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1.INTRODUCTIONEducation can never be limited in classrooms. This is especially true for engineering education of undergraduates. Currently, in China, class-teaching is still the main approach for undergraduates to get professional knowledge. Due to the limited education resource, not all the undergraduates have the chance to take part in research projects or technical competitions like most graduate students do. However, after several years of study in basic theories and skills in certain major, undergraduates with better quality than high-school students, are ready to make something really practical and useful. The career life of further study after graduation also requires engineering experience from practice. Only the knowledge taught in classroom is far from enough. How to find or create meaningful extracurricular activities becomes urgent. Engineering-related extracurricular activities have been studied by some researchers for the purpose of cultivating innovation capabilities of undergraduate students [1] or attracting new engineering students [2]. Extracurricular activities were also reviewed, and the significance and how to take advantage of these activities as tools for the development and improvement of engineering education within the universities were proposed [3]. Most effective extracurricular activities are well-designed and need considerable manpower and material resources. In China and other countries with large population and limited resources, it is necessary to understand how effective an extracurricular activity can be before pouring significant resources into it. Industrial exhibitions are held periodically for communications between corporations and potential customers. Exhibitions can be viewed as a good showing stage for new products or techniques, and a platform for communications between people from industry, research institute and universities. From the point of view of an engineering educator, industrial exhibition is also a wonderful classroom for engineering education. It is commonly free, held periodically and highly related to engineering. In this paper, we propose exhibition-involved curriculum design for a comprehensive course given in Senior year in university. 2.ABOUT PRINCIPLE AND DESIGN OF OPTOELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTS (PDOI)2.1Introduction to PDOIA scientific instrument is often a combination of precision mechanics, optical components, electrical systems and information processing unit like a computer. It is much more than a simple or complex physical principle, but a precise engineering product. The principle and design method for different instruments vary dramatically. However, something in common indeed exists in various instruments. These design criteria are the main content of the course PDOI. PDOI is a course carried out in the fourth year for all the students in School of Optoelectronics, Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), China. The main content of the course include basic introduction, accuracy analysis and modern design methods, typical modules (optical sources, elements, and detectors) and typical optical instruments (interferometer, spectrometer, and microscope, etc.). Students are required to master the physical principle, actual structure and main function of several instruments and be able to do simple design. So the teaching sections in the course consist of lectures about the principles and typical examples, several demonstration experiments about classical optical instruments in the classroom, assignments about basic physical principle, measurement data processing, instrument structure and systematical parameter design, and the final examination. 2.2Problems due to practice missingAs discussed above, an optical instrument is a comprehensive precise engineering product. Most people know that a positive lens can form a reduced image, but only those who are majored and experienced in optics, electronics, and mechanics working together can make a practical camera possible. After three years of study, the students in School of Optoelectronics, BIT, have acquired basic knowledge in optics, mechanics, electronics, and computer science. They are ready to make a comprehensive application of the knowledge they have learnt in something really important. Like most engineering courses, PDOI needs practical section to turn students from armchair engineer to a real one. Seeing and using instrument is the basic of analyzing and designing one. Without the practice section, theories in the textbook or on the PowerPoint slides will never turn into experiences and skills of the students. So fast as the modern scientific instruments develop that no textbook or prototype in store can be practical enough. Students will be attractive to novel instruments with advanced technologies because they are too familiar to textbooks and conventional instruments. Only explaining boring principles and equations is not the best way to teach engineering. Extracurricular practice may be a good solution to the urgent problem. 3.EXHIBITION-INVOLVED CURRICULUM DESIGNInstead of designing and constructing a specialized extracurricular activity with manpower and material resources, the more economic and efficient way is bringing the student to a “generalized” classroom, i.e. industrial exhibition. 3.1Introduction to the ExhibitionChina International Exhibition of Lasers, Optoelectronics and Photonics is an important exhibition held in October annually in Beijing. It draws the attention of companies, universities, and research institutes in the field of lasers, optics and photonics. Similar with the contents of the PDOI course, the exhibition displays commercial optical parts and instruments from famous companies and also the newest relative technologies from universities and institutes. It is a wonderful extracurricular “example library”. Furthermore, development trend in both research and industry can be analyzed from the exhibition. Sometimes, even recruitment information is posted, which directly connects undergraduates and the industry. 3.2Curriculum designSince the exhibition is available every year at exactly middle of the course, it is set as a special classroom for PDOI. The content of the course and assignment are supplemented with new information from the exhibition.
4.PRELIMINARY RESULTSThe exhibition-involved curriculum design has been tried out for three years. Preliminary results are given with some statistic data and students’ feedback. 4.1Statistic dataTable 1 shows some statistic data about the course involving exhibition as extracurricular practice. In recent three years, 128 students went to the exhibition to learn more and experience more, taking more than 21% of the total student number. 10 new instruments have been added to the example library of the course including infrared imaging system, triangulation profiler, image measurement instrument, four-dimensional imaging system, transparent display, et al. Because these instruments are introduced with videos or photos taken by the hand of the students themselves, it is far more interested and convincible than characters on the textbook. Table 1.Data about the effect of the exhibition
4.2Feedback from the studentsFigure 1 shows some of the photos taken in the exhibition. Most of the students who went to the exhibition found it “excited” and “interesting”, and only a few were “depressed” because they realized they were too far away from a qualified engineer. The comments about the exhibition and the course from the students are excerpted and translated as follows. Because the comments about professional problems are not easily understandable to general readers, we only given the feedback concerning engineering course and learning.
These are two typical impressions of the exhibition, “interesting” and “depressing”. After all, both of them can inspire students to learn more actively and better. The instruments shown in the exhibition do serve as good examples. In the class after the exhibition, students who went to it would consider more about the application and with more open mind. They would think of the similar instrument they had seen in the exhibition. This is a good sign because the exhibition has extended the class to a broader field. 5.SUMMARYPrinciple and Design of Optoelectronic Instruments is a comprehensive engineering course. Due to the excessive student-teacher-ratio and limited experiment devices, not all the students have the chance to touch and operate a typical optical instrument. Without the practice section, theories in the textbook or on the PowerPoint slides will never turn into experiences and skills of the students. Only explaining boring principles and equations is not the best way to teach engineering. We try to set annual industrial exhibition as the extracurricular practice to help solve the urgent problem. In the first three year tryout, we encouraged the students to visit the exhibition and see real commercial instrument and the industry with their own eyes. We guided them with report assignment and enriched the course content with new instruments in the exhibition. Preliminary results show that the students are more active and interested in the course and have more experiences and open mind in optoelectronic instrument design. In the fall 2014, we will continue setting new tasks concerning the exhibition for the students and make better use of it, especially the technicians in the exhibition. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThis work was made possible by Beijing Higher Education Young Elite Teacher Project (YETP1171). REFERENCESK. He, X. Liu, and L. Li,
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