Is learning just about conceiving, designing, implementing and operating?

In the 1st Annual CDIO conference in 2005, a paper was presented, about the expectations and first year experiences of four cohorts o students in the graduate engineering program in Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering, the Y-program, in Linköping Edvardsson Sstiwne, 2005). A comparison between the four cohorts showed a changing approach to studying between the first cohorts (starting in 1998 and 1999) and the latter (starting in 2000 and 2002). After the first year the students in the first cohorts were categorised as more “achievement and future oriented” compared to the students in the latter cohorts who were more “gratifying here- and now oriented”. During the first year many students, for various reasons, dropped-out or decided to take a study break.

2nd International CDIO Conference, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden, 13 – 14 June 2006