THE CDIO APPROACH

TO ENGINEERING EDUCATION:2. Designing An Integrated Curriculum

November 2007

CDIO AS THE

CONTEXTTHE CDIO SYLLABUS

INTEGRATEDCURRICULUM

INTRO TO ENGINEERING

DESIGN-IMPLEMENT

EXPERIENCES

WORKSPACES

LEARNING

FACULTY COMPETENCE

ASSESSMENT

PRO-GRAM

EVALU-ATION

WHY WHAT

HOW

HOWWELL

SESSION TWO

SESSION TWO OBJECTIVES

Plan ways to benchmark an existing curriculum

Describe the process fordesigning and implementing

an integrated curriculum

Explain the rationale foran integrated curriculum

THE CURRICULUM DESIGN PROCESS

Designingcurricular

structure andsequence

Required learning outcomes based on the CDIO Syllabus

Integratedcurriculum

Mappingsequence to

structure

Curriculumbenchmarking

Modifiedgoals

Stakeholdersurvey

Preexistingconditions

Studentachievements

Gradualdevelopment and/orinstitutional changes

ENGINEERING SKILLS

• In addition to acquiring disciplinary technical knowledge, students must learn how to express and apply that technical knowledge

• Personal, interpersonal, product, process, and system building skills are inseparable from applications of technical knowledge, and must be learned and assessed in technical contexts

• Therefore, technical communication skills, teamwork, problem solving, professional ethics, etc. ARE engineering skills

EXAMPLECommunication in engineering means being able to

Use technical concepts comfortablyDiscuss a problem of different levelsDetermine what is relevant to the situationArgue for or against conceptual ideas and solutionsDevelop ideas through discussion and collaborative sketchingExplain technical matters to different audiencesShow confidence in expressing oneself within the field

PLACE IN CURRICULUM FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF GENERIC SKILLS

Integral They are integral to disciplinary knowledge, infusing and ENABLING scholarly learning and knowledge.

Application They let students use or apply disciplinary knowledge, thus potentially changing and TRANSLATING disciplinary knowledge through its application. Skills are closely related to disciplinary learning outcomes.

Associated They are useful additional skills that COMPLEMENT disciplinary knowledge. They are part of the university syllabus, but separate and secondary to disciplinary knowledge.

Not part of curriculum

They are necessary basic PRECURSOR skills and abilities. They may need remedial teaching at university.

(Barrie, 2004)

FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF SKILLS

ACTIVITY: PAIR-AND-SHARE

Using Barrie’s categories of faculty perceptions, discuss your own perception of the part that personal, interpersonal, and product, process, and system building skills play in the curriculum.

What are the perceptions of the majority of your colleagues in your program?

How do they compare with your partner’s ideas?

Pedagogical Reasons

Competence in personal and interpersonal skills depends on the context in which they are taught and assessed

Engineering fundamentals are learned more deeply by learning related skills

Faculty serve as role models when they demonstrate their own competence in skill areas

WHY INTEGRATE CONTENT AND SKILLS?

Practical Reasons

We can make dual use of available time and resources to be more efficient

We can capitalize on the synergy of the simultaneous learning of skills and disciplinary content to be more effective

BEST PRACTICE

CDIO Standard 3 -- Integrated Curriculum

A curriculum designed with mutually supporting disciplinary courses, with an explicit plan to integrate personal, interpersonal, and product, process, and system building skills

• Disciplinary courses or modules make explicit connections among related and supporting content and learning outcomes

• Explicit plan identifies ways in which the integration of engineering skills and multidisciplinary connections are to be made

CURRICULUM BENCHMARKING

Benchmarking means marking a known position for later reference and comparison. These comparisons can be made across time or across groups at one or more points in time. They may be internal or external to the program.

Benchmarking Methods• Interviews• Focus groups• Written questionnaires or surveys• Comparative studies with peer institutions• Examination of “best practice” programs• Review of published data on performance

BENCHMARKING EXISTING CONDITIONS

Benchmark the existing curriculum for the inclusion of CDIO learning outcomes and topics

Benchmark existing teaching, learning, and assessment practices

Benchmark the availability and use of existing workspaces and facilities

SAMPLE BENCHMARKING TOOLS

SAMPLE #1

FOCUS: Benchmarking the inclusion of CDIO learning outcomes in the curriculum

METHOD: Structured interviews and surveys

RESPONDENTS: Faculty and academic staff

KEY QUESTIONS: To what extent are each of the CDIO learning outcomes included in your course? Do you introduce them? Do you explicitly teach them? Do you assume students have already learned them, and proceed to apply (utilize) them?

