This article presents how Problem- and Project-Based Learning (PBL) in engineering education can exploit the theoretical framework of the Space-Time (ST)-Continuum, according to which educational contexts can be classified in terms of the tightness vs. looseness of the relevant conceptual space S and available time T. By crossing these two…

Most of the contemporary critiques of university teaching are variants of a central argument that sets up a polarity between socalled 'traditional' teaching, often termed 'teacher-centred' and 'transmissive', and approaches that by contrast are considered 'student-centred', often also referred to with the phrase 'active learning'. This editorial…

The goal of this study is to explore the impact of a technology-integrated project-based learning intervention (ReaLabs) on students' learning attitudes, behaviours and self-regulated learning (SRL). A group of 49 mechanical engineering students was taught using this intervention and a group of 50 students in the same specialty was taught using…

As the introduction of active learning techniques such as project-based learning (PjBL) becomes more widespread in engineering schools, it is important to understand the implications and development needs of staff in the transition to this mode of teaching. Through a review of education literature and a structured interview process, a set of…

Convincing teachers to implement pedagogical innovations is notoriously hard. This research project investigated the shift in pedagogical approach among a small group of faculty as they replaced traditional lecture-based methods with problem-based learning projects. Interviews were conducted with eight drivers of this change, around the question:…

This paper reports numbers about the author's experience, spanning over 13 academic years, of teaching an introductory course about geographical databases to students of the Master degree in Information Engineering at L'Aquila University (Italy). The first eight editions of the course were delivered according to the teacher-centred approach, while…