Peer Review

2.800 Tribology | Mechanical Engineering

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Reviewed:: Apr 22, 2019 by Engineering

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: This open-course of MIT (MOOC type course) addresses the design of tribological systems, it is to say the interfaces between two or more bodies in relative motion. The course deals with fundamental topics as geometric, chemical, and physical characterization of surfaces; friction and wear mechanisms for several materials as metals, polymers, and ceramics, including abrasive wear, delamination theory, tool wear, erosive wear, wear of polymers and composites; and boundary lubrication and solid-film lubrication. The course also considers the relationship between nano-tribology and macro-tribology, rolling contacts, tribological problems in magnetic recording and electrical contacts, and monitoring and diagnosis of friction and wear. Case studies are used to illustrate key points.
Type of Material:: Online course (MOOC openware course)
Recommended Uses:: Some materials, such is the case of the presentations, could be used both in class, and as material to study at home. Homework material should be used at home, to let students reinforce their knowledge. Exams material could be used to evaluate acquired knowledge. It could be recommended as a basic course on tribology for those persons with a basic knowledge of mechanical physics. As the resource is organized as a stand-alone, MOOC course, it is difficult to integrate it into other regular courses at University or High School
Technical Requirements:: I used Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome v 57 and Microsoft Edge browsers to access the material. It seems that all facilities are active for any browser.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: The user will develop a basic understanding of the basic tribology physics with application to industrial materials as metals, polymers, and ceramics and others. The main goal of this material is that it deals with the concept of tribology, from its basic description to an advanced knowledge of it. A lot of materials (classroom presentations, homework, exams) are provided in order to achieve a deep knowledge on tribology. Some exercises are available to fix basic concepts. Discussion of the solutions to exercises is only possible after registration in the Open-course.
Target Student Population:: High School, College Upper Division, First level of undergraduate courses.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: It is necessary to have previous knowledge in mathematics, chemistry and physics at undergraduate level.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: Different kinds of materials are provided (classroom presentations, homework, as well as exams), which help students to study and applicate the concepts learned. The concepts are clearly explained and are appropriate. The structure of contents is correct and addresses tribology concerning updated industrial materials. Lecture notes are supplied to help registered students along interaction with lecturers
Concerns:: Some pictures have been removed due to copyright concerns. For some themes, the number of pictures removed is very large. It can affect the quality of the material, because it doesn’t bring a proper way of knowledge. Then it could be interesting to include other similar pictures without copyright concerns. The course is based on textbooks not available within the course materials (buying recommended)

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

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Strengths:: This course brings students very good materials to study about tribology. The way that it is structured helps students to easily follow the course, building concepts from the previously ones acquired. References given could help both students and teachers to complete their background on the studied concepts. The material could be used for self-learning. The material can serve as a fundamental course on tribology. It is well structured, addressing the learning objectives by step-by-step modules
Concerns:: If these materials are going to be used by students that work solely (not following a real or virtual class), perhaps it could be interesting to provide homework and exams solutions, to help students check their work. As the resource is organized as a stand-alone, MOOC course, it is difficult to integrate it into other regular courses at University or High School Assessment of the course is based in limited exercises and tests

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

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Strengths:: The materials brought by this course are easy to use: classroom presentations can be downloaded as pdf documents, as well as homework and exams. Materials could be used either from the computer or printed. Easiness of use. The site is working. Instructions of use are simply.
Concerns:: Due to the lack of some pictures, some themes are difficult to be used. It is necessary to complete this information by using other references. Even being a MOOC, the material is not very interactive as it stands mostly in written texts and exercises. More interactive links to other material or wiki should be added to allow deepening in concepts and applications

Other Issues and Comments:: Good material, both for students and for teachers to learn / teach about tribology. This stand-alone, as many other MOOC courses, could beuseful as a basic course on tribology, used for self-learning.
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