TELFest 2018 - Reimagining project based learning in Engineering
Channel: ANU Online
Date: 20/12/2018

Recording of presentation from TELFest 2018: https://telfest.weblogs.anu.edu.au/

Reimagining Project-Based Learning in Engineering - Chris Browne, Kim Blackmore & Jeremy Smith (CECS)

In project-based learning, students focus on constructing a solution to a problem. They engage with a customer or key stakeholder and produce an artifact such as a report, a computer program or a model. Project-based learning is a natural pedagogy for engineering, as it is closely aligned to professional engineering work. Capstone projects feature in the final year of many engineering programs, and have been included in the ANU Bachelor of Engineering since it was first established, and students participate in co-curricular projects such as the World Solar Challenge. We are now preparing to embed project-based learning comprehensively through the core of the engineering degree, with students joining long-term project groups and applying key engineering concepts from their courses to their projects as they progress through the degree. Implementing project-based learning requires a mindset shift from "teaching" to "facilitating learning", coordination and collaboration across courses, effective integration of industry partnerships, and detailed organisational systems. In this presentation we will describe the planned approach and explore some of the key ingredients for success and potential pitfalls and report on early steps in the implementation.