Users' reviews
Key Information
credit_card
Free access
verified_user
Free certificate
timer
28 hours in total
About the content
Learn the techniques of Engineering Mechanics, use them to interpret experiments and apply them to design.
more_horiz
Read more
more_horiz
Read less
dns
Syllabus
When you design anything, how do you know that the design will work? You need Engineering Mechanics - the science-based analysis that engineers use to predict how their designs will perform, so they can meet their responsibilities for performance and safety. It starts with physics - forces, equilibrium, acceleration, gravity - but then engineers adapt it to their own purposes In this free online course, you will learn analytical skills, use them to understand experiments, and apply them in design. You will be living in the engineer’s world. An unusual approach to learning Engineering Mechanics Each of the seven weeks of this course has: an introduction to set the scene; experiments to introduce physical reality; analysis videos, paper and pencil tutorials and on-line Adaptive Tutorials to help you develop insights and skills; a design activity to give you engineering context (except Week 1); and a review process to consolidate your learning. Experiments will be a special feature. You can do them yourself using common household items such as rubber bands, paper clips, string and cardboard, a toy vehicle. Videos and downloadable instructions will guide you. We hope you’ll do some of them, but if not, you can get what you need from watching the videos. Adaptive Tutorials will be another special feature. They provide a personalised learning experience through virtual ‘learning by doing’ activities that adapt to your progress. Here are two examples of typical weekly activities: Week 3 - the experiments and analysis will present tools for finding forces by applying equilibrium, and for the design activity you will specify the size of a bolt that acts as a pin on a fold-out frame. Week 6 - the experiments will explore various types of resistance to motion, the analysis will introduce concepts of work and energy, and for the design activity, you will estimate the power requirement and range of an electric car. A life-changing experience On completing this course you will have: learnt how to manipulate forces as vectors; learnt techniques and skills in using free-body diagrams and equilibrium to analyse and predict forces; understood centres of gravity, friction and various types of resistance; and applied these capabilities to design. And by living in the world of the engineer, you will see how they operate effectively and safely. You will have begun to develop “Engineers’ Eyes”.
record_voice_over
Instructors
- Gangadhara Prusty
- Robin Ford
assistant
Platform

FutureLearn is a massive open online course (MOOC) learning platform founded in December 2012.
It is a company launched and wholly owned by The Open University in Milton Keynes, England. It is the first UK-led massive open online course learning platform, and as of March 2015 included 54 UK and international University partners and unlike similar platforms includes four non-university partners: the British Museum, the British Council, the British Library and the National Film and Television School.
You are the designer of this MOOC?
keyboard_arrow_left
grade
keyboard_arrow_right
Integrate the reviews system