تكنولوجيا حتلية املياه
Desalination Technology
تكنولوجيا حتلية املياه
First Online Course on Desalination by Renewable Energies, Lessons Learnt By Vicente J. Subiela*, Baltasar Peñate, Juan A. de la Fuente
T
he Water Department of the Canary Islands Institute of Technology (ITC) in Spain, with a large experience in testing desalination units driven by renewable energies (since 1996), organized the first online course (www.prodeslearning.com) focused on this topic. This training initiative was developed by the ITC under the framework of the ProDes project which was co-financed by the European Commission within the Intelligent Energy for Europe Program.
The e-learning course, called “Introduction to Desalination by Renewable Energies” was part of the training activities of the ProDes project and was implemented in the Moodle (Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) Platform. The course is addressed to people who could be interested in this field of knowledge, as professionals related to water or energy sectors, or technology students. This e-learning action is based on an interactive and friendly use philosophy; the purpose is that on-line students take the main role of their own training process in a flexible way. It means that students with high time restrictions are able to complete the course with a minimum dedication of ten hours, and on the other hand, students with more time can complete their training by the complementary options. Moreover, students can know their progress at any moment. Editions Made and Future Editions From March to July 2010 five editions of the e-learning course (two weeks duration) have been offered over the internet as part of the training activities of the ProDes project. Although the ProDes project concluded on October 2010, due to the great acceptance shown by students and the increasing interest registered, a sixth edition (out of project) was offered last January 2011 (three-week duration). Summarizing the main results obtained in the five editions of the e-learning course we have that 190 students from 29 different countries of the five continents have participated in the course, which is a very relevant amount and shows the international impact of this initiative. A great percentage of students (almost 68%) were from the European Union; this importance was quite expected due to the dissemination was made mainly in the countries represented in the ProDes project partnership. Concerning the rest of students, it is remarkable the significant participation of African countries. Regarding the students’ occupation, the participation was different along the five editions. In general, professionals were the collective with the most important participation (almost 49%), followed by students and researchers. Currently preparing an improved (more content) and extended (1-month duration) version of the e-learning course. Content will be updated and completed with new optional chapters (it would be like a tailor-made course) where students will be able to choose parts of the chapters to complete depending on their specific interests. New technologies will also be included. www.awwmag.com
PV-RO by ITC in Tunisia
Course Contents Developed into 10 chapters (9 theoretical + 1 practical case) with several intermediate questionnaires for the evaluation. The theoretical chapters deal with the main relevant aspects of desalination (membrane and distillation processes) and the application of renewable energy technologies for their autonomous operation. There are 8 technical chapters and one specific chapter focused on economic, environmental, and social issues. The practical chapter allows the student to run a basic and easy use simulation tool to evaluate the main technical and economic parameters of four combinations: Photovoltaic-driven reverse osmosis, wind-powered RO, solar thermal multi-effect humidification, and solar thermal membrane distillation. Lessons tool: Each theoretical chapter is divided into 4 lessons and a review; a short question allows the student to pass to the next lesson. The Quiz tool consists of multiple choice questions, one per theoretical chapter. The Forums tool are the interactive part of the course; it’s what makes this e-learning course a real course, not just an online book. The idea is to open a collective dialogue after ending each chapter to exchange points of view and specific knowledge; thus participation is a key factor. The mandatory parts that all students must complete are: The 9 theoretical lessons, the 9 quizzes, one practical case, and the participation in the forum of each chapter (at least one participation is required). If students do not understand a word in a lesson, they can consult the glossaries for definitions of the main concepts of each chapter. For complementary training, students
5 عدد- 35 مجلد/ 2011 )أيار (مايو
عالم املياه العربي
25
Desalination Technology
Desalination Technology تكنولوجيا تحلية المياه
