Innovations in Curriculum, Teaching & Assessment at SP

Let’s Not:• Create Cognitive Overload in the afternoon• Be Boring

Let’s:• Focus on Key Elements of what has been done, for what purpose and how• How Effective have the various initiatives been and what is Useful for others to learn

“To be playful and serious at the same time is possible, and it defines the ideal mental condition” – John Dewey

Some Key Underpinning Aspects of Pedagogy at SP

• Aligned Curriculum

• Evidence-Based Pedagogy – based on what works best for enhancing the student learning experience and attainment for the student group

• Making learning interesting (as far as possible)

Advance Organizer for the Session

• CDIO Engineering Education Framework

• Design Thinking and Social Innovation Projects

• Intrinsic Motivation

• Very Challenging Questions from YOU

ORIGINAL COLLABORATORS

Chalmers KTH Linköping MIT

Conceive – Design – Implement - Operate

Over 90 institutions worldwide

Singapore Polytechnic (Regional Centre) Nanyang Polytechnic

Kanazawa Institute of Technology Kanazawa Technical College

Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh CityDuy Tan University

School of Engineering at Taylor's University College

Shantou University (Regional Centre) Tsinghua University

Beijing Jiaotong University Dalian Neusoft Institute of Information

Beijing Institute of Petrochemical TechnologySuzhou Industrial Park Institute of Vocational Technology

College of Light Industry, Hebei United University

Asia Region

The Full Monty

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• Feedback from industries, graduates and practising engineers that certain important professional skills are not developed in the existing curriculum.

• Need to meet standards and criteria set by accreditation bodies such as ABET- Accreditation Board for Engineering & Technology

• Falling Engineering Enrolment as well as students finding that engineering is too dry and theoretical in the first year of study

The CDIO Education Framework was the result of....

Why is it called CDIO?Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate is the context of Engineering Education

It’s what engineers do

We believe that every graduating engineer should be able to:

Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate complex value-added engineering products, processes, and systems in a modern, team-based environment

(Crawley et al 2007)

Two BIG Questions for Engineering Education

WHAT knowledge, skills and attitudes should students possess as they graduate from university?

HOW can we do better at ensuring that students learn these skills?

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CDIO OVERVIEW

The activities within the CDIO Initiative are based on two key documents

• CDIO Syllabus (the ‘what’ of CDIO)• CDIO Standards (the ‘how’ of CDIO)

CDIO Syllabus (course document)

• The CDIO Syllabus defines the desired outcomes for graduating students.

1. Disciplinary Knowledge & Reasoning• Knowledge of underlying mathematics and sciences• Core engineering fundamental knowledge• Advanced engineering fundamental knowledge, methods and tools

2. Personal and Professional Skills & Attributes• Analytical reasoning and problem solving• Experimentation, investigation and knowledge discovery• System thinking• Attitude, thought and learning• Ethics, equity and other responsibilities

3. Interpersonal Skills: Teamwork & Communication• Multi-disciplinary teamwork• Communications• Communication in a foreign language

4. Conceiving, Designing, Implementing & Operating Systems in the Enterprise, Societal & Environmental Context

• External, societal and environmental context• Enterprise and business context• Conceiving, systems engineering and management• Designing• Implementing• Operating

CDIO Syllabus

Personal Skills and Attitudes

Apply the thinking process• Identify key thinking skills in good thinking (i.e., critical, creative, metacognitive)• Identify barriers to effective thinking (e.g., traits, dispositions, working memory, perception, lack of

information, etc.)• Identify factors that promote effective thinking (e.g., motivation, openness, risk taking, exposure to varied

knowledge bases)• Use a range of critical thinking skills (e.g., analysis, comparison and contrast, inference and interpretation,

and evaluation)• Use the creative thinking process (e.g. generating possibilities, incubation, illumination)• Use a range of creative thinking tools and techniques (e.g., Brainstorming, Mind-mapping)• Identify contradictory perspectives and underlying assumptions• Reframe (e.g., take a range of different perspectives• Use metacognition in monitoring the quality of personal thinking

Adopt CDIO as a context

CDIO Syllabus OutcomesIntegrated CurriculumIntroduction to EngineeringDesign-Build Experiences

