on the feedback and perception of students who have completed their German experience. Additionally, a discussion of a regionally unique academic program within GJU is presented. The Pharmaceutical-Chemical Engineering Department confers an undergraduate degree that is composed of traditional chemical engineering principles with cutting-edge pharmaceutical methods. Most similar programs exist in the context of a graduate education, but GJU is experimenting with the success of such a program to meet the needs of the local pharmaceutical industry one that focuses on the production of a myriad of generic alternatives to common drugs rather than drug discovery and intensive research. A comparison of this program, set to graduate its first batch of students in June, 2010, with other similar programs in the United States and Europe, is presented.
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Gender Based Statistical Analysis of Students in Engineering Over Ten Years

Ahmed Imran, Mohamed Nasor and Fahar G. Hayati
Ajman University of Science and Technology, PO Box 346, Ajman, UAE. E-mail: ajac.ai_imran@ajman.ac.ae
everal reports and data suggest that women in the UAE are outperforming men at various educational levels and that the UAE is among the most developed nations in educating women. We are presenting here a comparative study between women and men to analyze trends for five baccalaureate programs in the college of engineering at Ajman University of Science and Technology (AUST), UAE. Normalized statistical data is used to analyze fresh admissions, program completion, duration of completion, academic performance and student attrition. For all fresh admissions, during the academic years 2000-01 to 2009-10, overall there were 86 women for every 100 men admitted. Women to men ratio in the year 2000-01 was about 1:2, which significantly improved to about 1:1 in 2009-10. In the recent five years, cumulative fresh intake for women has somewhat exceeded that of the men. For program completion, during the ten year period overall 110 women graduated for every 100 men. From the group of graduating women about 80% completed their program in ten semesters, while only 63% of the men completed in as many semesters. For academic performance till graduation, more women scored higher grades than men. 19% graduating women compared to 12% men scored high grades, while 32% women and 48% men scored low grades in their respective groups. For attrition, the number of women aborting their programs was about half that of men. More than 50% of the ten-year cumulative attrition in each group occurred in the first two semesters of admission. In nearly all comparisons, women outperformed men. The study calls for investigations into the factors that would support and motivate more men to take up the engineering challenge. KEYWORDS: Women in Engineering; Women Education in Middle East; Gender Statistics in Engineering
52
A Tool for Efficient Planning of Course Offerings and Effective Academic Advising in a Customized Credit-Hour System
Ahmed Obaide and Tarek Nada
Emirates Aviation College, Aerospace and Academic Studies Dubai, UAE E-mail: ahmed.obaide@emirates.com
n many universities and colleges in which the credit-hour system is adopted, planning of the courses to be offered every semester is neither a standard nor a straight forward task. This is particularly true for smaller colleges and departments, where academic advising is emphasized, and when the students selection of courses is restricted due to factors such as prerequisite requirements and academic probation policies. In such a customized credit-hour system, the planning of course offerings is not limited to ensuring efficiency in managing the academic program, but should also yield in offering courses that shall meet every students needs based on his/her individual study plan, thereby assist in producing an effective academic advising system while enhancing the quality of the academic program. This paper explores key issues regarding the planning of course offerings as well as the expectations of an effective academic advising system and its impact on the quality of an academic program. The paper also details the rationale for and purpose of the development of tools to support these processes. It then presents a program management worksheet that was created and developed, over the past three years, for the Aeronautical Engineering program at Emirates Aviation College - Aerospace and Academic Studies. The worksheet has been used for the planning of the courses to be offered by the department every semester as well as to assist in providing students with quality academic advising. Analysis and results of deploying the program management worksheet are also presented. KEYWORDS: Program Management Worksheet; Course Offerings; Course Planning; Academic Advising
53
Evaluation of Research in Two Saudi Universities Using a Bibliometric Based Approach

