Project-based application streams to support student motivations and external engagement

Abstract

In engineering education communities, the importance of project-based learning to prepare students for their graduate careers is well established (Schachterle & Vinter, 1996). Engineering is a complex activity, and degrees that prepare students to become engineers range across many topics, including sciences, mathematics, professional skills, communication, project management, design, and particular technologies (Grimson & Murphy, 2015). Students require non-technical skills to apply maths and science concepts in the context of engineering practice (Froyd & Ohland, 2005). Capstone projects in final year of the engineering degree are a widespread response to this need, but it is very difficult to successfully implement project-based learning in a single course in isolation among students who are used to a traditional lecture-tutorial-lab teaching mode (de Graaff & Kolmos, 2007). Show more