Taking CDIO Into A Chemical Engineering Classroom: Aligning Curriculum, Pedagogy, Assessment

There are three major processes in education – curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. Most reform movements focus on either the curriculum or the assessment. We believe that in order for any educational reform to be truly effective, all the three processes must reflect corresponding changes simultaneously. In fact, contemporary educational research literature strongly advises that these three processes have to be aligned in support of each other. 

This paper describes one approach to achieving greater alignment between curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment in a particular subject of study in a chemical engineering course at Curtin University using the CDIO framework. The paper has three sections. The first section highlights the curricular reform strategy established at Curtin University’s Department of Chemical Engineering using the CDIO model. The second section describes at length how a suitable teaching and learning framework and a corresponding assessment and feedback mechanism were synthesised to reflect the aims of curricular reform. The concluding section briefly highlights the findings from a pilot study using the CDIO model undertaken in January – June 2010.

This investigatory pilot study was undertaken in a final year unit called Risk Management. The preliminary findings suggest that the overall satisfaction from this unit was pleasingly very high. This has led us to conclude that from an implementation stand point the engagement of the CDIO curricular reform in the department of chemical engineering has been productive. It has enabled us to develop a coherent framework that combines teaching, learning, assessment and feedback mechanisms to address industry needs for graduates with improved competency in professional skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking and interpersonal communication skills. The classroom implementation undertaken as a pilot study has promoted the emergence of a cooperative learning environment for the achievement of unit learning outcomes. Investigation in the form of thorough unit and course evaluation will be undertaken in the near future.