Muhammad Taher Abuelmaatti1 and Aisha M.T. Abuelmaatti2
1 2
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Box 203, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia, University of Salford, Greater Manchester, M5 4WT, U.K E-mail: mtaher@kfupm.edu.sa
his paper presents the results of an evaluation of the research productivity in two Saudi universities. This study covers the period 1999-2009 and uses the number of publications, the number of citations and the h-index to the number of publications as a basis for the evaluation. The study also compares the research productivity of the two Saudi universities with other universities in developing and developed countries. The study shows that it is a long way ahead for the two Saudi universities to compete with some of the universities in the developing countries. KEYWORDS: Research productivity, The h-index, University Ranking, Topuniversities
54
Course Binder Preparation According to ABET EC2000 - A Case Study in Arabic Region
Maged H. Hussein
Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, King Abdul-Aziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia E-mail: drmagedhhd@gmail.com
he instructor of a course must evaluate students performance and monitor the students progress to foster their success in achieving course learning outcomes, thereby enabling them as graduates to attain the related program outcomes. ABET EC-2000 addresses the effectiveness of engineering education programs by focusing on assessment and evaluation process that assures the achievement of educational objectives and outcomes. Course level activities are the heart of the process in which a program has to satisfy ABET EC-2000 requirements. This paper documents how several of the ABET EC-2000 criteria are satisfied and how they are in turn used in creating Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering course binder to achieve specified outcomes and continuous improvement of the course. The course assessment and evaluation phase was enhanced by using a programmed Excel workbook, called HI-CLASS. It is developed by the Accreditation Unit of the Faculty of Engineering at King Abdul Aziz University. An instructor of a course can easily evaluate his class achievement regarding a continuouse improve of the course offering. By the end of the semester, the instructor will have documented results of the class achievement and the course contribution to the achievement of program outcomes. KEYWORDS: Course Binder; ABET EC-2000; Course Learning Objectives; Program Outcomes
55
Program Review: Computer Engineering at the University of Sharjah Case Study

Mohamed Saad and Bassel Soudan
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE E-mail: msaad@sharjah.ac.ae
his paper discusses a procedure for performing a detailed review of the strengths and weaknesses of a modern academic program. The review leads to identification of points of concern and produces a set of corrective actions to improve the quality of the program. The paper will use the review of the Computer Engineering program at the University of Sharjah as a case study to highlight the success of the review procedure. The paper will summarize the review procedure, as well as the findings and recommendations of the case study. KEYWORDS: Academic Program Review; Computer Engineering; Program Strengths and Weaknesses; Curriculum
56
Introducing Biotechnology to the Chemical Engineering Curriculum at UAE University

Sulaiman Al-Zuhair
Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, UAE University, Al-Ain, UAE E-mail: s.alzuhair@uaeu.ac.ae
n the last decade, the terms biotechnology and biochemical engineering have been mentioned more frequently in media. Since then many students, deciding on their future field of study, and people in general, have asked what is biotechnology; how is it connected to chemical engineering; and how does biochemical engineering differ from chemical engineering? This article answers the above questions in more detail and brings light into this field. In addition, the UAE government has been recently putting emphasis on education to provide sufficient qualified graduates, while at the same time, providing careers in biotechnology research and industry. This paper presents several modifications to the syllabus of Chemical Engineering, at UAE University, proposed to achieve this goal. KEYWORDS: Biochemical Engineering; Chemical Engineering Syllabus; UAE University
57
Integrating Biochemistry and Biology for Bioengineering Option in Chemical Engineering Curriculum
Md M Hossain
Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering United Arab Emirates University, P. O. Box 17555, Al-Ain, UAE E-mail:mmonwar@uaeu.ac.ae
uring the last seven years, the chemical engineering programmes in many institutes in the world have included biochemistry and/or biology as prerequisite for bioengineering option. Recently this integration of bio-subjects started in Middle Eastern countries. A semi-intensive biochemistry course is taught in early years by the Biology Department so that the students could choose the bioengineering/bioprocessing option in later years (4th and final years). These courses are being reinforced by (i) the addition of biochemical kinetics in one of the core course (Reactor Design) in chemical engineering and (ii) offering many elective courses with specialised bio-oriented topics at upper-levels. More collaborative efforts are required jointly by biology and engineering faculty to provide students with more intensive biology componenst not only in theoretical aspects but also in the practical application by formulating some design and laboratory projects. This approach will better prepare students for careers in biochemical, food, dairy, pharmaceutical and environmental industries. This paper describes the ongoing efforts and benefits of this collaborative approach in the chemical engineering programme at the UAE University. Key words: Biochemistry, biology, chemical engineering, compulsory, curriculum.
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Can a Third World University Become a World Class University?

Muhammad Taher Abuelmaatti1, Aisha M.T. Abuelmaatti2
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Box 203, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia 2 University of Salford, Greater Manchester, M5 4WT, U.K. E-mail: mtaher@kfupm.edu.sa
1
uilding a world-class research university is a dream for many developing countries. This paper discusses the prerequisites for building world-class universities and highlights the challenges to be faced by developing countries. The Saudi-Arabian experience and Korean experiences are discussed in brief and the factors that may lead to achieve a world-class university status by universities in developing countries are discussed. KEYWORDS: Research University; World-Class University
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Do UAEU Engineering Graduates Get Comparable Education to Graduates of Western Universities ?

