Eng-Tips is a forum for engineering professionals and students of all disciplines. (Stock photo.)

(Full disclosure: The Eng-Tips Forum is owned by engineering.com.)

Engineering is one of the most rigorous, hands-on subjects, with a theoretical framework in math and physics. While this field of study can be stressful, there are also many online spaces for engineering students to turn to when they need insight or support from their peers. One of those is the Eng-Tips Forum. 

Hosted by engineering.com, Eng-Tips was founded as a forum for engineering professionals, but it has expanded to help those learning the subject as well. With the latest release, the site has developed a forum for students to share their challenges, teach each other, clarify assumptions, and develop new skills. 

Young professionals are joining over 700,000 site members who are already invested in posting engineering-related inquiries and answering questions posed by other users. Engineering students can ask anything, ranging from career advice and research-related issues to other school problems. 

Though students should refrain from posting homework questions, they are encouraged to demonstrate their working knowledge and ask for help with concepts they do not understand. Students are encouraged to pose open-ended questions with proof that they have started their work. For example, students should ask, “I used Google to try to find ‘Foonly Flurbamatic 2600’ on the Web, but I got no useful hits. Can I get a pointer to programming information on this  device?” rather than, “Where can I find out stuff about the Foonly Flurbamatic?”

Example discussion question. (Image courtesy of eng-tips.com.)

Their peers can then reply in the form of a thread or subsequently reply to others who commented on the question, forming an online discussion. Each conversation helps students process information rather than simply receive it as well as put their course material into practice.

The threads are displayed by date and author while utilizing some editing capabilities to manage individual posts, such as marking them as helpful. 

According to a study by the University of Southern Mississippi, online discussion forums allow students to learn and teach others beyond the traditional face-to-face classroom at a higher level of cognition. They can also help convey important lessons while effectively improving student understanding and learning. 

Engineering students can create an account to talk with other members, save specific forums, receive notifications, search through posts, and access other member-only features for free. Eng-Tips Forum, hosted by engineering.com, also offers several additional sections for users to explore, including aeronautics, automotive, manufacturing, mechanical, mining, structural, and personal strategies.