Impact of past project on the educational experience of civil engineering students

Abstract

Civil engineering lecturers need to develop effective early emphasis and educational challenges in order to prepare the current students with in-depth fundamental principles, applicable technical knowledge, and realistic appreciation on challenges faced by practicing civil engineers. In view of its importance, the use of past civil engineering projects as case studies have been integrated into the existing civil engineering curriculum at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus. In order to enhance our undergraduate students' understanding, cognitive learning desire, and overall learning experience, an additional module has been incorporated in the past five years to investigate major past civil engineering projects. Students are free to choose any of past projects as their case studies and are required to find, sort, synthesize, and present critical elements that contributed to the overall success of the past projects in the form of discussion essays. In this paper, the universal consensus between the lecturers and the students on the effectiveness of past civil engineering projects as case studies to enhance students' lifelong learning desire and aspiration towards ethical practice are investigated. The lecturers' and students' views on the extent of coverage of the key elements and the preferred disciplines from the past projects are furthermore evaluated. The outcomes indicate that the use of past projects as case studies enhanced students' educational experiences that conduce for cognitive learning desires (73% of lecturers & 81% of students), motivated for future ethical practice (82% of lecturers & 86% of students), and reassured aspiration (100% of lecturers & 97% of students) in becoming practicing civil engineers upon graduation. A common view derives from this study is that the curriculum needs to further its extent of coverage on the industry practices.