Mohamed M. Mohamed and Mohsen M. Sherif
Civil and Environmental Engineering Department United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, P.O. Box 17555, UAE E-mail: m.mohamed@uaeu.ac.ae
ivil engineering in the United Arab Emirates has been the focus of the countrys developments since its birth 38 years ago. The profession of civil engineering is, without doubt, the cornerstone of UAE economy. However, most of the civil engineers who work in the countless projects in UAE are graduated from non-UAE universities. This probably raises a concern about the quality of the civil engineering education in UAE. This paper is an attempt to investigate this concern through presenting a comparative study between the civil engineering program at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) and several North American universities. This study will help assessing the quality of the civil Engineering program at UAEU and providing new directions for improvements. KEYWORDS: Civil Engineering Program, UAE University, Curriculum Development, Higher Education
60
Transportation Engineering Education in Undergraduate Civil Engineering Curricula in the Middle East
Khaled Hamad, Maher Omar, and Abdallah Shanableh
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Sharjah, UAE E-mail: khamad@sharjah.ac.ae
ransportation engineering education is one of the sub-discplines of civil engineering. Unlike many other sub-discplines of civil engineering, transportation engineering education is oftern reduced to a single obligatory course. This paper summarizes a survey conducted to provide a closer look at transportation engineering education coverage in a number of universities in the Middle East. For this purpose, the civil engineering curriculum of 16 well-known programs from nine different countries were reviewed. The authors found that over 62 percent of the universities require at least two obligatory courses in transportation engineering. For these universities, this counts for about 4 percent of their curriculum. One-third of universities (3 out of 9) offering 4-year programs require two obligatory courses in transportation engineering. The paper concludes with several recommendation, including conducting a detailed survey of the content of the introductory transportation courses and to organize a transportation engineering education conference in the Middle East. KEYWORDS: Transportation Engineering Education, Civil Engineering Curriculum, Transportation in Middle East.
61
Comparison of Civil Engineering Curricula in the Arab Middle East Countries

Sami Tabsh, Akmal Abdelfatah, Mohamed Al Hamaydeh and Sherif Yehia
American University of Sharjah P.O. Box 26666, Sharjah, UAE E-mail: stabsh@aus.edu
his paper compares undergraduate civil engineering curricula in Arab countries located in Western Asia, known as Bilad Al Sham, and the Arabian Peninsula. A review of the course requirements at 24 universities located in 11 countries is presented. Specifically, the study addresses degree requirements related to science, mathematics, statistics and probability, general education, free electives, English language, engineering fundamentals, computer proficiency, required civil engineering courses, and technical electives. The study showed that most curricula take either 4 or 5 years to complete. The number of credit hours can be as little as 131 and as large as 180 credits, with an average of 155. The humanities, social science and foreign language requirements at traditional universities can be very low, whereas the same requirements can be almost a full-year of study at Western-style universities that are located in the same region. Some Arab universities, particularly those with large number of faculty, follow a track system, which provides for specialization in one of the various civil engineering disciplines. As a result, the curricula of such universities are loaded with many technical courses that are obligatory. The Western style universities, on the other hand, are heavy on fundamentals, but give the student more choices with regard to technical elective courses. KEYWORDS: Civil engineering; Curriculum Development; Education; General Education; Technical Electives.
62
Instructional Methodology and Engineering Education in Arab World

Adel A. Al-Azzawi
Assistant Professor, Nahrain University, Iraq E-mail: dr_adel_azzawi@yahoo.com
lobalization has focused considerable attention on educational needs relative to the branch of civil engineering and the problems concerned with repairing buildings damaged through wars, floods or earthquakes in Arab countries regions. The civil engineering education has become a key to open the major knowledge resources of problems that concern the society. With new technologies constantly being introduced across the world (the internet), there is an increasing need for improved engineering education or at most improved civil engineering education. Civil engineering education is rapidly evolving as the use and speed of technological innovation in the knowledge-based society accelerates of major problems. In recent years, there have been essential changes in the education tools and technology in terms of content and knowledge delivery. The quality of engineering education today is one of the main issues for the education experts in Arab countries. The complex global environment requires excellent technical skills. On the other hand, the global job market needs interdisciplinary knowledge and multidisciplinary skills. An integrated (interdisciplinary) approach toward a flexible education program is gaining popularity among educators. This paper addresses some critical challenges of civil engineering education in Arab countries; it stresses the importance of creating a highly integrated and learner-centered educational environment to provide multidisciplinary education. It also describes a few learning techniques that can be applied by Arab engineering educators for developing multidisciplinary skills. KEYWORDS: Arab Countries, Civil Engineering Education, Interdisciplinary Approach to Learning.
63
Active learning Experience at UPC: STD International Seminar

