Assessing and Updating an Undergraduate Thermo-Fluids Laboratory Course

A required course for mechanical engineering students at South Dakota State University is Thermo Fluids Laboratory. The purpose of this one-credit course, usually taken in a student’s last semester before graduation, is to enrich the student’s understanding of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and heat transfer principles in an experimental laboratory setting. The Mechanical Engineering Department at SDSU recognizes the importance of laboratory coursework in the curriculum, so a project was undertaken to improve student learning outcomes from this course. The goals of this project were to formally assess how well the current Thermo Fluids Laboratory course achieves the desired course outcomes and to update the course content and equipment based upon the findings of the assessment. An online survey tool was the method chosen to solicit, collect, and assess the opinions of students who had recently taken the course and of the instructors who had taught the course during the past several years. Thirteen of the students who had taken the course in Spring 2010 and six recent instructors of the course responded to the survey. From the surveys, it was evident that the students had difficulties linking the concepts of the laboratory course to the lecture courses of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and heat transfer. All of the students mentioned the operational condition of the equipment as a significant problem. In addition, the lack of computer data acquisition equipment was another complaint frequently mentioned by the students. Therefore, the majority of the students surveyed did not feel the course significantly contributed to their learning in the Mechanical Engineering Program. Similar concerns were recorded in the survey of the former instructors. Based on the survey results, changes were implemented in an attempt to improve the content of the course, the condition of the equipment, and the relevance of the lab exercises to the rest of the thermo-fluids curriculum. Funds were obtained to purchase a computer data acquisition system for use in the course. The course changes included revision of the series of experimental topics, written report formats, and laboratory group activities. At the end of the Fall 2010 semester, ten students responded to the same survey given to the Spring 2010 students. Although the sample size was small, the comparison of the survey results shows that the changes improved the course significantly.