Project Based Learning: Real World Experiential Projects Creating the 21st Century Engineer Phillip A. Sanger School of Engineering Technology Purdue College of Technology West Lafayette, IN, USA
[email protected] Abstract—Industry throughout the world are demanding engineering graduates that are better prepared to support their organizations. Project based learning (PBL) is being recognized as a pedagogical approach that gives engineering students an opportunity to learning by doing and applying their training to real world problems. PBL is implemented in many different styles. This paper describes one of the themes of PBL—the gradual transition from solving closed ended problems to addressing real world open ended problems. The ultimate project experience is described in a global international project which explores not only the technical challenges of an open project but also the challenges of working collaboratively with engineering students from different cultures. Keywords—project based learning, global engineer, open ended projects, project management component; formatting
I.
INTRODUCTION
The incorporation of real world projects into technical engineering curricula provides a unique and invaluable enhancement to the educational experience. This inclusion of projects into the curricula is often referred to as Project Based Learning or Problem Based Learning (PBL). PBL is one of the modern technologies that universities in many parts of the world are adopting to develop engineering graduates capable of being the practical application oriented engineers needed in industry. This pedagogical approach is well established and has been reviewed extensively [1][2][3]. PBL is being implemented in a variety of different ways depending on the curriculum and the surrounding economic climate. Essential characteristic of projects within PBL are that the projects are central, not peripheral to the course, they are focused on a driving question, they require transforming acquired knowledge, they are largely student controlled, and finally are real world problems [1] One of the very successful approaches has been the tackling of projects that have a value to local industry. Industry sponsorship brings industry into the educational process in a vital and important participative way: the projects are real world problems, the mentors from industry are experienced practitioners of engineering and the funding from these projects supports the infrastructure at the university essential for successful projects. Projects within a PBL program may enter the curriculum at many points but the following three approaches are common: 1) demonstration type competitive projects usually not industry based but created for pedagogical goals to teach and exercise
Julia Ziyatdinova Department of Foreign Languages Kazan National Research Technological University Kazan, Tatarstan, Russian Federation
[email protected] project skills, 2) focused single discipline projects within a specific course and 3) multidisciplinary final year or senior year capstone projects on complex open-ended problems for industry. The first and third types of projects are discussed in the following sections. II.
PROJECT BASED LEARNING
In the School of Engineering Technology at Purdue University, our Goal is to produce applied engineers who are innovative, entrepreneurial and self-directed learners. These descriptive words mean many things depending on the source. For the Purdue SoT program, these words mean the following • Innovation: problem solving without boundaries, • Entrepreneurial: transforming innovation into economic good, and • Self-directed learners: having the confidence to learn something new. The pedagogical approach that was adopted by the school to achieve these objectives school is project based learning. Project Based Learning (PBL) makes theory real for our students and uses projects to bring the theory to the hands-on level. Projects progressively move from close ended where the result is known, there is one answer and the answer is predictable to open ended where solution is not known apriori, ambiguous requirements must be clarified and many options evaluated and one approach selected and pursued. • Typically projects within a PBL curriculum require essential content knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge. These projects create a structure in which inquiry is demanded and the desire to create something new is invited. A full set of personal skills is essential: critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration (teaming skills), and the full gammit of communications skills including listening, writing and several varieties of oral communication. The SoT implementation of PBL allows some degree of student voice and choice in project formation. And finally feedback from mentors and peers is incorporated into the project resulting in continuous improvement. The project provides a context for introducing the need for: • • •
Project management skills Listening to Client Requirements Teaming and interpersonal skills
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• • • • • • •
Conflict Management Problem solving Risk Mitigation Creativity and Intuition Regulatory Constraints Customer requirements, Aesthetics III.
PEDIGOGICAL COMPETITIVE PROJECTS
A wide variety of projects are available in the literature that serve primarily as a pedagogical vehicle to demonstrate key and important principles of projects, project management and systems engineering. One of these projects has been used by the authors at several American universities as well as demonstrated in Russia and Peru. The Skyscraper Exercise was created by engineering educators from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and United States Naval Academy and it contains all the major components of the conceive, design, implement and operate (CDIO) pedagogical approach in an exciting format. The exercise is to design, build and test a model skyscraper based on an historical scenario using a variety of foam blocks and pencils as the fasteners. The structure is required to support a 0.5 liter bottle of water while being tilted on a 10% slope to simulate earthquake durability. Overall height and aesthetics are the principal evaluation factors. The exercise is available at http://www.cdio.org/knowledge-library/documents/skyscraperexercise with both instructor guidance as well as the challenge elements for the students. The PBL outcomes include exercising of basic disciplinary knowledge about structures, anticipating and mitigating risks through concurrent testing and research activities, maximizing team performance through organization and delegation of tasks, allocating time and managing to a schedule, trading off technical performance within a defined and fixed budget and executing the design strictly according to the design documentation. One of the interesting observations resulting from this exercise in creativity and teamwork was the more expansive and innovative approaches developed by younger generation participants. The younger students more quickly realized that the most cost effective route to height was using the pencils
Fig. 1 Senior class of a Capstone project class at Western Carolina University.
instead of the foam. Concentrating on the pencils as the structure paralleled the historical development of skyscraper
Fig. 2 Faculty in Lima, Peru implementing project based learning using the Skyscraper project to explore project management and creativity skills.
