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Faculty of Engineering
Department of Mechanical, Materials and
Manufacturing Engineering

Minutes of the Learning Community Forum (LCF) Meeting for
Autumn 2013-2014

Date : 6
th
November 2013 (Wednesday)
Time : 3.00 p.m.
Venue : B1C31(Engineering Design Studio)
Staff Members
Director of Studies
Senior Tutor
Deparment LCF Coordinator
Department of Applied Maths


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Dr. Cheah Siew Cheong (CSC)
Dr. Ng Hoon Kiat (NHK)
Dr. Lim Chin Keong (LCK)
Dr. Teo Lee Peng (TLP)

Appointed Chairman : John Khoo Wei Juan (JKWJ)

Appointed Secretary : Ng David (ND)

Student Representatives

Year 1






Year 2




Year 3





Year 4



MSc

PhD

Faculty Representative


School Representative




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Ahmed Afrah Ismail (AAI) [H300]
Ali Uzair (AU) [H300]
Karl Michael Bautista (KMB) [H300]
Nur Hidayah Binti Ahmad Fairus (NHBAF) [H300]
Nauman Masood Shaikh (NMS) [HNM5]
Adeel Ahmad (AA) [HNM5]

Devash Santosh Hanoomanjee (DSH) [HNM5]
Shahbaaz Tanvir Ahmed Siamwala (STAS) [H300]
Ngau Wah Sheng (NWS) [H300]
Asma Mohammad Nusrat Aman (AMNA) [HNM5]

Yong Jiang Keat (YJK) [HNM5)
Ng David (Secretary) (ND) [H300]
Ng Jingheng (NJH) [H300]
Kwok Phui Yan (KPY) [HNM5)


Albinus Eunan Anak Francis Xavier (AEAFX) [H300]
John Khoo Wei Juan (Chairman) (JKWJ) [H300]
Lokesh Chokanathan (LC) [HNM5]

Kharis Ishan Puthucheary (KIP) [H303]

Sanjiv Indran (SI) [H30P]

Alhasan Osamah Mohammed Al-Abd (AOMA) [HNM5]


Ajay Kumar Ramesh Kumar (AKRK) [H300]



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Absent with Apology
Year 1




Year 2



Staff Member
Senior Tutor


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Ahmed Afrah Ismail (AAI) [H300]
Karl Michael Bautista (KMB) [H300]
Nauman Masood Shaikh (NMS) [HNM5]
Adeel Ahmad (AA) [HNM5]

Devash Santosh Hanoomanjee (DSH) [HNM5]
Ngau Wah Sheng (NWS) [H300]
Asma Mohammad Nusrat Aman (AMNA) [HNM5]


Dr. Ng Hoon Kiat (NHK)

Meeting Coordinator : Ms Kavitha Murugasu (KM)




Item Particulars Action by
1.0 Apologies for absence
1.1 Apologies were presented from students AAI, KMB, NMS, AA, DSH,
NWS, AMNA and Senior Tutor NHK.
Mistakenly noted on Agenda for Year 2 student representatives;
Ong Chew Yi and Jean Pierre Macavinta El Feghali for Mechanical
and also Trishna Saeharaseelan for Mechatronics were not student
representatives for the meeting.
Additional new Year 3 mechatronics student representative, KPY
were welcomed in the meeting.
Staff Representative for Department of Applied Maths Dr Chee
Wing Loon was replaced with Dr Teo Lee Peng.











2.0 Chairman's introduction
2.1 Chairman welcomed all to the meeting.


3.0 Minutes of previous meeting
3.1 Item 3.6.6 Usage of multimedia during lectures
All lecturers should be provided adequate training on usage of
multimedia to ensure smooth running of lectures.
Lecturers who are still unfamiliar with the multimedia system
provided in lecture halls should seek assistance directly from LCK.


3.2 Item 4.1 Issues on computer problems
CSC advised that all complaints on computer issues on campus
should be directed to the appropriate departments, in this case the
IS department and not to in LCF meetings.





4.0 Matters raised by students
4.1 PhD
4.1.1 Lab Scheduling
Longer labs (ie MM2FM2) should be conducted in the afternoon
(3pm-6pm) instead of the morning (9am-12pm) so as to not
create a scheduling conflict with afternoon lectures/tutorials.
LCK commented that changing the labs schedule from (9am-12pm)
to (3pm-6pm) is not an option. LCK added that the experiments
conducted should not exceed more than 3 hours as it is against
University policy terms and concerns on students fatigue and
safety.

LCK will further discuss the matter with the module convenor Dr
Yousif Abdalla Abakr in any ways to improvise the issue.










