(166d) Developing Tools for Teaching Chemical Engineering Unit Operation Design

The teaching of chemical engineering unit operation design in a project week environment is essential for a synoptic course and enhanced student learning.  This mini project, funded by the Engineering Subject Group of the Higher Education Academy, has two distinct aims: improving student awareness of resources available for Chemical Engineering Design and development of a pilot Staff Toolkit to assist lecturers new to Chemical Engineering Design.  The second year design week is used as an example of how different resources can be introduced and used in a design exercise. 

Experience from supervising third year undergraduate design projects over the last couple of years has highlighted the significant amount of time spent on directing students to resources where they can find information.  This not only detracts from supervision time but also reduces the useful learning content of the project.  Students should be aware of a wide range of resources and not just those relevant for the design they complete during their design projects.  The rationale behind this work is that by providing a more thorough grounding in the second year design week, students will be better prepared for their IChemE accredited design project and for life as a Chemical Engineer.

Second year design week involves a task based design, focussing on prescribed unit operations in a defined process, so is ideal for directing the students to the wealth of new online design resources relating to both underlying theory and practical design of unit operations. The synoptic nature of the project week makes it a vital part of the curriculum to ensure student understanding.  This paper discusses some of the different resources available and the way they have been implemented into the design week.

Student awareness of online resources before and after design week was evaluated via questionnaires and focus groups.  The impact of the online resources introduced in the design week on the cohort’s third year design project was also evaluated.  The results show that the students found the design week and online resources extremely useful.

Providing a teaching resource in the form of a pilot staff toolkit is another key aim of the project as it will be an invaluable teaching aid, especially given the increasing number of academics lacking real industrial design experience.  The pilot of the staff toolkit will be demonstrated and discussed.