Prepared by Ursula Rutherford for a research discussion session at EE2012 Innovation, Practice and Research in Engineering Education conference

September 2012 at Coventry University, UK

A study of a multi-discipline built environment project

Summary of the module

Realistic design of a building for specific purpose on a real-life site and tender for construction.

Final year students from all the courses offered by the Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Building – over 200 students.

Group working on lengthy project.

Covers 2 semesters & contributes 20 credits.

8 staff plus invited industry and academic visitors

Assessment by group presentation, submission of report and drawings, tender exhibition open to non-students including local industry representatives.

Adjustment by peer assessment.

Integration of previously acquired knowledge and skills

Some research but no new technical learning

Reflection on group processes required.

Leadership, time management, project management, communication, conducting meetings, collaboration, negotiation, problem-solving, decision-making, report-writing, producing industry-strength drawings, presenting, defending design and justifying decisions.

Changing environment (between year 1 and year 2)

Evolution of teaching methods: addition of specialist workshops

consultants and surgeries

provision of collection of teamworking resources

Alteration of assessment reduction of number of phases

choice of tasks

individual mark v. group mark

specialist markers & more feedback

Change of project scenario: student centre v. department building

Difference between cohorts: more exposure to group work

more exposure to Activity Led Learning

more exposure to multi-disciplinary tasks

Different team formation: self-selecting instead of assigned

end of ‘seeding’ with industry-aware students (e.g. part-time)

introduction of virtual international teams

11 members reduced to 8 members

Prepared by Ursula Rutherford for a research discussion session at EE2012 Innovation, Practice and Research in Engineering Education conference

September 2012 at Coventry University, UK

Research questions and findings The study provides affirmative answers in some degree to all three research questions:

1. Are students satisfied with the learning experience and group-working of the Integrated Project?

Changes introduced during and between the two presentations increased the overall satisfaction level whilst still leaving room for improvement.

2. Does Activity-Led Learning (in the form of realistic multi-disciplinary collaborative projects) motivate and engage students to gain skills and competences which help equip them to act as professionals and do students recognise the acquisition of these skills and competences?

Observation and interviews showed students acquired skills and competences in multidisciplinary team working, problem solving and communication, particularly so in the 2011-12 cohort.

3. Can repeated exposure to such projects enable students to improve these skills and competences?

The difference between the two cohorts in their attitude to the Integrated Project and their confidence in tackling group work is striking and indicates that groupwork experience in previous Activity-Led Learning modules was formative.

Research methods

The research used three main methods in the first 2 years :

1. ethnographic observation

2. individual interviews

3. student satisfaction surveys

Student satisfaction surveys are planned for the 2012-13 presentation of the Integrated Project. An additional three research activities are under consideration:

1. Observation by a researcher will continue and may develop into a closer look at fewer teams to study how team formation and dynamics affect the acquisition of professional skills by the team members.

2. A closer examination of which professional competences students believe they have gained or improved in during the duration of their participation in the module is being planned in the form of a questionnaire based upon the responses revealed by the interviews in previous years. The questionnaire could be administered on commencement of the module and again near the conclusion.

3. It may be possible to contact alumni who are now working in the construction industry to examine their views on the value of their experience of the Integrated Project when commencing their professional lives.

Discussion questions

How can the effectiveness of Activity Led Learning be evaluated in an environment of continual change?

Are the (proposed) research methods suitable and sufficient to answer the research questions?