Conference presentation
Use of a case study to develop market-ready graduates in engineering
SCU Scholarship of Learning and Teaching Symposium (Online, 10/11/2020 - 12/11/2020)
12/11/2020
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Abstract
The Associate Degree in Civil Construction (Engineering Management) (CCEM), which recently obtained Engineers Australia s provisional accreditation, was designed explicitly to develop market-ready engineering graduates. The new degree and associated Diploma was developed in response to needs identified through the Engineering Advisory Committee and an industry survey, and are designed to be offered online based on a blended-learning approach (Southern Cross University, 2019). Research by Tharayil et al. (2018) states that in a discipline such as STEM, active engagement is one of the main tools to improve student understanding and grades. A real-world application of a case study provides this engagement. To develop engineering professionals that are industry ready, the team selected and embedded a single case study to be used across multiple units within this associate degree to provide a scenario that was relevant to the students (Roddy et al., 2017; Harvey et al., 2016). As the students progress through the different engineering disciplines in their first two years, they are asked to apply concepts learnt to the case study.
The case study is an actual current residential land development project in the Lismore area. The case study is used in conjunction with Lismore City Council and the developer, who have both made the project material available to the University for teaching purposes. The materials are provided to the student through one common database residing in Blackboard.
Various methods are used to embed practical experience in the units including - questions in the unit content to test student understanding of the concepts against the case study, weekly tasks that are typical work a junior engineer would perform on site, and an assessment based on the application of the theory to the case study scenarios. The use of a case study as the core scenario that all units refer to allows students to gain a deeper understating of the processes and theories, and how they apply to specific scenarios. As students are already familiar with the case study, their attention is focused towards the specific details of that unit (Roddy et al., 2017; Harvey et al., 2016).
Details
- Title
- Use of a case study to develop market-ready graduates in engineering
- Creators
- Peter John Coombes - Southern Cross UniversityMaree Lake - Southern Cross UniversityJenelle Benson - Southern Cross University
- Conference
- SCU Scholarship of Learning and Teaching Symposium (Online, 10/11/2020 - 12/11/2020)
- Identifiers
- 991013139412702368
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; Centre for Teaching and Learning; Engineering
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Conference presentation
- Local Fields
- Evidence Based Practice - SoLT