CDIO Workspaces

Integrated Learning ExperiencesActive Learning

Enhancement of Staff CDIO SkillsEnhancement of Staff Teaching Skills

CDIO Skills AssessmentCDIO Program Evaluation

Curriculum

Workspace/Labs

Teaching & Learning Methods

Enhancement of Faculty Competence

Assessment Methods

Standard 1

Standard 2Standard 3Standard 4Standard 5

Standard 6

Standard 7Standard 8

Standard 9Standard 10

Standard 11Standard 12

CDIO Standards

Adoption of the principle that product, process and system lifecycle development and deployment - Conceiving, Designing, Implementing and Operating - are the context for engineering education

Standard 1 - CDIO as Context

Its what Engineers do

Specific, detailed learning outcomes for personal and inter-personal skills, and product, process and system building skills, as well as disciplinary knowledge, consistent with program goals and validated by program stakeholders

SP has customized these to the context and proficiency level expected of our students

Standard 2 - Learning Outcomes

CDIO Standard 3: Integrated CurriculumA curriculum designed with mutually supporting disciplinary courses, with an explicit plan to integrate personal, inter-personal, and product, process and system building skills

Gap Analysis & Skill Mapping

• Identify where such skills are already present in the curriculum (whether explicitly stated or otherwise)

• Identify where there are naturally occurring opportunities to integrate selected CDIO skills.

• Map and integrate the CDIO skills throughout the course (programme), and in terms of proficiency at module (course) level

• Ensure that the overall structure and sequencing of modules is both effective and efficient in terms of meeting the terminal outcomes of the programme.

Each school conducted a gap analysis of their courses. From this, it was possible to:

STAGE 1A STAGE 1B

Core Module 1A-1

Core Module 1B-1

Core Module 1A-2

Core Module 1B-2

Core Module 1A-3

Core Module 1B-3

Core Module 1A-4

Core Module 1B-4

Core Module 1A-5

Core Module 1B-5

Core Module 1A-6

Core Module 1B-6

STAGE 2A STAGE 2B

Core Module 2A-1

Core Module 2B-1

Core Module 2A-2

Core Module 2B-2

Core Module 2A-3

Core Module 2B-3

Core Module 2A-4

Core Module 2B-4

Core Module 2A-5

Core Module 2B-5

Core Module 2A-6

Core Module 2B-6

STAGE 3AD STAGE 3B

Core Module 3A-1

Core Module 3B-1

Core Module 3A-2

Core Module 3B-2

Core Module 3A-3

Core Module 3B-3

Core Module 3A-4

Core Module 3B-4

Core Module 3A-5

Core Module 3B-5

Core Module 3A-6

Core Module 3B-6

Example from Chemical Engineering:Integration of Communication & Teamwork across 3 years of Study

Year 1: Exposure to CDIO skills

Year 2: Reinforcement of CDIO skills

Year 3: Demonstration of CDIO skills

Different level of expectations Year 1 to Year 3 Example: Communication

Year 1: To appreciate importance of clear oral communication using walkie-talkie in carrying out the task of ….

Year 2: To develop competence in applying good principles in preparing an oral presentation for ….

Year 3: To demonstrate competence in delivering oral presentation to a designated audience in …..

Year 1: To be aware of Purpose, Audience & Context (PAC) in preparing a memo to different target audience ….

An introductory course that provides the framework for engineering practice in product, process, and system building skills and introduces essential personal and interpersonal skills

CDIO Standard 4: Introduction to Engineering

Basically, to get students actually doing engineering early in the course programme

Year 1: Introduction to Engineering

Mechanics

Conceive, design and

build a model racing car

IDEA (creative thinking)

Commu-nication skills

Teamwork skills

Sketching/CAD

Machine Practice

Car Challenge

CDIO Standard 6: CDIO WorkspacesEngineering workspaces and laboratories that support hands on learning…

CDIO Standard 7 – Integrated Learning Experiences

Integrated learning experiences that lead to the acquisition of disciplinary knowledge, as well as personal and interpersonal skills, and product, process, and system building skills

CDIO Standard 7: Integrated Learning Experiences

CDIO Standard 8 -- Active Learning

Teaching and learning based on active and experiential learning methods

CDIO Standard 8: Active Learning

Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just by sitting in class listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and spittingout answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learnpart of themselves.