Didac Ferrer, Ana Paula Motrel, Marta Pujadas, Jordi Segalas and Gemma Tejedor
Technical University of Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain E-mail: anamotrel.upc@gmail.com
echnical University of Catalunya in Barcelona (UPC) organizes the 1-week International Seminar on Sustainable Technology Development (STD), with the aim of bringing together the field forefront experts and Master students in sustainability. The course is organized in the framework of UPC Masters in Sustainable Development, and aims to connect experts, future researchers and policy-makers on real topics where long-term technological systems renewal is needed in order to fulfill sustainability requirements. The objectives of STD are: To increase the understanding of a sustainable development in the long term and the role of technology therein embedded in systems To increase the capability to apply foresighting, forecasting and backcasting. To contribute to the development of scientific work competences of students. To increase the capability of teachers to teach the approach of future imaging, foresighting, forecasting and backcasting. To become an experts meeting point and create networking activities among different groups and institutions. KEYWORDS: Conceptual Approach: Backcasting Methodology Applied to Real Case Study.
64
Engineering Students Getting The Bigger Picture

Gertjan de Werk and Karel Mulder
Delft University of Technology Faculty of Technology Policy & Management Jaffalaan 5, 2628 RZ, Delft, The Netherlands E-mail: K.F.Mulder@tudelft.nl
his paper briefly describes how Delft University of Technology introduced SD as a core element in its education: a basic course for all students, integration of SD in all other course where it was relevant, and an option for Master students to specialize in SD, besides their regular degree program. In this students could obtain a special sustainability certificate in addition to their Msc. The paper will further analyze this SD specialization. Core of this optional program is a course which partly takes place at a boat. Our philosophy in creating this course was that the best way to achieve a really sustainability-minded engineer is to enable the student to reflect on his work shortly before graduation. On the boat 25 like-minded students from various engineering disciplines, can actively dig into the issues that are linked to sustainable development. During this week of intensive training excursions, lectures, discussions, workshops, videos, etc. are offered which confront the students actively with a variety of sustainability-related problems, like: consumption and waste, food shortages, energy (consumption), decline of biodiversity, globalization, underdevelopment, etc. The strength of the course on the boat is that every student is challenged to participate actively and cannot withdraw from discussions. It creates a really intensive week that sometimes has long lasting effects for the students future.
65
Sustainable Development Education at the National Technical University of Ukraine Kiev Polytechnic Institute: Experience of a Joint Course of Four European Universities
E. Nikiforovich1, O. Kordas2, R. Wennersten2, J. Segals3 and K. Mulder4
Kiev Polytechnic Institute Royal Institute of Technology 3 Technical University of Catalonia 4 Delft university of Technology
1 2
DPROMO is a project within the Erasmus Mundus Action 3 program with the main aim to promote European Education in Sustainable Development all over the World. Under the SDPROMO framework, the project consortium has developed a 3 ECTS course in sustainable development for teachers and students at National Technical University of Ukraine Kiev Polytechnic Institute (KPI, Kiev-Ukraine). During February 2007, teachers from the Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm-Sweden), Delft University of Technology (Delft-The Netherlands) and Technical University of Catalonia (Barcelona-Spain) and from KPI gave the course, which had a focus on sustainable energy systems in Ukraine. This paper shows the design of the course, the contents, and pedagogical strategy used, and analyses the knowledge obtained by students and the assessment methodology. The paper also points out the benefits engendered in the Kiev Polytechnic Institute by teaching such a course to its students and teachers. It provides an example of good practices, where the 2-week joint course became a starting point for wide range of activities aimed at incorporation of sustainable development concept into education and research programs of KPI.
66
Green Construction: Options for Incorporating Sustainability into Graduate Construction Programs
Edgar P. Small1 and Dima Jawad2
1 2
American University in Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Notre Dame University, Louiaze, Lebanon E-mail: ESmall@aud.edu
he explosion of construction activity in the United Arab Emirates and other GCC countries is unprecedented with the development ambitions of cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi renowned across the globe. The Emirates is also becoming known as a leader in sustainability, which is demonstrated through the commitment made through Masdar City and the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. Merging these two areas of distinction reveals a unique opportunity for construction graduate programs in the UAE to provide leadership through training and education of a new generation of sustainability-focused construction professionals. Opportunity for development of graduate-level construction programs to accomplish this goal is explored in this paper. The background and characteristics of green construction are first identified and discussed. Typical efforts reveal a focus on impacting sustainability of the constructed facility through green-design, as guided by LEED and other international standards and guidelines. Sustainable design has significant influence on the final constructed facility; however, consideration of sustainability must also extend throughout the project life-cycle, especially through consideration of the energy-sustainability of the construction process itself. This is particularly important when evaluating opportunities for development of green construction curriculum. Graduate-level programs in the UAE and the United States are first surveyed through a literature review process. Graduate program offerings are then evaluated to determine typical, common program elements with the goal of identifying common elements for sustainability education. The available body of knowledge for energy-related sustainability is then discussed and best practices identified. Opportunities for integration of sustainability within project and thesis oriented degree programs are then evaluated and discussed. KEYWORDS: Construction; Green-Building; Education; Sustainability
67
A Pedagogical Framework for Integrating Sustainability in Engineering Design Education

