Driving force
MOULDING an innovative mindset that drives modern economy requires design- thinking incorporated into the academic syllabus and pedagogy.
The School of Engineering ( SoE) at KDU University College ( KDU) believes that the design- thinking process is key in enhancing its engineering students’ problem- solving abilities, and have introduced the Design- Centric Curriculum in 2012.
“As a modern engineer, you are essentially a problem- solver,” said head of SoE Ir Dr Matthew Teow Yok Wooi.
“You must be able to communicate with people from different training backgrounds who do not necessarily understand your technical jargon.”
Gone are the days of theoretical and experimental approach in engineering studies.
With the complexity of the modern world, engineering training and activities shouldn’t be too simple and monotonic by only using a circuit board as training tool, or merely looking into technical aspects.
“When designing a product, an engineer must be able to look from a wider angle, which includes the user, economy, manufacturing and many more aspects,” explained Teoh.
Teoh is also a Chartered Engineer registered with the UK Engineering Council, Professional Engineer registered with the Board of Engineers Malaysia, as well as the newly elected Chairman of the Malaysia Network of The Institution of Engineering and Technology, UK.
According to Teoh, the Design- Centric Curriculum inculcates “Problem- based Learning” and “Project- based Learning”.
It has three important attributes in the curriculum – Complex Problem Solving, Complex Engineering Activities and Complex Communication Skills.
As part of the curriculum, students are required to complete engineering projects that contain various natural factors which create constraint and limitation challenges that are mirrored in the real- world.
Putting what they learnt into practice, a group of Electrical and Electronic Engineering students, Tharmaraj Vilosamy, Tan Kin Sun and Vinodkumaran Munian, under supervision of lecturer Dr Hossein Zeynal, embarked on a capstone project on Micro- Grid Development for Kampung Sesapan Batu Minangkabau last year.
Kampung Sesapan Batu Minangkabau, a small village in Beranang, Selangor, consisting of 450 people with 90 houses, a school, clinic and mosque, was selected as the village faced frequent power disruption.
The project saw the students collecting field data from the villagers, which include the norms of energy consumption, types of appliances used daily, source of income, frequency of power disruption and such.
Ultimately, they designed a green- energy system, replacing power with renewable solar energy that will solve the village’s problem. Through this hands- on project in real life situation, students not only improved their understanding of the utilisation of renewable energy as engineers.
They also directly helped the villagers by implementing technical knowledge and training to develop a simple, cost effective, sustainable green energy system, which is environmental- friendly.
As solar energy is the first choice of renewable energy technology and micro- grid is an ideal power supply for homes in provincial territories, the energy can be coordinated for neighbourhood utilisation.
By implementing the green- energy system, this remote village now produces enough solar energy to power the entire area.
“‘ The Problem- Based Learning’ and ‘ Project- Based Learning’ methods are able to bring those three attributes of DCC to the surface,” Teoh concluded.
“The whole concept of design- led innovation is none other than the process of acquiring knowledge, training up skills, hands- on design and eventually developing an innovative solution, which was what our students demonstrated in Kampung Sesapan Batu Minangkabau.”
KDU University College runs its Enrolment Day on July 25 and 26, from 10am to 5pm, at its Utropolis Glenmarie and Damansara Jaya campuses.
To find out more about KDU University College, log on to www. kdu. edu. my, call either 03- 5565 0538 ( KDU University College, Utropolis, Glenmarie) or 03- 7953 6688 ( KDU College, Damansara Jaya).