Technology for training creative graduates in engineering bachelor’s programs

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

Technology for training creative graduates in engineering bachelor's programs

Isaev Alexander P. - Dr. Sci. (Economics), Prof

Plotnikov Leonid V. - Cand. Sci. (Engineering), Assoc. Prof

Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin

Abstract

This article is devoted to technologies of engineering education that produce the most in-demand professional qualities of graduates from Bachelor's programs. A review of studies about introducing innovations to improve the educational process in practice-oriented Bachelor's studies is carried out. The advantages and limitations of project-based and problem-based learning technologies are defined. The work presents the experience of developing and applying a unique teaching technology based on the integration of problem- and project-based training approaches, designed to enhance the creativity of the study process in engineering Bachelor's programs. It is described with a focus on the mechanisms for the integrated use of the advantages of methods of problem- and project-based training in the formation of the professional competencies required for an engineer's innovative activity in the development of a new product project. The data from an empirical study have been considered; they allow us to substantiate the conclusion that the integration of project- and problem-based learning in the form of a holistic technology is effective for developing students' creative capacities.

Keywords: engineering education; engineering Bachelor's programs; project-based learning; problem-based learning; integration of educational technologies; creative capacities

Аннотация

technology student engineering learning

Технология подготовки креативных выпускников инженерного бакалавриата

Исаев Александр Петрович - д-р экон. наук, доцент

Плотников Леонид Валерьевич - канд. техн. наук, доцент.

Уральский федеральный университет имени первого Президента России Б.Н. Ельцина

Статья посвящена технологиям инженерного образования, позволяющим формировать наиболее востребованные профессиональные качества у выпускников бакалавриата. Сделан обзор исследований в области внедрения инноваций для совершенствования образовательного процесса в практико-ориентированном бакалавриате. Выделены достоинства и ограничения проектной и проблемной технологий обучения. В работе представлен опыт разработки и применения авторской технологии обучения на основе интеграции проблемного и проектного обучения, предназначенной для повышения креативности образовательного процесса в инженерном бакалавриате. Дано её описание, в котором показаны механизмы комплексного использования преимуществ методов проблемного и проектного обучения в формировании профессиональных компетенций, необходимых для инновационной деятельности инженера - от проектной разработки до производства нового изделия. Рассмотрены данные эмпирического исследования, на основе которых обоснованы выводы о том, что интеграция проблемного и проектного обучения в виде целостной технологии является эффективным инструментом развития творческих способностей у студентов.

Ключевые слова: инженерное образование, проектное обучение, проблемное обучение, интеграция технологий обучения, творческие способности

Introduction

It should be admitted that the majority of engineering academic programs at universities are aimed at training qualified specialists in terms of their content and methodology of implementation. In general, we teach students to complete the assigned tasks; still, when they start their professional career, they often face the practical problem of assigning tasks, developing technical specifications and searching for new effective solutions that should be in line with increasing customer demand. Thus, the main purpose of the development of engineering education should be the improvement of the study process so as to produce creative and conceptual thinking skills and help students to see into problematic situations, formulate problems correctly, transform them into tasks and form original approaches towards their solution. According to the authors, the main means of forming creative capabilities of students is not the content of the study program, but the methods and technologies of the study process, including the organization of educational and practical activities.

Analysis of priority technologiesin engineering education

Most attention in higher engineering education is now devoted to the active development of project-based learning methods. By project- based learning we mean study and practical work based on solving project tasks and/or implementing a specific project that corresponds to study goals and leads to the achievement of the necessary learning outcomes. Project-based learning is characterized by a number of advantages, recognized by education practitioners and researchers in specific academic disciplines, modules and study programs [1-4]. Among the most frequently mentioned advantages of the project-based learning, there are:

- increased motivation for study and individual work;

- stimulating the interdisciplinary approach;

- in-depth understanding of the importance of theoretical academic issues for the solution of relevant professional tasks;

- intensifying the study process and accelerating the formation of professional competencies;

- increasing student responsibility for the results of learning and project activities, and study activities in general;

- developing communication skills and qualities, as well as team working skills.

