This study presents an analysis of self-reported student perceptions and experiences of authenticity during an undergraduate first-year problem-based learning (PBL) engineering module at UCL. The aim is to further understand how students perceive authentic learning experiences in order to support and maximise this kind of learning throughout their degree programmes. The data shows that our students did perceive their first-year experiences as authentic despite the fact that the context they worked in and the outputs that they created were not the most real-world part of their experience. The data supports previous work on authentic learning which suggests what really matters is cognitive realism and not physical realism. However, it may be possible to introduce levels of authenticity at increasing levels of complexity throughout the student journey. The analysis is located within the wider field of authentic learning, PBL and builds on this work to suggest how dimensions of authenticity may be graduated across a degree programme.
ARTICLE HISTORY
Many traditional engineering schools are struggling to balance the calls to provide an innovative engineering education that meet the demands of graduates and their employers with the constraints and momentum of their existing curriculum. In this paper we present the conceptual design behind a framework that integrates existing discipline-specific content with threads of professional skills and design through a backbone of problem-based learning experiences. This framework creates a studentcentred pedagogy that has been implemented across eight departments of a large engineering school in a research-intensive university.
is helping develop a new Engineering Leadership Program to enable students to bridge the gap between traditional engineering education and what they will really experience in industry. With a background in both engineering education and design thinking, her research focuses on how Hispanic students develop an identity as an engineer, methods for enhancing student motivation, and methods for involving students in curriculum development and teaching through Peer Designed Instruction.
Accredited engineering degrees call upon students to develop a wide range of knowledge and skills. These range from technical, scientific and mathematical knowledge, through to transferable skills such as communications, teamwork, business acumen and critical analysis. Through a faculty-wide curriculum development programme we have sought to implement cross-department teaching framework whereby a range of pedagogies are employed to deliver against core philosophies for a new way of teaching aimed at developing students' knowledge, skills and attitudes while meeting a diverse range of learning outcomes. We argue that is it vital that learning takes place in the context of authentic engineering problems and processes. In this paper, we look at the philosophies, pedagogies and outcomes of an educational-based project which creates a connected curriculum that joins distinct disciplines at key points during the students' education to provide preparation for, and experience of, professional engineering. It describes the motivation for change and described the implementation and impact of these approaches.
ARTICLE HISTORY
Research on engineering first-year students' expectations and perceptions is important to understand what influences interest, achievement and persistence. This is particularly relevant when assessing the impact of new engineering education curricula. This paper reports a quantitative analysis of a pre-degree survey targeting students' expectations at the very beginning of the new Integrated Engineering Programme, which spans across the whole UCL Faculty of Engineering Sciences. Of a cohort of approximately 700 enrolled students, 309 completed the survey. Results suggest that, on graduation, both male and female students expect to have similar opportunities, such as to be able to contribute positively to the world. They also share identical learning expectations and educational experiences regarding their time studying engineering. However, results also suggest that female students were more aware of the societal impact of engineering, and less confident in their engineering specific skills.
The Faculty of Engineering Science atUniversity College London (UCL) has recently undergonea reform of the undergraduate curriculum, which resultedin the creation of a distinctive programme that connectedcurriculums from across seven engineering disciplines.The Integrated Engineering Programme is extensive,taking in nearly 700 students in its inaugural year at thestart of the autumn 2014 term. Its most significantcontributions are the experiential and authentic learningopportunities it provides students allowing them to applytheir technical knowledge and develop their professionalskills in engineering design modules year on year. Thefirst opportunity for students to do this is within thecornerstone Integrated Engineering Design module inyear I. This paper seeks to investigate the impact of anipsative learning approach (feedback and assessment thatis based on learner’s progress) within this multidisciplinaryproblem/project-based learning environment(PBL/PjBL), which focuses learning outcomes on thestudent’s ability to engage with the process of engineeringdesign. The methods of conducting the research includethe analysis of reflective writings by each studentthroughout the first of two 5-week ‘Challenge’ projects. Aset of reflections written by each student was associatedwith two formative assessment meetings, referred to asDesign Review Meetings, held with their academic leader.This data is also supplemented with verbal feedbackprovided by students and academics, which has beenprovided during follow up interviews and focus groups.Student self reflections written after each of the twomeetings support common theses of increasedunderstanding of the project aims and depth of studentresearch efforts. Surprisingly, however is the evidence,which implies that an ipsative PBL environmentempowers students to make critical personal andengineering decisions for effective progression within anengineering design project.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.