Sarah Khalil Elmasry
Dept. of Architectural Engineering UAE University, P.O.Box 17555, Al-Ain, U.A.E E-mail: selmasry@uaeu.ac.ae
he United Arab Emirates has one of the highest levels of energy consumption per capita in the world. Consequently, the country is currently encouraging strategies which further enhance sustainable development and growth, and the local market is also having a keen appetite for engineering graduates who have a sustainability background. This paper reviews the current transformation towards sustainability within the built environment in the U.A.E. in general and as well as the status of sustainability education in the country. Pedagogical approaches adopted in a senior architectural engineering design studio towards integrating sustainability in the architectural design process are reviewed. Lessons learnt from students and course administrator are used to provide fundamentals for structuring a framework for integrating sustainability in the engineering design process. The processes and the performance of students in this studio across two academic semesters are investigated to provide indicators of (a) students prior knowledge of sustainability, (b) how they perceive sustainability in their design proposals, and (c) their potential consideration for sustainability in their future engineering careers. This paper concludes a number of course-based, student-based and context-based fundamentals required to structure a pedagogical framework towards embedding sustainability in the engineering design process. KEYWORDS: Architectural Engineering; Built Environment; Pedagogical Framework; Sustainability Education; United Arab Emirates
68
Sustainability Education in Civil Engineering Programs within the GCC States

Dima Jawad1 and Edgar Small2
1
Notre Dame University, Louiaze, Lebanon American University in Dubai, Dubai, UAE Email: esmall@aud.edu
he exceptional growth of the GCC Countries in the last decade has raised concerns regarding the ecological footprint and sustainability of the megascale development projects taking place in these countries. These concernssubstantiated by the latest global economic recessionwarranted the prioritization of the sustainability agenda in the GCC Government policies and future visions. As engineers are primary participants within the development process in these countries, a key component of the sustainability agenda should include the formation of local base of sustainable engineers. To explore the academic preparation of todays civil engineering student to meet the challenges of sustainability, research is performed to review and assess the current practice of sustainable development education at civil engineering schools. The research is performed through an extensive literature review of academic research with particular emphasis on GCC Universities. The results of the study are synthesized, presented and discussed. Results show that there are three approaches for incorporating sustainable development knowledge and skill requirements into engineering programs: (a) external course offerings (e.g. courses external to engineering programs, such as philosophy, business, economics, sciences/ecology); (b) special courses offered within engineering; and (c) integration of the content and skills within existing courses. The first approach has the most shortcomings due principally to the outcome results indicating students incompetence in associating the non-engineering disciplinary skills with engineering topics and design. Weighing up the second approach (special courses in sustainability) and the third approaches (integrating sustainability into existing engineering courses) has resulted in a notable debate among educators and constituted a substantial body of research in the last decade. Interestingly, among the advocates of the second approach (introducing special courses in sustainability) are engineering educators that are resisting the change due to a variety of reasons including unfamiliarity with the sustainability topics relevant to their course material. This resistance is compounded by a time-lag dilemma with curriculum renewal. These topics will be explored and recent research presented to assess the-state-of-practice of sustainability education in GCC engineering schools in light of current research findings and directions. The paper concludes with policy and curricula recommendations for GCC civil engineering schools on sustainability education.
69
Strategies for Integrating Sustainable Development into Higher Education

