KB7062 - Engineering Optimisation and Design

Active learning sessions will allow you to engage with and appraise new material and assist you in exploring and critiquing key concepts and topics within the module. Sessions will involve a combination of content delivery and practical learning exercises to enable you to apply your learning to complex and authentic engineering problems. A problem-solving focused curriculum will allow you to explore and analyse solutions to complex challenges where wide-ranging and conflicting constraints require innovative discovery and enterprise. Learning activities will enable students to work collaboratively and practice and reflect upon the effectiveness of teamwork and communication skills, and the facilitation of creative thinking approaches to solve open-ended engineering problems.  

During your active learning sessions, academic support will be available to facilitate your exploration of the problem-solving activities. Formative feedback will be provided by the module team, including answering student queries and providing guidance concerning the module such as assessments and your academic progress. The electronic learning platform (eLP) provides a comprehensive resource for integrated learning incorporating learning materials and reading lists that will facilitate directed and self-directed learning. Contact with academic tutors and your peers outside formal teaching hours is encouraged through dedicated ‘office hours’, discussion boards and messaging systems within the eLP. Professional support staff, such as Ask4Help, provide the first point of contact for a range of queries, including, for example, those concerning assessment submission, late submission/extensions, and other administrative issues.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

Knowledge & Understanding:

MLO1. Apply a comprehensive knowledge of mathematics, statistics, natural science and engineering principles to the solution of complex design and optimisation problems. Much of the knowledge will be at the forefront of the subject of study and informed by a critical awareness of new developments and the wider context of engineering.



Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:

MLO2. Select and apply appropriate computational and analytical techniques to model complex engineering design problems, discussing the limitations of the optimisation techniques employed.

MLO3. Apply an integrated or systems approach to the solution of complex optimisation and design problems.

MLO4. Design solutions for complex problems that evidence some originality and meet a combination of societal, user, business and customer needs as appropriate.



Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):

MLO5. Apply creativity and curiosity to formulate and analyse complex design optimisation problems to reach substantiated conclusions.

Formative Assessment

Academic staff on the module will assess you in a formative manner to help build your confidence and highlight any misunderstandings you may have of the theoretical and professional concepts presented in the module. Your formative feedback will be given to you either verbally by academic staff on the module during formally scheduled teaching sessions or using the eLP. Your formative feedback aims to help you learn and prepare for the submission of your summative assessment.



Summative Assessment

Academic staff on the module will assess you in a summative manner by two pieces of assessment:

Component 1 to assess knowledge and understanding through the application of computational and analytical techniques to model engineering design problems, discussing the limitations of the optimisation techniques employed to the optimisation of complex design problems (MLOs 1-3) through completing an industry compatible written submission.

Component 2, will evaluate your ability to apply creativity and curiosity to solve complex design and optimisations problems reaching substantiated conclusions (MLO 4 & 5) in an industry compatible written submission.



Feedback will be provided electronically through the eLP or student email within 20 working days of the date of submission. 

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In this module, you will investigate and apply optimisation techniques and tools to aid in engineering design to solve complex problems. This will involve evaluating available data using engineering principles and engineering judgment to work with information that may be uncertain or incomplete, discussing the limitations of the techniques employed. In the module, you will be encouraged to conduct research and undertake critical thinking through the application of appropriate knowledge and methodologies to tackle complex problems Active learning sessions will allow you to engage with and appraise new material and assist you in exploring and critiquing key concepts and topics within the module. Sessions will involve practical learning exercises to enable you to apply your learning to complex and authentic engineering problems. The module utilises the electronic learning platform (eLP) to provide a comprehensive resource for integrated learning incorporating learning materials and reading lists that will facilitate directed and self-directed learning.