Balancing Curriculum Processes and Content in a Project Centred Curriculum

Crosthwaite, Caroline; Cameron, Ian; Lant, Paul; Litster, J. D.

doi:10.1205/ece.05002

Cited by 42 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In addition, students are also instructed to focus on the development of personal and professional competencies, as well as on the continuous monitoring of technological developments in their respective field of study (Crosthwaite et al, 2006;Gomes et al 2006).…”

Section: Pbl In Engineering Programsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Project-based Learning curricular approach in a Production Engineering Program

Monteiro

Reis

Silva

et al. 2017

Prod.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Industrial Engineering undergraduate program offered at the University of Brasília was structured on Project Based Learning (PBL) methodology. This innovative educational proposal allows the students to deploy their technical competencies through real problem solving situations. The methodology also stimulates the development of the students' soft skills, by exposing them to a challenging environment. At the end of each project, the results are presented to an external agent, and are subsequently implemented. The objective of this paper is to present the evolution of the PSP courses, which adopt as guidelines both the PMBOK project management framework, as well as content from specific technical courses related to the project's subject. One other relevant aspect of the PSP courses is their involvement of both undergraduate and graduate students from different Engineering areas, such as Industrial, Mechanical and Civil Engineering, which serves to foster a more holistic and integrated problem-solving skillset. KeywordsEngineering education. Industrial engineering. Production System Project (PSP). approach are intrinsically linked to the acquisition of knowledge that can be applied in a professional environment, in improving existing skills, and for problem solving as a whole.Project Based Learning utilizes continuous questioning as a teaching and learning technique. This particular strategy has been adopted by the University of Brasilia (UnB) in its Industrial Engineering course. The use of this approach encourages the student to seek knowledge by proposing solutions to real problems, introduced by external agents. The student becomes the subject of the learning process, as his or her learning depends on the constant search for new knowledge, technologies, methods, techniques and tools that can be used in carrying out activities that will permit them to arrive at feasible solutions.The PBL approach provides the student with a deeper understanding of the studied content, as it puts into practice the theoretical concepts and strategies for problem solving. At the same time, it fosters the development of multidisciplinary capabilities related to communication, leadership, management, and the development of a reasoned critical thinking (Witt et al., 2006;De los Ríos-Carmenado et al., 2015;Miranda, 2004). According to Barell (2007), there is an effective increase in students' performance, due to both the greater retention of information available, and to the motivation and interest that is fostered by resolving real-life issues.

show abstract

Section: Pbl In Engineering Programsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Project-based Learning curricular approach in a Production Engineering Program

Monteiro

Reis

Silva

et al. 2017

Prod.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…When the project-based education includes the whole curriculum, it is used to be called of Project-led education (PLE) (Lima et al, 2007;Crosthwaite et al, 2006). An important use case of this approach is the program of Industrial Design Engineering at the University of Twente.…”

Section: Problem-based Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to these authors, in this approach students are not merely passive recipients of knowledge. They are immersed in an experience that is similar to what they will face in their professional life.When the project-based education includes the whole curriculum, it is used to be called of Project-led education (PLE) (Lima et al, 2007;Crosthwaite et al, 2006). An important use case of this approach is the program of Industrial Design Engineering at the University of Twente.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Barbalho

Reis

Bitencourt

et al. 2017

Prod.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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 ...

show abstract

“…Even though each of these has their own definition of professional profiles, the techniques used by each one have common objectives: to satisfy the current and future needs from society and organizations; to develop personal and communication skills, besides the knowledge and skills within specific domain and to reinforce leadership and teamwork abilities (Crosthwaite , 2006;Horn , 2003;Alles, 2009). There is no formal definition of 'professional profile' that is universally accepted.…”

Section: Professional Profilesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A quantitative definition of engineering professional profiles

Barrera¹,

Duarte²,

Sarmiento³

et al. 2015

ing.inv.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A professional profile is a set of knowledge and skills. In this paper we propose a methodology to define professional profiles giving a quantitative assessment of skills and knowledge associated with an engineering curriculum. This approach can be used to evaluate the curriculum flexibility, i.e., if the curriculum offers the students diverse and flexible approaches and routes to learning. We describe a mathematical model that allows us to calculate the compliance level accomplished by a student with regard to one or more different profiles. Our proposal has been applied in the Undergraduate Program of Electrical Engineering from Universidad Nacional de Colombia Keywords: Profile, professional profile, individual profile, ideal profile, electrical engineering, curriculum, knowledge, skills, fuzzy implications, aggregation operators. RESUMENUn perfil profesional es un conjunto de conocimientos y habilidades. En el presente artículo se propone una metodología para definir perfiles profesionales basada en una evaluación cualitativa de habilidades y conocimientos asociados con un plan de estudios de ingeniería. Esta metodología puede ser usada para evaluar la flexibilidad curricular, es decir, si el plan de estudios ofrece a los estudiantes enfoques y rutas de aprendizaje que sean diversos y flexibles. Aquí se describe un modelo matemático que permite calcular el grado de satisfacción logrado por un estudiante con respecto a uno o varios perfiles. Esta propuesta ha sido aplicada en el programa de pregrado de Ingeniería Eléctrica de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia.Palabras clave: Perfil, perfil profesional, perfil ideal, perfil individual, ingeniería eléctrica, plan de estudios, conocimientos, habilidades, implicaciones difusas, operadores de agregación. The way that professional profiles are currently established involves common features (educational outcomes) that give us the basis to get to know the principal elements of a profile. These features can be classified in two major groups: skills and knowledge. In other words, a profile can be visualized as a set of skills and knowledge. ReceivedWe have developed a methodology to evaluate professional profiles in the context of an engineering curriculum. We consider this methodology as a potential tool in educational institutions since it allows us to know if the curriculum fulfills the current expectations of the new professionals training.

show abstract

Balancing Curriculum Processes and Content in a Project Centred Curriculum

Cited by 42 publications

References 1 publication

A Project-based Learning curricular approach in a Production Engineering Program

A Project-based Learning curricular approach in a Production Engineering Program

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

A quantitative definition of engineering professional profiles

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About