Computer-Aided Teaching Using Animations for Engineering Curricula: A Case Study for Automotive Engineering Modules

One-dimensional (1-D) demonstrations, e.g. the black-box systems, have become popular in teaching materials for engineering modules due to the high complexity of the system’s multi-dimensional (e.g. 2-D and 3-D) identities. The need for multi-dimensional explanations on how multi-physics equations and systems work is vital for engineering students, whose learning experience must gain a cognitive process understanding for utilizing such multi-physics-focused equations into a pragmatic dimension. The lack of knowledge and expertise in creating animations for visualizing sequent processes and operations in academia can result in an ineffective learning experience for engineering students. This study explores the benefits of animation which can eventually improve the teaching and student learning experiences. In this paper, the use of computer-aided animation tools is evaluated based on their capabilities. Based on their strengths and weaknesses, the study offered some insights for selecting the investigated tools. To verify the effectiveness of animations in teaching and learning, a survey was conducted for undergraduate and postgraduate cohorts and automotive engineering academics. Based on the survey’s data, some analytics and discussion have offered more quantitative results. The historic data (2012-2020) analysis have validated the animations efficacy as achievements of the study, where the average mark of both modules has significantly improved, with the reduced rate of failure.