H. Meliani and R. Djoudjou
Al-Ahsa College of technology, Saudi Arabia Hofuf: P.O. Box (804) P. Code (31982) E-mail : melianih@hotmail.com
he concept of sustainable development is the process of integrating and balancing the economy, environment, and the overall health and well-being of society. Education for sustainable development is an emerging imperative. It represents a major shift in the way students are taught and learn within the higher education sector in order to make higher education the major contributor to society>s efforts to achieve sustainability development, through the skills and knowledge that its graduates learn and put into practice and through research and exchange with community. United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed the ten-year period beginning on first January 2005 the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) to emphasize that education is an indispensable element for achieving sustainable development. This initiative and many other initiatives of the United Nations agencies have been a great recognition for many universities around the world to pursue and mainstream Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), throughout their organizations. In fact many universities have become engaged in the process of integrating sustainable development in their activities, by integrating sustainable operations, policy and practices for the long term, in order to make higher education relevant to the societal needs, in general, and sustainable development in particular, and to make themselves a microcosm of the outside world. To achieve their goals universities have to find out what kind of learning objectives do the challenges associated with sustainable development impose on education in general and on higher education in particular and how can the universities respond to these challenges and how these learning objectives are expected to evolve in the future. The purpose of this paper is to explore the strategies used by some universities to take into consideration integrating sustainable development to fulfill their assigned missions. Some examples are given to highlight the impact of sustainable integration development into higher education on education, research, economy and environment. KEYWORD: Sustainable Development, Integration, University, Research, Education
70
Integrating Sustainable Development Concepts in Engineering Education, Specially in Civil Engineering Education
Zahid Ali
Consultant, Structures & Building Materials, Islamabad, Pakistan E-mail: zee9_786@yahoo.com
he need to reorient basic and secondary education to address sustainability has grabbed international attention whereas the need at engineering education level is more profound because the engineering graduates are the one responsible for design, construction and management of projects. It is indeed high time to introduce and embed sustainable development concepts in engineering and technical education for having a sustainable future. Civil engineering education requires immediate and special attention as building design and construction alone consume a major share of natural resources. Buildings in view of the materials from which they are built cause a tremendous effect on the environment both during construction and use. They consume natural resources from which they are built and are the main source of energy and water consumption. Buildings also affect the health of human being, as many major diseases have been linked to inappropriate building materials. Similarly, Scientists observed that urban areas with more buildings and paving and less vegetation are typically warmer than surrounding rural areas. The additional heat causes air conditioning systems to work harder and consume more energy. We need to develop awareness about education for sustainable development (ESD) so as to make it popular among engineers and general public. The paper will deliberate over integrating sustainable development concepts in engineering education, especially in civil engineering education in order to create resource efficient buildings / projects. KEYWORDS: Sustainable Development Concepts; Awareness about ESD; SD Concepts in Engineering Education; Effects of Buildings Construction on Environment; Integrating SD Concepts in Civil Engineering Education
71
Environmental Engineering Education (E3) in the UAE: Survey and Comparative Study
Mohamed M. Mohamed and Munjed Maraqa
Civil and Environmental Engineering Department United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, P.O. Box 17555, UAE E-mail: m.mohamed@uaeu.ac.ae
nvironmental awareness has received higher priority in the UAE agenda in recent years. In addition to the recently developed governmental structures, many non-governmental environmental groups have been established over the last decade. A clear assurance exists now amongst federal bodies, individual agencies and non-governmental organizations, together with their domestic and international alliances, of the need for environmental protection and sustainability. Environmental legislations have been recently passed or currently underway either at a federal level or at an individual emirate level. This fast growing environmental awareness coupled with the necessary legal support is not accompanied with a similar pace of improving the environmental engineering education (E3) in the country. Higher education institutes in the UAE do not yet have academic programs with the sole purpose of offering E3. This is obviously essential to provide the local market with the appropriate UAE graduates needed for pursuing a career in this field. In this paper, the current E3 in the UAE higher education institutes was reviewed and was compared with other similar programs in developed countries. The UAE market needs for E3 was also assessed through a survey. KEYWORDS: Curriculum Development; Environmental Engineering Education; UAE; Higher Education.
72
Integrating Sustainability Education in a Classical Civil Engineering Program: The Case of Transportation and Construction Courses
Salwa Beheiry, Ghassan Abu-Lebdeh, Maruf Murtula and Adil K. Al-Tamimi
Department of Civil Engineering American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE E-mail: gabulebdeh@aus.edu
ustainability has emerged as a common theme in many processes related to urban life and the built environment. However, most engineering curricula still lacks the fundamentals of sustainable practices education that prepares graduating engineers to fulfill their expected roles and conduct future business in a more sustainable fashion. A more sustainable Civil Engineering curriculum requires a more systems approach to both diagnosing transport and built environment problems as well as devising solutions to such problems. This paper examines typical engineering curricula and identifies specific courses in the areas of transportation and construction where sustainability can be injected with minimum disruption to the structure of the course and/or its connection to other courses with the intended degree. For the two subspecialties, the core and elective courses are categorized and certain areas/modules within each course are identified, where the integration of sustainable engineering education is useful. Furthermore, some educational tools that facilitate the infusion of these concepts into the two subspecialties are presented.
73
The Participation of High Education in the Instantaneous Preparation of Sustainable Development Human Resources
Mukdad Abdulwahhab Al-Khateeb
Department of Sustainable Development Environment Research Center University of Technology,Baghdad, IRAQ E-mail: mukdadalkhateeb@yahoo.com
he undergraduates in Iraq range in age between 1824 years which makes them a perfect sample for the Youth. Their idealized educational status, adds value to their potentials and possible future participation in the development process of Iraq. It is a pity that the earlier secondary and primary education has totally neglected the Education for Sustainable Development leading to another extra burden on High Education. Sustainable development should be promoted for by well planned educational programs which are most crucial to maintain the path towards sustainable development. Such programs and related plans should be categorized per execution as strategic; starting at the primary schools & instantaneous; for the high education undergraduates. This paper examines the current ambiguity surrounding Sustainable Development in Iraq and explores, through a questionnaire, the desires and aspirations of the first year undergraduate students at the University of Technology, Baghdad-Iraq. Also suggests the establishment of Mesopotamia Youth>s Environment Forum; a University-Community bonding that secures unity amongst the member students of the Forum and links them to the university academic staff in environmental, studies and researches. The MYEF is expected to become a model to be imitated by the other universities and a platform for further researches and debates related to sustainable development. KEYWORDS: Sustainable Development; Undergraduates in Iraq; Mesopotamia Youth; Environment Forum; Sustainability; Sustainability wheels, Education for Sustainable Development.
74
Towards a Sustainable Approach in Teaching Islamic Architecture

