Transcript Chemical Engineering curriculum development for the twenty

Chemical Engineering
curriculum renewal for the
twenty first century:
a work in progress
Peter Holt, Jose Romagnoli
and Ali Abbas
1
Background
 Internationally
– Traditional + emerging areas for Chemical Engineers
• E.g. nano technology, life sciences, sustainability
– Information age (internet+communications+travel)
• information readily and easily available
• rapid information exchange
 Locally
– Geographical - Sydney & Asia
– University moving towards 6 credit point
subjects (4 subjects per semester)
– Improve horizontal and vertical integration
2
Curriculum renewal: we are…
 Starting with a “clean slate”
 Working in a team and communicating with
staff
 Bringing educational theory within the context of
chemical engineering
 Re-evaluated the status quo & questioning:
– What attributes do a future engineer require?
– What concepts and content should our
graduates possess?
– What does that mean for curriculum at the
University of Sydney?
3
The big picture
Progression
through degree
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Key concepts
and
fundamentals
(chemical
engineering
science and
fundamentals
Team
Projects
Generic and
transferable
skills
development
Breadth
and depth
Electives
Or
Combined
degrees
4
Attributes
 Critical thinking
– Problem solving, reflection
and evaluation,
integration, generalisation
 Professionalism
– Team work, management,
ethics, responsibility
 Communication
– Written, oral, listening,
computer
 Personal
– Creativity, self learning,
motivation
 For example, Communication
- Oral presentation
Year 1
Be able to present ideas to peers.
Year 2
Be able to gather ideas from others and
analyse the outcomes.
Year 3
Adapt oral communication (tone,
language, manner) to your audience.
Year 4
Actively engage other people (using a
variety of mechanisms) to seek their
opinions. Be able to evaluate their ideas
and select relevant information for your
situation. Actively engaged in a debate
being able to justify your
position and recognise
your limitation.
 Required by IChemE,
IEAust, University of
Sydney
5
Chem Eng - key concepts
 Conservation laws
– Mass, energy, momentum
 Equilibrium
 Rate processes
 Sustainability
 Systems approach
Multi-scaled applications
How do these
concepts
relate to a
curriculum?
6
The curriculum map
 Organize concepts, core knowledge,
enabling tools
ENABLING
FUNDAMENTAL TECHNOLOGY
Change
Why?
Motivation
Scale
Global
Fundamentals
+
Integration
(synthesis)
Cradle to Grave
What? (Defines
scale)
How?
(Methodological
Development)
Problem
formulation &
problem
definition
Macro
Whole
Plant
PROJECT
SUSTAINABIL
ITY
Design
CONSERVATION
LAWS
Mass
Energy (1st Law)
Entropy (2nd Law)
Momentum
Living Systems
People
Plants
Planet
Cells
Constitutive
Equations
Data/Real Life
+
SYSTEMS
APPROACH
Nodes and Streams
Financial
Environmental
Ecological
+
System definition
& boundaries
Simplification
Assumptions
Controlling
Mechanism
Steady and
unsteady States
Mechanical/Physic
al Separation
Process Equipment
Constraints
Sensor
Controller
Actuator
Experiments
Information
Aggregation
(Level of Detail)
Uncertainty
Statistical Analysis
Correlations
Data
Reconciliation
System
characteristics &
Solution
Analysis (So what?)
+
LCA
Multi-Criteria
Decision Making
Multi-Objective
Optimisation
+
Social
Political
Environmental
Computational
tools
 Linear & nonlinear algebra
 Algebraic
Equations
 ODE
 PDE
 Stochastic
Environmental
Impact
Assessment
Optimisation
SUSTAINABILITY
Economics
Profitability
Sustainability
Product
Characteristic
Operability
Safety
PROJECT
7
Semester projects
 Academic team responsible for project
– Links with semester content
– Attribute development
 Vertical and horizontal integration
 Close connection to application
– Real life problems (ill defined and ambiguous)
– Opportunities for research led teaching
– Hands on
 Evolution of projects and their
complexities throughout program
8
How does it fit together?
Education
research
Staff, student, industry
response and feedback
Attributes
Context
(application)
Curriculum
Key concepts
Professional
requirements
Institutional
requirements
Teaching and
learning
experience (staff
& students)
9
So what and where to next?
 Conclusions
– Key attributes and concepts identified
– Awareness, interest and involvement from many staff
 Where to next?
– Contextualise concepts – the context
– Integration of attributes, projects, modules and align
with assessment
– Implementation 2005
Contact: Dr Peter Holt – [email protected] or (02) 9036 9642