Patrick Buckley＊, Ronan Dunbar, Patrick Rogers, Eoin McIntyre, Irene McCormick

Abstract: This research study measures the support for learners through the use of a Virtual Learning Environment project website. The website prepares, assists and supports the learners through their Mechanical Engineering Projects in an accredited academic programme. The research question answered was “Is the VLE website helpful to learners in the final years of mechanical engineering projects?” The research focuses on the learners' experiences of using the project website and explores their views regarding the website. The literature relating to the study indicates that similar programmes have had positive results in relation to the adoption of VLEs to support learners.

Key words: mechanical project; website technology; virtual learning environment; VLE

1 Introduction

The study aims to investigate the effect of using a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to prepare the learner for completing a project, support the learner during the project and improve learner performance in the project modules. The VLE website designed aims to support the learner in achieving the learning outcomes of the project module in the Mechanical Engineering program. The undergraduate project students research important, real-world questions ranging from how to improve medical devices to improving the efficiency of power plants. The purpose of the website is to help to guide the students through the process of the project early and give them a head start in finding and preparing the project. The student can use the website as a resource to prepare before the project starts and during the course of the project. For example for each learning outcome there is a video clip or presentation to support the student in meeting the learning outcome for the project on the website. The purpose of this research is to further enhance the skills of graduates which will give the upper hand in the project field. This is seen as a critical area of investigation as projects are a key area of Mechanical Engineering.

Occasionally some learners find the project difficult because it may be their first time to attempt a mechanical engineering project. Student discomfort is often reported due to the self-directed nature of the project-oriented learning that they are expected to undertake. The prior knowledge of an area is a great advantage as students can build on it to improve their understanding[1].

The VLE website gives the learner the opportunity to gain prior knowledge before the project starts in September. There are usually problems in the workshop getting material and components ordered from suppliers on time, waiting for the material and parts to come. The delay is caused by the learners not having their design complete. They cannot order the parts until they have a design in place. The students can use the project website to prepare the project idea,concept, design, select their team mates and draft rough drawings of what they want to manufacture for the September start date.

It is hoped that the links will lead them to see all the inspirational technology out there available on YouTube and the World Wide Web. The website aims to remove the stress and confusion in the project at the beginning of term. If the learner chooses to make use of the VLE website to engage with the previous projects, videos,technology, presentations and tutorials, they will have a greater insight into the requirements of the project.

The student may find a suitable project during the summer on the website and this helps the learner to be more organized to start the project in September.

The project requires an educational collaboration between students and staff members. Project experiences may be initiated by students who seek out projects from companies that require a Mechanical Engineering problem to be solved. The project expands the student’s experience in practicing mechanical engineering, design, manufacturing, project management, communication, teamwork, the use of VLE and collaboration with an engineering company or industry.

The learner draws on all of his/her subjects to complete a successful Mechanical Engineering project. The standard of project presented is a key indicator of how well a student has developed the fundamental mechanical engineer skills required to be an effective Mechanical Engineer. At exam board meetings external examiners commonly request to see the project outputs from a student should there be any question about the learner’s performance during the academic year. The completion of an excellent project and report indicates that the learner is likely to be a very capable Mechanical Engineer. An excellent project is a huge strength to have at a job interview as the interview panel will always bring the project up as a topic of conversation. The study has been conducted as quantitative with a positivist perspective. The project has a positivist approach associated with the quantitative methods used, the student questionnaire.The positivist approach has delivered the definitive answers from the research questionnaires.

The objective of the study was to verify the effectiveness of the project virtual learning environment on the students’ learning. The study explores the value of the website to the learners in a Mechanical Engineering degree programme. The results will be used to inform the improvement of the virtual learning environment and the learning in the programme. The study provides information regarding the application of a website to other modules in the programme. This may lead to better learner support, higher levels of essential skills development and greater retention rates due to better results in an era of rising student numbers as predicted for the future.

Is VLE helpful to learners in their final years Mechanical Engineering projects?

2 Method

A website evaluation questionnaire was designed to get feedback from the learners regarding the project website. The methodology used here was survey research. The questionnaire should bring weaknesses in the project website support to the surface. The research study measured how effective the project website was in supporting the project learners by asking the learners to rate the website from 1 to 5 (1=poor, 2=average,3=good, 4=very good, 5=excellent) for thirty two different aspects. The results of the questionnaires were input into SPSS so they could be analysed.

The plan was to evaluate the results and use them to make improvements and find out the answer to the research question. It is proposed to explore the viability of a website where students, employers and supervisors can plan projects early in the summer so that the project has a firm foundation by the time college opens in September. The learner and the employer could be forging a life-long relationship through the project.

The research results of the study were documented and analysed to gain valuable information regarding improvements to the learning through the website. It is hoped the research will be used to enhance interest in projects, research, innovation, masters, PhD’s and interaction with employers through the project website.

The process was explained to the learners in the project classes and the purpose of the study was outlined. They were informed that the results of the study would be available to them when the research was complete.

The questionnaires were presented to the learners at the end of the project class year and collected when they were complete. The questionnaires formed the quantitative part of the research and provided a measure of what the learners thought of the project website from a statistical and numerical view point.

3 Results and Discussion

The findings of this research indicate that the website has been a great support to the learners during their final year project. Sometimes learners have to hear or see an activity many times to fully understand the activity. The website allows the learner to view or replay an activity as many times as they want and especially when they come to that particular point in the project where the activity is now relevant. The SPSS results in the following graph indicated a very strong consensus in that the website was very helpful and a great support to learners(Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 How 39 learners rated the project website poor,average, good, very good, excellent.