can go to the sections of videos, podcasts, news, visit the suggested links and games, based on the glossaries Learning Methodology The student starts the course by contacting the general issues (Chapter “0”). They will find the origin, the instructions of the course and general issues of the e-learning course in this chapter. Once they have a familiar link with the platform, they start the theoretical chapters in consecutive order; the platform opens one chapter per day. First of all the student reads the first lesson of each chapter; a series of pages are presented in a linear fashion, like a slide show. The lessons are scored with the use of intermediate questions for a grade. After completing the lessons, the student must complete the questions of the quiz. Students will only have one opportunity to do the quiz (a second chance will be given only for those who failed in their first attempt). Each chapter ends with the participation in the corresponding forum, wherein from a discussion topic / question the students will share their ideas, opinions, and doubts as well. This tool allows a mutual enrichment, very useful not only for the students but also for the teachers. On the other hand, students can open new discussion topics. The practical case (chapter 10) is the last mandatory element, which complements the theoretical training with a simulated situation in which the student evaluates the water supply by identifying the main design parameters of an autonomous desalination system in a remote location. This chapter is completed with additional information as a list of recommended references, a publications database, suggested links and videos. Use of Complementary Elements There are several complementary training options for those students with more time or specific interest. These optional activities include: Podcasts, videos, games, glossaries, visit to links, and other elements in the platform. In order to learn in a constructivism form, different games with words related to desalination have been created. Students can play the time they want because there is no score. Role of Teachers and Evaluation This e-learning course is a tutor-supported course. A teacher evaluates part of the students training process, particularly the intervention in the chapter’s forums, replying to the student’s comments and answering the questions asked. The teachers also give a mark to the practical case and an additional mark (up to 1 extra point) according to the participation of the student in the optional activities. The platform calculates automatically the final mark for every student. After completing the course, students receive an attendance certificate, with their name, final grade, and date.
View of one slide of a lesson
Course Evaluation and Lessons Learnt After completing the e-learning course, students are required to fulfill a questionnaire in order to evaluate the course, and with the aim of improving it in further editions. It is totally voluntary and anonymous. Up to 100 responses were obtained in the six editions. The most valued was the interest of chapter 10 (practical case) and the less valued the games. The general impression of the course got 4.3 over 5. Some of the observations made by the students in the evaluation questionnaire were: • Many thanks for the high level of pedagogy tools used in this course: The clarity by which the chapters, the quiz, and the forums, were structured and the good organization of team managers (many thanks for their availability and sympathy) were the force points of this course. • I think you offered a very good introduction to the basics of desalination, the different types of technologies and all the aspects which are associated with them. I found the idea of the forum especially strong because it allows people to discuss their views on the technologies. • I found the theoretical information of the course: Good structured, interesting, and quite complete. The forums are useful to discuss the topics as well as the quiz to evaluate some ideas learned. According to the results of the six editions made of the e-learning course, the experience has been very positive, not only for the students, but also for the teachers. Students had the opportunity of receiving interesting information in a very short period of time and of exchanging points of view. On the other hand, the teachers participate in this information exchange and complete their training from the queries and comments of the students. The development of editions has allowed the authors to identify elements to be improved in future editions. *Water Department, Research and Technological Development Division, Canary Islands Institute of Technology, Playa de Pozo Izquierdo, s/n. 35119 Santa Lucía, Gran Canaria, Spain vsubiela@itccanarias.org
بتنظيم أ ّول،)1936 ذات اخلبرة الواسعة في مجال اختبار وحدات حتلية املياه العاملة بواسطة الطاقة املتج ّددة (منذ العام، في جزر الكناري في إسبانياITC قام قسم املياه في جامعة ٍ الذي ُم ّولProDes في إطار مشروعITC ُط ّورت هذه املبادرة التدريب ّية من قبل.بشكل خاص ٍ دورة دراس ّية على شبكة اإلنترنت تناول هذا املوضوع بشكل جزئي من قبل املف ّوض ّية األوروب ّية كاخلبراء في قطاع املياه والطاقة أو الطالّب في مجال،خصصة لألشخاص املُهتمني بهذا املجال ّ الدورة الدراس ّية ُم. للطاقة الذك ّيةIntelligent Energy for Europe من ضمن برنامج . ومع كل نسخة من هذه الدورة وتط ّورها يستفيد املؤلّفون من ناحية حتديد العناصر الواجب حتسينها في املستقبل، تالقي هذه الدورة جناحًا كبيرًا لدى الطالّب واملُعلّمني.التكنولوجيا 26
Arab Water World (AWW)
May 2011 / Volume XXXV Issue 5
www.awwmag.com