On Emulation of Special Projects

YU, Min-Hsang & WANG, Wei-Chung

101, Section 2, Kung-Fu Road, Hsin-chu, Taiwan 30043, Republic of China, Tze-Chiang Foundation of Science and Technology, mhyu@tcfst.org.tw, http://www.tcfst.org.tw

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present a two-year project schemed for the improvement of practical facilities and teaching materials in the area of manufacturing technology of the universities and colleges of Taiwan, R.O.C. The project was assigned to a non-profit organization, Tze-Chiang Foundation of Science and Technology (TCFST) which was founded by the alumni of National Tsing Hua University, to carry out by emulating special projects. TCFST is introduced for its performance of playing a successful collaboration model of university-industry. Expression of special projects has been addressed for its unique curriculum in Taiwan. The focuses of the project, which are the scheduling of executive processes, the methods of evaluation and the activities of promotion and awarding, are described separately. With the emphasis of the task of evaluation, three indexes of different steps of evaluation are also illustrated. At the end of this paper, the performance of the project is discussed and some suggestions derived from the execution are also described.

Keywords: TCSFT, university-industry, projects, evaluation, emulate

1 Introduction

The practice of special project has been a compulsory curriculum for higher education institutions in Taiwan, however, the achievements from the academia are generally not well informed to industry. Meanwhile, the academic people do not know how to apply their research outcomes to the industry properly. To shorten the gap between the academic and industry and coordinate with the national industrial policy, the Ministry of Education (MOE) of the Republic of China has planned many intriguing projects.

Being a non-profit organization, the Tze-Chiang Foundation of Science and Technology (TCFST) which was established by the alumni of National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) was assigned to accomplish one of those projects for its goal of building up connections among academic, research, industrial and governmental institutions. The aim of this paper is to present a two-year project of emulating special projects that were accomplished together by the teachers and students.

According to the resolution of. the Advisory Office of the MOE, the project was organized into two fields, the mechatronic and the manufacturing automation fields. The project was planned to improve the equipment and teaching materials by promoting the teachers and students to participate special projects either in the universities or colleges. The objectives of implementing special project are not only to increase design and manufacturing capabilities of both teachers and students, but also to cultivate the students’ capabilities of design and manufacture, which are related to teaching practice or added-value for industrial applications. At the end, a complete system originated from the special project which can be used for teaching demonstration or close to industrial prototype would be desirable.

The project focused on three parts, the scheduling of executive processes, the methods of evaluation, and the activities of promotion and awarding. The pre-processes included the public hearing and call for the project reports of final results. The evaluation was executed by three steps: the initial reviewing, on-site inspection of the real work and final evaluation. The activities for promotion and awarding were organized and performed in the workshops held for the promotion at the end of each year of the project with presentation and demonstration of special project. Several fine works were awarded publicly after a series of strict evaluation for the encouragement of participation. All the competitors were invited to present their projects. The awarded works are specially invited for demonstration.

2 Practice of Special Projects for Higher Education in Taiwan

Senior students, especially for those who study engineering, in the higher education institutes are assigned to practice a special project under the instruction of teachers in Taiwan. The special projects implemented are related to the curriculums that the students have studied. The objectives of practice a special project are for the students not only to have the chance to integrate what they had learned from the courses, but also to take what they had studies from the text books into ”real product”. This is a compulsory curriculum and the results of practice are taken as one the assessments for a student’s graduation. Table 1 shows some examples of the special projects carried out in the universities and college.

Table 1. Examples of Special Projects

Most of the special projects are teamwork. This kind of education system is popular in the universities and colleges, but the research outcomes from the academia are not well formed to industries. The problem is that since the connections between the academia and the industries are not well built, neither the selection of special projects is mostly not for the requirements of manufacturing, nor the research outcomes they do no know how to apply to industries properly. Many intriguing projects planned by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China have been developed and executed successfully to short the gap between the academic and industries. In the area of technology education, the mechatronic technology, the manufacturing automation technology, and the communication technology are progressed to the approaches. The projects were planned to improve the equipment and teaching materials by promoting the teachers and students to participate special projects either in the universities or colleges. The objectives of implementing special project are not only to increase design and manufacturing capabilities of both teachers and students, but also to cultivate the students’ capabilities of design and manufacture, which are related to teaching practice or added-value for industrial applications. At the end, a complete system originated from the special project which can be used for teaching demonstration or close to industrial prototype would be desirable.

3 Executing Processes

TCFST executed the project by organizing a committee. The project was accomplished according to the following procedures.

1. The preliminary planning, especially finish of drawing up evaluation index for the discussion in the public hearing;
2. Holding public hearing to call for papers by means of gathering the higher education institutes around the island to announce the methods, the schedule of the execution of emulation and to invite questions to discussion for the project promotion;
3. Inviting experts from industries, academic, or research institutes constituting a evaluative committee;
4. Evaluation phases, three steps are carried out, the initial reviewing, the on-site inspection and the final evaluation
5. Organizing the activities for promotion and awarding, the workshops held for the promotion at the end of each year of the project with presentation and demonstration of special project.
6. Writing final report of the project.

4 Evaluation

The emulation is accomplished by three steps: the initial reviewing, on-site inspection of the real work and final evaluation.

4.1 Initial Reviewing

The original domain of the participant is concerned for further on-site inspection of real work at this phase. Three areas are derived from Taiwan domain, namely, the southern area, the middle area and the northern area. All the participants are classified into these three areas according to the locations from which they are. The evaluation committee of each area is grouped with specified members. The number of the members decided depends on the number of the participants, in this case, five members are chosen. One of them is selected as the chief of the committee.

