A CDIO Review:
Engineering Education for the 21st century

Professor Johan Malmqvist
Chalmers University of Technology
Gothenburg, Sweden

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FORENGINEERING EDUCATION
Problems

SkillsMultidisciplinary
problems

Design &Innovation

Globalization

Sustainable solutions

New
technologies& services
Entrepreneurship

Communication& teamwork

Personalskills

Constraints &resources
Priorknowledge
Facultycompetence& timeDigital tools
and learning• Remarkable similarity across the world!
• Opportunity: Through use of pedagogical innovation andworldwide collaboration, educate engineers who candevelop a better futureOUTLINE• What is an engineer? What is the professional context ofengineering?
• The need for a new approach– The CDIO goals and vision– What do engineering graduates need to be able to do?
– How can we do better at educating them?
• Concluding remarks & discussion

WHAT DO ENGINEERS DO?

”Scientists investigate that which already is.
Engineers create that which has never been.
- Theodore von Karmann”What you need to invent, is animagination and a pile of junk”- Thomas Edison

EVOLUTION OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION
Innovation,Implementation,
Collaboration
skillsPracticePre-1950s:
Practice

2000:
CDIO

1960s:
Science &practice1980s:
Science

We are not where we want to be –engineering education needs reform!

Analytical skills
Disciplinaryknowledge
TheoryREFORM OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION IS
NEEDED - WITH THREE MAIN GOALS IN MIND

To educate students who are able to:• Master a deeper working knowledge of the technicalfundamentals• Lead in the creation and operation of new products,
processes, and systems• Understand the importance and strategic impact ofresearch and technological development on society

CENTRAL QUESTIONS FOR PROFESSIONALEDUCATION DESIGNERS• What is the professional roleand practical context of theprofession(al)? (need)• What knowledge, skills andattitudes should students
possess as they graduate fromour programs? (programlearning outcomes)• How can we do better atensuring that students learn
these skills? (curriculum,teaching, learning, workspaces,assessment)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

THE PROFESSIONAL ROLE(S)OF ENGINEERS”Engineers Conceive, Design, Implement and Operatecomplex products and systems in a modern team-basedengineering environment”

CONTEXT FOR ENGINEERING:THE C-D-I-O PROCESS
Lifecycle of a product, process, project, system, software, material
Conceive: customer needs, technology,
enterprise strategy, regulations; andconceptual, technical, and business
plans
Design: plans, drawings, and algorithms
that describe what will be implemented
Implement: transformation of the design
into the product, process, or system,including manufacturing, coding, testingand validation
Operate: the implemented product orprocess delivering the intended value,including maintaining, evolving andretiring the system

Duke University

What is the full set of knowledge, skills andattitudes that a student should possess as they
graduate from university?
– At what level of proficiency?
– In addition to the traditional engineering
disciplinary knowledge

FROM UNDERLYING NEED TO
PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES••••

Educate students who:
Process
Understand how to conceivedesign-implement-operate
Product
Complex products andsystems
1. Disciplinary
In a modern team-basedknowledge
engineering environment
And are mature and thoughtful
individuals

4. CDIO
2. Personal

3. Interpersonal

TeamSelf

The CDIO Syllabus - a comprehensive statement of detailed goals
for an engineering education

THE CDIO SYLLABUS• A generalized list ofcompetences that anengineer should possess••1

Disciplinary Knowledge & Reasoning:
1.1 Knowledge of underlying sciences
1.2 Core engineering fundamental knowledge
1.3 Advanced engineering fundamental knowledge

2

Personal and Professional Skills
2.1 Analytical reasoning and problem solving
2.2 Experimentation and knowledge discovery
2.3 System thinking
2.4 Personal skills and attributes
2.5 Professional skills and attributes

3

Interpersonal Skills
3.1 Multi-disciplinary teamwork
3.2 Communications
3.3 Communication in a foreign language

4

CDIO of Complex Systems
4.1 External and societal context
4.2 Enterprise and business context
4.3 Conceiving and engineering systems
4.4 Designing
4.5 Implementing
4.6 Operating
4.7 Engineer leadership
4.8 Entrepreneurship• Program specific (1) andgeneral (2-4)• Created and validated byalumni, faculty and students••• A ”complete” reference
model

