Introducing Project Based Learning into Traditional Russian Engineering Education

Abstract

An extended Algarysh grant from the Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation was awarded to KNRTU. The goal of the project was to introduce PBL to the faculty, to develop a PBL training manual for interested faculty and to apply the PBL approach to several classes of students at the university as a demonstration of its effectiveness. This paper gives the structure of the classes, describes the project management lecture content and the related practicum, describes the projects that were undertaken during this program and finally evaluates the impact of the program using student survey and open-ended comments. For the undergraduate and master students, the experience was unique in their education, as many had never worked in teams on a project. Their feedback was highly positive. In general, faculty acceptance was limited to the younger faculty with senior faculty being resistant to the new techniques of PBL.