The learners overall rating is shown in Fig. 1 and indicates thirty five learners rated the website as excellent and 4 rated it as being very good. No learners considered the website as Poor, Average or Good. It was concluded that the learners were very happy with the VLE support.

The descriptive statistics shown in Tables 1, 2 and 3 indicates a very positive response to the website.All learners rated the website highly for the different characteristics. The means varied from 4.5 to 4.9 out of 5. The mean for students who had completed a project before was 3.3, this indicates that most students need to acquaint themselves with the project to gain prior knowledge of the project. The website gets the learner thinking about the project early which helps to ensure the project runs smoothly. The project has a better chance of being finished on time.

Table 1 Positive response to the website.

Table 2 Positive response to the website.

Table 2(continued)

Table 3 Positive response to the website.

The results of the questionnaire yielded very positive results regarding the VLE project website.In the literature learners perceived that the Virtual Learning Environments had higher impacts on their learning compared with instructors' perceptions regarding their teaching[2]. The graphical results of the questionnaire indicate that the students rated the website with mostly excellent ratings. The literature further reinforces this finding; the use of computing and communication technology has had a positive impact on the engineering education system. The modern technology has improved online, collaborative learning and students learning experiences[3].

The results of research completed by Paper [4]show that students can meet given learning outcomes using Virtual Learning Environments and that there is limited difference in their learning and performance irrespective of a physical or virtual setting. The project website helped the learners to meet the learning outcomes and produce better projects. The learners suggested the use of more projects from the college to be uploaded to the project website. They found the existing videos on the website helpful but requested a greater variety of projects to be available on the website from industry.

4 Conclusion

The website was clearly a very helpful and supportive tool for the learners in the final year’s Mechanical Engineering project. The findings from the questionnaires clearly indicate the learners rated the site as excellent in most cases. In the literature learners perceived that the Virtual Learning Environments had high impacts on their learning[2]. This clearly backs ups my findings in this research study.

The website has afforded the learner to be better prepared for the project start in September. The website encourages and promotes prior learning for project.This prior learning is a vital link in being a successful student and was endorsed by Seery[1]. He claimed that learners who have gained prior knowledge in an area perform significantly better. The project website gives the learner another resource to refer to when they were working at home, during the holidays or when they come to a particular part of the project. The learners come to the project class and build on their prior learning. This process accelerates the project progress and the quality of project presented.

Biggs and Tang[5]stated it is important to include a choice in the exam or project, this gives the student a wider scope to demonstrate their ability to meet the learning outcomes. The project list on the website will allow the learners and companies to find each other.The results of this research project clearly indicates the advantages of using VLE for this purpose and project.The results of the study indicate the VLE website has enhanced the learner experience.

The VLE website has encouraged the student to make use of the world-wide-web, to read deeper into projects, google scholar, research journals and all that is available. The improvement in learner support by the website has led to greater enthusiasm demonstrated in the questionnaire.

The VLE website is similar to mechanical design and project, the students learn by doing. Paper [6]claimed the most favoured pedagogical model for teaching design was project-based learning. The students learn by doing the projects. Paper [7] claimed Project-Based Learning (PBL) is one of the most effective tools used in engineering education. They used project based learning at all the students’ levels throughout the Mechanical Engineering program at their institution. The project based learning is further reinforced by the changes and recommendations made by Engineers Ireland[8].

Research has shown that prior knowledge of an area is a great advantage as students can build on their prior knowledge[1]. The VLE gives the student the opportunity to gain prior knowledge before the project starts in September. The results of the questionnaire clearly indicates the high value the students place on acquiring prior knowledge from the website as indicated from the results.

The use of the VLE website not only helps the student meet the learning outcomes of the project,it affords the students an opportunity to learn and engage in the technology. The results of a research study by Paper [4] indicate that learners can meet the learning outcomes through the use of VLE and that there was only a minor difference in the learning and performance of the learner whether a physical learning environment or a virtual learning environment is used.The VLE website is a great support to student learning as the links will lead them to see all the technology out there available on YouTube and the World Wide Web.They can become better Mechanical Engineers by learning about the world of advanced technology while doing their project. The website has helped learners to develop an approach to projects and problems in Mechanical Engineering. Sheriff, et al (2012)[9]evaluated the use of technologies by ‘students’ and lecturers’ in an engineering case study. They claimed that technology was generally viewed as a positive contributor to the learning experience in engineering similar to this study.

The project website was a valuable tool to help and support learners during their project. They all used the website for different aspects of the project but they still want a lecturer or lecturers to consult with for problems that arise during the course of the project. The kinesthetic learning achieved in the project modules cannot be replicated or replaced by any virtual learning environment. The website afforded the learner to be better prepared for the project start in September.It gives the learner another resource to refer to when they were working at home, during the holidays or when they come to a particular part of the project. The website also teaches the learner to use the internet,videos, screencasts, tutorials, etc. to help them to complete the project.

The website does not propose to replace the lecturer but has been received as a great support to the learners.It can be concluded that the website was a very helpful and supportive tool for the learners.

The results and comments reported on the questionnaires were all very positive. The website has enhanced student learning, motivation, earlier starts to project, peer learning and has improved the quality of projects. This evidence of the benefits of the project website will give confidence to introducing similar websites to support student learning in other departments and Institutes of Technology.

Acknowledgement

I Patrick Buckley would like to acknowledge the support of my wife and family during the course of this study. We are grateful to other researchers and students who contributed to the study.