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
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