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1.2 Syllabus
The syllabus comprises structural loading (load
patterns, load factors, limit state designs and
analysis), design of structural elements such as
beams, compression and tension members,
connections and base plates.
The assessment comprises of one multiple choice
questions assignment, one or two written assignments
in the same format as the examination; and this is
done in order to give the students a fair opportunity to
show how much they know the subject.
This paper focuses only on the results from the
examination and not the assignments. The
examinations are venue based and students adhere to
the set rules. However, the assignments are conducted
at a distance and at the convenience of the students;
therefore the results will not necessarily indicate that
the students showed their sole potential without any
help from other people or resources. Although the
module has been facilitated over the previous years,
the results presented in this paper date back from the
year 2013 to 2016; because this is the period during
which different interventions were introduced. The
interventions were introduced in order to improve the
quality of knowledge and skills students acquire, the
confidence of graduates thereafter, pass rates, design
concepts based on what the industry needs as well as
promoting the course itself to make it interesting and
fulfilling to the students. The interventions were
teaching and communications in which concepts were
introduced and explained one at a time, summarized
teaching notes and introducing new up to date
textbooks:
The nature of the structural steel and timber
design module is that, the science is derived from
structural analysis, theory of structures and materials;
and then followed by uncountable complex design
steps. The theory of structures and materials covers
topics such as the sectional properties, stress and
strain calculation, computing reaction forces and
member forces in pin-jointed trusses. The structural
analysis involves analysing determinate and
indeterminate structures with regard to the applied
bending, axial and shear forces, which cause the
structure to deform within the limits or fail by yield
or collapse. Structural steel and timber design module
involves the design of flexural or bending members
likes beams, slabs and beam-columns, compression
members such as columns and struts, trusses and
connections; and all these can be made from either
steel or timber.
In the ODL environment for almost all the
modules, there could be or not at all the learning and
teaching arrangement. Felder and Silverman (1988)
describe learning as a two-step process that involves
the reception of information and processing of
information. This is true, and for engineering students
it might be a prolonged process especially in the ODL
environment; because most of the concepts in
engineering are hard to conceive and interpret. ODL
students are self-taught and follow different styles or
methods within the time constraints that they choose
themselves. It is therefore easier for the lecturer,
assessor or the module coordinator to interpret the
effectiveness of the learning styles and methods from
the results of the assessments, in this case
examination results.
2 METHODOLOGY
The module outcomes are: that the students should
have a thorough understanding of structural loading,
be able to design structural steel and timber elements
such as beam, columns, connections and trusses and
tension members at the end of the academic year.
The sketch in Figure 1 summarises the stages that
students go through when studying the structural steel
and timber design. All the three stages are equally
important and lead to the outcomes of the module.
The assignments results contribute towards the
students’ final mark in the range of 20 to 30% and the
examination covers 70 to 80%; and this is done to
encourage them to keep up with the studies through
to the examination stage. The students who failed to
pass are given the opportunity to write supplementary
examination, provided they satisfy the given criteria.
The graphs plotted under the results and discussion
sections below include both actual and supplementary
examinations.
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