2013 IEEE 5th Conference on Engineering Education (ICEED)

A Multi-Strategy Approach to Improve the Performance of

Electrical Power Engineering Students
E Chikuni1, O.I. Okoro2 , U.B. Akuru3, E. Rashayi4,
1
Department of Electrical Engineering, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
chikuni@yahoo.com
2
Department of Electrical Engineering, Michael Okpara University of Engineering and Agriculture
oiokoro@yahoo.co.uk
3
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
akurudo@yahoo.com
4
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Zimbabwe
rashayi@gmail.com

Abstract—Engineering Topics in Universities have expanded
astronomically in recent years resulting in congested curricula
and concomitant pressure on students who opt to enroll in the
various disciplines, which are also expanding. It is not a
surprise therefore that Engineering Students spend more study
hours than their colleagues in pursuing, for example,
programmes in the social sciences. Under such pressures, many
students fail to cope and overall pass rates are low. In this
paper, the authors will present the results of a combination of
interventions he has incorporated in his classes for study areas
that include Engineering Design, Capstone Projects as well the
delivery of individual course modules. Through a combination
of the measures incorporated, the authors has observed a
revived interest in engineering and improved performance.
Among the techniques applied to more depth are, Creative
Thinking, espoused in Edward de Bono's "Six Thinking Hats",
Start Pugh's "Total Design" and a more in-depth
implementation of a student's "Learning Portfolio". Through
this combination of measures, the authors has achieved not
only higher pass rates but also higher passing grades. More
recently the authors devised an alternative to laboratory work
in which students would as part of a group work on the
construction a "Training Board" based on a industry type
"script". In this manner, the students would not only have to
face the challenge of engineering language, but would learn the
dynamics of engineering, e.g. budgeting, purchasing,
component sizing, project management and documentation.
Keywords— Engineering Education, Creative Thinking,
Electrical Power Laboratories, Learning Portfolios, Capstone
Projects
I. INTRODUCTION
telecommunications. Electrical power engineering has
unfortunately been avoided, in fact, by both genders. There
appears to be a perception that the electrical power
Engineering working environment is unattractive, dirty and
boring as opposed to that experienced by electronics and
computers engineers who work in clean, air-conditioned
buildings. In engineering colleges and universities,
electronics students can be seen moving around with
breadboards doing assembly and testing work. The electrical
power engineering student gets the impression that working
with electricity is very dangerous (which it can be) and from
intensive coaching he or she gets in safety, laboratory rules
and restrictions, the general conclusion arrived at is that one
should just try and “pass it”, and hopefully land well paid
managerially focused job, which is unfortunately not what
industry wants. It is not surprising that there is a great
shortage of engineers in world generally. In Africa, the
shortage in the area of electrical power engineering is more
acute. The Authors have taught Electrical Engineering for
many years and in this paper the authors introduce
interventions, concepts and ideas to make the study of
electrical power engineering (EPE) more attractive to
present and prospective students. The authors do not claim
to have invented the “tools” or methods used in this paper.
Rather they have assembled an assortment of concepts from
creative thinkers around the world such as Edgar Dale [1 ],
Stewart Pugh [ 2] and Edward de Bono [3,14]; even
novelists and satirists and introduced them in a new way. We
cover in some detail the following:

M any aspiring university students regard Engineering as

too challenging an area of study. In their view a lot
more effort needs to be exerted to achieve successful
outcomes than that to pursue other study areas such as
humanities. For historical and cultural reasons engineering
has been the domain of men so we see that world-wide
males out-number females in engineering classes. In recent
years however we have seen females pursuing engineering
degrees, especially, computer, electronics and
• Ways to make the practical elements of the
curriculum more accessible.
• Assessing the effectiveness of group learning
• Investigating the effectiveness of non-
conventional means of assessment questions that
includes storytelling and satire.
• Assessing the impact of the “Learning Portfolio”
formulated in a new way.