CDIO Syllabus contains 2-3 more layers of detailTHE CDIO SYLLABUS V2.0 - 3RD LEVEL OF
DETAIL (EXCERPT)VALIDATION OF THE CDIO SYLLABUS:STAKEHOLDER SURVEY AT MIT
Sample: 6 groups surveyed: 1st- and 4th-year students, alumni 25 years
old, alumni 35 years old, faculty, leaders of industry
Question: For each attribute, please indicate which of the five levels ofproficiency you desire in a graduating engineering student:
Scale:
1 To have experienced or been exposed to
2 To be able to participate in and contribute to
3 To be able to understand and explain
4 To be skilled in the practice or implementation of
5 To be able to lead or innovate inPRIORITING LEARNING OUTCOMES
5. Innovate

5Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge

4.5

4. SkilledPractice43.5

3. Understand3

2.5

2. Participate

Faculty
Industry
Y. Alum
O. Alum2

1.5

1. Exposure

2.

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Analysis is rated highest but almost as high proficiency isneeded in design, communication and teamwork

VALIDATION AGAINST NATIONAL
ACCREDITATION FRAMEWORKS••

The CDIO syllabus has been
compared national accreditations
in many countries
Same pattern:– The CDIO Syllabus statesoutcomes for engineering
education that reflect a broader
view of the engineering
profession– Its greater levels of detailfacilitate program and course
development.
– A program whose design isbased on the CDIO Syllabuswill also satisfy its national
requirements for specified
program outcomes.

ABET EC 2010 (USA)

CEAB (CANADA)

EUR-ACE (Europe)

COMPARISON WITH INDUSTRY EXPECTATIONS DESIRED ATTRIBUTES OF AN ENGINEER(BOEING, CA 1995)•A good understanding of engineering science fundamentals– Mathematics, Physical and life sciences, Information technology•

A good understanding of design and manufacturing processes•

A multi-disciplinary, systems perspective•

A basic understanding of the context in which engineering is practiced– Economics, History, The environment, Customer and societal needs•

Good communication skills - written, oral, graphic, and listening•

A profound understanding of the importance of teamwork.

•Personal skills– High ethical standards– Ability to think both critically and creatively—independently andcooperatively– Flexibility•

Curiosity and a desire to learn for life

How can we do better at assuring that students
learn these skills?
– Within the available student and faculty time,
funding and other resources

VISION FOR A CDIO-BASED EDUCATION
An education that stresses the fundamentals, set in thecontext of Conceiving – Designing – Implementing –Operating systems and products:• A curriculum organised around mutually supporting
courses, but with CDIO activities highly interwoven• Rich with student design-build projects• Integrating learning of professional skills such asteamwork and communication• Featuring active and experiential learning• Constantly improved through quality assurance processwith higher aims than accreditation

MORE AND MORE AUTHENTIC DESIGNEXPERIENCES IN THE EDUCATION
Design-build experiences are instructional events in which learning
occurs through the creation of a product, process, or system

Provide the natural context
in which to teach design,
innovation, implementation
skillsProvide a platform fortraining other CDIO syllabus
skills (teamwork,communications etc)

Solardriven
aircraft,
KTH

FormulaStudent,
Chalmers

THERE SHOULD BE MULTIPLE DESIGN–BUILD PROJECTS IN THE CURRICULUM
Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Mechatronics
project course
Intro toMech Eng

Joint project inMachine elements&Manuf technology
courses

MachinedesignAutomotiveeng project
Product
development
project

Creative,”conceptual” design

Design for manufacturing

Redesign
Multiple objectives

Creative design incl
business aspects
Cross-dept teams

Simple prototype
Qualitative

More advanced prototype
Some simulation
Company is customer

Prototype as needed
More simulation

Prototype
Simulation as needed
Company is customer

DESIGN-BUILD-TEST PROJECTS ADDRESSSUSTAINABLE INNOVATION• 4th year Productdevelopment projectcourse, interdisciplinary
student teams

Solar
tracker
actuator(SKF)
Wave energy (Vigor Wave)• Design-build andbusiness development• Collaboration with start
ups and established firms

Ultralight electric vehicle (CleanMotion)

STUDENT WORKSPACES FOR CDIO

EXAMPLE:
MIT AERO-ASTRO DEPARTMENT
Conceive

DesignImplement

OperateCDIO AIMS FOR CO-EVOLUTION OF
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
Integrated learning experiences develop both technicalknowledge and “generic” skills (communication, teamwork,ethics, sustainability, etc)

