PROVIDE HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT THROUGH PROJECT-BASED LEARNING IN ENGINEERING MODULES

In traditional engineering education, it is common to find lessons being dominated by hour-long lectures during which most, if not all of the materials prepared for the module are being dispensed in a transmittal mode with little active participation from students. It is also typical to find these lessons designed primarily for the development of technical knowledge and skills with little focus on the personal and interpersonal skills development of the student. Much education research has shown that this approach is inadequate to prepare our graduates with expertise in their field of qualification as well as with highly developed interpersonal, personal and transferable professional skills attributes. A change is required. This paper presents how a change in lesson design adopted by “IC Layout”, a module offered under the Electronics and Computer Engineering Diploma of Ngee Ann Polytechnic, addresses some of the concerns mentioned above. The key change involved the incorporation of project-based learning where students assume the role of IC layout engineers working in a team to build a layout of a Linear Feedback Shift Register. In this project-based learning experience, students identify their knowledge gaps in cell layout methodologies and perform background research to fill those gaps, they apply knowledge gained to build and verify their layouts according to design rules. As a final deliverable, students will have to communicate their best layout by presenting justifications on why their layout is the best. This lesson design also aims to simulate a real working environment by exposing students to technologies and experiences of a real work place with the use of platforms such as wiki where students share and review information posted by other team members, co-author documents that explains the concepts of cell layout methodologies, evaluate and critique the product of other members, and collaboratively builds on each others work to present the final product. These experiences have increased the level of students’ engagement in learning. They tend to show greater interest in the topics and demonstrated a deeper understanding in the concepts and theories related to this module.