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 2013 IEEE 5th Conference on Engineering Education (ICEED)
II. PRACTICE THE DRIVER FOR ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
It has always been recognized that practice is an essential
part of the engineering curriculum. Therefore every
curriculum has experimental or laboratory work at every
level from first year to final year, with usually the final year
having additional “Project”. The importance of practice is
easily visually portrayed in Edgar Dale’s cove of learning
(also called the learning triangle), shown in Figure 1
Fig.1 The Learning Triangle
Our methods have largely focused on the bottommost
layer of the triangle while Hosseinzadeh and Hesamzadeh
[4] used the layer just above it. We shall begin a hybrid lab-
project exercise given to class of doing a course in Power
System Protection. The objective was to for the students,
working in groups, to construct a board which would be
useful to demonstrate bus-bar protection. The practical
assignment was not given in the normal, “structured”
manner, but as a piece of humorous script, which follows:
A. BUS-BAR PROTECTION, PROBLEM BASED
LEARNING EXAMPLE,WITH STORY SCRIPT.
The objective was to illustrate external and internal faults
in a bus-bar protection schemes. The class was divided into
groups of a maximum size of 6 persons. There were 7
groups. Each group was to purchase the components
required. A short lesson in Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking
Hats was given and the groups were to employ all the Hats
in particular those related to creativity, critical thinking and
control. Hung [5] employs the same ideas in his 3C3R
technique. Problem Based Design is critical, and one should
endeavour to ensure a balance between breadth and depth
Kukkamalla, Lakshminarayana, D’Souza, Hande [6], Harris
[8] The task was couched in the following informal story-
like style:
“Two new IPPs, Amandla Omubani Power (AOP) and Intombi Ze Gesi
(IZG) have decided to venture into the Electricity Supply business. They are
both connected at bus A. A rural outgoing feeder of negligible resistance is
connected also at A and runs from A to bus B. The line erected by AOP is
125km long and its resistance is 0.6Ω /km and that by IZG is 100km long
with a resistance of 1.5Ω /km. Both AOP and IZG are generating 220V AC.
Draw this network showing the connections of the 3 CTs required to protect
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bus A. The CTs are 5:5. During the night when everybody was asleep and
no power was being consumed a copper thief decided to steal the bus-bars
at A. Being under the influence his spanner fell off his hands and bridged
the live and neutral bars. But he still escaped with his life. Using 4
Ammeters, one for each CT and the fourth in series with the protective relay
coil, take down all the readings of the meters. What is your conclusion? The
Grid Operator (GO) was not happy with the incident at bus A. Therefore
the GO placed a bottle of Jonnie Walker and Jack Daniels near the bus
chamber. Imagine the excitement of the GO to see the copper thief snoring
near A the following morning and the power not interrupted! On another
day the local Sangoma (African “Witch Doctor”, diviner) and an ESKOM
(Power Utility) Engineer were having a drink in a Sheeben (tarven) of a
middle-class village supplied from bus B. The ESKOM Engineer was
particularly happy on this day. His club Chiefs was way ahead in the log
and it was the last game of the season, that between Pirates and Chiefs. The
ESKOM Engineer, who drove a big car, always despised the Sangoma,
saying, “You Sangomas are ignorant and worthless, and you are under-
achievers, like the club you support, the Leopards. Don’t interrupt me while
I watch my game a minute from now.” The Sangoma replied, “Ndoda, a
minute from now, you will not be watching any game.” Then suddenly right
from the blue a bolt of lightning struck the overhead line supplying the
Sheeben, causing a short circuit between the live and neutral lines. Examine
the consequences of the Sangoma’s powers and redraw the circuit
illustrating the new scenario. Using 4 Ammeters, one for each CT and the
fourth in series with the protective relay coil, Take down all the readings of
the meters. What is your conclusion?
The students took the task very seriously and various
levels of success were observed. There were learning
experiences too, for example the importance of observing
current transformer polarity. Figure 2 shows part of the
traditional laboratory set up. Figure 3 and 4 show the
schematics that result from implementing the above script:
Fig. 2 A variable R, L, C Bank
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Fig. 3 Internal Fault Simulation
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 2013 IEEE 5th Conference on Engineering Education (ICEED)

 &h>d option. The accompanying comment was that the project

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consumed too much time, coming as it unfortunately did
ϭ Ϯ ϯ ϯ͘ϲ towards final examination time (this was unfortunately due

Z
Ϯ͘ϰ ϭ͘Ϯ to delays in purchasing some critical components). Going
forward, and in recognition of the results of this basic
survey, we would now propose a hybrid solution based on
the following approach.

• For the Power System Protection Lab a basic

ϳϱŽŚŵ Ɛ ϭϱϬŽŚŚŵƐ
standardized board with fundamental
components such as current transformers already
mounted would be designed and built.
• Each year a different script would be written and
students would then assemble components
Fig. 4 External Fault Simulation corresponding to this script. This would be a
The assessment for this task was based on several measure to counter plagiarism often observed
outcomes: when students do the same lab every year. As
• Functionality already explained, the new design philosophy of
• Aesthetics using low voltage would be adopted.
• Group Interaction
• Project Report
In addition each student was to write a one page
submission on his or her learning experience and also show
his or her contribution to the project process. Figure 5 shows
a board made by one of the groups.

