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Integration of Analysis and Design: Student Views On The Nature of Analysis Courses

The document discusses integration of analysis and design in structural engineering courses. It reports a variety of approaches, from some schools where analysis and design are fully integrated to others where there is little integration. Most schools incorporate some integration later in the courses through design projects. While many schools aspire to more integration, time constraints limit what is possible. Student views also generally support more integration of analysis and design to improve understanding.

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20 views

Integration of Analysis and Design: Student Views On The Nature of Analysis Courses

The document discusses integration of analysis and design in structural engineering courses. It reports a variety of approaches, from some schools where analysis and design are fully integrated to others where there is little integration. Most schools incorporate some integration later in the courses through design projects. While many schools aspire to more integration, time constraints limit what is possible. Student views also generally support more integration of analysis and design to improve understanding.

Uploaded by

bagmass
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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commitment to the integration of design and analysis and a number had features stemming

from their research expertise, such as dynamics at Oxford or cable nets at Warwick. Overall,
Birmingham probably accurately represented the practice of the majority in aiming to provide
a combination of formal, qualitative, analytical and practical studies.

Integration of analysis and design

A full spectrum of practices was reported, from Aberdeen where analysis and design are
fully integrated to Cambridge where there is very little emphasise ability to analyse is
not ability to design. The majority of respondents cited some integration of analysis and
design, commonly in the later stages of the course and often through the medium of design
projects. Many expressed aspirations towards more integration, since integration was typically
considered to be desirable from educational, motivational and pass-rate perspectives. A
number of respondents cited time constraints as limiting the amount of integration that was
possible but, perhaps surprisingly, none mentioned limitations due to available academic
expertise.

Summary and suggestions

The distinctive features and the amount of integration of analysis and design that is
achieved in courses are both extremely variable and, if anything, perhaps tend to reflect
institutional ethos rather than assessed educational objectives.

No one department stands out as being particularly innovative in its analysis teaching.
Maybe the topic does not encourage or need a radical approach.

Many would hope to integrate design and analysis more, especially in the later stages of
the course, if time and time-tabling constraints allowed.

Student views on the nature of analysis courses

Problems in learning analysis and ways to overcome these

A minority of students took a mechanistic view of their analysis course and cited, for
instance, the main problem to be exams and that the most promising solution was doing
examples, less focus on theory... leave that to the maths people. Complaints that the subject
involved long derivations, hard to follow were also typical. These occasional
backwoodsmen apart, however, it was surprising to find students broadly in agreement with
academics and industrialists in considering that the main problems are understanding
why/how structures work and getting that clear in your head before starting the analysis and
...understanding concepts such as BM/SFstems from student's inability to physically
appreciate such principles. Solutions cited included lab experiments/Design, Make, Break
help; worked examples are clearest way; and seeing how things work in a real
situation. Individual students obviously found particular approaches best suited their
personal mental framework and one student, for instance, commented that main problem for
me is understanding how various structures act under different loading conditions. The use of
computer analysis is the best way of overcoming this.

Integration of analysis and design

Although limited to the six institutions surveyed, students generally exhibited more
enthusiasm for enhanced integration of analysis and design than the academics. Most
favoured increased integration and this was expressed most forcefully by the comments more
would help understanding and also increase enjoyment and the more advanced structures

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