LCK


3
4.1.2 RA Duties
RAs should have a more balanced work schedule and be able to
offer input on their workload (ie 1 hour grading task does not equal
a 1 hour tutorial task).
In general, work schedule among RAs differs from the type of
experiments they are assigned to. Some RAs have more free time
than others due to the shorter time needed to conduct the
experiments.

LCK to discuss with Dr Ho Jee Hou on the matter. As pointed out
by LCK, this is a very subjective matter and with no standardized
solution. Time taken by RAs in grading papers differs from one
another therefore a solution on standardizing work time is difficult.
PhD representative, SI should voice this concern to Dr Ho Jee Hou.










LCK, SI




4.2 MSc
4.2.1 Early tentative project selection in Autumn Semester, for
direction.
In general, an earlier project list or before the start of the summer
break to give students an idea on the projects presented. Currently
students are not well versed with the titles of the project selection
and an early list would be beneficial to students.

LCK will discuss with Dr Yap Eng Hwa.








LCK

4.2.2 J14RPD
Module Research Planning (J14RPD) to be scheduled in the Spring
Semester, in line with project selection.

LCK to communicate on this matter with the module convenor




LCK


4.3 Year 4 Mechanical Engineering
4.3.1 MM4ISA
Students are not familiar with the software needed in the module.
There were no introduction or seminar presented for the software.
Students would like a brief introduction to the software which is
Simulink.

LCK pointed out that students should also be able to learn the new
software themselves as this is a learning process. Students were
also proposed to evaluate the module during Student Evaluation of
Module (SEM).








Students &
LCK


4.4 Year 4 Mechatronics Engineering
4.4.1 No issues brought up.



4.5 Year 3 Mechanical Engineering
4.5.1 HG3MOD
One of the lecturers teaching motive, in this module, were not
presented clearly to students. His explanations were not clear and
complicated. His focus on different methods to solve equations
confuses students.

NJH and ND were advised that they should also confront the
lecturer on this issue for his awareness and students to look-
forward in improvements.







Student
representatives

4.5.2 GDM project
The change of GDM budget from RM5,000 to RM4,000 is not
sufficient for some GDM projects.




4

CSC mentioned that students should scale down their projects to
meet budget allocated unless students can justify their budget for
the project.





4.5.3 Software
Students would like a class or maybe a seminar to familiarize
students with the new and more up-to-date 3D modelling software,
CREO.

LCK mentioned that students would be able to learn the software
themselves but he would try to provide Ng David a link of CREO
tutorials on moodle.









4.5.4 No workstations/ workspace (MM3BPR and MM4GDM)
No suitable place or space to store equipment or tangible products
as they are often missing or misplaced.

School representative to address this issue to module convenor.



School
representative
4.6 Year 3 Mechatronics Engineering
4.6.1 No issues brought up.


4.7 Year 2 Mechanical Engineering
4.7.1






Year 2 module
Lecturers delivery of the particular module is not clearly presented
and not audible to students.

CSC pointed out that the student representatives should discuss
the following issue with the lecturer concern and the matter should
be written in the modules SET and SEM forms.





Student
representatives


4.8 Year 2 Mechatronics Engineering
4.8.1 No issues brought up.


4.9 Year 1 Mechanical Engineering
4.9.1



















Mechanics of solids and Intro to materials (lecture session)
The lecturer is too dependent on the slide when giving his lecture.
He reads every word and moves on without giving a brief summary
of explanation to the information, which is essential when learning
a new topic.
When solving, the lecturer should not read solutions from the
slides, however, solve the tutorials on the projector or white board.
Also, students commented that the lecturers teaching delivery
moves at a fast speed. When he solves a question, he continues on
to the next point without giving the student a chance to follow
through and understand his steps.

A solution to the problem, mentioned by the student
representatives of Mechanical year 1, is having a peer to peer
tutoring system where new students are taught by seniors which
will give a more interactive and personal learning experience. The
faculty representative will see to the development of the peer to
peer system.

CSC pointed out the student representatives should discuss the
following issue with the lecturer and this matter should be written
in the modules SET and SEM forms





















Student
representatives



5
4.10 Year 1 Mechatronics Engineering
4.10.1 No issues brought up.


5.0 Matters raised by staff
6.1 No issues brought up.


6.0 Any other business
6.1 LCF Meetings
It was discussed that LCF meetings will be held 3 times in a year.


7.0 Date of next meeting
7.1 The next meeting should be around the second or third week of the
spring semester.


As there were no other matters to be discussed, the meeting adjourned at 5.10 p.m.