An evaluation of elements of project based learning in civil engineering

Search Swinburne Research Bank

Universities

Home

List of Titles

An evaluation of elements of project based learning in civil engineering

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/49022

Check Swinburne's subscriptions for full text availability

Title: An evaluation of elements of project based learning in civil engineering
Author(s): Krezel, Z. Adam; Ling, Peter
Abstract: This paper reports on a project-based approach to teaching a first year Civil Engineering subject: Civil Engineering Project (CEP). A range of strategies was used to evaluate two elements of the subject delivery: the individual and group-work system of assessment; and the student support system. This first year subject runs in the second semester. In the first semester, in the Professional Engineering subject, students have the opportunity to discover basic elements of modern civil engineering practice, including principles of engineering design and engineering projects. In the CEP subject, students have the opportunity to consolidate their pre-existing and newly acquired engineering knowledge and apply it in a real world engineering project. Each year students work, concurrently with professional teams, on a design and/or building project in the metropolitan Melbourne area. This paper reports on the 2004 CEP where students were required to analyse the design of the greenest office building in Australia, the new Council House (CH2) for the City of Melbourne and to suggest feasible improvements. A range of evaluation methods was incorporated in the CEP subject, which elicited feedback from internal and external stakeholders at various stages of the project. In this project-based subject, students are heavily involved in the evaluation process. The impact of evaluation on students learning as well as on the progress of the project at hand was examined. The paper reports the findings of the progressive and final evaluations and the actions taken subject to the evaluation
Publication type: Book chapter
Research centre: Swinburne University of Technology
Source: Research and practice of active learning in engineering education / Erik de Graaff, Gillian N. Saunders-Smits and Michael R. Nieweg (eds.), pp. 36-46
Publication year: 2007
Keyword(s): Australia; Colleges; Civil engineering; Engineering studies; Evaluation; IBL; Industry-based learning; Learning; Practical applications; Project-based learning; Self-evaluation; Students; Swinburne University of Technology; Undergraduate studies; Universities
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
ISBN: 9789085550914, 9085550912
Publisher URL: http://www.aup.nl/do.php?a=show_visitor_book&isbn=9789085550914&l=2
Publisher URL: http://books.google.com/books?id=ntR2Yprl4JwC
Peer reviewed