Knowledge & skills
give each other meaning!
Acquisition of technical knowledge

Development of generic skills

Source: Kristina Edström

DISCIPLINE-LED PROBLEM/
PRACTICE-BASED LEARNING

Discipline-led learning

Problem/practice-led learning••••••Well-structured knowledge base (”content”)
What is known and what is not
Evidence/theory, Model/reality
Methods to further the knowledge frontier

CONNECTING WITH GENERIC SKILLS Working understanding = capability toapply, functioning knowledge
 Seeing the knowledge through the lense ofproblems, interconnecting the disciplines
 Integrating skills, e.g. communication andcollaboration••••

Integration and application, synthesis
Open-ended problems, ambiguity,conflicting interests, trade-offs
Working under conditions of specificcontexts
Professional skills (work processes)”Creating that which has never been”
Knowledge building of the practice

CONNECTING WITH DISCIPLINARYKNOWLEDGE
 Drawing on the disciplinary knowledge
 Reinforcing disciplinary understanding Creating a motivational context

EXAMPLE: COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN
LIGHTWEIGHT DESIGN
Communication in lightweight design means being able to Use the technical concepts comfortably Discuss a problem of different levels
 Determine what factors are relevant to the situation
 Argue for, or against, conceptual ideas and solutions
 Develop ideas through discussion and collaborativesketching Explain technical matters to different audiences
 Show confidence in expressing oneself within the field

The skills are embedded in, and inseparable from, students’application of technical knowledge.
It is about educating engineers who can actually communicate aboutengineering!

The same interpretation should be made for teamwork, problem
solving, professional ethics, and other engineering skills.

INTEGRATE THE CURRICULUM
An integrated curriculum has a systematic assignment ofprogram outcomes to learning activities and features a explicit planfor progressive integration of generic skills
Planned learning sequence -- Vehicle Engineering -- KTH

CDIO Syllabus
3.2.3 Written
communication
3.3 Communication in English

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3Introductory
courseMech I

Mech II

Thermodynamics

ControlTheory

Math I

Math II

SolidMechanics

Math III

ElectricalEng.

Product
developm

Fluid
Statistics
Mechanics

Physics

Numerical
Methods

Sound andVibrations

SignalAnalysis

FEM inEngineering

Bachelor
ThesisOptimization

INTEGRATED LEADERSHIP TRAINING

DEVELOP ACTIVE AND EXPERIENTIALLEARNING ACTIVITIES
Active and experiential learning engages students by setting
teaching and learning in contexts that simulate engineering roles
and practice
Reformed mathematics
emphasizing simulation ofrealistic engineering problems
Working method based onmodeling, simulation &analysis, MATLAB programming
Motivated importance ofmathematics and appliedmechanics courses

Year 1 lab example

THE 12 CDIO STANDARDS – GUIDELINES FOREDUCATION DEVELOPMENT

Programfocus
1,2,3

CDIO
4,5,6

• CDIO as Context• CDIO Syllabus
Outcomes• IntegratedCurriculum• Introduction toEngineering• Design-Build
Experiences• CDIO Workspaces

Teaching &Learning
7,8• Integrated Learning
Experiences• Active & Experiential
Learning

Facultydevelopment
9,10• Enhancement of Faculty
CDIO Skills• Enhancement of Faculty
Teaching Skills

Evaluation
11,12• CDIO Skills Assessment• CDIO Program Evaluation

CDIO IS A REFERENCE MODEL,NOT A PRESCRIPTION
Everything has to be translatedtransformed to fit the context
and conditions of each
university / program
You are probably doing some CDIOelements alreadyTake what you want to use,transform it as you wish, give it
a new name, assume ownership
CDIO provides a toolbox forworking through the process

CONCLUDING REMARKS – WHAT IS CDIO
• An idea of what engineering students should
learn: “Engineers who can engineer”• A methodology for engineering education
reform: The CDIO Syllabus and the 12 CDIO
Standards• A community: The CDIO Initiative with 107
universities as members• To learn more, visit www.cdio.org or read
Rethinking Engineering Education: The CDIO
Approach by Crawley, Malmqvist, Östlund &Brodeur, 2007

Thank you for listening!
Any questions or comments?