Introduction to Engineering – The Nanyang Polytechnic Experience

Nanyang Polytechnic, Singapore has been a collaborator of the Worldwide CDIO Initiative since 2011. A working committee has since been formed to strategize and steer the CDIO implementation in the School of Engineering (SEG). This paper shares our experiences in adopting CDIO standard 4 - “Introduction to Engineering”; from raising awareness of the CDIO initiative, benchmarking our existing practices with the CDIO standards, sharing of success stories through pilot studies, to full implementation in 2013. In the design of the “Introduction to Engineering” module, a general framework has been developed. This framework emphasizes on the relevance of knowledge covered in the first semester of study to the engineering disciplines, and the use of these integrated knowledge in engineering practices, as well as the essential personal and interpersonal skills. This framework can be adapted to various engineering disciplines and has been successfully implemented in all the 11 engineering courses offered in SEG. In particular, the use of such framework in two of the courses: Diploma in Aerospace and Aeronautical Technology and Diploma in Aerospace System Management, and the challenges faced in the implementation are detailed in the paper. Finally, the paper highlights that organizational cultures and values, systems and processes are important enabling factors for the success of large-scale implementation in an institution.

Proceedings of the 10th International CDIO Conference, Barcelona, Spain, June 15-19 2014