During the phase of initial reviewing, the committee focused on the screen of the proposals of the participant, i.e. only by screening the written form. The results of the review are gained by the processes of screen, assessment, and discussion. After the initial reviewing, some of the participants would be outscored for on-site inspection of real work. Normally, there is less than 50% of the works being outscored. Table 3 shows the assessment index

4.2 On-site inspection of real work

The execution of on-site inspection of real work is still carried out by the committee of the initial reviewing for three areas. The members of the committee for each area also inspect the selected real works as they screened during the initial reviewing within the same area. The objectives of on-site inspection of real work are to ensure that the work has been done completely, to investigate the cooperation of the institute, to evaluate the collaboration of the institute with local industry, and to evaluate the executive capability of students. The inspection index is shown in Table 4. It can seen that after the real work inspection, it is allowed for the inspection committee member to add or reduce the score which was accumulated in the initial reviewing phase.

The works which could be outscored to finial evaluation are decided by the results of on-site inspection of real work, including the marks given by the assessment and the gathering discussion.

4.3 Final Evaluation

The members of the final evaluation committee are mostly different from the members of the initial reviewing committee, but only three people who were original the chiefs from three area committees. The final evaluation was taken place not only to refer to the proposals of the selected works, but also to refer to the presentation of the evaluation results derived from the initial reviewing and on-sit inspection of real work. The decided lists of fine works come out finally from the gathering discussion. Table 5 illustrates the index of final evaluation. The number of works to get the award is according to the conclusion of the MOE meeting. Nine works are chosen this year, including one distinctive work, three excellent works and five good works.

All the awarding works will present and demonstrate for promotion by a workshop at the end of the project.

Index of Initial Reviewing

Code of the Proposal : Signature of Reviewer:

Title of the Proposal:

Table 3. Index of the Initial Reviewing

Index of On-Site Inspection of Real Work

Code of the Proposal : Signature of Reviewer:

Title of the Proposal:

Table 4. Index of On-Site Inspection of Real Work

Index of Final Evaluation

Code of the Proposal : Signature of Reviewer:

Title of the Proposal:

Table 5. Index of Final Evaluation

5 Results, and Activity of Promotion and Awarding

The emulation is focused on evaluating the special projects in the area of manufacturing automation- Technological Education Project which was planned by the MOE in 1996and 1997. In 1998's project, nine excellent works are chosen from forty-four participants by a series evaluative procedures of cautiousness and justice. The finished products researched and developed by the academic were more well known to the society and the industries by the promotion of workshop for presentation and demonstration. All the participants are invited to present in the activities. The works that had been awarded excellence were specially demonstrated with real works.

The performance of the participant was affirmed not only by being awarded publicly for encouragement of participation by the MOE and predecessors, but also by being reported by the public media, this would encourage them to join the research and development with intention. Furthermore, the teaching quality would be promoted by the emphasis of practical curriculum of higher education institutes.

6 Conclusion and Suggestions

Although, because of the limits of the executive project causing the difficulty on the correspondence and the arrangement of on-site inspection of real works, TCFST still engages to accomplish the objectives with the collaboration of all reviewers and participators. There are some suggestion that would be useful for further planning.

1. To advance the execution of the emulation.
   Since most of the works have been completed long time ago, the components have been separately for further utilization. It is not easy to re-assemble or test within the short time. The mark of evaluation would be influenced by reviewers that they do not see the real operation of works.
2. Those who have taken part in the project should also be encouraged with a citation of meritorious work.
   The awards are not only for the project leaders, but also for those who have taken part in the project. The awards is a useful reference for their further promotion.
3. To raise the subsidized budget and announce earlier.
   It can be seen that most of the participators and excellent works are from private institutes. The private universities are different from the national universities that can get much budget support from the Government in Taiwan, it is necessary to raise the subsidy.

Successful workshops, extensive promotion of special projects’ achievement to the public, and the comprehension of the society and industry about the academic research have been performed by the TCFST. The project is still being carried on further integrated programs not only in the special projects, but also in the design of multi-medium teaching materials and in the presentation of technological papers.

References

1. TCFST. Prospectus of Tze-Chiang Foundation of Science and Technology, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan, R.O.C., TCSFT, 1997.(Bi-language, Chinese and English)
2. MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, R.O.C. Final Report of the First Project of Emulation of Special Projects in the field of Manufacturing Technology Workshop for Technological Institutes and Junior Colleges with Presentation and Demonstration, Taiwan, R.O.C., MOE, 1997. (in Chinese)
3. MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, R.O.C. Proposal of the First Project of Emulation of Special Projects in the field of Manufacturing Technology Workshop for Technological Institutes and Junior Colleges with Presentation and Demonstration, Taiwan, R.O.C., MOE, 1997. (in Chinese)
4. MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, R.O.C. Final Report of the First Project of Emulation of Special Projects in the field of Mechatronic Technology Workshop for Universities and Colleges with Presentation and Demonstration, Taiwan, R.O.C., MOE, 1996. (in Chinese)
5. MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, R.O.C. Proposal of the First Project of Emulation of Special Projects in the filed of Mechatronic Technology Workshop for Universities and Colleges with Presentation and Demonstration, Taiwan, R.O.C., MOE, 1996. (in Chinese)