Background and Context: Assessing team members' indivdiual contributions to software development projects poses a key problem for computing instructors. While instructors typically rely on subjective assessments, objective assessments could provide a more robust picture. To explore this possibility, In a 2020 paper, Buffardi presented a…

Systems thinking and abstract thinking are important skills for engineers in general and hardware and software engineers in particular. Systems thinking emphasises the interdependence of system components and their synergy. Abstract thinking permits one to focus on the significant details of the current perspective, while temporarily neglecting…

Background: Project-based learning has shown promise in improving learning outcomes for diverse students. However, studies on its impacts have largely focused on the perceptions of students and instructors or students' immediate performance. This study reports the impact of taking a project-based introductory engineering course on students'…

The professional formation of new graduates and their ability to perform well at the start of their career depends on the development of both technical skills and professional competencies. Whilst the latter aspects have become increasingly considered within engineering programs, they are often learnt within an academic context rather than a…

The study goal was to assess the innovation level of engineering students' team projects and to examine the relationships between project innovation and team heterogeneity in two online environments. Applying a two-stage mixed methods research design, the qualitative and quantitative data were obtained by interviews with experts in engineering…

Applying physical principles is important for designs of various products with tailored performances. However, one of the long-standing issues of the students' design projects (or school's interdisciplinary projects) is the post-hoc imposition of the knowledge learned in their content subjects. This post-hoc imposition significantly diminishes the…

Background: This study investigated the development of engineering students' approaches to learning and views on collaboration in a PBL environment. Material and methods: An explanatory mixed research approach was employed with participants from four PBL-implementing engineering courses in Qatar and China. 197 students responded to two surveys,…

This study took place in a biotechnology laboratory course series that provided students with authentic research experiences. We documented student identities after the experience and explored how these identities related to future career aspirations.

Social network-based engineering education (SNEE) is designed and implemented as a model of Education 3.0 paradigm. SNEE represents a new learning methodology, which is based on the concept of social networks and represents an extended model of project-led education. The concept of social networks was applied in the real-life experiment,…

Preparing students for Project Work (PROJ 1 and PROJ 2) require them to go through Research Methods (RE) as part of the curriculum though it takes the centre stage of the entire preparation process. Knowledge of the relationships between the two could be a useful tool in improving the performance of students in the former. The purpose of the case…

This study examined the impact of incorporating group design projects into a second-year engineering class on achievement goal orientations and two academic outcomes: concept inventory and final exam scores. In this study, two sections were taught using lecture format, but one section also completed three group design projects as part of their…

In order to train young professionals, instructional methodologies in engineering need not only teach students knowledge, but must also instill the values and teach the behaviors--"competencies" students can demonstrate--required of professional practice. Herein, we focus on understanding the values and behaviors of students with respect…

One prominent approach in the exploration of the variations in project team performance has been to study two components of the aggregate personalities of the team members: conscientiousness and agreeableness. A second line of research, known as self-categorisation theory, argues that identifying as team members and the team's performance norms…

Background: Engineering programs strive to retain students and prepare them for engineering careers. Introducing group design projects into courses may help keep students interested while also improving their learning outcomes. Purpose/Hypothesis: This study measures differences in student content knowledge and intention to persist in engineering…

It is well established that active learning helps students engage in high-level thinking strategies and develop improved cognitive skills. Motivation and self-regulated learning research, however, illustrates that cognitive engagement is an effortful process that is related to students' valuing of the learning tasks, adoption of internalized goal…