A Project Based Learning approach for Production Planning and Control: analysis of 45 projects developed by students

Abstract

The project-based learning (PBL) approach has been a part of the University of Brasilia's programme from the inception of its Industrial Engineering syllabus. Production Systems Project 4 course is one among eight courses that drive the utilization of PBL approach at the curriculum, the subject of this study, in which we present a set of analyses of the projects developed between 2013 and 2016. The projects involved real-world problems, related to public and private sector enterprises in Brazil's Federal District. The conducted analyses aimed to identify the organizations' profiles and the PPC (Production Planning and Control) techniques which were used to achieve project objectives. Therefore, statistical analyses were performed, such as Correlation Analysis, Cluster Analysis, as well as qualitative documental analysis. The results of this study indicate the profile of external partners that have the highest probability of achieving satisfactory results, as well as the main planning elements which impact the final grades of the projects. KeywordsActive learning. Case study. Production engineering. Production, planning and control. of knowledge, internalized along the course, and before the program's conclusion. It is seen as essential that engineers develop not only purely technical proficiencies, but also interdisciplinary skills such as cooperation and project management (Taajamaa et al., 2013). In this sense, problem-based learning and project-based learning, both commonly called as PBL, have been widely applied as a teaching and learning strategy (Bassily et al., 2007;Kadlowec et al., 2007;Ras et al., 2007;Gillette et al., 2014;Lin et al., 2014;Jeon et al., 2014; De los Ríos-Carmenado et al., 2015).In order to improve students' knowledge retention, and better relate theory to practice by adopting a methodology that is focused on the students themselves, beginning in 2009 the University of Brasilia (UnB) has implemented an innovative undergraduate program in Industrial Engineering (Prince & Felder, 2006;Lima et al., 2012;Zindel et al., 2012). Based on the PBL approach, the course aims to foster graduate students' abilities to handle real world problems through the development of specific projects that encourage a systemic and professional interaction with several different environments.According to Zindel et al. (2012), the proposed approach promotes students' learning by means of assisting an external third party with their internal improvement projects. External partners, as pubic or private companies, will typically propose problems that are handled by course students in a group setting. These real-world case studies are developed through a project-based approach, where planning and execution are graded separately, in order to verify the undergraduates' capacity to apply technical knowledge on these authentic situations. In this context, this paper's goal is to present the results of the PBL approach in one specific course, termed Production Systems Project 4 (PSP4). This course is taught in the ...

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