Hafsa Al Omari
Department of Architecture E-mail: hafsa_alomari2004@yahoo.com
reativity in Islamic architecture has been one of the most important determinatives in the architect>s thinking. A historical approach is the most common approach in teaching Islamic architecture using description, and a tradition analytical method dividing according to periods or types with sociocultural description, and in sometimes a philosophical interpretation. This approach has a limited effect on students. This study aims at establishing a sustainable approach in teaching Islamic architecture that has a long standing effect beyond time and place. The study suggests two methods, the first of which is a theoretical base, investigations to achieve continuity with the past require finding out the intellectual origins and the motivations behind this creativity the most significant of which is Islam. According to Islamic ideals, ordinances and rules, and ethics which are constants, and concepts that adopting with environments, places and time differences. The second approach is studying forms and shapes in historical examples by geometrical analyses of the formal language. Form (elements and relations) is one of the visual features of identify and self on one hand and expressive features of place and time (scientific and technical development) on the other hand. Creative new forms from historical forms are considered one of the greatest challenges that face the architect. Creating a contemporary architecture from historical and traditional Islamic forms, by using new theoretical methods, computerizing the design process using optimization process, a parametric shape grammar, software (3D studio max program, AutoCAD) the sustainable approach will be more benefit for the development of new languages of designs. The generation of forms will offer a new vision in studying Islamic architecture. This has given a chance to benefit from the Islamic architecture by understanding and comprehending the intellectual origins and the expressive styles that have paved the way to the contemporary architectural creations instead of copying and imitating the historical shapes.
75
Applications of Sustainable Materials in Civil Engineering Education

Adil K. Al-Tamimi, Maruf Mortula, Ghassan Abu-Lebdeh and Salwa Beheiry
Department of Civil Engineering American University of Sharjah, PO Box 2666 E-mail: atamimi@aus.edu
ustainability process has over the year increased publicity and applications, therefore higher education should upgrade their curriculum accordingly to reflect this need. To train future engineers with the fundamental concepts of the sustainable materials is a timely necessity In this paper, faculty who has courses related directly to sustainability have taken new steps to implement it directly in their courses and assignments. The implication of sustainable materials is the focus of this paper where their applications and impact on the overall sustainable design has been discussed. It has been shown that adding sustainability elements to courses and design projects can raised awareness on the subject and increased the interest of many students to learn and adopt sustainability process as key factor in their current education and their lifelong learning through future career. In this paper, discussion on the potential courses and approach on changes in course curriculum was done. KEYWORDS: Sustainable Materials, Carbon Foot Print, Service Life, Concrete, Steel and Solid Waste
76
Algorithmic Evaluation Method for a Learning Environment

Rym Aiouni, Tahar Bensebaa and Hana Bensalem
University Badji Mokhtar, Annaba, Algria E-mail: aiouni.rym@gmail.com
he process of evaluation in a TEL (Technology Enhancing Learning) and in a TEL of algorithmic in particular, is a rather complex problem. In this sense, this work presents a process evaluation of algorithmic for a dual purpose, that of learning the decomposition of algorithmic problems and that of validation of solutions. This validation is based on structural matching.
KEYWORDS: : Algorithmic; Structural Matching; Evaluation; Successive Refinement; Plan of Solutions
77
Solar Energy in Favor of Communications in Isolated Sites