Fig. 6 Basic Survey on Practical Training Options

B. MAKING PRACTICAL EXPERIMENTS MORE

Figure 5, Group du Toit's bus-bar differential protection training board.
A basic survey was carried out to have an idea of the
acceptability of the PBL method. The respondents were
asked to select their preference among the following choices.
• Laboratory work based on normal formally
prepared lab.
• A visit to one of the Electrical Power
Engineering operators, organizations
• A Project Based Learning Approach.
The survey was limited in approach, but we managed to
observe the feedback illustrated in Figure 6. We found that a
visit to a plant or power company did not have as much
appeal as the other two. A formal lab had more support but
those who chose this option also gave PBL as a second
ACCESSIBLE
In the late 1960’s and well into 1970’s, there were
several correspondence schools that offered electronics
courses with a practical element, especially in the United
States. One of these was National Technical Schools (NTS)
based in Los Angeles. The practical element was
implemented in the form of “Kits”, some designed within
the schools and others offered by other service provides.
One famous corporation was the Heath Company which
marketed “Heath Kits”. All NTS and Heath Kits projects
could be assembled from home. Sadly, both NTS and
Heathkit are no longer in operation, but when they did they
made learning of electronics, radio and communications
very accessible. Many of the learning concepts targeted by
NTS and Heathkit can now be done on cheap small
breadboards. The question is, is it possible to make
Electrical Power Engineering practice as accessible as
Electronics or Computer Engineering? To answer this
question we need to investigate the issues that make the
Power Engineering labs inaccessible:
• Perceived high, dangerous voltage

