This year again Quanser joined Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads for their annual ECEDHA conference, held in Florida. It was the first conference I have attended as a part of Quanser team, so it was a great opportunity for me to meet people who may be using our systems in their labs and talk to them about the best ways to deliver engineering education and make it attractive to young generation.
Can Engineering Theory Ever be Fun? Quanser’s Chief Education Officer, Dr. Tom
Lee, raised this question in his ECE Spotlight presentation. The short answer, in my opinion, is yes, it can be - with hands-on labs
that offer a more industrially-relevant and motivating experience. A key objective is balancing the
motivation and the fun with the rigorous traditions of engineering.
To make things even more fun, Quanser
developed a driving simulator, a solution that introduces students to engineering concepts through a highly
visual, immersive, video game-like environment while maintaining the conceptual
connection to engineering methodology and applications.
ECEDHA delegates not only heard about the driving simulator, but visiting Quanser’s booth they could also experience for themselves this dynamic, real-time, Hardware- in-the-Loop
simulation and high fidelity 3D representation of a vehicle driven in a closed racing track environment. Solutions like this help students learn to observe
and think critically about the effects of system parameters on not just the
discrete plant, but also on the overall system.
Many people who stopped by our booth decided to try their
hand at driving our car around the track (which became much more interesting
after cocktail hour).
ECEDHA 2013 was my first conference with Quanser (and this is my first blog post). I would like to thank
everyone for making it a great experience. Your comments on how to make engineering theory "fun" are welcome and your feedback is greatly appreciated.
Abdullah Dhooma
Product Marketing Engineer, Quanser
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