Project-based learning has been being actively applied at technical universities of many countries. This method is widely used in engineering Bachelor's disciplines, primarily in courses related to design and engineering activities; it significantly develops cognitive abilities and improves self-efficacy, teamwork and communication skills [5]. Project-based learning contributes to the formation of an interactive team learning environment that positively affects learning outcomes and the self-regulation of students [6]. This teaching method is successfully applied not only in purely engineering disciplines, but also in those that provide a foundation of general technical competencies. This is particularly in the teaching of physics, where it has resulted in increased student interest not only in the subject itself, but also in its technological applications [7]. The use of project-based learning in chemistry also enhances student interest and the mastery of the basics of chemical and petroleum engineering: furthermore, it contributes to the fact that they quickly learn to build relationships and form teamworking, leadership and cooperation skills when solving engineering and chemical problems [8]. The project-based learning method has been applied to the teaching of the natural sciences and other disciplines [9; 10].

However, project-based learning has also certain limitations which are largely determined by additional requirements towards learning activities and the facts that most students perceive such learning methods as relatively new and their place in the teaching program, when compared to traditional teaching methods, is generally rather limited. These limitations include: 1) increasing the labor intensity of the academic work aimed at mastering project activities and, thus, a slower process of mastering the curriculum; 2) only a partial correspondence of student educational and project activities to the professional design and engineering activities of engineers; 3) the insufficiently profound and well-grounded design solutions developed by the majority of students; and 4) the detachment of educational project work from research. At the same time, in the majority of works based on empirical studies, it is not noted that it actively develops creative thinking and capabilities. These conclusions fully coincide with the authors' experience of applying the project-based learning approach.

Another method actively used in improving engineering education is problem-based learning. It should be noted that this is less popular than the project-based one. According to the authors, the problem-based learning method is the organization of student activities in accordance with an analysis of objective contradictions in scientific knowledge that forms the principal content of the study process; in the course of these activities, students assess the possibility of using previously acquired knowledge and the necessity of acquiring new knowledge to solve problematic situations and specific tasks. As a result, they search for new knowledge and ways of using it that are aimed at reinterpretation, specification and problem solving. Different specialists demonstrate different approaches towards the substance of this method [11-18], though all of them acknowledge the principal benefits of project-based learning. The problem-based method allows students:

- to analyze problematic situations arising from the deficiencies of the knowledge applied;

- to formulate problems and tasks, allowing them to find ways to solve controversies;

- to summarize knowledge, principles and ways of applying them to solve problems and tasks;

- to carry out the search for necessary knowledge in the course of mastering scientific notions;

- to form goal-setting and problematization skills in the course of scientific cognition;

- to boost cognitive activity in the search for effective ways and methods of acting in uncertain conditions and situations;

- to master basic elements of research activity.

In combination with the traditional approach, problem-based learning is deemed an effective means for the general and intellectual development of students at different levels of mastering different academic programs. In the work by Ayyildiz and Tarhan [15], a comparison of the effectiveness of applying traditional and the problem-based learning approaches to chemistry is presented. On the basis of the results obtained by the authors, it was concluded that the average results of the group learning through the problem-based approach were much higher. In the works by X. Ma et al. [16] and A. Shishigu et al. [17], a successful practice of introducing the problem-based learning approach in the training of IT-specialists and teachers was presented. The authors demonstrated that problem-based learning allows for a better understanding of the relationship between theory and practice, increases student motivation and eliminates rote memorization. The article by M.A. Khoiry et al. [19] describes the method of assessing the quality of training in a course on material technology by employing the problem-based learning approach. It was shown that the technology of problem-based learning could be improved by receiving feedback throughout the period of study.

In the work by C. Veale et al. [20], the authors discuss the blending of problem-based learning and student teamwork, which was aimed at forming the creative ideas necessary for the development of advanced medicines: they note that such a type of learning requires the transformation of the whole study program.

