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The following is a proposal for collaboration between universities with the aim to improve curricula that require laboratory activities. A methodology is suggested to implement an innovative educational project involving the exchange of laboratory activities. The exchange of laboratory activities can be carried out on different levels of interaction, requiring different levels of complexity in setting up the activities. A first experience was carried out in the area of machine design. Google+ was the chosen social network. A Google+ community was used to share academic material (notes, videos, activity guides, etc.) and the activity itself was carried out using Google Hangouts. The survey administered at the end showed the students' satisfaction with the experience.

This article examines new tutoring evaluation methods to be adopted in the course, Machine Theory, in the Escola Tècnica Superior d'Enginyeria Industrial de Barcelona (ETSEIB, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya). These new methods have been developed in order to facilitate teaching staff work and include students in the evaluation process. Machine Theory is a required course with a large number of students. These students are divided into groups of three, and required to carry out a supervised work constituting 20% of their final mark. These new evaluation methods were proposed in response to the significant increase of students in spring semester of 2010-2011, and were pilot tested during fall semester of academic year 2011-2012, in the previous Industrial Engineering degree program. Pilot test results were highly satisfactory for students and teachers, alike, and met proposed educational objectives. For this reason, the new evaluation methodology was adopted in spring semester of 2011-2012, in the current bachelor's degree program in Industrial Technology (Grau en Enginyeria en Tecnologies Industrials, GETI), where it has also achieved highly satisfactory results.

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This study examines the effects of using a gamification tool as a teaching strategy. Specifically, Kahoot! is evaluated as a tool for enhancing student learning. The activities were part of the laboratory sessions of the subject Mechanism and Machine Theory during two consecutive academic years. We analyze the effect of a gamification learning system on both, students' grades and motivation, in a course with a large number of students (n1 = 283 students, n2 = 306 students). The students were divided into three different groups (control group, gamification group and writing group) and their results were evaluated depending on the learning method applied during the class. In terms of gamification, this project introduces real-time feedback to stimulate the interest of students and help them use the typical tools and methodologies of game-based learning. The analysis of their performance in the laboratory exam shows significant differences between the group that used gamification and the groups that did not. The results suggest that gamification in engineering lab activities has a positive effect on students' motivation and learning outcome. The study concludes that game-based elements and competitive activities enhanced student performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanisms of one degree of freedom can be dynamically analysed by setting out a single differential equation of motion which variable is the generalized coordinate selected as independent. In front of the use of a set of generalized dependent coordinates to describe the system, the method exposed in this work has the advantage of working with a single variable but leads to complex analytical expressions for the coefficients of the differential equation, even in simple mechanisms. The theoretical approach, in this paper, is developed from Eksergian's method and Lagrange's equations. The equation of motion is written by means of a set of parameters - reduced parameters - that characterize the dynamic behaviour of the system. These parameters are function of the independent coordinate chosen and its derivative and can be obtained numerically by direct calculus or by means of a kinetostatic analysis, as is proposed. Two cases of study of the method are presented. The first example shows the study of pedalling a stationary bicycle used in a rehabilitation process. The second one shows the analysis of a single dwell bar mechanism which is driven by an electric motor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]