(Chickering & Gamson)

ACTIVE AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

ACTIVE LEARNINGEngages students directly in thinking and problem solving activities

Emphasis on engaging students in manipulating, applying, analyzing, and evaluating ideas

Examples:

Pair-and-Share

Group discussions

Debates

Concept questions

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNINGActive learning in which students take on roles that simulate professional engineering practice

Examples:

Design-implement experiences

Problem-based learning

Simulations

Case studies

CDIO Standard 9: Enhancement of Staff CDIO Skills

What do I need to do for this?

CDIO Standard 10: Enhancement of Staff Teaching Skills

I have been teaching for years, why do I need more teaching skills?

CDIO Standard 11: CDIO Skills Assessment

Assessment methods must be those most valid and efficientfor assessing the learning outcomes. However, a strong emphasisis placed on:

• Learning Assessment – using formative assessment to support the learning process, identifying learning problems, providing rapid, clear and constructive feedback

Good feedback has high impact on student attainment (Hattie, 2007, overall effect size 0.81; peer assessment, 0.65)

• Authentic Assessment – using real world learning tasks that integrate a range of knowledge and skills

What does an Effect Size look likein terms of student attainment?

• As a baseline an effect size of 1.0 standard deviation is massive and is typically associated with:

– Advancing the learner’s achievement by one year– Improving the rate of learning by 50%– A two grade leap in GCSE grades

• Effect size is a way to measuring the effectiveness of a particular intervention to ascertain a measure of both the improvement (gain) in learner achievement for a group of learners AND the variation of student performances expressed on a standardised scale. By taking into account both improvement and variation it provides information about which interventions are worth having

• NOTE: For students moving from one year to the next, the average effect size

across all students is 0.40. Hence, effect sizes above 4.0 are of particular interest.

CDIO Standard 12: Program Evaluation

You like it, but what have you learned?

Broad Research Questions: (3-year longitudinal evaluation)

• Are the learning outcomes, learning designs/activities and assessments aligned?

• How has the integration of the CDIO skills into the syllabuses impacted the students – what is their experience?

• What is the lecturers’ perception of the curriculum changes and their impact on students’ competence in the selected CDIO?

Data Collection Methods

• Examination of a range of curriculum materials (e.g., course documents, module documents, learning plans, schemes of assessment, assessment items)

• Student questionnaires • Student Blogs – students as Co-participants in the evaluation• Focus group interviews with students and lecturers teaching the CDIO

programmes• Observation of selected lessons (e.g., those incorporating activities related to

selected CDIO skills)

Student Co-Participants and Blog• Students were presented with specific questions

relating to their experience of lessons taught, and asked to provide their responses with examples to illustrate where possible.

• A useful and novel way to help build rapport with the students, encouraging more authentic and open communication.

Responsibilities of Student Co-Participants• Chat to classmates and identify some broad

experiences relating to learning the selected CDIO skills and the teaching approaches used

• Make personal notes and/or blog their experiences• Meet with the researchers at least once a semester

for group sharing

What the students blogged…..Having gone through 2 semesters, how would you rate (1-5) your interest in your field of engineering? (1 being Not Interested and 5 being Very Interested) Briefly explain your rating.

Rate 5. What I love most in this module was the project. We were allowed to work as group and be independent. We have to complete the project in group. During the process of doing the project, we were like small engineers. Although our skills were far from the Professional engineers, we experienced many situation which allow us to improve and find solution. Problem-solving is what engineers should do.

Year 1 Architecture and Built Environment student

Key Findings – Curriculum Documents and Materials

Some courses needed significant revision : • writing of learning outcomes generally (e.g., rationalization,

performance focus, clarity of intent, etc)• Infusion of selected CDIO skills appropriately.• Designing of key learning tasks and assessment activities (including

the scoring systems)

Key Findings – Student Questionnaire

• Nearly 50% agreed and 25% strongly agreed, in favour of the implementation of CDIO.

• Semester 1: mean scores ranged from 3.73 to 4.03, with an overall mean of 3.90 (SD = 0.90) .

• Semester 2: mean scores ranged from 3.74 to 4.10, with an overall mean of 3.85 (SD = 0.93).

• The Cronbach alphas showed high internal consistency in student responses.