In the studies of G.I. Ibragimov [14], it is underlined that the “problematic” character has become a standard practice in professional activities under the present cultural conditions. This leads to the conclusion that in modern higher education, especially in a technical one, problem-based learning should be considered as a basic type of education, a kind of a systemic foundation that allows one to integrate the possibilities and technologies of education, as well as to implement ideas of practical orientation.

It is of interest to study the experience of integrating project-based learning and problem- based learning approaches in the development of academic courses aimed at the formation of competencies necessary for the sustainable development of specific organizations and areas of activity. A course in environmental studies developed for a Master's program created additional opportunities in the development of interdisciplinarity and boosted a proactive attitude towards education, academic studies and professional practice. During the course, the students increased the sustainability of their competencies and professional skills and used opportunities for carrying out research in collaboration with their lecturers [9].

Existing trends for the integration of problem- and project-based learning are determined by the desire to combine the advantages of these methods and thereby overcome the limitations that exist in each of them. A limitation of the creative activity of students working in accordance with the project-based learning method is the fact that they work in the framework of the studied issues and the project task offered by a lecturer or chosen by them. Analysis of problems and tasks solved in the course of such design activities is limited, as the main efforts are targeted at the application of already gained and independently found knowledge related to this discipline. The depth of their studies and the creativity of solutions definitely depend on this knowledge, but these characteristics of design activities largely depend on the level of understanding of the problem (which is always interdisciplinary).

Binary technology in engineer training. The integration of problem- and project- based approaches (“Binary technology”) was developed by the authors for the organization of student academic and practical activities in a special industrial training practical course (ITPC). The variant presented for integrating the two methods is not only about consolidating them into a larger instrument for organizing the study process, but is also about maintaining the relative independence of problem-based and project-based approaches, along with their benefits. The integration of these two methods results in the extension of the methodological instrument and in the algorithmization of study and practical work while maintaining opportunities for creativity when achieving the necessary results. Binary technology increases the level of student self-discipline and strengthens the benefits of the integrated methods: problem-based learning becomes more practice-oriented, while project-based learning starts to employ deeper research and analytical grounding. The general framework of the binary technology, including its main steps, is presented in Figure 1.

The difference between the integration of problem-based and project-based learning through binary technology and its other variants [8; 9] lies in the fact that students work with one complex object that includes many components throughout their activities.

The integration of problem-based and project-based learning rests upon combining them into one problem to solve another problem (creation of an engineering project of a new technical product) and developing an algorithm for its implementation including: a) working on the problem in order to develop theoretical solutions for the problematic situation (steps 2-5, Fig. 1); b) adapting the results of the research and analytical work to the problems of design and engineering activity (steps 6-8, Fig. 1); c) a design process with the further project defense (steps 9-12, Fig. 1).

The presented binary technology differs from other blended learning technologies by the following features.

1. Students are involved in more analytical and research activities, especially during the first semesters, when they have not yet started

2. studying specialized courses: they thus have to search for the necessary knowledge independently.

3. Designing each product is carried out as a particular part of a more complex technical system; development of this system is an output. This leads to some extra requirements for each product, as it is necessary to integrate them with the other projects forming the system.

4. Students keep on switching from the problem-based to the project-based method and back, trying to find a decision that better corresponds with the requirements of a specific product and its compatibility with other parts of the end product. In the course of this process, students often recognize their own mistakes, the limitations of some solutions, and existing systemic problems: they learn to find ways of coping with them.

5. The design process is as close as possible to the production process of an industrial enterprise and takes into account all the conditions of uncertainty, customer requirements (the consulting engineers perform as customers here), deadlines, regulatory documentation, etc.

6. The binary technology significantly changes the character of the participants' activity. The functions of lecturers, who are not only staff members of the university but also highly qualified engineers in machine-building enterprises, are consulting and tutoring.

7. At each stage of the technology, methodological techniques and means to regulate and boost student activities are used.

Table 1. Differences in the results of students' independent educational and practical work in ITPC m EM (%)