COVID-19 has caused major disruptions in the way engineering education is conducted all over the world. The impact has been greater in developing countries that still lack the necessary tools for pandemic-based training. In this work, we carry out a survey on three public universities based in Zambia. The survey investigates the impact of COVID-19…

Access to interactive, simulated work environments through virtual reality (VR) has potential in teaching safety in design (SiD) to engineering students with reduced risk, cost and inconvenience. However, there is limited understanding of what students learn from immersive VR interventions, or the outcomes from specific learning activities. This…

A newly-developed online laboratory experiment in immersive virtual reality (VR) is used for process engineering students. A digital twin (DT) of a jet pump was realised using the game engine Unreal Engine 4. The chance was taken for an instructional redesign deviating from the conventional cookbook-experiment to better integrate the changing…

Virtual labs offer the promise of increasing and expanding learning opportunities, yet more needs to be understood about pedagogical implementation in higher education settings particularly within engineering technology (ET), vocational education and training (VET), and related sub-baccalaureate programmes. There is little empirical research on…

The paper describes the design and implementation of a virtual lab for on-line lab training on optical communications, part of the 'Optical Communications' course offered at the Dept. of Electrical & Electronic Engineering Educators, School of Pedagogical & Technological Education (ASPETE), Athens, Greece. The virtual lab is based on the…

The authors develop an educational simulation game for basic vapour-liquid equilibrium (VLE) to use in chemical engineering education, basing the design on educational guidelines from the active learning literature. The game is tested in three cohorts totalling 84 students, showing significant increase in a knowledge test of VLE, and positive…

Practical laboratory sessions are essential for engineering education, demanding efficient use of limited time. In recent years, Virtual Reality (VR) technologies have introduced Virtual Laboratories (VLs), offering the potential to enhance students' educational experience. Despite their potential, VLs are rarely utilised in civil engineering…

In this study, we investigated students' learning outcomes and engagement with an online laboratory called Online Watershed Learning System (OWLS) employed within a classroom and explored the relationship between learning outcome and engagement. The OWLS is the web interface for a real-time environmental monitoring system and integrates a…

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a rapidly developing field with growing importance in engineering, mainly as it serves to better understand and manipulate big data. However, the literature is sparse on how to educate engineers on the use of AI applications. For many years, a role-playing simulation known as the 'Beer Distribution Game' has been a…

The COVID-19 pandemic forced universities to suspend face-to-face instruction, prompting a rapid transition to online education. As many lab courses transitioned online, this provided a rare window of opportunity to learn about the challenges and affordances that the online lab experiences created for students and instructors. We present results…

Laboratory tasks often focus on mechanical procedures leaving limited time and opportunities for students to build conceptual knowledge. We investigate to what extent introducing simulation tasks to preparation work can enable students to build their conceptual knowledge. We surveyed two cohorts of students taking an electronics module. Laboratory…

The paper reviews the lessons of planning and running an "Engineering Management" practitioner development programme in a partnership between BP and the University of Manchester. This distance-learning programme is for professional engineers in mid-career experienced in the engineering and support activities for delivering safe,…

If students really understand the systems they study, they would be able to tell how changes in the system would affect a result. This demands that the students understand the mechanisms that drive its behaviour. The study investigates potential merits of learning how to explicitly model the causal structure of systems. The approach and…

According to the literature, in recent years, developing experiential learning has fulfilled the requirement of a deep understanding of lean philosophy by engineering students, demonstrating the advantages and disadvantages of some of the key principles of lean manufacturing. On the other hand, the literature evidences how some kinds of game-based…

Over the years, rapid development in computer technology has engendered simulation-based laboratory (lab) in addition to the traditional hands-on (physical) lab. Many higher education institutions adopt simulation lab, replacing some existing physical lab experiments. The creation of new systems for conducting engineering lab activities has raised…