Fig. 3 Faculty and graduate students completing the Skyscraper project at Kazan National Research Technological University.
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technology: a move away from concrete and brick to I beams and steel. This project has been used by the authors in several cultures with similar results: Russia, USA, and Peru. Similar learning outcomes were observed but with some variation in approach [4]. IV.
FINAL YEAR OR SENIOR MULTIDISCIPLINARY CAPSTONE PROJECTS
One of the strongest examples of PBL projects being both economic engines for regional growth and stimulating experiences for students is the multidisciplinary senior capstone project. In many institutions this project brings together and synthesizes the engineering student’s entire education by applying it to a complex real world problem. The capstone project, which occurs in the SoET program in the senior and typical fourth year, combines project management, new product development, and interdisciplinary student teams. The project’s purpose is to produce engineering graduates who are open to new ideas, comfortable in an environment with diverse disciplines and can mature promising ideas into actual business propositions. Interaction with local industry creates a renewing flow of real projects sponsored by regional industry to create multi-disciplinary project for the teams to select and engage with the region. Common characteristics of a senior capstone project are: open ended complex and multidisciplinary problems requiring team execution stretching the students to act as self-directed learners. Capstone projects should allow the students to integrate and synthesize as much of their education as possible. Student teams tackle real problems in a realistic setting. A “stage/gate” program management process is followed moving the projects from project proposal, conceptual design, preliminary design, critical design review, fabrication and test spanning a full academic year. In addition to the course instructor, each team is provided a faculty mentor and a sponsor mentor to help guide the project [5]. What kinds of industry project make good projects? Most companies have more projects on their development list than they have resources, skills and talents to pursue. No progress is being made on these projects and some of the topics, with lower priority but remaining important, make excellent and challenging senior projects. While the students experience real world engineering, the companies get progress on neglected projects by innovative and energetic students, have an opportunity to evaluate students as potential new employees and serve an essential function in the process of creating application, industry ready engineers. It is important to make clear to the sponsor however that perfect results are not to be expected. This is a learning exercise, the students are running the project and they must be allowed to make mistakes and recover from the mistakes. Thus the final result may vary and fall short of a finished product or process. Nevertheless competent technical progress and exploration of potential solutions are guaranteed. Types of projects that have been undertaken are the following: control systems of steel rolling mills, vision systems for an automotive assembly line, RFID tracking system for a
steel melting facility, an assistive medical device for patients putting on compression garments to control lymphedema, an improved ergonomic handling system for heavy construction equipment manufacturing, various devices to assist US military special forces, and a cooling system for testing of automotive emissions systems. It has been demonstrated that even research oriented projects can be managed with this product development structure once the product has been defined as “new knowledge” [6]. V.
INTERNATIONAL MULTIDISCIPLINARY CAPSTONE PROJECTS
Many engineering students in the SoET do not have the financial resources to go abroad and experience engineering problem solving in different cultures. Yet most engineers will be put in teams with international participants whose mode of thinking and approach to engineering problem solving is quite different than their own [7]. Modern communication and internet technologies offer engineering faculty the opportunity to take on joint projects in international student teams. Multinational global companies are often willing sponsors since they are the beneficiaries of engineers with global vision and cultural diversity. The author is launching the first project using a new model for international experience projects of this type in the fall of 2014 [8]. The project team consists of students from Purdue and the University of Hanover. The working language is English. International project teams have been used elsewhere. Where the SoET approach differs is that the projects will still retain all the characteristics of the multidisciplinary industry sponsored projects but includes two 10 day trips for personal encounter of the team members with each other. While visiting the other campuses, the host students will be the hosts for their team members from abroad for complete immersion in the different culture. In between the visits, skype, blogs, texting, email and other electronic communications will be used, just as it would be for real world global projects. For assessing any change of attitudes from this international experience, the shortened form of the MivilleGuzman Universality Diversity Scale (MGUDS-S) has been used. This tool has been recently shown to be an effective protocol in assessing global competency of students [7][9]. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors gratefully acknowledge the organization and infrastructure support from administration and faculty at Purdue University and Kazan National Research Technological University without which these explorations into new pedagogical approaches would not be possible
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