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 2013 IEEE 5th Conference on Engineering Education (ICEED)
• Safety procedures arising from above
• Expensive, bulky equipment
• Need for technicians that are trained to use the
equipment, on the basis that errors could be fatal
1) The Question of Voltage.
When we apply our minds we discover that most
electrical power engineering concepts can be demonstrated
using circuits operating at low voltages. The bus-bar
protection circuit above is a case in point. We only have to
produce current of several amps (e.g. 1 or 5A) to activate the
current transformers. In fact we believe that most protection
learning circuits can be operated at 15V AC. By lowering
the voltage to this level, the safety problem, from a shock
point of view is removed. In Figure 7, we illustrate the
general arrangement for a bus-bar demonstration circuit
operating from a low voltage source, with some switches
incorporated for flexibility.
Fig. 7 Bus-bar protection Concept
2) Other Issues
By using a scaled down low voltage system, the need for
the other issues, such as low cost and specially trained
technicians is abate. The objective of the authors is to have
boards that are standardized to be no bigger and no heavier
that a standard laptop, and hopefully just as aesthetically
acceptable and certainly much cheaper. If we achieve this
we would have gone a long way towards making EPE
practical work easier, more accessible and more interesting.
Few, like Karady, Hirano, Oka, Tagawa [7] have ventured in
this area, compared to “light current” disciplines. An
extension of this concept is to have units that do not need
mains power, and can be operated from solar power
rechargeable batteries (a suitably dimensioned inverter to
produce an acceptable pure sine wave will be required). We
would have been very successful if our Power Engineering
Students play around with transformers and power stations,
the same way students in electronics, communications,
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computer or control engineering or robotics, as illustrated in
Figure 8.
Fig. 8 Two students learn about microcontrollers Cape Peninsula University
of Technology, South Africa
C. THE LEARNING PORTFOLIO
The student’s learning portfolio (SLP) in our sense has a
somewhat different meaning and intent from the broader
portfolios by students in United States Universities. In our
sense the SLP concerns only the student’s learning
experience for a particular course. In its limited sense it is a
compilation of the work done through the semester for that
particular subject. Because the student has to document his
or her learning experience in detail, the SLP goes further that
the class notes. The SLP is a bound document accompanied
by an electronic version of it in CD ROM format. The
following is the minimum you would see in an SLP:
• A compendium of assignments, and tests.
• A compendium of lecturer’s examples
• A discussion / commentary of the major topics,
study areas of the course.
• It is expected that diagrams, save perhaps the
most complex be originated by the student.
The Authors have experimented with SLPs for about 4
years and have found many good benefits:
• They reduce the assignment marking load, since
all of them are assembled and summarized in
one document.
• Since the students are originating the drawings,
it is often that some of the student’s illustrations
are far better than those used by the instructor.
• Some of the SLPs are good to the extent of
having good enough to extract course content for
further development.
We also find that the Portfolio mark gives a very good
idea of how the student is doing in the course and his or her
chances in the final examination. Figure 6 is a scatter plot of
the portfolio and examination marks in a recent year. For
this and some previous years we noted that hardly any one
failed the examination with a portfolio mark of more than
60%. On the other hand those with portfolio marks in the
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 2013 IEEE 5th Conference on Engineering Education (ICEED)
30% range were found to be in a very precarious position
only passing the examination in very exceptional
circumstances.
Fig. 7 Relationship between Portfolio and Examination mark.
D. CONCLUSIONS & SUMMARY
We have presented in this paper some experimental
methods and ideas which we have found to be beneficial to
students studying electrical engineering. A measure of
success has been an increase in the number students taking
options that they have previously avoided and coming up
with good results. We hope that introducing “non-
conventional” methods of administering the practical
component of their studies, more success will be achieved
by the students in the form of more interaction with
equipment. In the end we would like Electrical Power
Engineering to be just as accessible and attractive as
Electronics. We have proposed to increase accessibility by
making miniature experimental boards which can give the
same functionality as huge panels in standard laboratories.
Another aspect that we have addressed is the Assignment.
Our own SLP, we have found, is beneficial to both
instructors and students. For the student who puts a lot of
effort in it, the SPL is a very good revision tool. At its best
the SLP is better than class notes, and as we have found
some SLPs are nearly as good the instructor’s own course
notes, with some illustrations often better. We have also
introduced in this, problem or task based learning. (PBL).
We wondered whether if the technique would replace
standard laboratories. A basic survey revealed however that
there would not be sufficient time to complete full scale PBL
in a semester and a hybrid type of PBL will be refined which
will have less of building but more in terms of configuring
circuits from yearly changing scripts. As part of enhancing
learning and to encourage and prepare for the ever changing
students real world scenarios, we have introduced students to
the subject of Thinking and have encouraged to in particular
apply Edward de Bono’s Six thinking hats and combine this
Stewart Pugh’s Total Design philosophy. Some students
have found this very fascinating (one student has a thriving
Stewart Pugh Edward de Bono face book page). We have
also experimented with Story Telling within as part of the
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problem script, in order to capture the student’s attention and
in other cases not illustrated in this article we have
introduced the puzzle and sometimes deliberate vagueness to
stimulate thinking (Adams, Allendoefer, Smith, Socha,
Williams, Yasuhara [9], Anderson, [10])), We hope that our
colleagues will try some of these techniques and we
definitely welcome positive, constructive feedback.
Although we have focused on EPE, Engineering Education
is a particularly crucial issue in Africa, attracting the
attention of policy makers, (Mhilu, Ilemobade, Olubambi
[13]).
REFERENCES
[1] E. Dale, “Audio-Visual Methods in Teaching,” Holt, Rinehart &
Winston, New York, 3rd Edition 3rd Edition,1969.
[2] S. Pugh, “Total Design: Integrated Methods for Successful Product
Engineering”, Addison-Wesley, 1991
[3] E de Bono, “Lateral Thinking: A Textbook of Creativity”, Penguin
Books, 1990.
[4] N.Hosseinzadeh, M.R. Hesamzadeh, “Application of Project-Based
Learning (PBL) to the Teaching of Electrical Power Systems
Engineering,” IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION, VOL. 55,
NO. 4, NOVEMBER 2012
[5] W.Hung, “The 9-step problem design process for problem-based
learning:Application of the 3C3R model,” Educational Research
Review 4 (2009) 118–141
[6] A Kukkamalla, S Lakshminarayana,J D’Souza, S Hande, “Designing
problems for Problem-Based Learning (PBL) sessions: students and
faculty perceptions,” SouthǦEast Asian Journal of Medical Education,
Vol. 5 no. 2, 2011.
[7] G. G. Karady, M. Hirano, K. Oka, and Y. Tagawa, “Role of
Laboratory Education in Electrical Power Engineering Education”
Power and Energy Society General Meeting - Conversion and
Delivery of Electrical Energy in the 21st Century, 2008 IEEE
[8] D. Harris, “A Case for Project-Based Design Education”,
International. Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 17, Nos. 4 and
5, pp. 367-369, 2001
[9] R Adams, C Allendoerfer, T R Smith, D Socha, D Williams, and K
Yasuhara, “Storytelling in Engineering Education”, Research Brief,
Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education, NSF Grant
ESI-0227558.
[10] D V Anderson,“Storytelling—The Missing Art in Engineering
Presentations”, IEEE SIGNAL PROCESSING MAGAZINE,
MARCH 2011
[11] A. Kuchmentr, “To Attract More Girls to STEM, Bring More
Storytelling to Science”,Scientific American, April 16, 2013
[12] M.R.K. K Rao, “Storytelling and puzzles in a software engineering
course”, ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education
(SIGCSE) Bulletin, (2006), Vol 38, issue 1, pp. 418 – 422
[13] C F. Mhilu, A.A. Ilemobade1, P.A. Olubambi, “Preliminary study:
engineering education evaluation a desktop study, conceptual
framework and questionnaire including action points”, NEPAD
Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action: Programme
3.2: Building Engineering Capacity for Manufacturing
[14] E. de Bono, “Six Thinking Hats”, Back Bay Books; 2 edition (August
18, 1999)
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