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Session Description

Free ticketed event
Workshop Time
Morning or afternoon workshop time is perfectly OK.

Workshop Title
The Sound of Interdisciplinary Engineering: A Hands-on Speaker Project to Teach Design, Fabrication, Testing, and Measurement in First-Year Engineering

Workshop Presenters
Brian Krongold (bsk@unimelb.edu.au) and Gavin Buskes (g.buskes@unimelb.edu.au), University of Melbourne

Collaboration
Co-sponsorship of the Experimentation and Laboratory Studies (ELOS) Division, First-Year Programs Division, and the Multidisciplinary Engineering Division.

Expected Audience
Instructors (academics and lab staff)in first- or second-year engineering programs who need proven, adaptable project models to introduce hands-on interdisciplinary engineering and cultivate essential skills like design, construction, modelling and experimental testing. Students may also be very interested in attending this workshop.

Learning Objectives of Workshop
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
• Implement a project-based learning experience for students that effectively integrates theoretical knowledge with practical application, using a DIY speaker project structure as a foundation.
• Adapt a DIY speaker project model for their own introductory engineering course, focusing on integrating core mechanical (CAD/fabrication) and electrical (circuit design/testing) principles.
• Incorporate experimental testing and measurement as an important "bridging" step between mechanical construction and electrical design.
• Guide students through the implementation of functional basic circuits using simplified, systems-based teaching methods (functional depth) appropriate for first- or second-year students.
• Employ strategies for addressing common student challenges, such as reducing fabrication time and resolving complex circuit breadboarding/debugging issues.

Brief Description of the Workshop
This hands-on workshop is designed for instructors seeking a proven, adaptable model for integrating the full engineering design lifecycle into early-year courses. A low-cost multidisciplinary DIY speaker design project is used as a case study to demonstrate how to effectively build student skills and confidence in design, construction, and experimental testing and measurement.
Participants will engage directly with the project by receiving pre-made parts to construct their own speaker driver during the session and take home afterwards. They will test their driver using an audio source and play music out of it.
The workshop covers the project's adaptable structure, which naturally bridges mechanical engineering (CAD and laser-cut fabrication) and electrical engineering (designing and implementing basic analog filters). The core focus is pedagogical implementation, including strategies to managing high-throughput fabrication for large cohorts and employing effective scaffolding techniques for teaching students to design, implement and test electrical circuits without prior knowledge and experience. A facilitated discussion on key challenges and adapted solutions from the project’s history will help instructors leave with a detailed roadmap for adapting and integrating this impactful, interdisciplinary project into their foundational curriculum.

Planned Schedule of the Workshop
20 mins [Introduction & Curriculum Framing]: Overview of the speaker project structure, the design lifecycle concept, and its role in meeting first-year learning outcomes (ILOs). Discussion on the importance of interdisciplinary exposure in foundational courses.
20 mins [CAD design and hands-on activity: driver construction]. Brief coverage of how CAD design is taught within the project, followed by participants using provided parts to build the core speaker driver (chassis, cone, coil assembly). This helps demonstrate the integration of CAD skills and fabrication, and helps demonstrate the low-cost, hands-on project strategy.
15 mins [Audio driver testing and physical principles discussion] Participants connect their newly built driver to an audio source and play music. Interactive discussion focussing on teaching students how the simple constructed components illustrate Ampere's Law and Lorentz force in the transformation of electrical energy into sound.
15 mins Break
15 mins [Experimental Testing & Measurement] Basic demonstration and discussion of the frequency response measurement setup, including the use of a measurement microphone and free software like Room Equalizer Wizard (REW).
15 mins [Electrical Integration Strategies] Discussion on the electrical design phase and possible audio circuits to design and build. A key focus is on scaffolding techniques to reduce the complexity of circuit theory and construction and focus on system-level understanding and the design of component values.
15 mins [Curriculum Adaptation, Challenges and Solutions] Facilitated discussion identifying key challenges (e.g., fabrication, debugging circuits) and presenting tested solutions (e.g., laser-cut chassis, circuit templating, managing large cohorts).
15 mins Break
20 mins [Implementation Roadmap and Q&A] Actionable Integration: outline of the necessary equipment, material costs, and a step-by-step roadmap for adapting this project model into various foundational curricula.

Funding Source of the Workshop Material
Materials will be provided by the University of Melbourne so that each of up to 25 attendees can put together a speaker driver they can keep and bring back to their institution. The provided materials include laser-cut and other parts to make a speaker driver.

Speakers

1. Prof. Brian Scott Krongold

   University of Melbourne-Parkville

   Professor, Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of Melbourne

2. Dr. Gavin Buskes

   The University of Melbourne

   Professor, Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of Melbourne