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
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 of 4 hours, but you are free to choose your own pace in this self-paced MOOC. We hope you will enjoy taking this MOOC as much as we did making it!
The Forensic Engineering Team: dr.ir. Arjo Loeve, Jennifer Juch, 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. The first half of the quizzes for both modules is available for all learners, the second half is only available to Verified learners.
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Modules 3-5 focuses 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). These modules all differ in difficulty. 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.
Differences between Audit and Verified learners:
- Free or Audit: You will have acces to all course materials expect graded assignments and you will not earn a verified certificate at the end of the course. Audit learners will have access to the course for only 6 weeks, this is the amount of time necessary to finish the course. Keep this in mind!
- Paid or Verified: You will have access to all course materials including graded assignments. You will pay a fee which allows us to fund the running of the course, grade you work and award you with a certificate upon successful completion.
This self-paced course features suggested due dates. These due dates are personalized suggestions to help you plan and pace your studies. You can submit assignments any time up until the final end date of the course. Note: the suggested schedule does not apply to the self-assessments. These due dates are fixed at two weeks before the end date of the course. For more information about the suggested due dates you can check the EdX support page here.
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 about once every week. Since this is a self-paced course we encourage you to help each other as much as possible.
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
In the Getting started 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
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
This module covers 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 Civil Engineering - difficulty: 
Learn about various structural failure mechanisms, and practice with setting hypotheses for causes of the failure of a temporary steel structure.
Module 4*: Case from Aerospace Engineering - difficulty:
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 - difficulty:
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
In this module, 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!
3. ASSESSMENT
Modules 1 and 2 contains ungraded and graded quizzes.
The quizzes in 1.3 and 1.4 are ungraded. Quizzes and assignments in 1.5 and 1.6 are graded and therefore only available to Verified learners.
The quizzes in 2.1 and 2.2 are ungraded. Quizzes and assignments in 2.4 and 2.5 are graded and therefore only available to Verified learners.
Each of Modules 3-5 contains 3 quizzes and an assignment, all only available to Verified learners. Sometimes, exercises are included to help you understand the basic concepts, but these will not be included for your grade.
Quizzes count for 40% of your grade and assignments count for the other 60%.
The graded quizzes and assignment 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.
Please note: In order to continue providing freely accessible course content to the world while remaining sustainable, graded elements in this course will only be available to Verified learners. Verified participants can check their score at any time under the course’s Progress page. Please mind that ungraded quizzes do not become visible in your progress bar or progress page.
When upgrading to Verified learner, check your progress to see if you missed any graded quizzes or assignments!
Do you need financial assistance? EdX offers up to a 90% discount on our verified certificates to learners who cannot afford to pay full price. Check the
4. RESOURCES & TOOLS
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.
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
If you have enrolled for a verified Certificate of Achievement you can generate your own certificate at any time after you have qualified to pass the course. You can check your grade at any time under the course’s Progress page. An ID verified Certificate of Achievement is available for a fee. You can Upgrade on your edX Dashboard to Verified during the course.
To request your certificate, select "Request Certificate" on the Progress Tab. After that, you can download your certificate directly from the Progress Tab, or from your Student Dashboard (look for the Download button next to the name of our 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.
Do you need financial assistance? EdX offers up to a 90% discount on our verified certificates to learners who cannot afford to pay full price. Check the edX support page for financial assistance.
LICENSE
The course materials of this course are
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