Syllabus
Forensic Engineering
Index
1. Introduction
1.1. Course overview
1.2. Learning objectives
1.3. What we expect from you
1.4. What you can expect from us/the course team
2. Course structure
3. Assessment
4. Resources, Tools & Browsers
5. Certificate
1. INTRODUCTION
We are very happy you joined our MOOC “Forensic Engineering – Learning from Failures”! This MOOC enables you to learn the basic principles of how to perform a reliable forensic engineering investigation on any kind of technical system. The 6 modules of this course can be finished in 7 weeks. We hope you will enjoy taking this MOOC as much as we did making it!
The Forensic Engineering Team: dr.ir. Arjo Loeve, Naomi Schlӧsser, ir. Michiel Schuurman and dr.ir. Karel Terwel.
twitter@DelftForensics
1.1. Course overview
This course consists of 6 modules. Module 1 and 2 are mandatory introduction courses about Forensic Engineering in general and the various steps of a reliable investigation. Module 3-5 focus on examples of Forensic Investigations related to the domain of Civil Engineering (lecturer: Karel Terwel), Aeronautical Engineering (lecturer: Michiel Schuurman) and Biomechanical Engineering (lecturer Arjo Loeve). If you would like to pass the course, you are expected to at least follow two out of 3 modules of the various domains. Every module 1-5 has a number of quizzes and a limited number of tests.
1.2. Learning objectives
After this MOOC you should be able to:
- reproduce the various phases of the Life-Cycle of a technical system
- explain the various levels and elements of the Tree House of Failures
- explain the various steps of a forensic investigation
- explain the various aspects of Delft Mind-set
- apply the TU Delft Forensic Engineering approach in example cases in the fields of Civil Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering and Biomechanical Engineering.
- demonstrate a positive attitude and a right mind-set to learn from failures.
1.3. What we expect from you
- An active attitude to follow the various modules. Doing the exercises, quizzes and tests will enhance your learning ability!
- Contribution to discussions on the forums of this course. It will make everyone’s learning more interactive and will help to increase your knowledge. Furthermore, you can be of help to others, especially during peer assessment. For information on the do’s and don’ts on the forums, see our forum guidelines.
- Collaboration is strongly encouraged as long as it is beneficial for all participants. For more information on collaboration, see our collaboration guidelines.
1.4. What you can expect from us/the course team
We have carefully compiled the various modules based on state-of-the-art knowledge on forensic engineering. During the course we will track your progress and regularly visit the forum, to help you and to identify potential changes/fixes to the course material.
We will be active on the discussion forums to support you from Monday - Friday every week. You can typically expect a response from us within 48hours, if you address your question to the staff.
2. COURSE STRUCTURE
In this course we provide a number of interesting topics. Please see below to check out the contents of our course modules.
Welcome Week (11 October 2017)
In the Welcome section, we explain how the course is set up and how the edX platform works. There will be an opportunity to introduce yourself and to find out who else is taking this course.
Module 1. Introduction to Forensic Engineering (17 October 2017)
You will learn what Forensic Engineering is and why it is important. Furthermore, you will be introduced to basic concepts that are important in Forensic Engineering. We will treat topics such as the Life-Cycles of technical systems, types of failure, and methods to systematically search for potential causes of failure.
Module 2: The Forensic Engineering Investigation (31 October 2017)
This module treats the basic steps of a Forensic Engineering Investigation. You will also learn about methods and best practices for performing these steps in a reliable way, following the Delft mind-set.
Module 3*: Case from Building Engineering (7 November 2017)
Learn about various structural failure mechanisms, and practice with setting hypotheses for causes of a the failure of a temporary steel structure.
Module 4*: Case from Aerospace Engineering (7 November 2017)
You will focus on the failure mechanism “fatigue” in airplanes and learn how you can test whether this failure mechanism occurred.
Module 5*: Case from Biomechanical Engineering (7 November 2017)
Investigate how tens of patients in a single hospital could get bacterial infections due to some relatively small flaws in a medical device and the instructions used when cleaning it. Will you manage to solve this case by applying what you learned in Modules 1 and 2?
Module 6: Course debriefing (28 November 2017)
In this week, the outcomes of the different cases from Modules 3-5 are revealed. Best practices and tips for the future are discussed and some inspiring results from participants are put in the spotlight! *Module 3-5 will be offered simultaneously to allow you to choose or prioritize your preferred module(s) based on your personal interests and preferences.
3. ASSESSMENT
Each of Modules 1-5 contains 3 quizzes and an assignment. Sometimes, exercises are included to help you understand the basic concepts, but these will not be included for your grade.
Quizzes count for 50% of your grade and assignments count for the other 50%.
All assignments of the general modules 1 and 2 will be included in your grade. For module 3-5 you are allowed to select the assignments you are most familiar with. For these modules, only the 2 highest results of the 3 assignments will be included in the grade.
For the quizzes the 10 highest results (out of 15) will be included. In order to successfully complete the course, you need to will need to score 60% in the final grade.
4. RESOURCES, TOOLS & BROWSERS
All necessary educational resources will be made available during the course. You will not need any books or other background materials. For some of the Exercises and Quizzes a simple calculator is needed. The kind of calculator you will find on your computer, tablet or smartphone is perfectly suitable.
We support the following browsers: Chrome, Firefox and Safari.
5. CERTIFICATE
If you're interested in a certificate you can upgrade to a Verified Certificate. These certificates will indicate you have successfully completed the course, but will not include a specific grade. Certificates will be issued by edX under the name of DelftX, designating the institution from which the course originated.
Generating an ID verified certificate
Verified certificates will be issued a few days after the end of the course, to all participants who achieved at least 60% of the total grade. Certificates can be downloaded from your Student Dashboard (look for the Download button next to the name of our course). Remember that in order to qualify for a certificate, you must achieve a total grade of 60% or higher. You can check your grade at any time under the course’s Progress page. An ID verified Certificate of Achievement is available for $49. You can Upgrade on your edX Dashboard to Verified during the course. Once produced, a certificate cannot be reissued, hence it is very important that you verify the way in which your name appears. Check that, in your edx.org account, your name is correctly spelled, since it will appear on the final certificate. Please note that no Honor Code certificates will be given out by edX for this course.
LICENSE
The course materials of this course are Copyright Delft University of Technology and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License.
If you choose to reuse or repost DelftX course materials you must give proper attribution to the original TU Delft faculty author(s). Please utilize the following citation "This material was created by or adapted from material posted on the Delftx website, delftx.tudelft.nl, and created by TU Delft faculty member (Name), (Title), (Year). DelftX is not responsible for any changes made to the original materials posted on its website and any such changes are the sole responsibility of [name of user/adapter]."
You must also include a copy of the Creative Commons license used by DelftX, with every copy of the TU Delft materials or the derivative work you create from it.
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