(A sample interview guide is found in the Handbook)

SAMPLE #2

FOCUS: Benchmarking the teaching and learning of CDIO learning outcomes at the course or module level

METHOD: Open-ended interviews

RESPONDENTS: Course instructors and instructional staff

KEY QUESTIONS: What learning outcomes from the CDIO Syllabus do you address? What do you expect students to have learned prior to your course? How do students get feedback on their learning, and how do they use that feedback?

(A sample interview guide is found in the Handbook)

STRATEGIC CHOICES

1. Change the curriculum structure?

2. Re-task the existing courses?

3. Create new courses?

CURRICULUM STRUCTURE

A strict disciplinary curriculum

Organized around disciplines, with no explicit

introduction of skills

An apprenticeship model

Based on projects, with no organized introductions of

disciplines

A problem-based curriculum

Organized around problems, but with

disciplines interwoven

An integratedcurriculum

Organized around disciplines, but with skills

and projects interwoven

Disciplines run vertically.

Projects and skills

run horizontally.

BLOCK COURSE STRUCTURES

Conventional

Simultaneous

Sequential

BusBlock

Linked/merged

SEQUENCING DISCIPLINARY CONTENT

Course

(black box)

INPUT:Previous knowledge and skills

OUTPUT:

”Final” learning outcomes, competence for the engineer

Input to following courses

All courses or modules in the program are presented through their input and output only

• Enables efficient discussions• Makes connections visible (as well as lack thereof) • Serves as a basis for improving coordination

between courses

SEQUENCING ENGINEERING SKILLS

SEQUENCE MAPPING

Write short individual structured reports. Create sketches,charts and simple graphics. Practice simple interpersonalcommunications.

Unified Engineering(16.01 - 16.04)

Write and present individual or small team short reports,such as lab reports.

Thermal Energy (16.05)Controls (16.06)Dynamics (16.08)

Create and use discipline-specific graphical communications. Professional Area Subjects(PAS)

Write large, individual or collaborative reports of conferencequality. Present collaborative oral reports of conferencequality. Use appropriate research resources. Implementappropriate communication strategy based on audience andgenre.

Experimental Methods(16.621 - 16.622)Capstone Courses(16.821 - 16.822)(16.830 - 16.832)

Write large, collaborative reports of a briefing nature. Presentcollaborative oral report of conference quality. Useappropriate research resources. Implement appropriatecommunication strategy based on audience and genre.

Capstone Courses(16.82)(16.83)

3.2 Communications(Based on the curriculum in the Aeronautics and Astronautics program at MIT)

MAPPING OF CDIO LEARNING OUTCOMES ONTO THE CURRICULUM

Find appropriate combinations of CDIO Syllabus topics and disciplinary content

Sequence the CDIO learning outcomes from simple to complex

Build on existing strengths– Identify the CDIO skills already taught in existing

courses and consolidate these if necessary– Identify faculty who are enthusiastic about

developing their courses in this direction and work with them

Create new courses when necessaryTake advantage of the course’s sequence in the

program

SAMPLE SEQUENCE AND MAPPING

Oralcommunication

Writtencommunication

Projectmanagement

Teamwork

SYSTEMATIC INTEGRATION OF SKILLS

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

PhysicsIntroductory course

Numerical Methods

Mechanics I

Thermodynamics

Mechanics II Solid Mechanics

Sound and Vibrations

Mathematics II

Fluid mechanics

Product development

Mathematics I

Mathematics III

Control Theory Signal analysis

StatisticsElectrical Eng.

(Based on the curriculum in Vehicular Engineering at KTH)

SAMPLE SEQUENCE AND MAPPING

3.1 TEAMWORKYEAR 1

4B1052 Perspectives of Vehicle EngineeringThe project will have a strategy, a planning component, and a time plan. In the beginning of the project, students will have a lecture on how to plan and how effective teamwork are accomplished. In the time plan, different tasks will be divided between the team members. Students will write a short summary on their experiences with teamwork.

SA1226 PhysicsAn assignment in experimental methods is solved in groups of two.

YEAR 2AC1010 Solid Mechanics

Assignment to be solved in groups of four students. Groups to be organized by the instructor.

4F1815 Product DevelopmentStudents work in groups to solve a technical problem, from ideas to realization.

4B1117 Sound and VibrationsStudents work in groups to build a silencer.

(Courtesy of Chalmers University of Technology)

LESSONS LEARNED

The integrated curriculum design process can be carried out in many different ways

Program leader support and modest resources are required

Support and commitment for the change process are needed from faculty, program leaders at all levels, student groups, industry groups, and other stakeholder groups

Active student participation in all phases fosters creative ideas and facilitates implementation

Monitoring of programs and achievements needs to be regular and consistent

REFLECTION AND SHARING

In what ways can you integrate the learning outcomes specified in the CDIO Syllabus into your existing curriculum?

Of the many alternative structures presented, which are feasible for your program?

What are the key challenges that you face as you begin (or continue) to reform the curriculum in your programs?