Balancing Pedagogy and Student Experience in First-Year Engineering Courses

Engineering graduates increasingly require greater appreciation of the social and environmental context in which they practice. Engineering programs must respond to these new demands by threading these broader contexts throughout the courses and embedded them within the development of the graduate capabilities. Students are also increasingly influential in the evaluation of course quality and their experience in their undergraduate program.

Responding to these and many other global drivers and influences, we have examined a number of approaches in course design and delivery, particularly in the first year of the program, including problem based learning, project based learning, context based learning, multi-disciplinary integrated programs, and engineering systems based courses. Opportunity created by change, workplace culture, professional development, and ownership and values of academic staff all play an integral role in course design and implementation.