Comput Appl Eng Educ. 2020;1–14. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cae © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC | 1 Received: 1 April 2019 | Accepted: 9 May 2020 DOI: 10.1002/cae.22272 RESEARCH ARTICLE On the integration of Mathcad capabilities into a mass transfer operations course in Chemical Engineering studies Claudia Roman | Moisés García‐Morales Departamento de Ingeniería Química, PRO2TECs, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería, Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, Spain Correspondence Moisés García‐Morales, Departamento de Ingeniería Química, PRO2TECs, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería, Universidad de Huelva, 21071 Huelva, Spain. Email: moises.garcia@diq.uhu.es Funding information Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de la Universidad de Huelva, Grant/Award Number: Funding of the PTC MATHCAD PRIME license; Vicerrectorado de Innovación y Empleabilidad de la Universidad de Huelva, Grant/Award Number: XIX Convocatoria de Ayudas a Innovación Docente Abstract Mass transfer unit operations are of extreme importance to chemical engineers. However, they involve complex and tedious calculations which provoke real fear among the students who end up failing and, sometimes, quitting. The exclusive use of hand calculations in engineering studies is discouraging, old‐fashioned, and a primary source of mistakes. The integration of software packages very much facilitates the calculations and engages the students. Computing skills using the latest technologies are prized by employers and can be critical in a recruitment process. This paper reports an example of the unique capabilities of the Mathcad software for the implementation of more appealing teaching stra- tegies. Unknowns and equations are easily associated with specific process variables and engineering phenomena. Thus, if used conveniently, Mathcad Prime can improve the students’ predisposition to learn. KEYWORDS Chemical Engineering, computing, mass transfer operations, Mathcad, numerical methods 1 | INTRODUCTION Mass transfer operations constitute the basis of well‐ established separation procedures extensively used by the chemical industry. Hence, a solid knowledge of mass transfer processes is expected from a practicing chemical engineer [24]. In many engineering courses, in general, the difficulties experienced by the students very often reside in the calculations rather than in understanding the physical phenomena. Mass transfer operations in- volve a number of complex mathematical operations like simultaneous solution of nonlinear algebraic equations, integral equations, ordinary or partial differential equa- tions, numerical methods, and so forth. All these con- tents are covered over the Bachelor's degree first course. Even so, students not always attain a meaningful learning because the unknowns are not associated with specific process variables, neither are the equations to specific engineering phenomena. Contextualization into real en- gineering scenarios makes the students improve the un- derstanding of the maths core principles and realize why they need them [8]. Moreover, the traditional teaching practice is no longer useful as such. The new students have grown up in a so- ciety ruled by the massive use of technology, which changes very fast [4]. Brown [5] stated that “today's digital kids think of ICT (information and communication technologies) as something akin to oxygen: they expect it, it's what they breathe, and it's how they live.” In that sense, our experi- ence tells us that the use of numerical and graphical hand calculations discourages the students and makes them feel uncomfortable. An approach based on the use of compu- tational tools to put theoretical contents into practice can make the classes more attractive to students. The integration of the most advanced computational tools into engineering courses is gaining acceptance over