Key Findings – Student blog and focus groups

• Students perceived the importance of the CDIO skills as a valuable part of the curriculum

• The explicit teaching of the selected skills seems to vary from module to module and across lecturers

• Authentic learning opportunities for such skills is experienced• Specific real world tasks linked theory to practice and made the learning

experience more meaningful and interesting

CDIO Status

20122013

-- Tim Brown on Design Thinking CEO, IDEO

What is Design Thinking?

“…a discipline that uses the designers sensibility and methods to match people’s needs with what is technologically feasible and what a viable business strategy can convert into customer value and market opportunity” (Brown, 2008)

Works to integrate both a mastery of analytical thinking with creative/intuitive thinking (Martin 2009 refers to this as “Abductive Reasoning”)

Singapore

Thailand

Vietnam

China

Malaysia

INNOVATING ACROSS BORDERS

Collaborative projects on Environment, Aging Population, Health Care, Water conservation, Sustainable agriculture

Opportunities for students to apply their creativity to develop appropriate technologies and sustainable solutions through co-creation

Indonesia

Learning Express

Philippines

Bamboo Weaving, Da Nang, Vietnam

Goat Milk Farming, Malang, Indonesia

Rice-Sesame Cracker Production, Da Nang, Vietnam

Sorghum Threshing, Jogjakarta, Indonesia

Cassava Sqeezing. Jogjakarta, Indonesia

Handicraft Lacquering Process, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

CombinedActivity 1 4.05Activity 2 4.08Activity 3 4.06

Learning from excursions/Cultural Immersion Trips (perspective on local culture, religious, historical insights)*Individual Country Analysis not available

Jogjakarta, Indonesia

Malang. Indonesia

HCMC, Vietnam

DADVietnam

CGYPhilippines

Average Rating 4.73 4.52 4.39 4.63 4.70

Overall Evaluation (of the entire trip, Learning Experience, Global Orientation: culture)

Jogjakarta, Indonesia

Malang. Indonesia

HCMC, Vietnam

DADVietnam

CGYPhilippines

Yes 95.45% 95.24% 100% 100% 100%No 4.55% 4.76% 0% 0% 0%

Would you recommend the LeX programme to your peers/juniors?

Student Feedback

Intrinsic Motivation @ SP

“There can be no mental development without interest. Interest is the sine qua non for attention and apprehension. You may endeavour to excite interest by means of birch rods, or you may coax it by the incitement of pleasurable activity. But without interest there will be no progress”

(Whitehead, 1967, p.37)

Key Underpinning Learning Assumptions

• The importance of students Mind-sets relating to learning (Dweck, 2006)

... is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. Although people may differ in every which way – in their initial talents and aptitudes, or temperaments – everyone can change and grow through application and experience. (p.7)

• Self Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan) identifies 3 fundamental psychological needs:• Competence/Mastery (Not a specific competence, but a feeling of being effective, and able to express

once capabilities – leads to seeking optimal challenges and further develop skills• Relatedness (Feeling connected to others, caring and being cared for, having a sense of belongingness

to other individuals/community)• Autonomy (Perceiving control over one’s choices and behaviours, acting from the basis of personal

interest and values)

• The importance of Purpose from the work of Daniel Pink

Mind-sets (Carol Dweck)

Fixed Mindset

(Intelligence is static )

Leads to a desire to look smart and therefore a tendency to:

• Avoid challenges

• Get defensive and give up when faced with obstacles

• See effort as something less able people need, and not for the smart

• Ignore useful negative feedback

• Feel threatened by the success of others

Growth Mindset

(Intelligence can be developed)

Leads to a desire to learn and therefore a tendency to:

• Embrace challenges

• Persist in the face of setbacks

• See effort as the path to mastery

• Learn from criticism

• Find Lessons and inspiration in the success of others

As a result, they may plateau early and achieve less than their full potential

As a result, they reach ever-higher levels of achievement

Implementation

Four courses:• Diploma in Civil Engineering with Business (DCEB)• Diploma in Computer Engineering (DCPE)• Diploma in Information Technology (DIT)• Diploma in Mechatronics and Robotics (DMRO)

Re-designed curricula in partnership with the Department of Educational Development (EDU)

Differs among courses according to course aims and student characteristics