A. Guen Bou Azza, B. Bou Azza, H. Guen and Ne Chabane Sari
Faculty of Science and Engineering Abou-Bekr Belkaid University of Tlemcen E-mail:guenahlam@yahoo.fr
ur work consists initially of determining simply the dimensions of an autonomous solar installation supplying an emitter/receiver and in a second time to give judiciously and rigorously the size of this solar station using our programme based on a new dimensioning method. This is carried out with an optimization approach taking into account the economic criteria of this autonomous low power solar installation in its principal components: its power peak (the number of required modules) and its storage capacity. This photovoltaic system which allows supplying an emitter/receiver envisages establishing temporary and autonomous communications in isolated sites where using conventional energies appear impossible. In this work the importance of the solar panels slope allowing determining the optimum dimensioning of the autonomous solar station is also studied. This study is accomplished by the analysis of the variation of monthly and annual total energy for various slopes. At the end of this study we propose to use a new solar cells structure used to improve the solar cells efficiency leading to improve solar panels efficiency. The obtained results appear to be satisfactory and very promising KEYWORDS: Autonomous solar station, Photovoltaic systems dimensioning, Low power photovoltaic stations, Cells efficiencies, interdigitated cells.
78

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5th International Forum on Engineering Education (IFEE2010)

5th International Forum on Engineering Education (IFEE2010)

European SDPROMO II Conference Sustainable Development in Higher Education

5th International Forum on Engineering Education (IFEE2010)

5th International Forum on Engineering Education

Sustainable Development in Higher Education University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

European SDPROMO II Conference 23-25 November 2010

5th International Forum on Engineering Educatuion http://www.sharjah.ac.ae/IFEE2010

5th International Forum on Engineering Education (IFEE2010)

5th International Forum on Engineering Educatuion

5th International Forum on Engineering Education (IFEE2010)

Prof. Samy Mahmoud, Chancellor of the University of Sharjah

Prof. Abdallah Shanableh

5th International Forum on Engineering Education (IFEE2010)

Accreditation Experience of the Mechanical Engineering Program at University of Bahrain

Program Stakeholders Perception of ABET

5th International Forum on Engineering Education (IFEE2010)

5th International Forum on Engineering Education (IFEE2010)

Industry Incorporated Engineering Curriculum

5th International Forum on Engineering Education (IFEE2010)

Enterpreneurship, Small Business Management, Incubation: New Engineering Education Trends

Hatem A. Elaydi ......................................................................................................................................................

5th International Forum on Engineering Education (IFEE2010)

5th International Forum on Engineering Education (IFEE2010)

Towards a Sustainable Approach in Teaching Islamic Architecture

Development of Higher Education in Jordan

In GCC Countries: Has the Multidisciplinary Engineering Education Come of Age?

Multi-Specialization: The Future Requirement

Malaysia in the Washington Accord: Assuring Quality in Engineering Education

Accreditation Experience of the Mechanical Engineering Program at University of Bahrain

Program Stakeholders, Perception of ABET

Dimensions of Quality in Engineering Education

A Quantifiable Quality Assurance System for Engineering Courses

Intelligent Evaluation in Educatinoal Context

Accreditation and Program Assessment

Identifying Reasons for Students Non-Uniform Learning Outcomes

Early Warning Indicator at University of Sharjah Proposed System

3-D Scientific Visualization as a Powerful Teaching Tool

E-Learning, an Effective Tool of Sustainable Higher Education

Multimedia Teaching Methods

Development and Implementation of an E- Management System in a Geographically Spread Educational Structure

Qassim University, Saudi Arabia EMI, Rabat, Morocco E-mail : abdelghanimohamed@qec.edu.sa

Cellular Automata Educational and Research Platform

A New Approach to Student Development: Effat University Case Study

Development of Design, Implementation and Troubleshooting Skills of EE Students

A Project-Based Active/Cooperative Engineering Design Course for Freshman Level StudentS

Benchmarking Design Experience in Industrial Engineering Programs

Incorporating Contemporary Issues in BME Curricula

Assessment of the Practical Training Requirement in Engineering Education in Palestinian Universities

Industry Incorporated Engineering Curriculum

Enterpreneurship, Small Business Management, Incubation: New Engineering Education Trends

University Common Courses: What do they Stand for in the Curriculum?

Cross-Cultural Science and Engineering Education: The German-Jordanian University Experience

Gender Based Statistical Analysis of Students in Engineering Over Ten Years

Evaluation of Research in Two Saudi Universities Using a Bibliometric Based Approach

Program Review: Computer Engineering at the University of Sharjah Case Study

Introducing Biotechnology to the Chemical Engineering Curriculum at UAE University

Can a Third World University Become a World Class University?

Do UAEU Engineering Graduates Get Comparable Education to Graduates of Western Universities ?

Comparison of Civil Engineering Curricula in the Arab Middle East Countries

Instructional Methodology and Engineering Education in Arab World

Active learning Experience at UPC: STD International Seminar

Engineering Students Getting The Bigger Picture

A Pedagogical Framework for Integrating Sustainability in Engineering Design Education

Sustainability Education in Civil Engineering Programs within the GCC States

Strategies for Integrating Sustainable Development into Higher Education